Palm Beach County Contractor License: A 1967 Special Act

Palm Beach County does not license contractors under a county ordinance. Its authority comes from Chapter 67-1876, Laws of Florida, a special act of the Legislature as amended, administered by a county board and enforced through two county ordinances layered on top of it. That distinction shapes everything else.

A naming problem worth clearing first

The county’s board is the Construction Industry Licensing Board of Palm Beach County, and the state board under Fla. Stat. ch. 489 is also called the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Both appear in county documents, and they are different bodies with different jurisdictions. On this page, “the county board” means the Palm Beach one.

The county board has fifteen members appointed by the Board of County Commissioners: two general contractors, one building, one residential, one architect, one engineer, one full-time building official, one roofing, one swimming pool, and three consumer members.

What the special act requires

The act states its purpose in terms of competency:

“It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Legislature that, in order to safeguard the life, health, property and public welfare of its citizens, the business of construction and home improvements is a matter affecting the public interest, and any person engaging in the business as herein defined shall be required to establish his competency and qualifications to be certified as herein provided.”

The duty itself is short:

“A contractor shall hold a certificate of competency as provided by this chapter before bidding or performing work requiring certification.”

Before bidding, not before building. And the prohibition runs the other way in the same act:

“It is unlawful for any person to engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor without having met the provisions of this act.”

County Ordinances 97-56 and 97-57, both repealing an earlier Ordinance 86-8, are the enforcement instruments. Ordinance 97-56 restates the prohibition and carries the definitions the county applies.

Moving around inside the county

The special act settles what a certificate holder needs when working in another part of the county, including inside a municipality:

“When a certificate holder desires to engage in contracting in any area of the county, within or without a municipality, as a prerequisite therefore, he shall only be required to exhibit to the local building official, tax collector, or other person in charge of the issuance of licenses and building permits in the area, evidence of holding a current certificate accompanied by the fee for the Business Receipt Tax and building permit required of other persons.”

A certificate plus the ordinary tax and permit fees. No second competency process per municipality.

The trades the county certifies

Seven construction categories: General, Building, Residential, Electrical, Plumbing, Journeyman-Electrical, Journeyman-Plumber, and HARV — heating, air conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation, which is the county’s own term with no state equivalent.

The county’s own disclaimer on the two journeyman rows:

“Journeyman are not allowed to contract, must perform work under a Master Electrician or/a Master Plumber.”

Twenty-three specialty trades sit beneath those, and the act defines the tier by experience rather than by scope alone:

“Specialty Contractors are those who can qualify with a minimum of 3 years experience, 50 percent of which must be in a supervisory capacity, as determined by the Board, who specialize in one or more of the crafts of the building construction and related contracting trades whose scope is less than those contractors defined above and is limited under the certificate of competency.”

Nineteen trades the county no longer licenses

Effective 1 July 2025, state preemption removed nineteen specialty trades from the county’s reach, under House Bill 735 (2021), House Bill 1383 (2023) and Senate Bill 1142 (2024). Among them: acoustical and suspended ceiling, finish carpentry, countertop, insulation, lightning protection, painting, paver systems, paving, reinforcing steel, tile, terrazzo and stone, and wood flooring.

The county’s notice states the consequence directly:

“Pursuant to Section 489.117(4)(a), Florida Statutes, work performed within the above scopes is exempt from licensing requirements.”

Any list of Palm Beach trades that predates July 2025 is wrong, and that includes lists still circulating.

What a state certificate does here

Ordinance 97-56 defines the county’s own terms to reach both credentials:

“Certificate or License shall mean a current valid Certificate of Competency issued by the CILB pursuant to Laws of Florida, Chapter 67-1876, as amended, or a certificate issued by the state of Florida pursuant to Fla. Stat. Chapter 489.”

The county’s fee schedule also carries an “Enhanced Countywide Enrollment Program” line, marked as preempted by the state.

What no Palm Beach document says in terms is whether a state-certified contractor must also obtain a county certificate. That question is answered by Fla. Stat. 489.117 rather than by county law, and this page does not resolve it — the certified and registered distinction it turns on is set out under the certified and registered distinction.

Where to go next: how local licensing works in Florida covers the county layer generally, what a certificate of competency is covers the instrument, and the Florida general contractor license guide covers the state framework around it.