How we check licenses

DBPR publishes files of every licensee for the Construction Industry Licensing Board, the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, and Mold-Related Services, and updates them daily. We download them every day. DBPR leaves void, delinquent, and involuntarily inactive licenses out of these files.

A license appears on a listing only if it meets one of these rules:

• Business name. The listing’s name matches the “doing business as” name on a state license record (ignoring words like “Inc.” and “LLC” and punctuation). The name must include at least one distinctive word beyond the trade or place — so “Altec Roofing” can match, but a generic name like “Plumbing Inc.” can’t. The license address must be in Palm Beach or Broward County.
• The business’s own website. The business publishes the license number on its own website, and that number doesn’t appear on any other listing’s website. We re-read each business’s website about once a week.
• Provided by the business. After claiming its listing, the business adds its license number, and the business name on the state record shares a distinctive word with the listing’s name.

Each license on a listing says which of these rules it matched.

“Active” means the state lists the license as Current and Active and its expiration date hasn’t passed, as of the “checked” date shown on the listing. We re-check every license daily. If our check can’t run for 7 days, listings stop saying “active” until it does. A license that is no longer active is removed from the listing.

We show the license type and number, the business name on the license, whether it’s statewide (“certified”) or limited to local jurisdictions (“registered”), and its issue and expiration dates. We don’t show the name of the individual license holder or any disciplinary history — you can look both up at MyFloridaLicense.com.

• It doesn’t mean the license covers the specific work you need — check the license type.
• It isn’t an endorsement, and it says nothing about the quality of anyone’s work.
• It doesn’t cover insurance. Before a pro can quote on our open job board, we separately review a certificate of insurance they upload — see Section 4 of our Terms.
• Some trades, like landscaping and most water and fire damage restoration, generally don’t require a Florida state license, so those listings may have no license to show.

Massachusetts licenses aren’t checked this way. See our Massachusetts Terms for how to check a Massachusetts license.

If your license is missing or shown on the wrong listing, claim your listing and add your license number, or email kbarry@vendorsource.us. We’ll remove any license match that isn’t yours.