How qualifying works in Florida, start to finish
Eight sections, in the order the arrangement actually happens. Every legal claim is quoted from the statute or the rule so you can check it, and each section links down into a page that goes further.
General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Speak to a Florida construction attorney before entering any qualifying arrangement.
Florida licenses individuals, not companies, so a construction business can only contract and pull permits through a licensed person who agrees to carry it. That person is its qualifying agent, and by default they are responsible for supervision of all operations, all field work at all sites, and financial matters. The arrangement has to be one the Board will accept as real supervision, and it ends by notice with a deadline most people have never heard of.
1. Why Florida works this way
A person sits the examination and holds the license. A company cannot. So when a business wants to contract for construction work, Florida Statute 489.119 requires it to apply through a licensed individual, and it then operates under that individual's license.
Since 1 October 2009 DBPR has not even issued the company a certificate of its own. The qualified business name appears on the person's license instead, which is the clearest statement of the principle available.
Everything downstream follows from that one fact. The company's ability to work is exactly as durable as its relationship with one person, and that person's exposure is exactly as wide as the company's activity.
2. What the qualifier takes on
A qualifying agent is a primary qualifying agent unless he or she is a secondary qualifying agent under this section. All primary qualifying agents for a business organization are jointly and equally responsible for supervision of all operations of the business organization; for all field work at all sites; and for financial matters, both for the organization in general and for each specific job. Florida Statute 489.1195(1).
Primary is the default, not a rank you are given. Becoming a secondary requires a company that already has more than one qualifying agent and a joint agreement signed by all of them on a Board form and approved. If you are a company's only licensed contractor, that lighter status does not exist for you.
- Every permit the company pulls is pulled under that license, and Florida Statute 489.119(5)(a) puts the number on every application.
- Work done before your appointment is not yours. Florida Statute 489.1195(3)(d) says so expressly.
- Work done during your appointment is, subject to the knowledge elements that some grounds of discipline carry and others do not.
3. How a person is lawfully tied to a company
This is the part almost everyone states wrongly, including an earlier version of this page, so it is worth being careful.
For your first company, no Board rule requires a percentage of ownership or a place on the payroll. What Florida requires is an affidavit under 489.119(2)(b)1 attesting that you have final approval authority for all construction work and all business matters, including contracts, specifications, checks, drafts and payments, except where a financially responsible officer is approved.
The 20 percent and W-2 tests everybody quotes come from the rules on qualifying an additional business. Even there they are not requirements. Under Rule 61G4-15.0021(3)(a) they excuse a Board appearance, and under Rule 61G4-15.0024 they demonstrate supervisory ability to the Board, absent evidence to the contrary. That is a rebuttable presumption, not a closed list of lawful arrangements.
- If you already contract in your own name, Rule 61G4-15.0021(1) treats that as practice as a business organization. The first company you qualify is therefore an additional one, and the additional-business rules apply to you from the start.
4. What can go wrong, and to whom
The Board's powers are broader than fines and revocation. Under Florida Statute 489.129(1) it can also order restitution to a consumer, charge you the costs of investigating and prosecuting you, and impose a fine of up to $10,000 per violation. Under (9), a revoked licensee is barred for five years from any managerial or supervisory role in a construction business.
It does not fall only on the qualifier. Section 489.129(2) allows a further fine of up to $5,000 per violation against the business organization or against any partner, officer, director, trustee or member who participated or knew and did nothing. And Florida Statute 489.132 makes it a violation for an unlicensed principal to conceal material activities from the primary qualifying agent.
One provision decides more of these cases than any other.
When a certificateholder or registrant allows his or her certificate or registration to be used by one or more business organizations without having any active participation in the operations, management, or control of such business organizations, such act constitutes prima facie evidence of an intent to evade the provisions of this part. Florida Statute 489.129(1)(e).
Alongside it sits the criminal subsection aimed at licensed contractors rather than unlicensed ones: under 489.127(4), agreeing to let your number be used by a business that is not duly qualified is a first degree misdemeanor, and a third degree felony on a repeat.
The question is rarely what you did. It is whether you can show you were there.
5. The financially responsible officer
The strongest structural protection available. On Board approval, a business may designate a financially responsible officer who takes all financial aspects of the organization, and the qualifying agent then becomes responsible for all construction activities instead of operations, field work and money together.
It is not free and it is not a filing. Under Rule 61G4-15.0021(2) the officer must provide a bond or irrevocable letter of credit of $100,000 payable to the Board, and under Rule 61G4-15.006 must pass a credit test. That bond is the real reason companies resist, and knowing it changes how you ask.
You also give something up. The final approval authority over contracts, checks and payments that you would otherwise swear to moves with the responsibility.
6. Doing it properly, before you sign
Most of what you need is public, free, and available without telling the company you are looking.
- The entity and its officers, on Sunbiz.
- Any license claimed, on DBPR's licensee search, run by name as well as by number.
- Workers compensation coverage and exemptions, on the Division of Workers' Compensation portal, rather than on a certificate somebody emailed you.
- OSHA inspection history, and county records for liens and judgments.
- The company's previous qualifiers, which is the one thing not searchable online and takes a public records request or a direct question.
7. What it pays
TO BE COMPLETED. This section needs QualiFind's own fees and a realistic range for what a qualifying arrangement pays in Florida. Nothing here should go live until Robert and Anne have settled them.
8. How it ends
Two different provisions govern leaving, and which applies depends on whether the company had other qualifiers.
- If you were the only licensed contractor, Florida Statute 489.119(3)(a) requires you to inform the department when you cease to be affiliated, and Rule 61G4-15.007 gives you thirty days. Failure to report shall result in disciplinary action, which makes it the deadline that matters most and the one least often mentioned.
- If the company had more than one qualifier and you were designated sole primary by a Board-approved joint agreement, Florida Statute 489.1195(3) applies: notice to the company, the Board and every secondary, with proof, and your status ends on designation of a new primary or sixty days after satisfactory notice, whichever comes first.
The sixty days in 489.119(3)(a) that everyone quotes is the company's window to replace you, not a period during which you remain exposed. And under 489.1195(3)(d) leaving is prospective only. You keep whatever arose while you held the status, and Chapter 489 sets no limitations period for Board discipline.
Both parties against the state record before either hears the other's name.
Frequently asked questions
How does qualifying a company work in Florida?+
Florida licenses individuals rather than companies, so a construction business applies for authorization through a licensed person under Florida Statute 489.119. That person becomes its qualifying agent and is responsible, by default, for supervision of all operations, all field work at all sites, and financial matters.
Do I have to own part of the company or be on its payroll?+
Not for a first company. No Board rule imposes an ownership or employment test there; the requirement is an affidavit of final approval authority over the work and the money. For an additional company, 20 percent ownership or W-2 status excuses a Board appearance and demonstrates supervisory ability, but they are not the only permissible arrangements.
Can I limit what I am responsible for?+
Two ways, both requiring Board approval. A financially responsible officer moves the financial side, leaving you responsible for all construction activities. Secondary qualifying agent status narrows you to field work at sites where your own license obtained the permit, but it requires a company with more than one qualifier and a joint agreement signed by all of them.
What is the worst that can happen?+
On the licensing side, a fine of up to $10,000 per violation, restitution, the costs of prosecution, revocation, and a five year bar from any managerial role in construction. On the criminal side, agreeing to let your license number be used by a business that is not duly qualified is a first degree misdemeanor under 489.127(4), and a third degree felony on a repeat.
Can I be sued personally for the company's debts?+
Not merely because you qualified it. In Murthy v. N. Sinha Corp., 644 So. 2d 983, the Florida Supreme Court held that Chapter 489 does not create a private cause of action against a qualifying agent. Anything you have personally guaranteed or agreed to indemnify is separate and unaffected.
How do I get out?+
If you were the only qualifier, inform the department and notify the Board within thirty days under Rule 61G4-15.007. If you were a joint-agreement sole primary, give actual notice to the company, the Board and every secondary, with proof to the Board. Either way, leaving is prospective only.
Is this legal advice?+
No. This is a plain reading of Chapter 489 and the Construction Industry Licensing Board's rules, with the provisions quoted so you can check them yourself. Rule 61G4-15.0021 was amended on 23 December 2025. Speak to a Florida construction attorney before entering any arrangement.