Florida General Contractor Exam (2026): Format, Topics & Prep

The Florida general contractor examination is the state competency test for certification as a general contractor. It has three parts — Business and Finance, Contract Administration, and Project Management — and costs $295 in exam-vendor fees ($135 registration plus $80/$40/$40 per part). Every part is open book and multiple choice, and all parts must be passed within four years of the first scheduled exam date.

The three parts of the exam

The DBPR Bureau of Education and Testing registration instructions state the composition without qualification: “Division 1 exams have three parts: Business and Finance, Contract Administration and Project Management.” Those three are the whole examination for a certified general contractor.

Each part is registered, priced, and passed separately — the three are not one sitting with a single combined result. Elsewhere the same document refers to the parts collectively as “Business and Finance or Trade Knowledge or Contract Administration or Project Management,” the wording it uses across all construction exam categories, not only Division I.

The Business and Finance exam

Business and Finance is one of the three Division I parts — the one that is not about building. It is the same examination for General, Building, and Residential candidates, and at $80 it is the most expensive of the three; Contract Administration and Project Management are $40 each. Two rules in the registration instructions make it the administratively decisive part.

The construction-degree exemption does not reach it. The instructions provide:

“Effective July 1, 2020, exam candidates who have received a baccalaureate degree in building construction from an accredited 4-year college and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher are exempt from having to take the trade knowledge portion of the exam. These candidates will have to take and pass the Business and Finance examination.”

A parallel provision in the same document addresses a person who already holds a license and has already passed Business and Finance, directing that candidate to DBPR for a waiver of the trade-knowledge portion. Whether a particular degree, transcript, or grade-point average satisfies either provision is a determination for DBPR and the board, not one this page makes.

A part already passed is not repeated. The instructions state: “If you already hold an active contractor license, you may not repeat an examination that you have passed or retake the Business and Finance exam unless you hold a Pool/Spa servicing license.” The exception is written for one class of licensee, not as a general re-sit option.

Fees and scheduling

The general contractor exam-vendor cost is $295 total: a $135 registration fee plus the three Florida GC parts — Business and Finance $80, Contract Administration $40, and Project Management $40. These fees are flat, not prorated, and separate from the DBPR license application fee. The registration fee is payable to Professional Testing, Inc., the vendor under contract with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to administer the construction examinations; its construction-exam contact address is FLconstruction@proftesting.com.

The figures come from the official DBPR Florida State Construction Examination Registration Instructions (Rev. 05/12/2026); confirm the current scheduling rules there before registering. For the surrounding budget, see the Florida GC license cost breakdown.

Passing score and retakes

The requirement the instructions state is to “Obtain a passing score on all parts of the Florida State Construction examination.” No percentage and no scaled-score threshold appears anywhere in that document, so this page states no number — a passing percentage quoted on a prep site is not something the official instructions publish. For more on the examination requirements they point to Rule 61G4-16.009, Florida Administrative Code.

What the instructions do pin down is the window:

“A candidate must pass all parts of the examination (Business and Finance or Trade Knowledge or Contract Administration or Project Management) within four years from the first exam scheduled. You have an unlimited number of attempts within the four-year period.”

The clock is tied to a scheduling event, not to an application date or a first pass: “Your four-year examination period begins with your first scheduled examination date.” Attempts inside the period are unlimited; the instructions state only that all parts required for licensure must be passed within the four years.

Two further rules bear on repeat sittings. A scheduled score review blocks a nearby exam date — “If you have scheduled a review, you may not take an exam within twenty-one (21) days of the review date” — so a review and a retake cannot be stacked into the same three-week span. And registering for several dates as insurance carries a cost: “If you have registered for more than one examination date, and you pass the examination, you will NOT be refunded any registration fees you have paid for future examinations.”

Exam day: what the format allows

The format is fixed by the instructions:

“All examinations are an open book and consist of multiple-choice questions. The paper and pencil examination session is four (4) hours and forty five (45) minutes long. Some parts are administered in two sessions.”

The same document carries a computer-based testing section covering the General and Specialty, Building, and Residential categories, with the Division I examination administered in three sessions — so the parts may be met either as computer-based sessions or as a paper-and-pencil session of four hours and forty-five minutes.

Admission paperwork arrives on a fixed schedule: “Admission Slips will be mailed and emailed to all eligible candidates 20-25 days prior to the exam date and will also be available online.” A registration problem therefore surfaces roughly three weeks out rather than on exam morning.

Reference books: how the allowed list works

The registration instructions contain no book list. They direct candidates elsewhere: “For information regarding references that may be brought into the examination, please refer to:” the DBPR construction-examinations reference lists page. That is the whole mechanism — permitted references track code editions and exam windows, so the list is republished separately rather than reprinted inside the instructions.

For that reason this page reproduces no edition list either. The authoritative one is the DBPR construction-examinations reference lists page current for the window in which a candidate sits.

Is the exam the same for Building and Residential?

Yes. The instructions place all three certified classes in one division: “Division 1 Categories include General, Building and Residential Contractors.” The three parts, the open-book multiple-choice format, and the $295 exam-vendor total are identical across the three. What differs is the licensed scope of work and the experience each class requires — not the examination. Those are covered under the Florida GC license requirements.

How to prepare

Preparation is a different subject from the exam’s rules: an open-book, multiple-choice format rewards fast and accurate lookup rather than recall, and prep courses are private, optional products, not a state requirement. For how to assemble and tab a reference set, drill practice questions against the clock, and judge whether a course is worth its price, see how to study for the Florida GC exam.

Common questions

How much is the Florida contractor exam?

$295 in exam-vendor fees for the three Division I parts: a $135 registration fee payable to Professional Testing, Inc., plus Business and Finance $80, Contract Administration $40, and Project Management $40. The fees are flat rather than prorated, and exclude the DBPR license application fee.

What is on the Florida business and finance exam?

Business and Finance is the non-trade part of the three-part Division I examination, and the same part for General, Building, and Residential candidates. The permitted source material is identified by the DBPR reference list current for the exam window, not by a list inside the registration instructions. It is also the part the July 1, 2020 construction-degree exemption expressly does not excuse.

How many times can you retake the Florida contractor exam?

The instructions allow “an unlimited number of attempts within the four-year period,” and that period “begins with your first scheduled examination date.” A separate restriction applies to someone already holding an active contractor license: a part already passed is not repeated, and Business and Finance is not retaken unless the person holds a Pool/Spa servicing license.

Is the Florida contractor exam open book?

Yes — “All examinations are an open book and consist of multiple-choice questions.” The references that may be brought in are the ones on the current DBPR reference list, and the paper-and-pencil session runs four hours and forty-five minutes.

After you pass

A passing exam result is one piece of the application. Continue with the step-by-step path to a Florida GC license and confirm you meet the Florida GC license requirements. Once licensed, plan for Florida contractor license renewal. For the overview, return to the Florida general contractor license guide.

This page summarizes the exam process and is general information, not legal advice. Verify exam structure, fees, references, and scheduling rules with the official exam vendor and the Florida DBPR before registering.

Last verified: 2026-07-27