How to Verify a Florida General Contractor's License Before You Hire

How to check a Florida contractor's license status yourself before signing anything: what a Certified General Contractor license actually covers, and what to ask for beyond the license number.

You can verify a Florida contractor’s license yourself, before you sign anything, by looking up their license status directly with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation rather than taking a business card or a truck door at face value. Florida’s contractor licensing runs through DBPR under state law, and the agency publishes a public license search that shows whether a license is active, what category it covers, and whether there is any disciplinary history on file. That single check, done before a contract is signed rather than after a problem shows up, is the cheapest insurance a homeowner has in this category.

Why does license verification matter more here than in most home-service categories?

Because the category’s biggest recurring complaint, in this market and generally, is trust, not price or workmanship in isolation. Two of Wilson & Co’s own customers raised it independently, in almost identical language, without prompting each other: Austin Thomas said “it’s hard to find contractors you can trust,” and Faik Bajrami said “it’s hard to find an honest contractor like Jay.” When two people arrive at the same complaint from different projects, that is not a coincidence, it is the actual shape of the category, and a license check is one of the few parts of vetting a contractor that does not depend on trusting anyone’s word at all.

What does “Certified” mean on a Florida contractor license?

It means the license is issued and regulated by the state itself, rather than by a single city or county, so a Certified General Contractor can legally perform work anywhere in Florida rather than being limited to one local jurisdiction. Florida also issues “Registered” contractor licenses, which are tied to a specific local government and only cover work within that jurisdiction. If a contractor tells you they are licensed, ask which kind, because the answer changes what areas and what scope of work the license actually authorizes, and it is a fair, ordinary question to ask before any contract discussion goes further.

What can I actually see when I look up a license?

You can see the license’s current status, meaning whether it is active and in good standing or delinquent, suspended, revoked, or otherwise not current, along with the license category, the issue date, and any disciplinary action the state has taken against it. This is public information specifically because Florida wants homeowners to be able to check it themselves rather than relying on a contractor’s own representation. A license that shows as current and unencumbered tells you the state has no open complaint against that license as of the search date. It does not tell you anything about the specific quality of a specific project, which is a separate question a license search was never built to answer.

Does a license number on a business card guarantee anything?

No, and this is the gap that matters most. A license number only tells you something once you look it up and confirm it is real, current, and attached to the person or company actually signing your contract. The license search also lets you confirm the legal business name tied to the license matches the entity on your proposed contract, because a licensed individual is not automatically the same thing as the company invoicing you. If those two names do not match, that is worth a direct question before you sign anything, not an assumption that it is fine.

Is a license enough on its own, or should I ask for more?

A license is necessary but not sufficient, and insurance is the other half of the same question. Florida-licensed contractors are generally expected to carry general liability insurance, and if they have employees, workers’ compensation coverage as well, and the responsible way to confirm either one is to ask for a certificate of insurance directly from the contractor’s insurance agent or carrier, not a photocopy that could be expired or altered. A contractor who answers this request quickly and completely is telling you something useful about how they run their business, which is a theme our guide to comparing remodeling proposals goes into further, since license and insurance are exactly the kind of item that belongs on your comparison sheet for every bidder, not just the one you like best.

Does hiring a design-build firm change any of this?

No, the license and insurance check still applies the same way, but it can simplify who you are checking. Under a design-build agreement, one firm holds the license and the contract for design and construction together, rather than an architect and a separately licensed contractor operating under two agreements, which we cover in full in design-build or an architect plus a builder. Either path is legitimate. What matters is that you can name, in writing, exactly which licensed entity is responsible for which part of the work, and confirm that entity’s license and insurance yourself rather than assuming it from a company’s reputation.

Where does permitting fit into this same check?

Permitting is the second place a license question shows up in practice, because the same license that authorizes a contractor to build also determines who can legally pull the permit for your project. Our piece on permitting in St. Johns County walks through how to ask the county who may submit a permit application for your specific scope, and that question and the license question are really the same question asked twice, once of the county and once of the contractor.

A short checklist before you sign

Before signing a contract, get the exact legal business name and license number in writing, look that license up yourself rather than trusting a verbal claim, confirm the license category matches the scope of your project, and ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly from the agent or carrier rather than a copy the contractor hands you. None of that requires special expertise. It requires doing it before the contract is signed, which is the one point in the process where it actually protects you.

Jay Wilson, who owns Wilson & Co Design Build, holds Florida Certified General Contractor license CGC1534920, which authorizes the company’s work across its Northeast Florida service area. Wilson & Co’s exterior renovation and general contracting work is licensed under that number, and verifying it takes the same few minutes this article just walked through, on any contractor you are considering, not only this one.