The technical exam asks you to find a rule. The Business exam, more often than people expect, asks you to remember a number: how many days, how many hours, how many dollars. The book is open, but the Contractors Manual is thick and the clock is two and a half hours for fifty questions, so the numbers you know cold are the questions you answer in ten seconds.
These are the ones from the three Florida-law sources that our Business bank was written from: Florida Statute 489 Part II, the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board rules in Chapter 61G6, and the Construction Lien Law in Chapter 713. Every one is cited in the lesson it came from.
Getting and keeping the licence (F.S. 489, 61G6)
- Four ways to qualify for certification (489.511): 3 years of proven management experience in the last 6; 4 years as a foreman, supervisor or contractor in the last 8; 6 years of comprehensive training, education or broad experience in the last 12; or 3 years licensed as an engineer in the last 12. For an electrical contractor, at least 40 percent of the experience must be three-phase service work.
- 75 percent on each part of the exam. After three unsuccessful attempts the Board may require coursework before another try.
- One year: an application not completed within a year of filing is closed.
- Net worth: $10,000 for an unlimited electrical or alarm contractor applying as a business, $5,000 for a specialty contractor, on a financial statement prepared within 12 months, with a credit report dated within 12 months.
- Renewal is biennial. Continuing education for electrical contractors is 11 hours per biennium: 1 business practices, 1 workers' compensation, 1 workplace safety, 1 Florida laws and rules, and 7 technical (including 1 advanced Florida Building Code module). Alarm work adds 2 hours of false-alarm prevention. Home study counts for at most 4 hours.
- First renewal: licensed 12 months or more before the biennium ends, 5 hours; less than 12 months, none.
- The 60-day rule shows up four times: replacing a sole qualifying agent who leaves, a departing agent transferring or going inactive, the Board reporting exam results to the business, and the notice period when a sole primary agent terminates.
- Certified vs registered: certified is statewide with no local exam; registered is local only and needs a local competency card (or 75 percent on an equivalent exam).
Discipline (489.533, 61G6-10)
- $10,000 per count is the Board's fine ceiling. $5,000 is the local fine cap on registrants and the maximum local bond. $2,000 is the local citation-schedule cap.
- Abandonment is 90 days without just cause. A lien that was paid for must be removed within 75 days. An abandonment refund is due within 30 days. A construction-related judgment must be satisfied within 18 months.
- $100 minimum fine for an advertisement without the licence number.
- Unlicensed contracting is a misdemeanor the first time and a felony when repeated or committed during a state of emergency.
The lien law calendar (F.S. 713)
- $2,500 or less: a direct contract at that price is exempt from the lien law, except for lienors in privity.
- 45 days: a lienor not in privity (a sub, a sub-sub, a supplier) must serve the Notice to Owner before starting or within 45 days of first furnishing, and in any case before the owner pays out final payment. Miss it and the owner has a complete defense.
- 90 days from final furnishing to record the claim of lien; 15 days after recording to serve a copy on the owner.
- 1 year is how long a recorded lien lasts unless suit is filed; 1 year is also the default life of a Notice of Commencement.
- 60 days: a notice of contest of lien shortens the year to 60 days.
- 5 days: the contractor's final payment affidavit must reach the owner at least 5 days before a suit to enforce the lien.
- 10 days: if the affidavit lists unpaid bills, the owner may pay them directly after 10 days' written notice.
- Unlicensed contractors have no lien rights.
How to use the list
Read it once a day for a week, then take the Business mock on this site. Our mock uses DBPR's eleven-subject outline with the same counts the booklet prints, so the six or seven contracting-law questions you see are the same share you will see at Pearson VUE. When a number in the list stops needing a second look, it has moved from the book to your head, which is where the exam wants it.