The Florida Contractor License Exam

The booklet sets a two-step process. First you apply with Professional Testing, Inc., online at floridaexam.com or by phone at 407.264.0562. Once Professional Testing approves you, you schedule with Pearson VUE, either at 1.888.204.6230 or on the Pearson VUE website, which takes reservations 24 hours a day with a credit card, electronic check or voucher.

Seats go first come, first served, and DBPR recommends booking at least five business days ahead. To cancel without losing the fee, contact Pearson VUE 2 days before the appointment. Excused absences are limited to illness, a death in the immediate family, a disabling traffic accident, a court appearance or jury duty, and military duty, and written proof must reach Pearson VUE within four days of the exam date.

Pearson VUE collects the exam fees, which rose on January 3, 2023. DBPR posts the current amounts on its computer-based testing fee page, and they change, so check that page rather than relying on a figure you saw elsewhere.

Division I contractors pass three exams and Division II contractors pass two. Every question is multiple choice with four options and equal weight. These are the sittings listed in the 2024 booklet for the most common licenses:

The Business and Financial Management content information sheet divides the 120 questions into six areas. Percentages may vary by as much as plus or minus 3 percent.

For the Division I trade exams, DBPR's January 2020 content information sheets set the weights. General contractor Contract Administration is Preconstruction Activities 27 percent, Project Contracts 40 percent, Obtaining Licenses, Permits and Approvals 20 percent, and Construction Procedures and Operations 13 percent. General contractor Project Management is Construction Methods, Materials, Tools and Equipment 63 percent, Safety 20 percent, and Reading Plans and Specifications 17 percent.

The building and residential sheets use the same seven areas with slightly different weights. Building Project Management, for instance, puts 64 percent on construction methods, 20 percent on safety and 16 percent on plans and specifications. The sheets also expect basic math throughout: area and volume, fractions, percentages, the sides of triangles and simple algebra.

Florida's construction exams are open book, with strict rules. Only materials on the current reference list may enter the test center. Books must remain as published, and only original editions are allowed, except references the list marks as PDFs, which must be printed and bound in a spiral notebook or a binder with three or more holes. Underlining and highlighting are fine, and permanently attached tabs with normal chapter or page headings are allowed; tabs that can be removed without damaging the page will not be accepted.

The Business and Finance reference list valid January to December 2026 allows Chapter 455, Florida Statutes (2025), the Builder's Guide to Accounting (2001), the Contractors Manual (2021, with the 2025 Circular E; the list says the 2025 edition is used for the exam beginning February 1, 2026), and three AIA documents: A201 (2017), A401 (2017) and A701 (2018). Handwritten or typed notes are not allowed, and you may not mark a reference during the exam.

Bring two forms of valid signature identification, one of them government issued, with the name and address that match your application. Calculators must be silent, hand-held, battery operated, nonprinting and without an alphabetic keypad. Arrive 30 minutes early; the computer tutorial can take up to 15 minutes and does not reduce your exam time, which starts when you look at the first question.

Scores are percentages, 70 percent passes, and the booklet says construction scores are not rounded to the nearest percent. A small number of unidentified pilot questions may appear; they do not count, and extra time is given for them. You receive a photo-bearing result report at the test center as soon as you finish.

A candidate who fails may review only the questions answered incorrectly on the most recent attempt. The review must be requested within 21 days of the exam through Pearson VUE, takes place at a test center, and usually allows half the original exam time. Written challenges must be entered during that review session; responses average about 21 days and come back only as credit or no credit. To sit again, you reapply with Professional Testing, Inc.

The Business and Finance exam rewards speed inside the Contractors Manual and the statutes: knowing where lien deadlines, payroll tax rules and AIA clauses live. The trade exams lean on construction methods, OSHA's 29 CFR 1926 and the Florida Building Code. Tab your books with permanent tabs, then practice under time pressure.

For that timed practice, ContractorPrepHQ offers original questions written from the DBPR content outlines and reference lists, a diagnostic to show weak areas, topic drills with explanations and timed practice exams with a readiness score. Florida Business and Finance prep is $99; each Florida trade prep is $149 and bundles the Business and Finance prep. Both are a one-time purchase with lifetime access and a 30-day money-back guarantee, and no prep course can promise a pass.