How to verify a business or professional license in Florida

Search the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) license verification by the contractor's name and, if you have it, the license number, and separately confirm Miami-Dade County contractor licensing where the work is in the county. Confirm the license is active, that its classification actually covers the work you need, and — the step people skip — that the licensed entity is the same legal business named on your contract and invoice. Work sold by one company under another company's license is a genuine and recurring problem, and it is the version that leaves you unprotected if something goes wrong.

Four things. First, that it is active and not expired, suspended, or revoked. Second, that the classification matches the work — a specialty license does not authorize general work, and a registration is not the same as a certification. Third, that the name on the license matches the business you are actually paying. Fourth, whether there is any public disciplinary history, which several Florida authorities publish alongside the license record. A license that exists is necessary but not sufficient; these four checks are what make it meaningful.

No, and conflating them is a common mistake. Registering a business name or forming a company with the Florida Division of Corporations is an administrative step that almost anyone can complete; it says nothing about competence, insurance, or the right to perform regulated work. A professional or occupational license, by contrast, certifies that specific requirements were met and is issued by a regulator that can discipline the holder. For anything licensed — construction, health, law, real estate, and more — you want the license, not just the corporate registration.

Reluctance to provide a license number or legal business name; a license number that does not verify or belongs to a different entity; pressure to pull the permit yourself as an owner-builder; requests for a large cash deposit before any work; no written contract or estimate; and no verifiable physical address. Post-storm, out-of-area operators who will not be here for the warranty are a particular risk in South Florida. None of these individually proves a problem, but two or three together are a clear signal to verify at the source before paying anything.

Often, yes. Florida licenses many professions and trades at the state level, and Miami-Dade County maintains its own contractor licensing, plus municipalities require local business tax receipts to operate. For construction work in particular, both the state credential and the county requirement can apply. The practical step is to ask which apply to your specific job and to confirm each with the relevant authority. A contractor who works in Miami-Dade routinely will handle this as a matter of course; one who does not may discover the requirement at the permit desk, on your schedule.

Miami Biz Guide lists businesses and the contact details it can verify from public and openly licensed data; it does not publish or vouch for professional license numbers, because those change and must be confirmed at the issuing authority to mean anything. Presenting a license status we had not re-verified would be worse than sending you to the source. Use this reference to identify the right authority for the profession, then verify the specific business there. Inclusion in the directory is not a statement that a business is licensed.