Underground Utility and Excavation Contractor — Florida License
Division II category limited to construction, installation and repair of main sewer, water and storm collection systems and utility continuations up to the meter — with an official exclusion for fire-protection piping.
01 Verbatim statutory definition
§489.105(3)(n) Underground Utility and Excavation Contractor
“Underground utility and excavation contractor” means a contractor whose services are limited to the construction, installation, and repair, on public or private property, whether accomplished through open excavations or through other means, including, but not limited to, directional drilling, auger boring, jacking and boring, trenchless technologies, wet and dry taps, grouting, and slip lining, of main sanitary sewer collection systems, main water distribution systems, storm sewer collection systems, and the continuation of utility lines from the main systems to a point of termination up to and including the meter location for the individual occupancy, sewer collection systems at property line on residential or single-occupancy commercial properties, or on multioccupancy properties at manhole or wye lateral extended to an invert elevation as engineered to accommodate future building sewers, water distribution systems, or storm sewer collection systems at storm sewer structures. However, an underground utility and excavation contractor may install empty underground conduits in rights-of-way, easements, platted rights-of-way in new site development, and sleeves for parking lot crossings no smaller than 2 inches in diameter if each conduit system installed is designed by a licensed professional engineer or an authorized employee of a municipality, county, or public utility and the installation of such conduit does not include installation of any conductor wiring or connection to an energized electrical system. An underground utility and excavation contractor may not install piping that is an integral part of a fire protection system as defined in s. 633.102 beginning at the point where the piping is used exclusively for such system.
Legal basis: F.S. §489.105(3)(n) 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)(n)
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 II. Official exclusion: fire-protection piping from the point used exclusively for that system (§633.102).
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