Florida license reference
How to verify a Florida contractor license on the official DBPR license search, and how to read license number, type, status, and as-of date.
Open the official license search
Go to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation license search. This is the official record, not a Sensus page.
Search by license number, name, or city
Search by license number when you have one. You can also search by the business or organization name, or by license type and city or county. DBPR publishes search tips on its license search help page.
Read the matching record
Open each matching record and confirm the business name, license number, license type, and status. A license may be held by an individual who qualifies a business. For electrical and alarm work, DBPR says the name of the approved business entity appears on the individual license.
Confirm the current status
Use the official status on the DBPR record. Sensus pages copy the official register and show an as-of date, but they are not a substitute for the live search.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) publishes the official license search and weekly public-record files. Construction trades are overseen by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Electrical and alarm contractors are overseen by the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board.
Sensus publishes license-verified pages for Tampa plumbing, roofing, electrical, and HVAC contractors from those official records. Those pages are a dated copy. They do not replace the official search.
Write down the business name as it appears on the license, the license number, the license type, the status, and the date you checked. If the official record also names a qualifying individual or a business entity, confirm that the names match the contractor you are checking.
Sensus does not publish person names, street addresses, postal codes, phones, or emails on public pages. Those fields, when they appear, belong on the official record.
DBPR defines a certified contractor as a contractor who has a certificate of competency from the department and who may contract in any jurisdiction in the state without having to meet that jurisdiction's competency requirements. Certified construction occupation codes begin with the letter C.
DBPR defines a registered contractor as a contractor who has registered with the department after meeting the competency requirements of the jurisdiction for which the registration is issued. Registered contractors may contract only in those jurisdictions. Registered construction occupation codes begin with the letter R.
A license is not a ranking, a customer review, or a guarantee of work quality. Sensus copies the official record and shows the as-of date. A missing fact is unknown. Confirm the current status on the official DBPR license search, because a published copy can lag the live register.
The official search is the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation license search at myfloridalicense.com. Sensus pages copy that official record and show an as-of date.
DBPR says a certified contractor may contract in any jurisdiction in Florida without meeting local competency requirements. A registered contractor may contract only in the jurisdictions for which the registration was issued.
No. A Sensus page is a dated copy of the official record. Confirm the current status on the official DBPR search.