Florida Electrical Contractor License: Part II, Not CILB

Florida regulates electrical contracting under chapter 489 Part II, a separate part of the same chapter from the seventeen contractor classes chapter 489 Part I’s Construction Industry Licensing Board licenses. Fla. Stat. 489.505(12) defines an electrical contractor or unlimited electrical contractor, and the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, created under Fla. Stat. 489.507(1), administers that definition — not the CILB.

Two parts of one chapter, two boards

Chapter 489 is not administered by one board. Part I creates the Construction Industry Licensing Board and, at Fla. Stat. 489.105(3), defines seventeen contractor categories split into Division I — general, building, and residential, at paragraphs (a) through (c) — and Division II, the trade classes at paragraphs (d) through (q). Part II is a different part of the same chapter: Fla. Stat. 489.507(1) creates the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, seated separately from the CILB and set at a different membership count, weighted toward certified electrical contractors and certified alarm system contractors I. Electrical contracting, defined at Fla. Stat. 489.505(12), is regulated there, not among the Division II trade class definitions that Part I’s board administers. The certificate you hold under Part I — Division I or a Division II trade — sits with the CILB; this license sits with the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board instead.

Fla. Stat. 489.505(12), in full

(12) “Electrical contractor” or “unlimited electrical contractor” means a person who conducts business in the electrical trade field and who has the experience, knowledge, and skill to install, repair, alter, add to, or design, in compliance with law, electrical wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, conduit, or any part thereof, which generates, transmits, transforms, or utilizes electrical energy in any form, including the electrical installations and systems within plants and substations, all in compliance with applicable plans, specifications, codes, laws, and regulations. The term means any person, firm, or corporation that engages in the business of electrical contracting under an express or implied contract; or that undertakes, offers to undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a bid to engage in the business of electrical contracting; or that does itself or by or through others engage in the business of electrical contracting.

Quoted from Fla. Stat. 489.505(12).

The paragraph runs as two sentences doing two different jobs. The first defines the trade itself — wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, and conduit, at any point that generates, transmits, transforms, or utilizes electrical energy. The second defines who the term reaches: “any person, firm, or corporation” that contracts to do that work, offers or bids to do it, or does it “by or through others” — reaching a business structure as readily as it reaches you as an individual contractor.

Not one of the seventeen Division II classes

Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)‘s lettered list runs from (d) Sheet metal contractor through (q) Specialty contractor, and the statute’s own flush text closes that range: “Contractors are subdivided into two divisions, Division I, consisting of those contractors defined in paragraphs (a)-(c), and Division II, consisting of those contractors defined in paragraphs (d)-(q).” Electrical does not appear in that list. Your certificate, whichever of the seventeen classes it is, sits inside how the license classes divide and the Division II trade class definitions; this license does not, because it is defined in a different part of the chapter entirely.

Quoted from Fla. Stat. 489.105(3).

Where a Division II class’s own wiring work meets this definition

Fla. Stat. 489.505(12)‘s first sentence reaches “electrical wiring” at any point that “generates, transmits, transforms, or utilizes electrical energy in any form”. Several Division II classes are, separately, given a narrow band of wiring work inside their own paragraphs. The Class A air-conditioning contractor definition at Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(f) is one:

to replace, disconnect, or reconnect power wiring on the line or load side of the dedicated existing electrical disconnect switch on single phase electrical systems; to repair or replace power wiring, disconnects, breakers, or fuses for dedicated HVAC circuits with proper use of a circuit breaker lock

The same paragraph then excludes broader work from that class’s own scope:

does not include any work such as liquefied petroleum or natural gas fuel lines within buildings, except for disconnecting or reconnecting changeouts of liquefied petroleum or natural gas appliances within buildings; potable water lines or connections thereto; sanitary sewer lines; swimming pool piping and filters; or electrical power wiring.

Both quoted from Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(f); the mechanical contractor class at 489.105(3)(i) carries the same wiring language. The Class A air-conditioning or mechanical class you hold carries this narrow wiring band inside its own paragraph. Where that band ends, and where the broader Part II definition at 489.505(12) begins, is a question the two provisions do not cross-reference against each other, and the point turns on how they are construed together.

One place in the record does answer a version of this question directly, for a different pair of classes: Fla. Admin. Code R. 61G4-12.011(15) provides that “the term “installation or repair” of pool/spa equipment, as it pertains to swimming pool and spa electrical work, is defined as inclusive of installation, replacement, disconnection or reconnection of power wiring on the load side of the dedicated existing electrical disconnecting means. If installation, removal, replacement, or upgrading of this circuit is necessary, the work shall be performed by a licensed electrical contractor only.” That rule is written for the pool/spa contractor classes at Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(j), (k), and (l), and it does not extend to the air-conditioning or mechanical classes’ own wiring language above.

Quoted from Fla. Admin. Code R. 61G4-12.011(15).

Forming a business entity

Fla. Stat. 489.505(12)‘s second sentence extends the definition to a firm or corporation, not only to the individual who holds the license — the entity engages in electrical contracting “under an express or implied contract” the same way an individual does. Many electrical contractors organize the business side under an LLC or corporation for that reason, keeping the entity that bids and contracts separate from the license you hold as an individual.

Common questions

Does a CILB certificate cover electrical work?

No CILB class reaches it, whichever one you hold. The certificate — general, building, residential, or one of the Division II trades — is defined at Fla. Stat. 489.105(3), in chapter 489 Part I. Electrical contracting is defined separately, at Fla. Stat. 489.505(12), in Part II, and the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board administers that definition rather than the CILB.

What does Fla. Stat. 489.505(12) require an electrical contractor to have?

The statute states the definition in terms of “the experience, knowledge, and skill to install, repair, alter, add to, or design” electrical wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, and conduit, in compliance with applicable plans, specifications, codes, laws, and regulations. It does not itself set an exam, an experience threshold, or a fee for the license you would hold; those are administered separately by the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board.

Related pages

For Florida’s contractor licensing framework generally, how the license classes divide between Division I and Division II, and the Division II trade class definitions each class covers, start there. When trade work must be subcontracted quotes Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) in full, including where electrical sits against the trades that section reserves. For the board structure itself, see which board regulates each class.

This page quotes Fla. Stat. 489.105(3), 489.505(12), and Fla. Admin. Code R. 61G4-12.011; general information, not legal advice.