How to get your Contractors License in Florida: Step by Step

hey there my name is Jesse Lane I've been a certified contractor here in Florida since I was 22 years old I started with my CBC license which I can explain more about that in a second and last year I just passed my CGC exam so I'm now a certified general contractor I have been through the rigorous testing the studying of course and the licensure application etc twice now and so I'm going to share with you in this video the nuts and bolts of how to actually do this here in Florida so if you're into this kind of thing and you want to get your Florida state certified contractor's license then stay tuned before we start I want to clarify one thing there's actually two different types of contractors here in Florida there's a certified contractor and there's a registered contractor I'm going to be showing you the certified contractor as that means you can do work statewide versus only being licensed as a registered contractor which means you're only licensed in that County so this video is going to be for these certified contractors out there that want to get their certified contractors license now to further break this down there's actually three different types of certified contractor there's a certified residential contractor certified building contractor sort of a general contractor a residential contractor can only do work on residential homes up to two stories so a residential contractor can't build any multifamily or anything above two stories a building contractor can do residential work but also commercial work up to three stories even if there's an existing four-story building and the and the building contractor wants to work on that he actually can't do any structural renovations on that four-story building unless it's three stories or under and then of course the top-tier general contractor is unlimited to this scope that you can do so you can build skyscrapers residential commercial industrial anything like that with no limit on the size of project he did accomplish this I saw a lot of videos on here that I just like either selling you an exam prep course or really not giving you the full bit of information so that's my goal with this video the only thing I ask in return is that you subscribed this channel if you're not already and leave a little thumbs up down below and leave a comment of course that really helps and watch the whole video through ok there's like 4 things you have to do but it would really help me and my little baby channel out a lot ok so let's get started with Stefan number 1 ok so step number one is to research the requirements that you're actually gonna need to have in place before you even think about taking this test because without these requirements you could pass a test and still not be licensed so I have got my laptop here and I've detailed everything out and I'm gonna tell you right here right now what exactly you need to do so of course the first thing is to obtain a passing score of 70% or more on all three parts of this contractor's exam so the contractors test is actually broken out into three different parts there's the business and finance section there's the contract administration and there's also the project management so there's three different parts that you'll need to pass the three different tests that make up the contractor's exam so there's the Business and Finance and then the contract administration and project management those are taken on the same day those are about four hours and 45 minutes each there'll be a lunch in between this is lunch right here and then your business and finance that is about a six and a half hour test so these are gonna be two separate testing days I personally took the business in finance section first it doesn't matter what you take first now super good news you can actually take all three of these tests on the computer at Pearson VUE as of 2018 I think it was like August 2018 but before then like when I took it four years ago it was drive to Tallahassee or Orlando but I went to Tallahassee and you have to take a paper test and then you can't even schedule like say you fail you can't even schedule your test for another couple months because they only would schedule those four six times a year I believe but that's all in the past you can now do it unlimited times as long as you pass the test within four years of your initial exam date so the next part of the requirements are of course paying the applicable fees to Pearson VUE I think it's $80 a test something like that that's about 135 dollars for the application to see ILB so it's a fairly minimal cost the biggest cost of this whole thing is gonna be your books the next requirement is you must be 18 or older so hopefully you're 18 or older that's not a hard one unless you're not 18 or older next you must be of good moral character what does this mean no criminal crazy background you can't be currently incarcerated you can't have like crazy you know legal things happening I'm not a legal adviser of course so you might need to research this if you do something going on but hopefully it won't be a problem for you the next one is you must demonstrate financial responsibility so you have to have a credit score of 660 or higher and if you don't have credit scores 660 or higher you can actually go to a 14-hour financial responsibility course and I think that they'll work with you a little bit as long as you complete that course but you can talk to see ILB about that one the next thing on the requirements is you must have workers compensation or an exemption it's easy to apply for an exemption I think it's like $150 or something don't quote me but I've done that years back and you just renew it every year and it exempts you as the owner of a business that you don't have to have workers comp on yourself of course you still need to have workers comp on your employees but you can get exempt as the owner there's Jake's tail the next thing is you must have a general liability insurance policy for a let me read these notes you're gonna go for general or building contractor you need to have three hundred thousand dollars of public liability and fifty thousand dollars of property damage if you're just going for a residential contractor you need to have a hundred thousand public liability and twenty-five thousand property damage policy and by the way any business needs general liability so you're gonna have to have this anyway just a side note so okay the next this next one is the biggest one a lot of people cannot get their general contractor's license there any certified contractors license because of the experience requirements and so here are the options that they give you you can either have a four-year construction related degree and one year experience or one year experience as a foreman or supervisor and not less than three years of credits from an accredited college level courses or one year experience as a worker one year experience as a foreman and two years of credits from an accredited college level courses or two years experience as a worker one year experience as a foreman and one year of credits from accredited college level courses or four years experience as a worker or foreman of which at least one year must have been a foreman or supervisor and there's also some benefits if you were in the military you know Navy stuff like that they actually will the credit that as part of it as long as you have some construction experience and then lastly there's the upgrade method which if you have held a residential or a building contractors license for more than four years which is actually how I got my general contractor's license because I've had my building contractors license for four years and so I passed the GC test and just applied for my GC license because of my CBC holding that for four years and quick sidenote if you look in the description below I'm actually gonna put a link to a Dropbox file which has all the documents that you're gonna need and links to things that I reference here in this video so definitely check that out it's a great resource that I've put together for you so step number one was the biggest one we just want to make sure that you've got everything that you need let's just say that you have every other requirement other than maybe one thing or something like that then you'll you'll have that experience built up in the next two years you can start studying and even pass your test I believe you just can't apply for the license until you have those things built up because remember you have four years from the initial exam scheduled date to you know apply for your certified contractor's license okay step number one was the biggest one we wanted to really make sure that you had every requirement in place but step number two is apply for an exam prep class I cannot accentuate this enough you must apply for an exam prep class if you don't you're just gonna miss out on so many things that they had to offer that you're just not gonna know it would've been like how just stuff that because this this isn't about you have to realize that even if you have a background and a lots of experience in construction this has nothing to do with that it will help a little bit but most what this test is a about what they're looking for this is completely different what CIL bee is actually looking for the construction industry licensing board is your competency and ability to retain and process information and then find that information in these books that is how you're gonna pass this test the exam prep courses are gonna give you the math formulas the tabbing the highlighting what you're gonna go over in one quick second and everything that you're going to need to know to be successful in passing this test I personally went to triple-a construction school which is linked to them is also in the description Triple A construction school a a construction school been around for over three decades who have helped thousands pass to say examination and we can certainly help you there here off Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville Florida and like in the Arlington area but there's tons across Florida wherever you live I'm sure just Google Contractors exam prep courses and tons of people want to take your money for that now step number three is to get the books of course you want to get the right books but the exam prep course is gonna steer you towards the right books there's about 18 19 20 books that you're gonna need to get you can buy these anywhere as long as are the right books but I just recommend just going to the exam prep course if it's in person or online and person would be better but they'll guide you and give you a whole list of every book that you're going to need to purchase ok now speaking of books obviously you can see my books here I'm gonna show you a snippet of how I tabbed and highlighted my books for success check this out okay for example this is principles and practices of commercial construction turn off autofocus every tab is completely readable and referenceable auto focus back on auto focus saves my life thank you canon you're amazing you make great cameras okay so this is this is exactly how I did my books the most important thing here is to write on both sides of the tabs you see how dang see how I can read all the tabs no matter where in the book I am let's say I get a question I start scanning through the top like this I started scanning through the tabs like this but then once I open the book the point is I can see every other tab that I've written because I've written on both sides of the tab the next thing is to do your tabs in a way to where you start at the top at the top left that's what I did and then one in a row until you go all the way around and then flip the tab upside down and then put the row on the bottom that's what I did sometimes they'll get a little bit bent but you just deal with it and then you start back up at the top so that's how focus so that's how I have these gaps and the tabs aren't hiding behind each other I saw so many I was the only guy in class that did it this way everyone else had all these tabs that were pretty much hidden behind each other because they didn't pre-plan so so this is the process I literally bought this thing on Amazon because these dang it so I could listen to these things because that Triple A construction school is extremely old school but rob has been given these contractors lessons for like 30 years and he runs you through everything that you need to highlight in these books I start on page one and you highlight everything he says on your first pass through the book and then you go back through highlight by highlight understand where things are in the book and then start placing your tabs based on what the content of that page is saying let's say for example here's my page on all the different soil types it says its soil types and then fill layers six inches Shelby tube soil tests boundary surveys all kinds of stuff like that that is related to this section of the book and so once you're you've done that then you start with the practice test is about 600 practice questions in one book that they sell and then here's all the practice tests from the actual courses in person you can go through and then you test your ability to reference information about you know which book is it is the first thing you say and then how do I find it within that book once you've narrowed that down and you'll be wrong a lot until you start being right and then you'll know you're ready to take the test so what they're looking for is can you find a small bit of seemingly hidden information in a large stack of books that's the key so I'd recommend taking at least four to six months or so of like hardcore studying to really get this thing under your belt okay let's move on to step number five got really bright in here so step number five is of course to schedule and then of course take the test and pass the test again you need a 70% passing score on all three portions again that's business and finance and contract administration and project management are there in that other day and you can schedule your Florida exam at Florida exam comm it's really that simple and you'll get a call from Pearson VUE and you'll go there to your local Pearson VUE and you'll take the test and you'll grab lunch and then you'll hopefully pass and they literally give you your results just right there on the spot Jake's enjoying this Saturday taking the test really isn't that bad you just have to really bring some snacks bring a banana and some granola bars in a bottle of water make sure you have everything you need make sure your brain is just prepped and prepared to think hard right so my first test I think I got like a 75 74 something like that seventy six four years ago this last time I got an 85 percent and I studied since like January of 2018 and then I took the test I believe around August of 2018 so a bunch of months of studying had a lot of it under my belt was helping people in class so you kind of need to get to that point of you just know every answer you're like I know that's principles and practices that's Walker's that's design and control of concrete mixtures and that's you know the Florida codebook residential versus building and you know there's different books there's 20 books that you have to just know the AIA documents and the builders guide to accounting and just different things that there's a lot of stuff that you probably will never use again in your life like I said don't rely on your previous construction knowledge it's not going to get you passed the test what's gonna get you passed the test is knowing these books back and forth and knowing where to find the information step number six once you pass submit your application to the see ILB construction industry licensing board which is just a offshoot of the DBPR which is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation those are the people that are going to decide whether or not to give you a license do you meet all the requirements did you pass the test it's really that simple now the course that you go to like triple a construction school they will do all of this for you they'll submit it you can also submit it yourself if you like or check out licenses etc that's they're a great company they charge you a little bit to just gather all the information and stuff but they they put a nice package together and make sure that you get approved so I checked them out of course all these links will be in the description and step number seven is to enjoy your new license you can really do well in this industry always treat your clients with utmost respect produce quality projects you will be a success if you value these things and you have integrity contractors get a bad rap please do not give the contracting industry of bad rep I mean you can be an amazing amazing contractor I believe in you thanks for watching number subscribe like all that good stuff and I'll see you in a future video of course if you have any questions or if you feel like I miss anything out which I probably did but I think they got most of the information you could figure it out fill in the gaps but leave a comment below and I'll see you soon [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Jesse Lane

Views: 212,762

Keywords: general contractor license florida, florida general contractor, how to become a general contractor in florida, florida general contractor license, how to become a contractor in florida, how to become a licensed contractor in florida, contractors license florida, florida general contractor license exam prep, general contractor license, becoming a general contractor, how to become a general contractor, how to become a contractor, general contractor, how to get a contractors license

Id: CH2exaqdky8

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 16 2019