General Contractor — Florida License
Division I category with services unlimited as to the type of work — but §489.113 still forces subcontracting of the electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool and air-conditioning categories unless the contractor holds that category's credential.
01 Verbatim statutory definition
§489.105(3)(a) General Contractor
“General contractor” means a contractor whose services are unlimited as to the type of work which he or she may do, who may contract for any activity requiring licensure under this part, and who may perform any work requiring licensure under this part, except as otherwise expressly provided in s. 489.113.
Legal basis: F.S. §489.105(3)(a) S-FL-105
Source S-FL-105 — Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine)
Florida Statutes §489.105 — Definitions (contractor categories, certified/registered) — F.S. F.S. §489.105(3)(a)
Retrieved 2026-10-01 · last verified 2026-10-01
Read verbatim 2026-10-01 (HTTP 200). Subsection (3)(a)-(q) defines every contractor category (Division I a-c, Division II d-q) — all classification definition_text values are verbatim from it. (8) certified contractor = statewide; (10) registered contractor = may contract only in such jurisdictions; (12) local construction regulation board.
Division I. The exception clause points at §489.113 — the subcontract rule of §489.113(3) limits even the unlimited category.
Trades mapped: General Contracting
02 Scope assertions
No scope assertion row is seeded for this category yet — we do not invent scope statements without verbatim evidence.
03 The subcontract rule
A contractor shall subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work, unless such contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category (F.S. §489.113(3)). Exceptions include: a general, building, or residential contractor need not subcontract the installation, or repair made under warranty, of wood shingles, wood shakes, or asphalt or fiberglass shingle roofing materials on a new building of his or her own construction (§489.113(3)(b)); a general contractor need not subcontract structural swimming pool work (§489.113(3)(c)).
Source S-FL-113 — Florida Legislature (Online Sunshine)
Florida Statutes §489.113 — Qualifications for practice; restrictions — F.S. §489.113(3), (3)(b)-(c)
Retrieved 2026-10-01 · last verified 2026-10-01
Read verbatim 2026-10-01 (HTTP 200). (1) statewide certification requires the board-approved examination (degree shortcut: business & finance portion only); (2) must be certified or registered + supervised-subcontractor proviso; (3) subcontract rule for electrical/mechanical/plumbing/roofing/sheet metal/swimming pool/air-conditioning with exceptions (b)-(g); (4) certified contractor exhibits the certificate locally and pays the permit fee like others; (6)(a) specialty categories are VOLUNTARY statewide unless a statute mandates them; (7) oral examination petition.
Further exceptions: general contractor utility work (3)(d)-(e), solar contractor minor residential-solar work per board rule (3)(f). Used by rule FL-ROOFING.
04 Certified or registered
A certified contractor holding this category may contract in any Florida jurisdiction without meeting that locality's competency requirements (F.S. §489.105(8)); a registered contractor holding it may contract only where local licensing was met, and only for the registered type of work (§489.105(10), §489.117(1)(b)). The statute defines the category — it does not make it certified-only. Differences explained on the certified vs registered page. S-FL-105 S-FL-117
05 Local permit layer
Holding this category does not decide permits: the permit issuer must ascertain that the applicant is certified or registered in that area before issuing (F.S. §489.131(5)), and permit systems and fees remain county/municipal powers (§489.131(3)(a), (d)). No locality was researched for this release — LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED. S-FL-131