Become a Florida Licensed Residential Contractor

In the state of Florida, becoming a licensed state certified residential contractor involves meeting the age, credit, and experience/education requirements before licensure will be granted.

Minimum requirements for becoming a licensed Residential Contractor:

• Must be 18 years of age
• Have good moral character. (A criminal incident in the past does not prevent you from getting a license so long as you have had your civil rights restored, all debts to society paid, no pending or current liens such as IRS, and have no pending or ongoing criminal litigation).
• Credit score of 660 or above
  • If you do not meet the 660 FICO score, you CAN still get your license by posting a licensing bond. This bond can be reduced by 50% upon completing a Financial Responsibility course.
• Four years of proven residential construction experience. (FAR 61G4-15.001)
  • You do not have to have the necessary experience before you take the exam.
    • The test scores are valid for 4 years meaning you have 4 years to gain the required experience after passing the state exam.
  • Note: 3 years of any accredited college credits can be used in place of construction experience regardless of the subject matter/courses.

Important note about experience:

The experience must be verifiable and under a license contractor in the areas of foundations or slabs, masonry walls, steel erection, elevated slabs, precast concrete structures, column construction, and framework for reinforced concrete.

For a free evaluation of your experience and guidance in this career field, feel free to contact our Career Counselors at 1-800-732-9140.