Florida Roofing Contractor License Cost & Requirements (2026)
Roofing is one of the trades Florida takes seriously at state level. The Certified Roofing Contractor license, the CCC credential issued by the Construction Industry Licensing Board's Division II, is a statewide, exam-based license with set fees, set insurance minimums and a financial-responsibility test. It is not one of this site's no-state-license trades: the numbers on this page are the board's, and they are the same numbers a roofer in Pensacola and a roofer in Miami both work under.
The headline cost is $540: a $245 application payment that already includes the $200 initial license fee, plus $295 of examination fees. Around that core sit the costs that decide whether the license actually issues: a credit-based financial test instead of a bond, $100,000 of public liability insurance, mandatory fingerprinting and four years of roofing experience. Florida's roofing market, rebuilt after every hurricane season, runs on this license, and after a declared storm emergency, working without it stops being a paperwork problem and becomes a criminal one.
Florida Roofing Contractor Fee Estimator
Regulatory fee breakdown for Certified Roofing Contractor (CCC) License
Itemized Fee Schedule
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)
All applications and exams must be registered directly with this board.
Fee figures on this page were checked against Florida DBPR - Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) on October 30, 2026. View the official source
Regulatory & Licensing Requirements Summary
| Official License Classification | Certified Roofing Contractor (CCC) License |
| Minimum Experience | 4 Years (Journeyman / Field Supervisor) |
| Mandatory State Surety Bond | Not required at state level (Local permits may apply) |
| General Liability Insurance | Varies by category: $300,000 liability / $50,000 property damage for General and Building Contractors; $100,000 / $25,000 for Residential and most specialty categories (Rule 61G4-15.003, FAC). |
| Estimated Application Processing Time | Not published by the board |
| Renewal Cycle & CE Requirement | Every 2 year(s) with 14 hours of Continuing Education |
Warning: Unlicensed Contracting Penalties in Florida
First offense: a first-degree misdemeanor, up to 1 year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine (§489.127(2)). A repeat offense, or any offense during a Governor-declared state of emergency, is a third-degree felony.
Note: In many states, unlicensed contractors also lose the ability to file mechanic's liens or sue for non-payment in civil courts.
Special Statutory Notes for Florida
Roofing's exam shows how seriously Florida takes this trade. The Certified Roofing Contractor license, the CCC, is a Division II credential from DBPR's Construction Industry Licensing Board, certified statewide by examination. Its exam has two parts: Business & Finance at 120 questions and Roofing Trade Knowledge at 80 questions, both computer-based and open-book. The exam stage costs $295: $135 to the exam vendor PTI plus $80 per test.
The application payment is $245 or $145 depending on where you apply in the two-year cycle, the $200 initial license fee included. Exam scores stay valid for 4 years, so the required 4 years of roofing experience, at least 1 of them supervisory, can be finished after you pass. Financial responsibility is the standard CILB test. At a FICO score of 660 or higher there is no surety bond: Florida tests financial responsibility by credit.
Below 660 the applicant completes a 14-hour board-approved financial responsibility course instead. The current rule contains no bond at any score. Insurance runs at least $100,000 public liability and $25,000 property damage, workers' compensation coverage or an exemption must be held, and electronic fingerprinting is mandatory. Renewal is every 2 years at $209, or $259 if you qualify a business, with 14 hours of continuing education.
The Registered Roofing Contractor license is the local alternative, resting on a county certificate of competency and valid only in that jurisdiction. The Financially Responsible Officer rule reaches roofing too: designate one, and that officer separately posts a $100,000 bond or letter of credit.
Florida divides licensing into Certified (statewide practice) and Registered (county/local jurisdiction practice). Building standards are strictest in the Miami-Dade and Broward High-Velocity Hurricane Zone.
What the CCC license covers
The certified roofing contractor installs, repairs, alters, extends and replaces roof systems statewide: asphalt shingles and shakes, concrete and clay tile, built-up roofing, single-ply and modified bitumen systems, architectural metal roofing, and the gutters and downspouts that go with them. One credential works in every Florida county, which is the practical difference from the registered license described below.
The alternative is the Registered Roofing Contractor: a roofer who holds a certificate of competency from one county or city, registers that competency with DBPR, and works only inside that jurisdiction. Registered roofers skip the state exams and the state experience standard, and in exchange accept a hard geographic limit. Most established Florida roofing companies hold the certified license, because storm work does not respect county lines and neither do their customers.
The fees, in the order you pay them
Examinations come first in practice, because the application needs your passing scores. The exam stage costs $295 in total: $135 goes to the examination vendor, Professional Testing Inc., and each of the two tests carries an $80 sitting fee.
The license application itself is $245 if you apply in the first half of the two-year cycle and $145 in the second half. That payment is not pure processing: it already contains the $200 initial license fee, which is why this site's table shows the fee as prepaid rather than adding it twice.
Two costs sit outside the $540. Electronic fingerprinting, run through an FDLE-approved LiveScan vendor, is charged by the vendor (usually under $100) and is mandatory: DBPR does not finish processing without the results. And before the license issues you must show the insurance described below, which for a working roofing company is a real premium, not a fee. Budget the $540 as the government total, and the insurance as the business total.
Two exams, both open-book
Business & Finance is a 120-question computer-based exam with six and a half hours allowed; Roofing Trade Knowledge is 80 questions with five hours. Both are open-book, both need 70 percent to pass, and both test how fast you can find the right rule in the approved references, the Florida Building Code, OSHA standards and the roofing manuals, rather than what you can memorise. Trade Knowledge leans on the code's roofing chapters, including the high-velocity hurricane zone provisions that govern Miami-Dade and Broward work.
Passing scores stay valid for four years. That window matters: you may sit both exams before your experience is complete, bank the scores, and apply once the four years are documented. Let the window close and you start the examination stage again.
Four years of roofing experience
The board wants four years in the trade, with at least one year in a supervisory role, and it wants the experience in actual roofing categories: installing shingles and shakes, built-up systems, single-ply systems, concrete and tile, architectural metal, and gutters and downspouts. The experience does not have to be Florida experience, and it does not have to precede the exams, but it does have to be verified, in writing, by a licensed roofing contractor of equal or higher certification who can speak to the work.
Education shortens the road in the standard Florida pattern: a construction-related degree can substitute for up to three of the four years, but at least one year must still be field experience. Keep pay records and project histories as you go. Experience that cannot be documented does not count, however real it was.
Credit instead of a bond, and the insurance floor
Florida's certified contractors post no surety bond. The board instead reads your credit: a FICO score of 660 or higher, with no unsatisfied judgments or liens, passes the financial responsibility test. Below 660 the remedy is education, not security: a 14-hour board-approved financial responsibility course under Rule 61G4-15.006. One bond does survive in this system: if your business designates a Financially Responsible Officer, that officer separately posts $100,000.
The insurance floor for roofing is $100,000 of public liability and $25,000 of property damage cover, lower than the general contractor's $300,000 and $50,000, plus workers' compensation for employees or a state exemption if you have none. Proof of cover is not a one-time application attachment: permits and audits assume it stays in force for as long as the license does.
Renewal, and the storm-season warning
The license renews every two years at $209, or $259 if you qualify a business, with 14 hours of continuing education in the cycle. Renewal pricing has been temporarily reduced in some past cycles, so the figure on your renewal notice governs. A lapsed certified license cannot pull permits, and Florida treats permit history as part of a roofing company's public record, which customers check after every storm.
After a hurricane, out-of-state roofers arrive in Florida expecting emergency waivers. There is no waiver of the license itself: Florida law makes unlicensed contracting during a declared state of emergency a felony, and the post-storm enforcement sweeps are aimed precisely at travelling crews. The certified license, obtained in quiet months, is the only legal way to do storm work.
Mistakes that delay a Florida Roofer application
- Reading the $245 application payment as the whole cost. The $540 of state and vendor charges excludes fingerprinting and the insurance you must hold before the license issues.
- Working statewide on a registered license. The county competency registration stops at the jurisdiction line; a job one county over is unlicensed work.
- Letting exam scores expire. Scores are valid for four years; an applicant who passes early and documents experience slowly can lose both results and pay the $295 again.
- Arriving at the application with a FICO score under 660 and no plan. The 14-hour financial responsibility course takes time to complete, and it delays issuance exactly when a new company can least afford it.
- Treating storm work as exempt. Emergency declarations raise, not lower, the legal exposure for unlicensed roofing.
Florida Roofer Licensing FAQ
How much does a Florida roofing contractor license cost in total?
The government and vendor charges total $540: a $245 application payment (or $145 in the second half of the cycle) that already includes the $200 initial license fee, plus $295 of examination fees ($135 to the exam vendor and $80 per test for the two tests). Fingerprinting, charged by the LiveScan vendor, and your insurance premiums sit outside that figure.
Does a Florida roofing contractor need a surety bond?
Not at a credit score of 660 or higher: Florida substitutes a financial responsibility test for a bond. Below 660 there is still no bond: you complete a 14-hour board-approved financial responsibility course instead. A business that designates a Financially Responsible Officer has that officer post $100,000 separately.
How much experience does the CCC license require?
Four years in roofing work, at least one of them supervisory, spread over the recognized categories from shingles and tile to built-up and single-ply systems. A construction degree can replace up to three years, but one year must be field experience, and all of it must be verified in writing by a licensed roofing contractor.
What is the difference between certified and registered roofing contractors in Florida?
Certified roofers pass the two state examinations, meet the state experience and financial standards, and may work anywhere in Florida. Registered roofers rely on a county or city certificate of competency registered with the state, skip the state exams, and may work only in that local jurisdiction.
How often does the Florida roofing license renew?
Every two years, at $209 (or $259 if you qualify a business), with 14 hours of continuing education per cycle. DBPR has temporarily reduced renewal charges in some cycles, so confirm the amount on your renewal notice.
How much does a Roofing Contractor license cost in Florida?
The filing and licensing fees on the Florida Roofing Contractor schedule total approximately $540. The $245 application payment already includes the $200 initial license fee; on top of that, the examination fees are $295.
How long does it take to get a Roofing Contractor license in Florida?
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) does not publish a fixed end-to-end processing time for this license. The Department publishes no end-to-end processing time; its FAQ states licenses are typically issued within about 2 weeks after the board meeting at which an application is approved.
What are the penalties for working as an unlicensed Roofer in Florida?
First offense: a first-degree misdemeanor, up to 1 year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine (§489.127(2)). A repeat offense, or any offense during a Governor-declared state of emergency, is a third-degree felony.
How often do you need to renew a Roofer license in Florida?
Licenses must be renewed every 2 year(s) with a renewal fee of $209. You must also complete 14 hours of approved Continuing Education (CE).