How do I check a Florida roofing contractor's license?

Look the license up yourself at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, https://www.myfloridalicense.com, before anyone climbs your roof or you sign a contract. Confirm the license is current, the name matches the person or company in front of you, and the license type covers the roofing work. Then ask for proof of insurance. A truck magnet, a flyer, or a city listing is not the license.

Florida's Department of Financial Services tells homeowners to verify the license there, get at least three estimates, and ask for references. Its Insurance Consumer Advocate guide goes further: do not allow a contractor to inspect your property, including your roof, until you have verified that they are a licensed, insured contractor.

How to look it up

Search the person's or company's name, or the license number if they gave you one. If the result is expired, inactive, or a different name than the one on the contract, stop and ask questions, or walk away.

Florida roofing work requires a state license. DBPR's construction-industry FAQs say roofing is among the trades that need state certification or registration. A certified license can be used statewide. A registered license is limited to the local area, and to adjoining locales that accept it. This page does not claim that only one license abbreviation can ever do roof work. What matters is that the license you find is current and actually covers the job.

If they cannot give you a license number, or they tell you the county listing is enough, treat that as a reason to pause. In Volusia County, the Contractor Licensing FAQ says the county's listed local specialty licenses are no longer issued or recognized as of July 1, 2024, because of House Bill 735, and that, for those local specialty licenses, a state certified license will be required after that date. That is the county's wording about the end of those local licenses. A current state-registered license may still be valid in the area where it is registered. Confirm the record on MyFloridaLicense.com. The county also keeps a contractor listing for its permit portal. That listing is not a substitute for the state license on MyFloridaLicense.com.

Insurance, complaints, and what to ask for

DFS says a contractor must have general liability insurance, and must have workers' compensation insurance unless they qualify for an exemption, and that you should ask for proof of insurance before you sign. The Consumer Advocate guide says to verify workers' compensation coverage or an exemption, and to request a general-liability certificate. Official coverage and exemption lookups are on the Florida Division of Workers' Compensation site.

You can also check complaint history. DFS points homeowners to the Better Business Bureau at https://www.bbb.org, and tells you to get at least three estimates and to ask for references. The Consumer Advocate guide goes further and tells you to get at least three detailed, itemized written estimates. A clean listing still does not replace the license search.

Ask them to show you the license number, the insurance proof, and a written itemized estimate before anyone gets on the roof. If the work is tied to an insurance claim, contact your insurer before you sign. That is also what Florida's roof-contract rules tell you to do. For the driveway pitch itself, see the FAQ on what to do if a roofer knocks after a storm.

What a license check does not do

• •It does not mean TruShield has already verified every person who might knock on your door. We match Volusia and Flagler homeowners with local licensed roofers, and you should still look the license up yourself.
• •It is not a promise that the work will pass inspection, or that your insurer will keep the policy.
• •It is not the same thing as a building permit. A licensed roofer still has to pull the permit your city or county requires. See the permit FAQ.
• •A license number on a card is only useful if it matches a current record for that person or company.

Next step

If you already have a name or a license number, look it up first. If you want help finding a local licensed roofer to document the roof, we can match you with one in Volusia or Flagler County. Bring the license number they give you back to MyFloridaLicense.com and confirm it yourself.

Call 386-999-4616 or start the quiz on this page.