Florida Contractor Intelligence

State of the record

These figures count credentials and research observations, not distinct companies or people. Active means DBPR secondary status Active.

• 119,231

  Trade credentials available for contractor research

  Board credentials, not companies. Financially responsible officer and education rows are excluded.

• 104,441

  Active trade credentials

  Active is a license status, not an active-business count.

• 11

  Trade categories tracked

  Dictionary size, not a count of businesses.

• 67

  Florida counties represented (credential HQ/base)

  Headquarters/base county on the credential, not counties where work is performed.

• 68,081

  Regulatory/public-record observations researched

  A regulatory record is not a finding against a contractor. Rows may include complaints, notices, administrative actions, claims, and multiple actions in one matter.

The Florida research system also tracks total DBPR credentials, including financially responsible officer and course/provider rows that are not trade licenses.

Trace this number

68,081 Florida regulatory/public-record observations. This is a count of source records, not contractors disciplined.

• 6,457

  DBPR licensed-contractor discipline records

  Agency

  Florida DBPR / CILB

  Dataset

  contractor_disc_lic

  Definition

  Public licensed-contractor disciplinary rows collected from DBPR extracts.

  Row grain

  parsed_observation

  Official as-of

  FY 2025/26

  Retrieved

  2026-08-24

  Limitation

  A row is a source record, not a finding that a currently licensed contractor is unsafe.

• 11,691

  DBPR unlicensed-activity records

  Agency

  Florida DBPR / CILB

  Dataset

  contractor_disc_ula

  Definition

  Unlicensed-activity administrative records. These are not licensed-contractor discipline rows.

  Row grain

  parsed_observation

  Official as-of

  FY 2025/26

  Retrieved

  2026-08-24

  Limitation

  ULA records are a separate legal/administrative family from licensed discipline.

• 1,679

  Construction Recovery Fund records

What the Florida data says

Four research findings. Each is a benchmark or coverage gap — not a ranking.

1. BENCHMARK

   Florida contractor credentials concentrate in a few major trade classes.

   Helps a consumer see which credential classes dominate the tracked Florida market.

   83,992 / 119,231 (70.4%)

   Explain this chart — trade mix

   What am I looking at?

   DBPR credential rows in consumer trade buckets. General contractor, Building contractor, HVAC / air conditioning, Roofing vs remaining trade buckets

   Why might this matter?

   Helps a consumer see which credential classes dominate the tracked Florida market.

   What does this NOT mean?

   A larger class is not a better trade, more competition is not higher quality, and credentials are not distinct businesses.

   Source

   licenses.occupation_code grouped to intelligence buckets

   Official as-of / retrieved

   2026-08-10

2. BENCHMARK

   About three in four tracked Florida credentials currently carry Active status.

   Separates the current-status credential universe from historical/inactive rows.

   104,444 / 143,516 (72.8%)

   Explain this chart — active share

   What am I looking at?

   fl_dbpr licenses; active = status_normalized active. active credentials / all fl_dbpr credentials

   Why might this matter?

Current research depth

Coverage describes what Trust Hub has researched — not whether a contractor is higher quality. Statewide Research is the current Florida default. Enhanced local research will appear only after additional county evidence is ingested.

What we don’t know

• County permit coverage varies and is not uniformly available statewide.
• Municipal coverage differs; county-issued records are not every city’s permit history.
• Local licensing differs by jurisdiction and is not the same as a statewide DBPR credential.
• A credential or business address county is not a service area.
• No record found is not a clean history.
• A current license does not prove workmanship or quality.
• A corporate match does not prove all current operational facts.
• Permit volume does not prove quality.
• Statewide regulatory sources and local permit sources have different grains and must not be added together.

Explore contractor intelligence by county

Intelligence pages exist for Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Pinellas. Other counties remain credential browse. Darker research depth means more acquired research, not a better market.

• Broward County

  11,568 HQ/base credentials · 8,414 active

  Statewide Research · mailing county, not service area

  Explore Broward Intelligence

• Palm Beach County

  9,325 HQ/base credentials · 7,043 active

  Statewide Research · mailing county, not service area

  Explore Palm Beach Intelligence

• Miami-Dade County

  14,579 HQ/base credentials · 11,261 active

  Statewide Research · mailing county, not service area

  Explore Miami-Dade Intelligence

• Pinellas County

  6,017 HQ/base credentials · 4,387 active

  Statewide Research · mailing county, not service area

  Explore Pinellas Intelligence

Florida geographic intelligence

County counts are credential mailing / HQ base county from official DBPR county codes. A contractor may perform work in other counties. This is not operating activity and is not a permit map.

67 Florida counties have at least one credential HQ/base assignment. Statewide credential totals are not a sum of future operating-county counts.

• Miami-Dade14,579 credentials · Statewide Research
• Broward11,568 credentials · Statewide Research
• Palm Beach9,325 credentials · Statewide Research
• Hillsborough8,297 credentials · Statewide Research
• Lee7,571 credentials · Statewide Research
• Orange6,197 credentials · Statewide Research
• Pinellas6,017 credentials · Statewide Research
• Duval4,409 credentials · Statewide Research

Compare this market

Identical definitions only: HQ/base credential counts, active share on that same universe, and trade-bucket share. Not permit volume vs credentials.

Trade intelligence

Credential categories from official DBPR occupation codes. Larger is not better.

• General contractor39,346 credentials · 33,435 active
• Building contractor20,149 credentials · 17,627 active
• Residential9,228 credentials · 7,871 active
• Roofing11,794 credentials · 10,559 active
• HVAC / air conditioning12,703 credentials · 11,410 active
• Plumbing9,899 credentials · 8,973 active

Ask the market

• How many roofing credentials are active in Florida?

  10,559 Florida DBPR roofing credentials currently carry Active status (certified CCC plus registered RC). That is a credential count, not a count of roofing companies. RR is Registered Residential, not roofing.

  Open related research

• How does Broward compare with Florida?

  Broward is compared using identical definitions: credential HQ/base county, active share on that same universe, and trade-bucket share. Address county is not service area. Open Broward Intelligence for the comparison.

  Open related research

• What does an active contractor license tell me?

  Active is DBPR secondary status Active on a credential row. It does not prove workmanship, insurance, current jobs, or that the firm is the right contractor for your project.

• What regulatory records should I review?

  Trust Hub currently researches 68,081 Florida regulatory/public-record observations across four families. Review the contractor profile and official sources — do not treat the statewide total as a violation count.

  Open related research

• What is a qualifier relationship?

  A qualifying agent is the person the board recognizes as qualifying a business for a license class. Statewide relationship counts are expanding and are not published as a consumer ranking. Confirm the qualifier on the official license record.

Use the research

Tools are ways to act after you understand the market. They are not rankings.

• Verify a contractor
• Scope Builder
• Quote Analyzer
• Contract Analyzer
• Compare Bids
• Permit Planner
• Home Passport

Research checklist

This evaluates your due diligence process. It is not a contractor quality score.

1. 1Verify license status on the official credential
2. 2Confirm contractor / business identity (including Sunbiz where linked)
3. 3Review regulatory observations as separate source families
4. 4Check local permits where coverage exists
5. 5Compare another contractor
6. 6Save project research in Home Passport

How this research was assembled

1. 1State credentialWhere connected / where available
2. 2License holder / qualifierWhere connected / where available
3. 3Business relationshipWhere connected / where available
4. 4Corporate identityWhere connected / where available
5. 5Regulatory observationsWhere connected / where available
6. 6Local permit / enforcement evidenceWhere acquired — requested/pending in Broward
7. 7Public contractor profileWhere connected / where available

Source transparency

Official public records. Refresh dates are extract times, not a live board session. Fiscal-year files stay labeled as fiscal-year coverage — we do not invent rolling 12-month windows.

• DBPR construction credentials

  Agency

  Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation — Construction Industry Licensing Board

  Contribution

  CILB licensee extract: occupation, full license identity, status, mailing address, county code, and related dates as published.

  Coverage / freshness

  Extract as of 2026-08-10 · last extract 2026-08-10DBPR posts licensee extracts on a periodic public-records schedule (not real-time).

  Limitation

  NULL & VOID, delinquent, and involuntarily inactive credentials are omitted from the official licensee download. QB shells are not board credentials. County is mailing/base, not jobsites.

  Attribution methodology

  Credential identity is the published full license key.

• DBPR licensed contractor discipline records

  Agency

  Florida DBPR / CILB

  Contribution

  Fiscal-year public CSVs of licensed-contractor discipline actions (complaint numbers, dispositions, and related fields as published).

  Coverage / freshness

  FY 2025/26 · last extract 2026-08-24Fiscal-year files. Not a rolling 12-month window unless that aggregation is built later.

  Limitation

  A row may be a complaint, notice, costs line, or final order. Multiple rows can belong to one matter. Numeric license cores are not unique identity. Public profile findings still require the two-gate publication rules.

Florida contractor education

Florida-specific licensing concepts. Educational only — not legal advice, not a recommendation, and not a substitute for confirming current status with DBPR and the local building department.

• Certified vs registered contractors

  Certified contractors are licensed by the state Construction Industry Licensing Board and may work where that license is recognized, subject to local permitting. Registered contractors operate under a more limited local-jurisdiction framework. Always confirm the class on the DBPR record and with the local building department. This is education, not legal advice.

  Read more

• How a Florida qualifying agent works

  Florida construction businesses may operate through licensed qualifying agents. DBPR related-license records distinguish Primary Qualifying Agents, Second Qualifying Agents, and financial-responsibility roles (which are not trade licenses). Trust Hub is building regulator-backed relationship research for those roles. Statewide relationship counts are not published yet.

• How to verify a Florida contractor license

  Ask for the full license number (for example CCC1336585, not digits alone), confirm the occupation class matches the work, check status, and compare the listed business name to the company on the contract. Confirm current status on DBPR before you hire.

  Read more

• When Florida contractor licensing applies

  CILB licenses cover construction contracting occupations the board regulates. Not every home-service job is a CILB contractor license. Local building permits, other boards (for example electrical), and job-size rules can still apply. Absence of a CILB credential is not automatically proof of illegal work.

Continue your research

• Search a contractor
• Browse by trade
• Browse by county
• Learn how Florida licensing works
• Verification checklist
• Methodology