How to Check a Florida Solar Installer’s License

Which Florida licenses cover a solar panel installation?

Two parts of the same chapter of Florida law. Part I of chapter 489 creates the Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) and defines a solar contractor, at § 489.105(3)(o), as “a contractor whose services consist of the installation, alteration, repair, maintenance, relocation, or replacement of solar panels for potable solar water heating systems, swimming pool solar heating systems, and photovoltaic systems and any appurtenances, apparatus, or equipment used in connection therewith.” The same paragraph adds that a contractor already certified or registered under the chapter “is not required to become a certified or registered solar contractor” to provide those services where they fall within the scope that contractor may already render under Part I.

Part II creates the Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board (ECLB). Its definition of an electrical contractor, at § 489.505(12), covers a person with the skill to install, repair, alter, add to or design “electrical wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, conduit, or any part thereof, which generates, transmits, transforms, or utilizes electrical energy in any form.” A solar array is equipment that generates electrical energy, and the CILB’s own solar rule (covered in the next section) reserves some of the wiring on a grid-tied PV job for “licensed electrical contractors only.” That is why a Florida solar company’s license can come from either board — and why a search on one board alone can miss it.

The number formats come from DBPR itself. Its Construction Industry page lists the solar contractor codes as “CV and RV” and states that certified contractors’ occupation codes begin with “C” and registered contractors’ with “R”; certified solar licenses returned by the public search on September 23, 2026 were numbered CVC followed by digits. The same search returned no registered solar contractors in the four large counties we tried (Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange and Escambia), so we do not print an example of that format. Electrical licenses appear as EC and ER numbers, matching the ECLB’s “Know Your Scope” chart.

Where does a solar contractor’s work stop and an electrician’s begin?

At a line the CILB draws in its rules. Florida Administrative Code Rule 61G4-15.021, “Minor Work Incidental to the Installation of Residential Solar Energy Equipment” (amended June 26, 2024), lists what a solar contractor may do without subcontracting to another trade. For photovoltaic systems, a solar contractor “may install new or replace existing power and control wiring in photovoltaic (PV) source circuits, PV output circuits, battery storage system circuits, and power conditioning unit.” Then the limit: “In an interactive system that operates parallel with a primary source of electrical energy, this work is limited to the PV supply side of the power conditioning unit.”

The rule’s electrical paragraph covers the other side. Where the branch circuit or “the premises wiring on the load side of the premises service disconnecting means” must be installed, altered, replaced or upgraded, “the work shall be performed by licensed electrical contractors only.” Roofing has its own allowance: a solar contractor may cut roof openings and penetrations, install flashings and attach mounting brackets and panels, but “such work shall be limited to an area within 18 inches of each roof penetration or attachment.”

The rule sits inside a statutory default, § 489.113(3): a contractor “shall subcontract all electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work, unless such contractor holds a state certificate or registration in the respective trade category,” with paragraph (f) exempting a solar contractor’s minor work “as defined by board rule.” Read together: on a grid-tied project run by a solar contractor that holds no electrical license, any installation, alteration or upgrade of premises wiring on the load side of the service disconnect falls to a licensed electrical contractor. Whether a design touches that wiring at all is a design question — our electrical panel upgrade guide covers one reason it can: the busbar limit on the main panel.

Certified or registered: what is the difference?

Geography, and how competency was proven. A certified contractor, per § 489.105(8), holds a certificate of competency from DBPR and “shall be allowed to contract in any jurisdiction in the state without being required to fulfill the competency requirements of that jurisdiction.” To contract statewide, § 489.113(1) requires passing “the appropriate examination approved by the board.” A registered contractor, per § 489.105(10), has registered with DBPR after meeting the competency requirements of a particular jurisdiction and “may contract only in such jurisdictions.” Under § 489.117(1), “an examination is not required for registration” — the applicant files evidence of meeting the local examination and licensing requirements, if any — and the registration covers only “the type of work covered by the registration.” The ECLB’s chart puts the electrical side in one line: “Certified = State Examination / Registered = Local License.”

Three details change how a search result reads:

• Certified still means local paperwork. Under § 489.113(4)(a), a certificateholder working anywhere in the state shows the local building official “evidence of holding a current certificate” and pays the local occupational license and building permit fees that others pay.
• A local board can restrict a certified contractor. Section 489.113(4)(b) lets a local construction regulation board deny, suspend or revoke a certified contractor’s authority to obtain building permits, or attach conditions, after finding fraud or a willful building code violation through a public hearing.
• Storms stretch registered licenses. Section 489.117(5) lets a registered contractor work outside its home jurisdiction, for the work its registration covers, in an area under a declared state of emergency for a natural emergency — an authorization that ends 24 months after the emergency declaration expires. After a hurricane, a registered license from another county can therefore be lawful where it otherwise would not be.

How do you look up a solar installer’s license on DBPR?

DBPR’s search at myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp is free and needs no account. The steps below follow the screens as they appeared on September 23, 2026.

1. Pick a search type. The search offers four: by name, by license number, by city or county, and by license type. A license number from a contract, proposal or truck is the most precise starting point.
2. For a name search, set the License Category. Solar licenses sit under Construction Industry; EC and ER licenses sit under Electrical Contractors. Running the name under both categories covers either kind of installer.
3. Narrow by License Type if the list is long. The Construction Industry menu includes “Certified Solar Contractor” and “Registered Solar Contractor”; the Electrical Contractors menu includes “Cert. Electrical Contractors (EC)” and “Reg. Electrical Contractors (ER).” Search by organization name as well as by the qualifier’s personal name.
4. Read each result row. Results show the license type, the name, a “Name Type” (for example Primary or DBA), the license number, and a status with an expiration date.
5. Open the record. The results page states: “For additional information, including any complaints or discipline, click on the name.” An “Include Historic Licenses” box on the name search brings back licenses that are no longer current.
6. Compare the license type and area with the job. A registration authorizes contracting only where the local requirements were met and only for the type of work it covers (§ 489.117(1)(b)), so a current registration issued for another county does not by itself cover a job in yours.

What does the status column mean?

A license number that exists is not the same as a license that is in force. DBPR splits status into a primary and a secondary part — the search shows them together, as in “Current, Active” — and defines each term in its term glossary. The statuses below are the ones most likely to appear on a contractor record; the definitions are DBPR’s, quoted.

All three of “Current, Active,” “Delinquent, Active” and “Null and Void” appeared among contractor records in our September 23, 2026 searches, so the combinations are not hypothetical. The expiration date printed beside the status is the other half of the reading.

Is the license held by the company or by a person?

Usually by a person, on the company’s behalf. Under § 489.119(2), an applicant who proposes to contract as a business organization “must apply for registration or certification as the qualifying agent of the business organization,” and under § 489.119(3)(a) “a qualifying agent must be certified or registered under this part in order for the business organization to operate in the category of contracting in which the qualifying agent is certified or registered.” The statute defines the primary qualifying agent (§ 489.105(4)) as the person responsible to “supervise, direct, manage, and control the contracting activities of the business organization” and the construction activities “on a job for which he or she has obtained the building permit.” Part II uses the same structure for electrical contractors (§ 489.505(14)–(15)).

That is why search results carry a “Name Type” column (distinguishing, for example, a Primary name from a DBA), and why DBPR’s license-type menus include separate “Construction Business Information” and “Electrical Business Information” entries. The practical check is the link between the two: the company named on the contract, and a qualifier whose license is current and of the right type.

Who pulls the permit, and where must the license number appear?

When a contractor takes out the permit, its license number goes on it. For CILB licensees, § 489.119(5)(a) requires each registered or certified contractor to “affix the number of his or her registration or certification to each application for a building permit and on each building permit issued and recorded,” and requires every city or county building department to obtain that number “as a precondition for the issuance of the building permit.” On the electrical side, § 489.537(4) directs any official who issues building permits to “ascertain that the applicant contractor is certified or registered and duly qualified according to any local requirements” before issuing one.

For CILB licensees the number also has to be visible before any permit exists. Section 489.119(5)(b) requires it to “appear in each offer of services, business proposal, bid, contract, or advertisement, regardless of medium,” and § 489.119(5)(c) requires it on any vehicle bearing the contractor’s name or contracting artwork. (We did not review whether Part II imposes the same display rule on electrical contractors, so we do not claim it.)

What to ask about subcontracting

Florida law permits subcontracting and limits who may do what. Under § 489.113(2), an unlicensed subcontractor may work under the supervision of a certified or registered contractor if the work is within the supervising contractor’s license and that contractor is responsible for it — but not if the subcontractor is doing work that would itself require a license in one of the trade categories of § 489.105(3)(d)–(o), a range that ends with the solar contractor category. An electrical contractor, under § 489.537(2)(a), “shall subcontract the work of any other craft” for which a license is required unless it holds that license itself. Those rules turn into a short list of questions whose answers can each be checked on the same DBPR search:

• Whose license number will be on the building permit, and is it a solar (CVC or registered) or electrical (EC or ER) license?
• If the contracting company holds only a solar license, which licensed electrical contractor will do any work on the load side of the service disconnect, and what is that contractor’s number?
• Who performs the roof penetrations and flashing, and under which license — especially if the installer holds only an electrical license, a case the solar rule’s 18-inch roofing allowance does not address?
• Which other parts of the job are subcontracted, and to which licensed companies?

Why does the license matter after the contract is signed?

Because Florida takes away an unlicensed contractor’s remedies. Section 489.128 makes contracts entered into by an unlicensed contractor “unenforceable in law or in equity by the unlicensed contractor,” and provides that “no lien or bond claim shall exist in favor of the unlicensed contractor” for labor, services or materials under that contract. For this purpose a business organization is unlicensed if it lacks a primary or secondary qualifying agent “concerning the scope of the work to be performed,” and licensure is measured as of the contract’s effective date (or, failing that, the date the last party signed it). The section sits in Part I; it does not limit the other party’s own contract, lien or bond rights.

Enforcement runs through DBPR as well: § 489.113(2)(a) directs the department to issue a cease and desist order to anyone contracting without “the required certification or registration for the work being performed.” The DBPR search page links to an Unlicensed Activity search and to a complaint form alongside the license lookup.

Is NABCEP certification a Florida license?

No. The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners describes itself as founded in 2002 as “a non-profit 501 (c)(6) corporation” whose goal is “to develop voluntary certification and credentialing programs” for renewable-energy practitioners (NABCEP, About Us). NABCEP keeps its own directory of board-certified professionals. It is not among the license categories in DBPR’s search, and Florida’s contractor licenses are the certificates and registrations issued under chapter 489 described above. A NABCEP credential and a Florida license answer different questions — one about an individual’s industry certification, the other about whether a business may legally contract for the work — and one does not stand in for the other.

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