Florida contractor license lookup: how to check an HVAC contractor (DBPR)

Florida licenses air conditioning contractors through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, known as DBPR. Its licensing portal is public and free. DBPR describes the portal as providing information about applicants and licensed individuals for the professions and businesses it regulates.

1. Ask the contractor for the state license number. It should appear on the quote, the contract and the company's advertising.
2. Open the DBPR licensing portal listed in the sources below and choose Verify a Licensee.
3. Pick a search type. The portal offers four: search by name, by license number, by city or county, or by license type.
4. Search by license number if you have it, since that returns a single record. If you search by name, match the address to the business you are dealing with.
5. Open the record and read it against your quote.

• Who holds the license. The licensee or the business tied to the license should be the company on your quote. If a different company's license is being used, ask for a written explanation and verify that company too.
• License type. Florida issues air conditioning contractor licenses through the Construction Industry Licensing Board. DBPR's application checklists include a Certified Class A air conditioning contractor license, for example. The record should show an air conditioning or mechanical contractor license, not an unrelated trade.
• Status. Look for a license that is current and active. Do not hire on a license that is expired, suspended, revoked or inactive.
• Complaints and discipline. Read anything the record shows. The portal also links to an Unlicensed Activity Search and to File a Complaint.

Florida has more than one kind of contractor license, and the differences affect where a contractor may work and how large a system they may install. Those rules are set in state law and by the licensing board, and they are not spelled out on the search page. If the record shows a license type you do not recognize, call DBPR's Customer Contact Center at 850.487.1395 and ask whether that license covers a residential AC replacement at your address.

Your city or county building department is the other half of the picture. It issues permits for AC change-outs and can tell you whether the contractor is set up to pull permits locally.

A valid license shows the contractor is allowed to do the work. It does not show that the price is fair, that the system is sized correctly for Florida humidity, or that the company carries enough insurance. Ask for a certificate of liability insurance and proof of workers' compensation coverage or exemption, and get written quotes from more than one licensed contractor.

For how this site connects readers with contractors, see how contractor matching works.

• No license number on the quote, or a number that returns a different business.
• An offer to do the change-out without a permit.
• A demand for full payment up front in cash.