Florida Contractor License Board: The CILB Explained
The Florida contractor license board is the Construction Industry Licensing Board, or CILB: the board inside Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation that licenses and disciplines the contractors covered by chapter 489, Part I. It works in two divisions — Division I for general, building and residential contractors, Division II for the trade classes — and the forms filed with it carry CILB numbers, indexed below.
What the Florida contractor license board is
Fla. Stat. 489.107(1) creates the board within the department. Members are appointed by the Governor subject to Senate confirmation, serve 4-year terms, and may not serve more than two consecutive terms or 11 years in total.
Section 489.107(2) provides that “The board shall consist of 18 members”: four general contractors; three building or residential contractors; one from each of seven trades; two consumer members; and two building officials.
Section 489.107(4)(a) splits the board. Division I is the general, building and residential contractor members, regulating those three classes. Division II is the trade members, and 489.107(4)(b) states its reach exactly: “Division II has jurisdiction over the regulation of contractors defined in s. 489.105(3)(d)-(p).” Specialty contractors sit outside that range, in 489.105(3)(q), which 489.107(4)(c) routes to whichever division covers the scope of work; those scopes are on the Division II trade classes. Under 489.107(5), five members of each division are a quorum, and neither may act on the other’s matters.
CILB forms and application numbers
The forms are grouped by the situation that sends you looking, because the numbers are not sequential by purpose: CILB 8, 9, 18 and 24 all touch business qualification.
Form numbers and titles verified against the DBPR licensing-forms index on 2026-07-27. DBPR periodically renumbers and retires forms — the index is authoritative, so confirm against the current DBPR Construction Industry forms index before filing.
Apply for a license
Three routes open a license: certified, registered, or grandfathering out of a registration.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 5-A, 5-B, 5-C | “Certified General Contractor as an Individual – Active/Inactive” (5-A); Building is 5-B, Residential 5-C | An individual applies for a certified Division I license | CILB 2/3/4, the registered versions |
| CILB 2, 3, 4 | Registered-contractor applications (series — confirm the exact title on the index) | Competency is held locally, so the license is jurisdiction-bound | CILB 5-A/B/C, the certified route |
| CILB 29–31 | “Certification of Registered Contractor (Grandfathering)” | A registered contractor moves to certification by grandfathering | CILB 32, reciprocity not grandfathering |
Exams
One form covers examination registration for every category.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 1 | “Initial and Retake Examination Application” | A candidate registers to sit the state exam, or a retake | CILB 5-A, the license application itself |
Qualify a business and change a qualifying agent
These four are the four numbers whose purposes overlap most, and each is filed for the business.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 8 | “Add, change or remove a Financially Responsible Officer” | A business adds, changes or removes that officer | CILB 24, the qualifying agent instead |
| CILB 9 | ”…Qualifying an Additional Business with Existing License as a Business / as an Individual” | A licensee qualifies a second business while keeping the first | CILB 18, moving between businesses |
| CILB 18 | “Change of Status – One Qualified Business to Another Qualified Business” | A qualifying agent moves from one qualified business to another | CILB 9, adding rather than moving |
| CILB 24 | “Add or change a Qualifying Agent” | A business names or replaces its qualifying agent | CILB 9, an additional business |
Change status, name or address
Housekeeping filings, plus the one that revives a lapsed certification.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 11–19 | Change-of-status series (confirm the exact title on the index) | Other status changes across the 11–19 range | CILB 18, listed above |
| CILB 22 | “Request for Address or Name Change” | An individual licensee’s name or address changes | CILB 23, business entities instead |
| CILB 23 | “Request for Name Change for Construction Business Entity” | A construction business entity changes its name | CILB 22, individuals instead |
| CILB 26 | ”…Reinstate Null and Void Certification” | A certification has gone null and void | Renewal; reinstatement is not renewal |
Reciprocity and endorsement
Two routes into Florida certification from another state, on two forms.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 10 | “Endorsement as Certified [category]” | Another state’s license is offered for Florida certification | CILB 32, reciprocity instead |
| CILB 32 | “Reciprocity – Certified General / Building / Residential Contractor” | A Division I applicant applies under a reciprocity arrangement | CILB 10, endorsement instead |
Continuing education
Filed by education providers, not by licensees. What those approved courses then have to deliver to a licensee is set out under how continuing-education courses earn Board approval.
| Form | Official DBPR title | Filed when | Commonly confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| CILB 27 | “Continuing Education Provider Approval Application” | An organization seeks approval to provide continuing education | CILB 28, courses not providers |
| CILB 28 | “Continuing Education Course Approval Application” | An approved provider seeks approval for one course | CILB 27, providers not courses |
CILB 1: the examination application, not the license application
CILB 1 registers a candidate to sit the Florida general contractor exam for the category being pursued, and the same form covers a retake of a part not yet passed. It is filed by the candidate, separately from the license application: passing the examination and being licensed are two distinct determinations, each with its own filing. That is why CILB 1 and CILB 5-A are the pair most easily read as one document.
CILB 8: the financially responsible officer
CILB 8 is the form for the officer a licensed business has on file as financially responsible — adding one, changing who it is, or removing them. It is filed for the business. It is not the form for changing who qualifies the business to contract: that is the qualifying agent, who moves on CILB 24 or CILB 18. Businesses routinely reach for CILB 8 when the change they are actually making is a qualifying-agent change.
CILB 9: there is no single CILB 9
CILB 9 is a form family, not one document. It is issued per license category — the DBPR index lists 72 variants — so the version you need names your category, for example “Certified General Contractor Qualifying an Additional Business with Existing License as a Business.” Two things vary across the family: your license category, and whether the additional business is being qualified by you as a business or as an individual. If the title does not name your category and your situation, it is the wrong variant.
CILB 18: moving, not adding
CILB 18 is for a qualifying agent leaving one qualified business and taking that license to another. It is the move; CILB 9 is the addition, filed to qualify a second business while continuing to qualify the first. Both are business-qualification forms, both are searched by bare number, and that is why they are the pair most often swapped. What the role itself involves is covered on qualifying a business to contract.
Which form do I need
- A certified Division I license — CILB 5-A, 5-B or 5-C; the document set is on filing the CILB 5-A application.
- The state examination — CILB 1, filed separately from the license application.
- A qualifying-agent or financially-responsible-officer change — CILB 8, 9, 18 or 24, depending on whether the change is financial, an addition, or a move.
- Coming from another state — CILB 10 for endorsement, CILB 32 for reciprocity; see endorsement and reciprocity routes, and what the Board requires on top of a NASCLA pass for the commonest of them.
- A certification gone null and void — CILB 26; look up a Florida contractor license to read its current status label first.
- Continuing-education provider or course approval — CILB 27 or 28; licensee deadlines are on continuing-education and renewal deadlines.
- A name or address change — CILB 22 for an individual, CILB 23 for a business entity.
What the contractor license board decides
Licensure. It approves or denies applications for the certificates and registrations in chapter 489, Part I. What the board’s certified route issues is the state certificate of competency defined at Fla. Stat. 489.105(8); a county-issued certificate of the same name comes from a local ordinance and is a different instrument, as the state and local certificate of competency sets out. The criteria an applicant must satisfy are under what the board requires of applicants, and the employment history the CILB 5-A asks them to evidence under proving qualifying experience on the form. The narrowest of the three Division I certificates it issues is the residential one — the CRC scope. Licensure is not required at all where a statutory exemption applies, the commonest being an owner building on their own property.
Examination. The examinations required for licensure are governed by Chapter 61G4-16 of the Florida Administrative Code. What a candidate may carry into the room is set by the reference list current for the exam window rather than by that chapter — see the references allowed at the sitting.
Discipline. Section 489.129(1) allows the board to act “against any certificateholder or registrant” — probation, reprimand, revocation, suspension, denial of issuance or renewal, and financial restitution to a consumer. That reaches existing licensees; unlicensed activity runs separately, under 489.13 and 489.127.
Specialty categories. Board rule can establish certified specialty contractor categories under 489.113(6), and they are voluntary: 489.113(6)(a) provides that such a category does not create a mandatory licensing requirement, and that any mandatory statewide requirement may only be established by specific statutory provision.
CILB vs DBPR vs the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board
DBPR is the department; the CILB is a board inside it. Section 489.107(1) creates the board “within the department,” which is why both names appear on the same paperwork. The CILB is the part of DBPR that deals with construction contractors under chapter 489, Part I.
The Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board is a different board under a different part of the same chapter. Section 489.507(1) provides that it “shall consist of 11 members” — seven certified electrical contractors, two consumer members and two certified alarm system contractors I. Electrical and alarm contracting are chapter 489, Part II, so an electrical contractor is not licensed by the CILB, and 489.105(3) contains no electrical category.
The two boards must meet. Section 489.107(6): “The Construction Industry Licensing Board and the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board shall each appoint a committee to meet jointly at least twice a year.” The headcount keeps them apart — 18 members at the CILB, 11 at the ECLB.
The rules: Florida Administrative Code chapter 61G4
Statute says what the board does; the board’s own rules say how. Those rules are chapter 61G4 of the Florida Administrative Code — Rule 61G4-15.001 sets the experience areas an applicant’s history has to cover, Rule 61G4-15.006 sets the financial-responsibility standard, and Chapter 61G4-16 governs examinations. Rule text is published in the official code — see Rule 61G4-15.006 on the Florida Rules gateway. Rules are amended on their own schedule, independently of the statute.
Meetings, contact, and complaints
The board acts in meetings, division by division, under the quorum rule in 489.107(5) — so an application in a trade class is not decided by the general-contractor members.
Meeting dates, agendas and contact details are administered by DBPR and are not reproduced here: they change, and the department’s Construction Industry section is where to read them. The same goes for complaints.
Common questions
Is the CILB the same as the DBPR?
No. DBPR is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the state agency. The CILB is one board created within it by Fla. Stat. 489.107(1), and its subject is construction contractors under chapter 489, Part I. The department issues the license; the board makes the decisions.
How many members are on the CILB?
Eighteen. Section 489.107(2) provides that “The board shall consist of 18 members” — four general contractors, three building or residential contractors, one contractor from each of seven trades, two consumer members and two building officials.
Which board licenses electrical contractors in Florida?
The Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board, not the CILB. Section 489.507(1) gives the ECLB 11 members and places it under chapter 489, Part II. The CILB’s category list in 489.105(3) contains no electrical category.
Where do I find the current CILB forms?
On DBPR’s Construction Industry licensing-forms index, linked above. The index is authoritative: numbers are retired and reissued, so a number quoted on any third-party page — including this one — is only as current as its verification date.
For how the pieces of Florida’s licensing structure fit together, start from the Florida contractor licensing guide.
This page summarizes Florida statutes, board rules and DBPR form listings, and is general information, not legal advice. Confirm current form numbers and requirements with the Florida DBPR before filing.
The board is created within a larger department, and a few powers sit with that department rather than with the board. Those are covered at the department the board sits within.
One recording obligation on a job sits outside the board’s remit entirely. The notice of commencement is filed with the clerk of the circuit court under Fla. Stat. 713.13, not with the board or the department — who records it and when, and what it must contain.
The board’s disciplinary reach extends to the business a licensee qualifies, and to its officers: the exposure a qualifying agent takes on. On the electrical side, one credential the board does not issue at all is the journeyman license — counties and municipalities issue that.
Local boards regulate alongside the state one, on their own legal footing: the Miami-Dade board and the Palm Beach County board.
Local boards sit alongside the state one on their own footing — Broward’s Central Examining Board, Hillsborough’s four boards of adjustment, the Pinellas Construction Licensing Board, Lee, which no longer has one, and Collier’s contractors’ licensing board.
This page is not legal advice: what the rules say, not what to do about your own license, bid or dispute — ask someone qualified for that. This site is not affiliated with the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. Rules and fees move; last checked 2026-09-28.