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How do I check a flooring contractor in Florida myself?

Start by asking which flooring tasks the bid covers, because DBPR lists wood or tile flooring among jobs that do not need its licence, then use the optional DFS workers' compensation records or, when a bid includes asbestos abatement, the DBPR licensee search.

Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.
Source: Florida Division of Workers' Compensation, Proof of Coverage, read 15 October 2026.
Source: DBPR Online Services, licensee search page, read 15 October 2026.

Researched by the InstaBids editorial team. Last checked: 15 October 2026

Newly laid large porcelain floor tiles with straight grout lines meeting a white baseboard.

Key facts

Which public records can I look up for a flooring contractor?

Check two optional records for a flooring contractor: the DFS Proof of Coverage search under the employer name of the installers, and the DBPR licensee search when a line item goes beyond floor covering, such as asbestos abatement or a load-bearing wall. Keep the date beside each result you read.

Source: Florida Division of Workers' Compensation, Proof of Coverage, read 15 October 2026.
Source: DBPR Online Services, licensee search page, read 15 October 2026.
Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.

DBPR describes its search site, read 15 October 2026, this way: “The DBPR Online Services website provides information about applicants and licensed individuals for those professions and businesses that are regulated by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.” A wood or tile installer is a different question from an asbestos contractor, so search only the business tied to the line item you are asking about.

Source: DBPR Online Services, licensee search page, read 15 October 2026.

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How do I read the state licence record?

Read the line items before any state record: tearing out carpet and laying wood or tile is one question, while removing old resilient tile, cutting framing or moving plumbing is another. DBPR places installing wood or tile flooring among jobs that need no DBPR licence, so a blank search does not settle anything for that scope.

Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.

DBPR's What Requires a License page, read 15 October 2026, pairs two entries in one row of its contractor table. Under Needs a DBPR License: “Remodel a home that requires alteration or replacement of a load-bearing wall for compensation.” Under Does not need a DBPR License: “Paint; install cabinets, wood or tile flooring, and insulation regardless of compensation.”

Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.

The same section states: “Essentially, if you pay someone to construct a building or a structure, make structural alterations to load bearing walls, or perform services such as plumbing or air conditioning work, that person must have a state contractors’ license.” If a flooring bid also mentions joists, framing, a toilet connection or an air conditioning register, ask for that work as its own line item and ask which business performs it. Ask each bidder to say in writing whether a subfloor repair it proposes touches framing or a load-bearing wall.

Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.

Older resilient flooring raises a second boundary. Under its Asbestos Contractors heading, the same page lists “Conduct asbestos abatement.” under Needs a DBPR License, and lists “Removal or disposal of asbestos containing resilient floor covering or its adhesive as described in Chapter 469.002, F.S.” under Does not need a DBPR License.

Source: DBPR Unlicensed Activity: what requires a license, read 15 October 2026.

Section 469.002(3) of the 2026 Florida Statutes, read 15 October 2026, opens: “Licensure as an asbestos contractor or asbestos consultant is not required for the moving, removal, repair, maintenance, or disposal, or related inspections, of asbestos-containing resilient floor covering or its adhesive, if:” Its four conditions follow, each quoted in full.

Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  1. Condition (a): “The resilient floor covering is a Category I nonfriable material as defined in NESHAP and remains a Category I nonfriable material during removal activity.”

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  2. Condition (b): “All such activities are performed in accordance with all applicable asbestos standards of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration under 29 C.F.R. part 1926.”

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  3. Condition (c): “The removal is not subject to asbestos licensing or accreditation requirements under federal asbestos NESHAP regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.”

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

  4. Condition (d): “Written notice of the time, place, and company performing the removal and certification that all conditions required under this subsection are met are provided to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at least 3 days prior to such removal.”

    Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

The subsection then states: “The contractor removing such flooring materials is responsible for maintaining proof that all the conditions required under this subsection are met.” Ask a bidder who proposes lifting old vinyl tile or sheet goods whether it relies on that subsection, and ask in writing which business would handle the floor if a condition does not fit your job. The subsection ends: “The department may inspect removal sites to determine compliance with this subsection and shall adopt rules governing inspections.”

Source: Florida Statutes, section 469.002, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Does the county also keep a record?

Read Florida's statute before hunting for a county card: section 489.117 lists flooring among job scopes for which a local government may not require a licence. Ask whether any county card a flooring bidder shows you covers a different line item on your written scope.

Source: Florida Statutes, section 489.117, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Section 489.117(4)(a)1. of the 2026 Florida Statutes, read 15 October 2026, states: “For purposes of this section, job scopes for which a local government may not require a license include, but are not limited to, painting; flooring; cabinetry; interior remodeling when the scope of the project does not include a task for which a state license is required; driveway or tennis court installation; handyman services; decorative stone, tile, marble, granite, or terrazzo installation; plastering; pressure washing; stuccoing; caulking; and canvas awning and ornamental iron installation.”

Source: Florida Statutes, section 489.117, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Two entries on that list describe floor work directly: flooring, and decorative stone, tile, marble, granite or terrazzo installation. Interior remodeling appears only with its condition about a task for which a state license is required, so ask whether any line item is such a task.

Source: Florida Statutes, section 489.117, 2026, read 15 October 2026.

Broward's contractor licence search, read 15 October 2026, has a field labelled CC Number. Use it only when a flooring bidder hands you a Broward card for another kind of work, and file the result beside that line item rather than the floor installation.

Source: Broward County, search for contractor licenses, read 15 October 2026.

How can I check workers' compensation coverage?

Check, as an optional step, the employer name of the people who will tear out and lay your floor, then search it in DFS Proof of Coverage. Ask whether the installers are employees of the business on your written scope, a separate installer company or workers placed through an employee leasing company.

Source: Florida Division of Workers' Compensation, Proof of Coverage, read 15 October 2026.

The Proof of Coverage page, read 15 October 2026, states: “Although a client company of an employee leasing company or a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) may be listed as having coverage, it is important to note that only the workers reported to and accepted by the employee leasing company or PEO have workers' compensation coverage.” If the flooring company is a client of an employee leasing company, its listing leaves a question about the particular installers on your job; ask whose workers they are.

Source: Florida Division of Workers' Compensation, Proof of Coverage, read 15 October 2026.

An officer or LLC member who installs floors personally may offer an exemption. The DFS exemptions page, read 15 October 2026, states: “The purpose of obtaining an exemption is for officers of a corporation or members of a limited liability company to exclude themselves as employees from workers' compensation insurance laws.”

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services, exemption information, read 15 October 2026.

The same page states: “Exemptions are issued to officers of a corporation and members of limited liability companies - not to the business.” Note whose name the exemption carries, and ask separately about any helper who carries tile, runs the saw or hauls the old floor away.

Source: Florida Department of Financial Services, exemption information, read 15 October 2026.

What should I ask for in writing about insurance?

Ask the flooring business, only if you choose to, for a certificate of insurance that lists you as certificate holder at the address on your written scope. Send any question about what the certificate means to whoever issued it, and keep this request apart from comparing the floor proposals themselves.

Floor work can touch things beyond the floor: furniture and the refrigerator being moved, door casings undercut, baseboards pried off and a tile saw set up in the garage or yard. Ask which business does each of those tasks, so any document you hold names the company on that line item.

When a store sells the material and a separate company installs it, the two names can differ. Ask which company your agreement is with and which company sends the installers, and request any certificate from the one whose people will be in your home.

How do I describe the flooring job before checking anyone?

Describe each room with its rough square footage, the floor you have now and the floor you want, then add photographs of doorways, damaged spots and the edges where baseboards meet the floor. Every flooring bidder can then answer the same written scope instead of guessing.

Say whether the old floor comes up or the new floor goes over it, and who handles disposal of the old material. Nobody knows the subfloor or slab condition until removal, so ask each bidder to write how it handles a soft spot, cracked slab, uneven area or moisture found after tear-out, as a separate change order rather than an open line.

If your home has older vinyl tile or sheet flooring, EPA's asbestos overview, read 15 October 2026, lists among places asbestos may be found: “Vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives”. EPA's homeowner page states: “Generally, you can't tell whether a material contains asbestos simply by looking at it, unless it is labeled.”

Source: EPA, learn about asbestos, read 15 October 2026.
Source: EPA, protect your family from exposures to asbestos, read 15 October 2026.

The same EPA homeowner page advises: “Don't sand or try to level asbestos flooring or its backing. When asbestos flooring needs replacing install new floor covering over it, if possible.” Ask each bidder whether it proposes to remove or cover the old resilient floor, and how it would find out what that floor and its adhesive contain before anyone sands or scrapes.

Source: EPA, protect your family from exposures to asbestos, read 15 October 2026.

The FTC's home improvement guidance, read 15 October 2026, states: “A written estimate should include a description of the work to be done, materials, completion date, and the price.” For floors, the materials line names the product, the underlayment and the trim pieces.

Source: FTC home improvement guidance, read 15 October 2026.

Decide these four choices before you compare anyone:

  1. Which rooms, closets and stairs are in the job, and where each new floor stops at a doorway or a different floor.
  2. Whether baseboards and quarter round are removed and reinstalled, replaced or left in place.
  3. Who supplies the flooring, grout and trim pieces, and who keeps any spare boxes or tiles after installation.
  4. Who moves furniture and the refrigerator, and whether doors are trimmed to clear the new floor height.

What should my request include?

Describe each room, the existing floor, removal and disposal, the new material and who supplies it in a written scope with photographs. Add transitions, baseboards and any known subfloor or slab problem, then ask each flooring bidder to mark which line items its proposal leaves out.

Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, read 15 October 2026.

What should I do before I sign?

Check your flooring agreement for each room and line item, the removal and disposal plan, the start date, the finish date, the payment schedule and a final walk-through. Compare the business at the signature with any employer name you looked up, and put any subfloor surprise into a written change order.

The FTC's checklist of what a contract includes names “an estimated start and completion date” as one item.

Source: FTC home improvement guidance, read 15 October 2026.

Another item on that FTC checklist is “any promises made during conversations or calls related to issues such as the scope of work and the cost of labor and materials”. If a bidder told you on the phone that leveling, trim or haul-away is included, ask for that line in the agreement.

Source: FTC home improvement guidance, read 15 October 2026.

Ask when the material arrives and where it sits before installation, who cleans up dust each day, and who walks the finished rooms with you to mark loose boards, hollow tiles or gaps at transitions before the final payment.

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Sources for the facts on this page

Sources checked: 15 October 2026.

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