Florida Plumbing Contractor License: Scope and Requirements

Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(m) defines the Florida plumbing contractor as a contractor whose services are unlimited in the plumbing trade, reaching sanitary and storm drainage, water and sewer plants, venting, water supply, septic tanks, wells, pool piping, irrigation and solar water heating. It is also the one class whose trade examination DBPR gives on paper, not by daily computer-based testing.

(m) “Plumbing contractor” means a contractor whose services are unlimited in the plumbing trade and includes contracting business consisting of the execution of contracts requiring the experience, financial means, knowledge, and skill to install, maintain, repair, alter, extend, or, if not prohibited by law, design plumbing. A plumbing contractor may install, maintain, repair, alter, extend, or, if not prohibited by law, design the following without obtaining an additional local regulatory license, certificate, or registration: sanitary drainage or storm drainage facilities, water and sewer plants and substations, venting systems, public or private water supply systems, septic tanks, drainage and supply wells, swimming pool piping, irrigation systems, and solar heating water systems and all appurtenances, apparatus, or equipment used in connection therewith, including boilers and pressure process piping and including the installation of water, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and related venting, and storm and sanitary sewer lines.

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.105, paragraph (3)(m).

The plumbing trade examination is administered on paper

DBPR administers the trade examinations by computer: “All other construction examinations, including the business & finance examination part, are administered in computer-based testing format on a daily basis.” One class is carved out: “Plumbing trade knowledge examinations are administered in paper and pencil format and are offered multiple times per year.” Every other trade exam is on demand; the plumbing exam sits on a published calendar of fixed dates that changes year to year, so it belongs to DBPR’s construction examination information page rather than this one.

Two examinations, not three

DBPR’s examination summary divides the classes by count: “Division I contractors (General, Building, and Residential) must pass three examinations” against “Division II contractors (all other specialties) must pass two examinations: Business and Finance and General Trade” knowledge. Plumbing is Division II, so the set is Business and Finance — 120 questions over 6.5 hours, daily computer-based testing — plus the plumbing trade-knowledge examination at 110 questions, 45 in the morning session and 65 in the afternoon, over 4.5 hours.

The scope clause reaches medical gas, fire lines and fuel piping

The same paragraph continues:

The scope of work of the plumbing contractor also includes the design, if not prohibited by law, and installation, maintenance, repair, alteration, or extension of air-piping, vacuum line piping, oxygen line piping, nitrous oxide piping, and all related medical gas systems; fire line standpipes and fire sprinklers if authorized by law; ink and chemical lines; fuel oil and gasoline piping and tank and pump installation, except bulk storage plants; and pneumatic control piping systems, all in a manner that complies with all plans, specifications, codes, laws, and regulations applicable.

That scope “applies to private property and public property, including any excavation work incidental thereto, and includes the work of the specialty plumbing contractor.” Whether a particular system falls inside that language is for DBPR, the board and the local authority to determine.

No additional local license for the work the paragraph lists

The phrase sits inside the definition itself: a plumbing contractor may do the listed work “without obtaining an additional local regulatory license, certificate, or registration” — Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(m). The clause speaks to licensure, not to permitting or inspection, and it leaves untouched the separate question of statewide certification versus local registration. See the board that regulates plumbing licensure for the board’s Division II jurisdiction.

Plumbing sits on the 489.113(3) reserved list

Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) opens: “A contractor shall subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work, unless such contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category, however:” — followed by seven lettered exceptions at (a) through (g), which this page does not restate. Plumbing is named in that opening list, and the duty is qualified further by Fla. Stat. 489.113(2) on supervised work. The subsection and all seven exceptions are quoted in full on when a licensed contractor must subcontract trade work.

What the plumbing class subcontracts out

The duty runs in both directions. Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(m) provides that “Such contractor shall subcontract, with a qualified contractor in the field concerned, all other work incidental to the work but which is specified as being the work of a trade other than that of a plumbing contractor.” The same paragraph then closes an assumption: “A plumbing contractor may perform drain cleaning and clearing and install or repair rainwater catchment systems; however, a mandatory licensing requirement is not established for the performance of these specific services.” It also disclaims any certification or registration requirement under this part for certain ch. 527 liquefied-petroleum-gas licensees and for authorized gas-utility employees reconnecting water lines when a water heater is replaced.

Degree route and financial responsibility

Rule 61G4-15.001(4)(c), F.A.C., names the baccalaureate degrees appropriate to the plumbing classification: “Mechanical Engineering or Sanitary Engineering” — a two-degree route, where the mechanical and air-conditioning classes are given one. Rule 61G4-15.006, F.A.C., is not class-specific. Its financial stability ground for refusal is failure to provide proof of a credit score, FICO derived, of 660 or higher, and an applicant below that threshold “shall meet the financial stability requirement by completion of a 14-hour financial responsibility course approved by the Board.”

Insurance minimums, fees and the application form

DBPR places its higher liability tier — $300,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage — on General and Building contractors, with “all other categories” at $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage. Plumbing sits in that second group, and these are coverage minimums, not premiums. Fees under Rule 61G4-12.009, F.A.C., are prescribed by action rather than by contractor category, so no separate Division II schedule exists; the controlling figure is the one printed on the current category application form, on the Construction Industry forms index.

The Florida general contractor licensing overview frames the licensing scheme; the Division II trade classes sets plumbing beside the other trade scopes; when a licensed contractor must subcontract trade work quotes 489.113(3) in full.

Common questions

What does a Florida plumbing contractor license cover?

Fla. Stat. 489.105(3)(m) makes the class “unlimited in the plumbing trade” and lists sanitary and storm drainage, water and sewer plants, venting, water supply systems, septic tanks, wells, pool piping, irrigation and solar water heating, adding medical gas, fire line, chemical, fuel oil and pneumatic control piping in a later sentence.

Does a general contractor have to subcontract plumbing work in Florida?

Fla. Stat. 489.113(3) directs a contractor to subcontract all plumbing work unless that contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the plumbing trade category, subject to the seven exceptions at 489.113(3)(a) through (g).

Is the Florida plumbing exam computer-based?

DBPR states that all other construction examinations, including Business and Finance, run as daily computer-based testing, and that “Plumbing trade knowledge examinations are administered in paper and pencil format and are offered multiple times per year.” The plumbing trade examination is 110 questions over 4.5 hours.

What degree substitutes for plumbing experience in Florida?

Rule 61G4-15.001(4)(c), F.A.C., identifies “Mechanical Engineering or Sanitary Engineering” as the baccalaureate degrees appropriate to the plumbing classification under the degree standard in Fla. Stat. 489.111(2)(c)1. The rule names the accepted degrees; it does not dispose of an application.

This page describes the statutory scope of a license class and is general information, not legal advice. Verify scope, examination format and current forms with the Florida DBPR/CILB before acting.