Pool and spa

Need a licensed pool contractor to qualify your company in Florida?

You build pools, renovate them, or keep them running. Cleaning and water care need no license. Building a pool, repairing it, or working on its equipment does, and without a licensed pool contractor behind your company, you can't contract for that work. Here is which license fits and how it works.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Speak to a Florida construction attorney before entering any qualifying arrangement.

The short answer

Yes. A licensed pool and spa contractor can serve as your company's qualifying agent. Florida has three pool licenses: commercial, residential and servicing. Which one you need depends on whose pools you work on and whether you build them or only repair them.

Which license fits your company

Commercial pool and spa, starts with CPC: building, repairing and servicing any pool, hot tub or spa, public or private.
Residential pool and spa: building, repairing and servicing residential pools, hot tubs and spas.
Pool and spa servicing: repair and servicing only, including draining a pool to repair or renovate it.
None of them covers direct connections to the sewer or to drinking water lines.

What needs no license

Cleaning a pool or spa in a way that doesn't affect its structure or equipment needs no license, and neither does water treatment that doesn't need equipment. Once the work touches the pool's structure or its equipment, it's licensed work.

A general contractor can do the structural part of a pool but has to hand all other pool work to a licensed pool contractor. Building and residential contractors have to hand off all of it (Statute 489.113).

What a pool qualifier actually does

The qualifier is not a name on a form. Florida holds them responsible for supervising your pool work, and the state looks at whether that supervision is real.

They are filed with the state licensing department as your company's qualifying agent.
They oversee your jobs, permits and inspections. Not on every job every day, but genuinely involved.
They are tied to your company through W-2 employment, ownership, or a written agreement.

W-2, ownership, or an agreement

What it costs

Three costs, kept apart.

Paid to the qualifier

Their pay

Agreed between you and the pool contractor. It depends on how many jobs you run, how organized your company is, and how much supervision you need. We don't publish a range, because the number only means something once both sides know the work.

Paid to the state

Filing fees

The state's own filing fees, paid to the state licensing department directly.

Paid to QualiFind

Only after a yes

Nothing to apply or to be on the platform. You only pay once we've found you a qualifier who has said yes, and if the introduction doesn't happen, you can have it back.

What happens to jobs signed without a qualifier

This is the risk most companies don't hear about until it costs them. If a company signs a job without a qualifier licensed for that kind of work, Florida says the company cannot enforce that contract (Statute 489.128).

It can't take the customer to court to get paid.
It has no lien rights on the property and no claim against a payment bond.
Unlicensed contracting is a first-degree misdemeanor, and a third-degree felony for a repeat offense or during a declared state of emergency, such as after a hurricane (Statute 489.127).

If your qualifier leaves

Under Statute 489.119, the company has 60 days from the day the qualifier leaves to bring on a new one, and it cannot take on new contracts until it does.

The state can give an officer of the company a temporary certificate, but it only covers jobs that were already signed.
The qualifier who left stays responsible for the work they supervised while they were there.
Start looking the day you know. Sixty days goes faster than it sounds.

Warning signs

A contractor who offers to "rent" you their license number for a monthly check, with no involvement in your jobs. That is illegal for both of you under Statute 489.127.
Anyone who says yes before asking about your crews, your insurance or the jobs you run.
No written agreement. If the duties aren't written down, neither side is protected.

Get started

Tell us about your company.

QualiFind's qualifier applicants already include a licensed pool contractor. Every qualifier's license is checked against the state's records, and you're matched by trade, area and the way you work.

Start your application

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to clean pools?+

No, as long as the cleaning doesn't affect the pool's structure or its equipment, and the water treatment doesn't need equipment installed.

Can a general contractor build my pools?+

Only the structural part. All other pool work has to go to a licensed pool contractor.

Can a pool contractor from another part of Florida qualify my company?+

A certified license covers the whole state, so yes, as long as real supervision is realistic at that distance. A registered license only covers the area that issued it.

How long does it take?+

Plan in weeks, not days. You need to find the right person, both sides need to do real checking, the terms have to be agreed, and the qualifier has to be filed with the state.

Can I get my own pool license later?+

Yes. A real qualifying arrangement is the legal bridge. You run and build the company now, under a real qualifier, and work toward your own license on a realistic timeline.

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