Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) issues a roofing license once you pass the state’s Business and Finance exam and its Roofing exam. You also need four years of experience under a licensed contractor, and the state-set fees start at roughly $540 before fingerprints, books, a prep course and insurance.
That gets you a certified license, which lets you contract anywhere in Florida. A registered license rests on local competency rules and covers only the places where you met them.
Only work under a licensed contractor counts, and DBPR checks it after the exams
Florida law says you must be at least 18 and of good moral character, and DBPR’s FAQ adds that one of the four years must be supervisory. Florida’s rule accepts only “lawfully acquired experience gained under the supervision of a contractor” who, at the time, was licensed in roofing or in a category covering its full scope. Work that was exempt from licensing doesn’t count, and for each job the application asks for the name and license number of your employer’s qualifier.
You file that application after both exams, so DBPR checks your experience only after you’ve paid for them. A new owner on r/Contractor who had already passed the certified roofing exam wrote that he had “no paper trail of any experience since it’s all been under the table.” The friend offering to vouch for him was someone he had never worked for directly. Off-the-books work and a friend’s word don’t fit a rule that asks for lawful work under a licensed contractor.
DBPR’s certified-contractor application lets college credit stand in for part of the experience:
- Each year of accredited college credit can replace a year of field work, up to three years, as long as one year was spent as a foreman.
- A four-year construction-related degree counts as three years, and you add one year of proven experience in roofing.
Before you register for the exams, list every roofing job with its dates, your role, the employer and the license number of its qualifier.
You take two computer exams and need 70% on each
Register with Professional Testing, Inc. at floridaexam.com or 407-264-0562, then take each exam on computer at a Pearson VUE center, where both run daily.
- Business and Finance: 120 scored questions in 6.5 hours, passed at 84 correct.
- Roofing: 80 scored questions in 5 hours, passed at 56 correct.
Fail one exam and you retake only that one, after registering with Professional Testing again. Within 21 days of a failed exam, you can ask to review the questions you missed at a Pearson VUE center and file written challenges there.
If you already passed Business and Finance for another Florida category, DBPR’s booklet says you “may be exempt” from taking it again. Ask Professional Testing before you register for both.
You may bring a calculator if it has no letter keys and makes no noise or printout. On exam day, bring two forms of ID that carry your signature, one of them government-issued.
The Roofing exam is open-book, and shingles are 15% of it
DBPR’s outline splits the Roofing exam into nine areas, and each share can move by up to 3 points:
- 15% each: built-up roofs, shingles and shakes, single-ply systems, modified roofing systems
- 10% each: architectural metal roofs, concrete and clay tile roofs, equipment and safety (ladders, scaffolds, hoists, kettles, fall protection and OSHA rules)
- 5% each: membrane waterproofing, drains and gutters
Every area assumes basic math such as area, volume, fractions, square roots and simple algebra. It also assumes you can read plans and specifications and find what the code requires. If most of your jobs are shingle roofs, spend most of your study time on the other eight areas.
Only the books on DBPR’s reference list may go into the testing room, one bound copy of each. The Roofing list for 2026 names these 11, and the exam’s answers follow these editions:
- Walker’s Building Estimator’s Reference Book, 33rd edition (2024)
- Code of Federal Regulations, OSHA 29 Part 1926 (July 1, 2025)
- SMACNA Architectural Sheet Metal Manual, 7th edition (January 2012)
- Roofing Construction and Estimating, Craftsman, 13th printing (2022)
- The NRCA Roofing Manual, in four volumes:
- Membrane Roof System (2023)
- Metal Panel and SPF Roof Systems (2024)
- Steep-Slope Roof Systems (2025)
- Architectural Metal Flashing and Condensation and Air Leakage Control (2022)
- The NRCA Waterproofing Manual, 2nd edition (2020)
- Florida Building Code, Building (2023)
- Florida Building Code, Test Protocols for High Velocity Hurricane Zones (2023)
If you test in 2027, check DBPR’s list for that year before you buy. Business and Finance has its own list.
You can highlight and underline in pen, and permanently attached tabs with normal chapter or page headings are allowed. Handwritten or typed notes are banned, along with anything stuck on that pulls off, such as Post-it flags and removable tabs, and old notes must be blacked out. A tab that comes off without damaging the page counts as removable.
On r/RoofingSales, the wife of a roofer who had moved from Pennsylvania wrote in June 2026 that most highlighted and tabbed sets for both exams cost more than $1,000. DBPR’s rules let you buy the listed editions and add the highlighting and permanent tabs yourself.
An active license needs a credit report clear of unpaid liens and judgments
The credit report must show no unpaid judgment or lien against you or any business you have qualified or are applying to qualify. You also send a public-records check with the application, plus proof that any lien or judgment was satisfied and any bankruptcy discharged. Your FICO-derived score needs to reach 660, or you can take a 14-hour Board-approved financial responsibility course instead.
Pull your credit report before you register for the exams, and pay off any lien or judgment on it.
Each exam registration costs $135, and the application $245 through August 2027
Professional Testing charges $135 each time you register for any part of the exam, on top of the exam fee. DBPR’s 2012 FAQ put the exam fee at $80 a part, and Pearson VUE has raised its testing fees since, so check the current figure when you register.
The $245 is DBPR’s certified-contractor application fee, and every applicant also submits electronic fingerprints.
Book exam dates you can keep, because cancelling less than two days ahead, or missing the appointment, can cost you the exam fee.
A hired qualifier answers for every job, and unlicensed roofers can’t work as subs
Every Florida roofing company runs under a qualifier: DBPR’s FAQ says a contractor qualifies a business with an individual license. One owner on r/Roofing reported that companies pay Florida license holders from $500 per completed job to $2,000 a month.
Florida holds the qualifier jointly and equally responsible for supervising the whole business, including the field work at every site and its financial matters. Letting an unlicensed person use your certificate is grounds for discipline, and the Board can fine up to $10,000 per violation. Roofing License Requirements by State, and How Qualifiers Work compares how other states handle qualifiers.
A business with no qualifier for the work counts as unlicensed. Unlicensed contracting is a first-degree misdemeanor, or a third-degree felony on a repeat offense or during a Governor-declared state of emergency. An unlicensed contractor also can’t enforce the contracts it signed.
DBPR’s FAQ says roofing work can’t be subcontracted to unlicensed roofers, who must be the licensed contractor’s employees or leased through a licensed employee leasing company. A sub with general liability and workers’ comp but no roofing license is still an unlicensed roofer. So is a new company subbing for another roofer while its own license comes through.
If your company runs on someone else’s license, start on a license of your own now, since a qualifier who leaves gives you 60 days to employ another.
Once licensed, you carry insurance and renew every even-numbered year
Florida’s minimum liability insurance for a roofing contractor is $100,000, plus $25,000 for property damage. Workers’ comp covers any construction employer from the first employee. Roofing Contractor Insurance: What Coverage a Roofing Company Needs and What It Costs has what those policies cost.
A certified license renews by August 31 of every even-numbered year, and a registered one by the same date in odd-numbered years. Each renewal takes 14 hours of continuing education, and roofers must fit an hour on wind mitigation inside those 14. Book the classes well before the August deadline.
Do it in this order, from your work history to renewal
- List every roofing job and its qualifier’s license number.
- Pull your credit report and pay off any lien or judgment on it.
- Buy the editions on the current reference list and add permanent tabs yourself.
- Register with Professional Testing, then book both exams at Pearson VUE.
- After you pass, file DBPR’s application with fingerprints and the credit report.
- Carry the state’s minimum liability insurance, plus workers’ comp from your first employee.
- Renew by August 31 of each even-numbered year, with your continuing education done.
Once the license is active, its number has to appear on every contract and ad, and a Florida roofer on Google’s Local Services Ads needs it on file there.
To see how far your Google listing reaches once you’re licensed, open the free Google Maps heatmap and pick your Google profile and a search. In a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.