Hiring a contractor in Vero Beach? How to check a Florida license in five minutes

Someone knocks on your door, or you find a name online. They sound sure of themselves. The price sounds good. Before you hand over a check, take five minutes and make sure they are allowed to do the work.

Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation, or DBPR, licenses contractors statewide. Indian River County also keeps its own contractor licensing office. Between the two, a Vero Beach homeowner can find out a lot without leaving the kitchen table.

What "licensed" means in Indian River County

Indian River County's Contractor Licensing office explains it plainly. A contractor is anyone who, for pay, bids on or does construction, repair, remodeling, demolition or improvement work on a building. A licensed contractor has met the education, financial, business and experience requirements, carries liability and workers' compensation insurance, and keeps proof of that insurance on file. If any of those pieces are missing, the county considers the person unlicensed.

There are two kinds of licenses you may see. Some contractors hold a local certificate of competency issued through Indian River County. Others hold a Florida state certification. The county says a state-certified contractor must show that certificate to the Indian River County Building Official before contracting in the county or in the City of Vero Beach.

The county also says it is illegal to advertise or present yourself as a regulated contractor without a valid local certificate or state certification. And a worker a contractor brings in as an independent contractor, rather than an employee, must hold a contractor license too.

Why the check matters

After past hurricanes, DBPR has warned homeowners about what can go wrong with unlicensed work. Its list includes paying a deposit and never seeing the work done, work done without proper permits that can make a home hard to sell, work that does not meet building code, and no insurance, which can leave the homeowner liable if someone gets hurt.

Permits matter here, too. The county says a permit is needed before work begins when one applies, and that many replacement jobs, including fences, roofs and air conditioning systems, need a building permit. Ask who will pull the permit. If someone wants you to pull it in your own name for work they are doing, ask why. The county's owner exemption, below, is for owners who do the work themselves or use their own employees.

Your deposit and the 10 percent rule

Florida law has a rule about big up-front payments on home jobs. Under section 489.126 of the Florida Statutes, if a contractor takes more than 10 percent of the contract price as the first payment on residential work, the contractor must apply for the needed permits within 30 days of the payment. The contractor must then start the work within 90 days after all needed permits are issued.

There are exceptions. The rule does not apply to work that needs no permit, when the contractor has just cause, or when you agreed in writing to a longer time. So read the contract before you sign, and notice any line that stretches those timelines.

Doing it yourself

If you own and live in a single-family home, the county says you can skip contractor licensing when you do the work yourself, use your own employees under your direct supervision on site, or hire a licensed contractor. That owner exemption does not waive permits or permit fees.

What to do before you hire

1. Ask for the license number. Get the full name of the license holder and the company name.
2. Look it up on MyFloridaLicense.com or in the DBPR mobile app. Check that the license is current and that the name matches the person or company on your contract.
3. For a locally licensed contractor, call Indian River County Contractor Licensing at 772-226-1960, or visit 1801 27th Street in Vero Beach. The county's licensing page also has a section on revoked and suspended licenses.
4. Ask who will pull the permit, and ask to see it before work starts.
5. Ask for proof of liability and workers' compensation insurance.
6. Get the price, the scope and the payment schedule in writing. If the first payment is more than 10 percent, remember the 30-day and 90-day timelines in state law.
7. If you suspect someone is working without a license, report it to DBPR at 866-532-1440, through the DBPR app, or on MyFloridaLicense.com.

None of this means a good contractor will mind. The good ones expect it. A contractor who gets upset that you looked them up has told you something useful.