The rules where you work $17
A first 30 days checklist, everyday forms, licenses, workers’ comp and taxes for Florida, with a yearly calendar. Instant PDF download.
Buy the packet: $17Digital product, all sales final. Informational only, not legal, financial, tax or business advice.
What Florida expects from a new trade business
Florida is the opposite of Texas: the state licenses most structural and mechanical work, workers' comp kicks in with your first employee, and the lien law runs on tight day counts. Get set up right and the rules protect you. Skip a step and they're used against you.
Know which side of Florida's license line you're on
Most structural and mechanical work needs a license from the Construction Industry Licensing Board (part of DBPR): general, building, residential, roofing, plumbing, HVAC, pool and more. Electrical work has its own board. A certified license works statewide. A registered one works only where you're registered locally.
Finish work is different. Painting, flooring, cabinetry, tile and stone, stucco, caulking, pressure washing and handyman services don't take a state license, and local governments can't require one for those scopes. Other scopes, like gutters, siding and fences, can have a local license if the local government set it up before 2021.
The small-job exemption is narrow: a total price of less than $2,500. You lose it if the work is part of a bigger job, if you split a job to stay under, or if you advertise as a contractor. Don't build a business on it.
Where a license is required, contracting without one is a crime, your contract can't be enforced by you, and you have no lien. To get and keep a state license, you'll show proof of general liability coverage and workers' comp or an exemption. A construction attorney can tell you which side you're on.
Source: Florida Statutes Chapter 489 · Construction Industry Licensing Board
Who to call: an attorney near you
Workers' comp starts with your first employee
Outside construction, Florida employers need workers' comp at four employees. In construction it's one, and the state counts owners who are corporate officers or LLC members unless they're validly exempt.
Officers and LLC members who own at least 10% can file for an exemption, up to three per company. It costs $50 and lasts 2 years. Your employees still have to be covered. A sole proprietor in construction is listed as an employee and appears to have no exemption, so ask before you go out that way.
A 1099 doesn't get you out of it. If you sublet work, you answer for the sub's employees unless the sub has coverage. The state checks job sites. A stop-work order shuts you down, with a penalty of 2 times the premium you should have paid. An insurance agent who writes contractors can set up coverage and help you file your exemption.
Source: Florida Statutes Chapter 440 · Division of Workers' Compensation, construction exemptions · Division of Workers' Compensation, coverage requirements
Who to call: an insurance agent near you
Getting paid: Florida lien rules
Florida's Construction Lien Law runs on day counts, and they're the same on homes and commercial jobs:
- If you don't have a contract with the owner (sub or supplier), serve a Notice to Owner within 45 days of first working on or supplying the job, and before the owner makes final payment. Mail it within 40 days and keep the mail record, and service counts on the mailing date.
- Record your Claim of Lien within 90 days of the last day you worked on or supplied the job.
- Serve the claim on the owner before recording or within 15 days after, or it can be voided.
- Sue within 1 year of recording, or it's gone. An amended claim showing a later last day can move that date. If the owner serves a Notice of Contest, you have only 60 days.
- If you contract with the owner, deliver a final contractor's affidavit at least 5 days before you sue. Contracts over $2,500 on homes of up to four units need the state's lien warning.
A construction attorney can put the right language in your contract and set up your notices once. It costs far less than one job you can't collect.
Source: Florida Statutes Chapter 713, Part I
Who to call: an attorney near you
Sales tax on your materials
When you install materials into someone's home or building under a contract, Florida treats you as the end user of those materials. You pay sales tax when you buy them, plus any county surtax, and build it into your price. You don't charge your customer tax on the job, even if you itemize materials and labor. If you buy materials without paying tax, you owe use tax on them.
The exception is a retail sale plus installation contract. Every material has to be itemized and priced in the contract before work begins. You register, buy tax-exempt and collect tax on the materials from your customer. Leave out one material and it doesn't qualify.
Retail sales, rentals and some service work follow different rules. A CPA who works with contractors can tell you where the lines are for your trade.
Source: Florida Administrative Code Rule 12A-1.051 · Florida Department of Revenue, sales tax
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
LLC, sole proprietor, or S-corp?
You form an LLC on Sunbiz, the Division of Corporations, for $125. It has to file an annual report by May 1 every year, at $138.75. Miss it and there's a $400 late fee, and the state dissolves companies that still haven't filed by the third Friday in September.
Florida has no personal income tax. The state corporate income tax mostly hits C-corporations, not the usual one-owner LLC or S-corp. When an S-corp election starts saving you money depends on what the business clears after your floor rate. Bring your numbers to a CPA and ask them to run it.
Source: Sunbiz LLC fees · Sunbiz annual report · Florida Department of Revenue, corporate income tax
Who to call: a CPA or tax pro near you
Education, not legal or tax advice. Rules change. Confirm anything here with a licensed pro in Florida before you rely on it. Last updated November 2026.