STATE LICENSE
ConditionalFlorida DBPR — Construction Industry Lice…
Framing has no mandatory trade licence in Florida. It is not one of the seven trades a general contractor must subcontract to a licensed specialist under § 489.113(3), and until recently it had no category of its own at all.
Section 489.113(6)(b) changed the shape of that. It directed the board to establish certified specialty contractor categories by July 1, 2025, including structural carpentry, and Rule 61G4-15.100 adopted the scope: install any wood products or metal framing in a structure of a building, including rough framing, doors, windows including metal, and structural trusses. The same statute then says these categories exist as voluntary statewide licensing categories and do not create a mandatory licensing requirement.
What still bites is the definition of contracting. A person who, for compensation, undertakes or submits a bid to construct, repair, alter, add to or improve any building or structure is a contractor under § 489.105(3), and Chapter 489 has no framing exception. A framer who signs a contract with a property owner to frame a house is contracting; a framer who holds the voluntary structural carpentry certificate, or who works for a licensed contractor, is not exposed the same way.
The state sets the license floor; the county or city permit office controls filing, inspections, and local rules wherever the job site sits.
Local governments issue the building permit and run the framing inspection, and § 163.211 preempted occupational licensing to the state with the pre-2021 grandfather expiring July 1, 2025. Section 489.117(4)(a)1. bars local licensing of job scopes that do not substantially correspond to a state category — but framing now corresponds to a board-adopted specialty category, so the cleanest local question to ask is whether a permit will issue in your name at all. A building department may not issue a permit to a contractor without a valid active state licence.
The local offices section below names the exact permit desk for every Florida county on file.
Each row names the issuing authority, cost, timeline, citation, and status behind the requirement — verified against the official source.
Published fees from the issuing authorities, as of September 2026. Local permit fees vary by project and jurisdiction — the basis is stated where a flat number does not exist.
The structural carpentry specialty is one of twelve categories § 489.113(6)(b) required the board to establish by July 1, 2025 — and the same subsection declares every certified specialty category voluntary.
Section 489.113(3) forces a contractor to subcontract electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool and air-conditioning work to licensed trades. Framing is not on that list.
Contracting under § 489.105(3) means undertaking or bidding to construct or improve a building for compensation. Signing with the owner is the act that pulls Chapter 489 in.
A practical sequence for a new framing contractor in Florida. Actual agency processing times are noted in the ledger above.
Each item names the issuing authority, cycle, and citation.
Statutory consequences with their citations — not estimates, not “commonly cited” guesses.
Contracting with an owner to frame a building without holding the licence the scope requires.
DBPR may fine an unlicensed person directly and recover its investigative and legal costs, independent of any criminal case.
An unlicensed contractor cannot enforce its contract in law or in equity, while the owner keeps every remedy against it.
Inside city limits, the city office listed here issues the permit; the county office serves unincorporated areas. Every office links to its official page.
Every fact in this file was checked against these official sources on September 2026.
Pending verification: Whether DBPR treats a framing subcontractor working under a licensed general contractor's permit as requiring its own licence — no board declaratory statement on the point was retrieved · Whether local governments may license framing now that a corresponding state specialty category exists, given the § 489.117(4)(a)1. test turns on correspondence to a state category · The experience prerequisites and examination content for the structural carpentry specialty certification, which are not stated in Rule 61G4-15.100
General information, not legal advice. Always confirm requirements, deadlines, and forms with the issuing authority before filing or contracting.
Store licenses, permits, policies, and renewal dates in one place.