Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) Explained

The Construction Industry Licensing Board is the board inside Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation that licenses and disciplines the contractors covered by chapter 489, Part I. It works in two divisions — Division I for general, building and residential contractors, Division II for the trade classes — and the forms filed with it carry CILB numbers, indexed below.

What the CILB is

Fla. Stat. 489.107(1) creates the board within the department. Members are appointed by the Governor subject to Senate confirmation, serve 4-year terms, and may not serve more than two consecutive terms or 11 years in total.

Section 489.107(2) provides that “The board shall consist of 18 members”: four general contractors; three building or residential contractors; one from each of seven trades; two consumer members; and two building officials.

Section 489.107(4)(a) splits the board. Division I is the general, building and residential contractor members, regulating those three classes. Division II is the trade members, and 489.107(4)(b) states its reach exactly: “Division II has jurisdiction over the regulation of contractors defined in s. 489.105(3)(d)-(p).” Specialty contractors sit outside that range, in 489.105(3)(q), which 489.107(4)(c) routes to whichever division covers the scope of work; those scopes are on the Division II trade classes. Under 489.107(5), five members of each division are a quorum, and neither may act on the other’s matters.

CILB forms and application numbers

The forms are grouped by the situation that sends you looking, because the numbers are not sequential by purpose: CILB 8, 9, 18 and 24 all touch business qualification.

Form numbers and titles verified against the DBPR licensing-forms index on 2026-07-27. DBPR periodically renumbers and retires forms — the index is authoritative, so confirm against the current DBPR Construction Industry forms index before filing.

Apply for a license

Three routes open a license: certified, registered, or grandfathering out of a registration.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 5-A, 5-B, 5-C	“Certified General Contractor as an Individual – Active/Inactive” (5-A); Building is 5-B, Residential 5-C	An individual applies for a certified Division I license	CILB 2/3/4, the registered versions
CILB 2, 3, 4	Registered-contractor applications (series — confirm the exact title on the index)	Competency is held locally, so the license is jurisdiction-bound	CILB 5-A/B/C, the certified route
CILB 29–31	“Certification of Registered Contractor (Grandfathering)”	A registered contractor moves to certification by grandfathering	CILB 32, reciprocity not grandfathering

Exams

One form covers examination registration for every category.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 1	“Initial and Retake Examination Application”	A candidate registers to sit the state exam, or a retake	CILB 5-A, the license application itself

Qualify a business and change a qualifying agent

These four are the four numbers whose purposes overlap most, and each is filed for the business.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 8	“Add, change or remove a Financially Responsible Officer”	A business adds, changes or removes that officer	CILB 24, the qualifying agent instead
CILB 9	“…Qualifying an Additional Business with Existing License as a Business / as an Individual”	A licensee qualifies a second business while keeping the first	CILB 18, moving between businesses
CILB 18	“Change of Status – One Qualified Business to Another Qualified Business”	A qualifying agent moves from one qualified business to another	CILB 9, adding rather than moving
CILB 24	“Add or change a Qualifying Agent”	A business names or replaces its qualifying agent	CILB 9, an additional business

Change status, name or address

Housekeeping filings, plus the one that revives a lapsed certification.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 11–19	Change-of-status series (confirm the exact title on the index)	Other status changes across the 11–19 range	CILB 18, listed above
CILB 22	“Request for Address or Name Change”	An individual licensee’s name or address changes	CILB 23, business entities instead
CILB 23	“Request for Name Change for Construction Business Entity”	A construction business entity changes its name	CILB 22, individuals instead
CILB 26	“…Reinstate Null and Void Certification”	A certification has gone null and void	Renewal; reinstatement is not renewal

Reciprocity and endorsement

Two routes into Florida certification from another state, on two forms.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 10	“Endorsement as Certified [category]”	Another state’s license is offered for Florida certification	CILB 32, reciprocity instead
CILB 32	“Reciprocity – Certified General / Building / Residential Contractor”	A Division I applicant applies under a reciprocity arrangement	CILB 10, endorsement instead

Continuing education

Filed by education providers, not by licensees.

Form	Official DBPR title	Filed when	Commonly confused with
CILB 27	“Continuing Education Provider Approval Application”	An organization seeks approval to provide continuing education	CILB 28, courses not providers
CILB 28	“Continuing Education Course Approval Application”	An approved provider seeks approval for one course	CILB 27, providers not courses

CILB 1: the examination application, not the license application

CILB 1 registers a candidate to sit the Florida general contractor exam for the category being pursued, and the same form covers a retake of a part not yet passed. It is filed by the candidate, separately from the license application: passing the examination and being licensed are two distinct determinations, each with its own filing. That is why CILB 1 and CILB 5-A are the pair most easily read as one document.

CILB 8: the financially responsible officer

CILB 8 is the form for the officer a licensed business has on file as financially responsible — adding one, changing who it is, or removing them. It is filed for the business. It is not the form for changing who qualifies the business to contract: that is the qualifying agent, who moves on CILB 24 or CILB 18. Businesses routinely reach for CILB 8 when the change they are actually making is a qualifying-agent change.

CILB 9: there is no single CILB 9

CILB 9 is a form family, not one document. It is issued per license category — the DBPR index lists 72 variants — so the version you need names your category, for example “Certified General Contractor Qualifying an Additional Business with Existing License as a Business.” Two things vary across the family: your license category, and whether the additional business is being qualified by you as a business or as an individual. If the title does not name your category and your situation, it is the wrong variant.

CILB 18: moving, not adding

CILB 18 is for a qualifying agent leaving one qualified business and taking that license to another. It is the move; CILB 9 is the addition, filed to qualify a second business while continuing to qualify the first. Both are business-qualification forms, both are searched by bare number, and that is why they are the pair most often swapped. What the role itself involves is covered on qualifying a business to contract.

Which form do I need

• A certified Division I license — CILB 5-A, 5-B or 5-C; the document set is on filing the CILB 5-A application.
• The state examination — CILB 1, filed separately from the license application.
• A qualifying-agent or financially-responsible-officer change — CILB 8, 9, 18 or 24, depending on whether the change is financial, an addition, or a move.
• Coming from another state — CILB 10 for endorsement, CILB 32 for reciprocity; see endorsement and reciprocity routes.
• A certification gone null and void — CILB 26; look up a Florida contractor license to read its current status label first.
• Continuing-education provider or course approval — CILB 27 or 28; licensee deadlines are on continuing-education and renewal deadlines.
• A name or address change — CILB 22 for an individual, CILB 23 for a business entity.

What the CILB decides

Licensure. It approves or denies applications for the certificates and registrations in chapter 489, Part I. The criteria an applicant must satisfy are under what the board requires of applicants.

Examination. The examinations required for licensure are governed by Chapter 61G4-16 of the Florida Administrative Code.

Discipline. Section 489.129(1) allows the board to act “against any certificateholder or registrant” — probation, reprimand, revocation, suspension, denial of issuance or renewal, and financial restitution to a consumer. That reaches existing licensees; unlicensed activity runs separately, under 489.13 and 489.127.

Specialty categories. Board rule can establish certified specialty contractor categories under 489.113(6), and they are voluntary: 489.113(6)(a) provides that such a category does not create a mandatory licensing requirement, and that any mandatory statewide requirement may only be established by specific statutory provision.

CILB vs DBPR vs the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board

DBPR is the department; the CILB is a board inside it. Section 489.107(1) creates the board “within the department,” which is why both names appear on the same paperwork. The CILB is the part of DBPR that deals with construction contractors under chapter 489, Part I.

The Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board is a different board under a different part of the same chapter. Section 489.507(1) provides that it “shall consist of 11 members” — seven certified electrical contractors, two consumer members and two certified alarm system contractors I. Electrical and alarm contracting are chapter 489, Part II, so an electrical contractor is not licensed by the CILB, and 489.105(3) contains no electrical category.

The two boards must meet. Section 489.107(6): “The Construction Industry Licensing Board and the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board shall each appoint a committee to meet jointly at least twice a year.” The headcount keeps them apart — 18 members at the CILB, 11 at the ECLB.

The rules: Florida Administrative Code chapter 61G4

Statute says what the board does; the board’s own rules say how. Those rules are chapter 61G4 of the Florida Administrative Code — Rule 61G4-15.001 sets the experience areas an applicant’s history has to cover, Rule 61G4-15.006 sets the financial-responsibility standard, and Chapter 61G4-16 governs examinations. Rule text is published in the official code — see Rule 61G4-15.006 on the Florida Rules gateway. Rules are amended on their own schedule, independently of the statute.

Meetings, contact, and complaints

The board acts in meetings, division by division, under the quorum rule in 489.107(5) — so an application in a trade class is not decided by the general-contractor members.

Meeting dates, agendas and contact details are administered by DBPR and are not reproduced here: they change, and the department’s Construction Industry section is where to read them. The same goes for complaints.

Common questions

Is the CILB the same as the DBPR?

No. DBPR is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the state agency. The CILB is one board created within it by Fla. Stat. 489.107(1), and its subject is construction contractors under chapter 489, Part I. The department issues the license; the board makes the decisions.

How many members are on the CILB?

Eighteen. Section 489.107(2) provides that “The board shall consist of 18 members” — four general contractors, three building or residential contractors, one contractor from each of seven trades, two consumer members and two building officials.

Which board licenses electrical contractors in Florida?

The Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, not the CILB. Section 489.507(1) gives the ECLB 11 members and places it under chapter 489, Part II. The CILB’s category list in 489.105(3) contains no electrical category.

Where do I find the current CILB forms?

On DBPR’s Construction Industry licensing-forms index, linked above. The index is authoritative: numbers are retired and reissued, so a number quoted on any third-party page — including this one — is only as current as its verification date.

For how the pieces of Florida’s licensing structure fit together, start from the Florida contractor licensing guide.

This page summarizes Florida statutes, board rules and DBPR form listings, and is general information, not legal advice. Confirm current form numbers and requirements with the Florida DBPR before filing.

Last verified: 2026-07-27