How to vet a maintenance vendor in Florida: license, Sunbiz, insurance and workers' comp

Suppose a roofing company sends over a tidy packet before its first job: a license number, a certificate of insurance, a W-9. Every page can be genuine and the company can still be one you would not send onto a roof. The license may have lapsed at renewal. The LLC may have been dissolved for skipping its annual report. Florida keeps most of what you need to catch this in public databases.

What is the vetting routine, step by step?

Run these in order. Each step feeds the next: the business name on the license is the name you search on Sunbiz, and the officers listed on Sunbiz are the people whose exemptions you look up.

1. 1If the trade needs a state license, find it on the DBPR license search at myfloridalicense.com.
2. 2Confirm the license is current and active, covers the trade, and applies where the work is.
3. 3Find the company on Sunbiz and confirm it is active under the same name.
4. 4Read the certificate of insurance against both records: name, dates and limits.
5. 5Check workers' compensation coverage, or each owner's exemption, in the Division of Workers' Compensation's databases.
6. 6Put every expiration date on a calendar.

Which maintenance trades need a Florida state license?

Section 489.105 of the Florida Statutes defines the contractor categories that need a state license, and the list reads like a maintenance budget: general, building and residential contractors, roofing, sheet metal, air conditioning, mechanical, pool and spa, plumbing, underground utility, solar, pollutant storage and specialty contractors. Electrical contractors are defined separately, in section 489.505.

Plenty of maintenance work falls outside that list. Section 489.117(4)(a) names job scopes for which a local government may not require a license, among them painting, flooring, cabinetry, handyman services, pressure washing, plastering and caulking. Small jobs under $2,500 have their own conditional exemption in section 489.103(9), covered in our guide to the handyman exemption. And a county business tax receipt is not a license; section 489.127 says so plainly.

What does the DBPR license search show?

DBPR's license search finds a licensee by name, license number, city or county, or license type. Each result gives the license type ("Certified Plumbing Contractor", say), the name and whether it is a primary name or a DBA, the license number, and a status with an expiration date. Click the name for the full record, including any complaints or discipline.

The status has two halves, both defined in DBPR's glossary. "Current" means the licensee is up to date with the department; "Delinquent" means a renewal was missed. "Active" means the licensee may operate under the license; "Inactive" means not. You want Current, Active, because section 489.127 treats anyone working on an inactive or suspended license as unlicensed.

The Construction Industry Licensing Board's FAQ adds two details. The license lists the name of the qualified business, which should match your invoice. And the license number has to appear on bids, contracts and advertisements, so it ought to be on the proposal before you ask.

What is the difference between a certified and a registered contractor?

A certified contractor holds a state certificate of competency and, under section 489.105, may contract anywhere in Florida. A registered contractor has met a local jurisdiction's requirements, and section 489.117(1)(b) limits the registration to the places where those requirements were met, and to the type of work it covers.

Suppose your portfolio runs from Orange County into Polk. A registered plumbing contractor may be fully licensed in one and not the other. Ask where the registration applies, and confirm with the building department where the job is. A certified license travels; a registered one stays home.

How do you check a company's status on Sunbiz?

Sunbiz (sunbiz.org) is the Florida Division of Corporations' database. Its search page finds corporations and LLCs by name, officer or registered agent, FEI/EIN or document number. Search the exact name from the license, then read the status, the officers and the annual report history.

A Florida entity has to file an annual report every year to stay active, the Division's FAQ explains, and one that doesn't is administratively dissolved and marked "INACT/UA." According to the annual report page, an entity that has not filed by the third Friday in September is dissolved at the close of business on the fourth Friday. Each fall, then, vendors that skipped the report flip to inactive. Reinstatement is possible, but you want to know before the invoice arrives.

The officer list matters for a later step too: section 440.05 requires anyone claiming a workers' compensation exemption to be listed as an officer in these records.

What should you look for on a certificate of insurance?

The standard form is the ACORD 25, the Certificate of Liability Insurance. Its header, shown on this blank copy from the National Park Service, says the certificate "is issued as a matter of information only and confers no rights upon the certificate holder." ACORD's certificate FAQ is blunter: a certificate is not a policy, and "only an endorsement, rider, or amendment to the policy can effect changes in coverage."

So read it as a summary, and check that:

• The insured's name matches the exact legal name on the license and on Sunbiz.
• The policy dates cover the dates of the work.
• The "each occurrence" and "general aggregate" limits meet your contract. The form warns that limits "may have been reduced by paid claims."
• If you need to be an additional insured, you have the endorsement. The "ADDL INSD" box is not proof; the form says the policy must have additional insured provisions or be endorsed.
• Workers' compensation is listed, or there is an exemption you can verify.
• Your company's legal name appears as certificate holder.

The certificate cannot tell you whether the policy was canceled after it was printed. Its cancellation clause promises notice only "in accordance with the policy provisions," and ACORD's FAQ notes that a typical liability policy obliges the insurer to notify only the first named insured. When something looks off, call the agency listed as producer. Our guide to certificates of insurance for contractors covers the vendor's side of the same page.

Does a Florida vendor need workers' compensation coverage?

Under section 440.02, coverage is required for private employment with four or more employees, or with one or more in construction, which the statute defines as for-profit "building, clearing, filling, excavation, or substantial improvement" of structures or land. In construction, a sole proprietor counts as an employee. The Division of Workers' Compensation's coverage requirements page adds that corporate officers and LLC members count toward the total.

Owners can opt out, within limits. In construction, no more than three officers of a company, each owning at least 10 percent, may elect an exemption. Under section 440.05 it costs $50, lasts two years and covers only the officer named on it; the company's employees still need a policy.

To check, use the databases listed in the Division's coverage and exemption brochure: Proof of Coverage, Exemption and Stop-Work Order searches, plus a Construction Policy Tracking database that sends automatic notices when a tracked contractor's policy or exemption changes. That last one is, in effect, a vendor file that updates itself.

For an employer that should be covered and isn't, section 440.107 calls for a stop-work order halting all business operations, and a penalty of twice the premium it would have paid over the preceding 12 months or $1,000, whichever is greater. A stop-work order midway through a water-damage job becomes your problem too.

What are the penalties for unlicensed contracting in Florida?

Section 489.127 makes contracting without a certification or registration a first-degree misdemeanor for a first offense and a third-degree felony for a repeat. During a state of emergency declared by executive order of the Governor, even a first offense is a third-degree felony, which is worth remembering after a hurricane.

Under section 489.128, a contract entered into by an unlicensed contractor is unenforceable by that contractor, and it has no lien or bond claim for the work. The statute leaves the other party's rights intact.

How often should you re-check a vendor?

Vetting turns out to be mostly about dates. Licenses expire, policies expire, construction exemptions last two years, and Sunbiz status hangs on a report due every spring. A vendor who passed every check in March can fail two of them by October without doing anything wrong on a job site. Re-run the lookups whenever a date passes, and before sending a vendor into a county it has not worked in.

At 1Stop, an expired certificate of insurance blocks a vendor from being assigned at dispatch, automatically (see how it works). If you manage property in our coverage area, you can send a request.

A vendor file is a photograph. The work happens later.