Florida Contractor License Exemptions

01 Small air-conditioning units — ≤ 3 tons / 36,000 Btu, no ducts, cord and plug

All of the following conditions must hold simultaneously:

F.S. §489.103(14) exempts any person who sells, services, or installs heating or air-conditioning units which have a capacity no greater than 3 tons or 36,000 Btu, which have no ducts, and which have a factory-installed electrical cord and plug.

All conditions must hold together — the threshold alone is not the rule.

02 Chapter 475 property manager — aggregate contract < $5,000

F.S. §489.103(17) exempts contracting for repair, maintenance, remodeling, or improvement by any person licensed under part I of chapter 475 while acting as the owner's agent, where all work requiring a contractor is performed by a contractor with a current, valid certificate or registration issued under Part I and the aggregate contract for labor, materials, and all other items is less than $5,000 — unless the work is part of a larger or major operation (including division into contracts under $5,000 to evade Part I) or the person advertises that he or she is qualified to engage in contracting.

03 Owner-builder exemption — own occupancy, $75,000 commercial cap, disclosure statement

F.S. §489.103(7)(a) exempts owners of property acting as their own contractor with direct, onsite supervision of all work not performed by licensed contractors when building or improving farm outbuildings or one-family or two-family residences for the occupancy or use of such owners (not offered for sale or lease), or building or improving commercial buildings at a cost not to exceed $75,000 for the owner's occupancy or use and not offered for sale or lease. To qualify, the owner must personally appear and sign the building permit application and satisfy local permitting agency requirements, receiving the statutory disclosure statement (F.S. §489.103(7)(c)).

Sale or lease within 1 year of completion creates a presumption the construction was for sale or lease (§489.103(7)(a)1.). Other subparagraphs: emergency roof repair after a Governor-declared state of emergency ((a)2.), SunShot solar installation requiring a licensed electrical contractor for wiring ((a)3.), and completing a permit where the listed contractor substantially completed the project ((a)4.).

04 Casual/minor/inconsequential work exemption — < $2,500 with exceptions

All of the following conditions must hold simultaneously:

F.S. §489.103(9) exempts any work or operation of a casual, minor, or inconsequential nature in which the aggregate contract price for labor, materials, and all other items is less than $2,500 — but this exemption does NOT apply if the construction, repair, remodeling, or improvement is part of a larger or major operation (including division of the operation into contracts of amounts less than $2,500 for the purpose of evading Part I), and does NOT apply to a person who advertises that he or she is a contractor or otherwise represents that he or she is qualified to engage in contracting.

All FOUR conditions are mandatory — 'Florida handyman exemption = $2,500' is an incomplete statement of this rule. Unlike California's BPC §7048, §489.103(9) has NO building-permit condition. The DBPR FAQ dates the exemption's application to 2020-07-01; the statute text is the authority (FAQ corroboration, not the source).

05 Apartment maintenance employee — electric water heaters / electric HVAC, $1,000 per repair, 100 apartments

F.S. §489.103(23) exempts an employee of an apartment community or apartment community management company who makes minor repairs to existing electric water heaters or existing electric heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems when ALL conditions hold: the employee holds a current ANSI-accredited National Apartment Association apartment maintenance technician certificate (at least 1 year of experience, at least 90 hours of coursework, all examinations), does not hold himself or his employer out as licensed, is under FICA-withholding supervision with workers' compensation, the equipment is already installed and repaired only with functionally identical parts, an individual repair does not involve replacement parts costing more than $1,000 and is not part of a divided larger project, and the property includes at least 100 apartments.

This subsection does NOT limit a municipality or county from requiring licensure for apartment maintenance technicians (final paragraph of (23)).

06 Job scopes a local government may NOT license

A local government may not require a person to obtain a license, issued by the local government or the state, for a job scope that does not substantially correspond to the job scope of a §489.105(3) contractor category or a certified specialty category, and may not require a state or local license to obtain a permit for such job scopes; the statutory examples include painting; flooring; cabinetry; interior remodeling when the scope does not include a task for which a state license is required; driveway or tennis court installation; handyman services; decorative stone, tile, marble, granite, or terrazzo installation; plastering; pressure washing; stuccoing; caulking; and canvas awning and ornamental iron installation (F.S. §489.117(4)(a)1).

A person whose job scope does not substantially correspond to a statutory category is not required to register with the board (first sentence of §489.117(4)(a)1). This is a LIMIT ON LOCAL POWER, not a state licensing exemption — §489.103 handles state exemptions.

S Sources

← Florida hub · Minor work project page (FL-MINOR-WORK rule) →