To hold a Florida Certified General Contractor licence you must meet an experience-and-education requirement, pass three examinations (Business & Finance, Contract Administration and Project Management), show proof of financial responsibility, and carry general liability and workers' compensation insurance. Licensure is governed by Chapter 489 F.S. and Rule 61G4 F.A.C., administered by the CILB under the DBPR.
What a Certified General Contractor may build
The reason people sit the general exam rather than an easier one is scope. Of the three Division I licences, the general contractor's is the only unlimited one: any building, any occupancy, any height, including structural work, structural steel, and the excavation and foundations that go with a building of any size. If a project can be built in Florida, a CGC can contract for it.
The other two Division I licences are the same trade, cut down:
- Certified Building Contractor (CBC). Commercial buildings and residential structures, but only up to a height limit set in statute, and with corresponding limits on structural work. A building contractor can run most mid-size commercial jobs and stops where the high-rise and heavy structural work begins.
- Certified Residential Contractor (CRC). One-, two- and three-family residences within a lower height limit, plus accessory structures. The narrowest of the three.
Everything else — roofing, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, pool, specialty structures — is Division II, licensed separately by trade. A general contractor subcontracts that work; holding a CGC does not let you self-perform a trade that requires its own licence. Check the current statutory language before you commit to a category: the difference between CBC and CGC is precisely the projects you will be allowed to bid.
Certified statewide, or registered locally
Chapter 489 creates two kinds of contractor licence. A certified contractor is licensed by the state and may work anywhere in Florida. A registered contractor holds a local competency card from a city or county and may work only where that jurisdiction's licence is recognised. Registration is a legitimate route for someone working in one market, but it does not travel.
Either way, the local building department still has a say. Jurisdictions maintain their own registration, insurance filing and permit-pulling requirements on top of the state licence, and they do not all read a scope question the same way. Before your first permit in a new county, call the building department and ask rather than assume.
Experience and education
The board wants evidence that you have actually run construction work, not just studied it. There are broadly three routes to the experience requirement:
- Field and supervisory experience in the trade, at a responsible level — foreman, superintendent, project manager or similar — verified by someone who can attest to it. Time spent purely as a labourer generally does not count the same way.
- A construction-related degree from an accredited programme, which substitutes for part of the experience requirement.
- A combination of the two, which is how most applicants qualify.
Exactly how many years each route requires, and which degrees count for how much credit, is set by rule and does change. Confirm the current numbers with the DBPR before you build an application around them. The step-by-step licensing process page walks through the paperwork order once you know you qualify.
Examinations, financial responsibility and insurance
Division I contractors sit three examinations. Business & Finance is 120 questions in 6.5 hours; Contract Administration and Project Management are 60 scored questions in 4.5 hours each. All three are open book, all three require 70%, and the DBPR does not round. Division II applicants take Business & Finance plus a single General Trade Knowledge exam instead. Building and Residential candidates sit the same two trade parts at shorter lengths — 50 questions each for CBC, 45 each for CRC — so the three licences are tested the same way at different depth.
Already licensed and adding a category? Candidates who have passed may be exempt from retaking Business & Finance, leaving only the two trade parts. Our sister site flbizfinprep.com covers the Business & Finance exam if you still need it.
Financial responsibility is the other half of the application. The board reviews credit history and financial standing to establish that you can carry a job — meet payroll, pay suppliers and finish what you start — because an undercapitalised contractor is how consumers end up filing recovery-fund claims. Applicants who fall short of the standard financial test may still be licensed through an alternative involving a bond. Thresholds and bond amounts are set by rule; get the current figures from the DBPR rather than from a forum post.
Insurance means general liability at minimum limits set by the board, and workers' compensation coverage. Florida allows certain officers and owners in construction to file for an exemption from workers' compensation on themselves, but an exemption is personal and narrow — it does not cover employees, and using it wrongly is a fast way to lose a licence. Finally, a licence is held by a person. To have a company contract under it you must be its qualifying agent, which makes you personally responsible for that entity's construction work, its permits and its finances. Qualifying a business you do not actually control is one of the most common ways contractors get into disciplinary trouble.
If you are past eligibility and into preparation, start with the study guide and then test yourself on the practice test.
Meet the requirements? Start on the exams
Eligibility is the easy half. The three exams are what stands between you and the licence. First 5 questions free — no account.