The state of Florida has no license category for “Subcontractors”. The state only licenses “Contractors”. Any type of contractor, even a general contractor, can become a subcontractor if he has been hired by another contractor on the project. For example: Let’s say the owner had a lot of electrical work to do on his building. He can hire a licensed and insured electrical contractor to do all the work. The electrical contractor, if he chose to do so, could subcontract portions of the work to other licensed and insured firms like the fire alarm system, or security system, or generator system, etc.
Though I do not propose doing it, there is also no Florida statute that prohibits an owner from entering into contracts directly with the individual Contractors needed to build his building and paying them directly as long as they are properly licensed and insured and only perform the work they are licensed to perform. It is a commonly held belief that only a general contractor may hire the various trade contractors needed for the job and that the owner must pay the GC and the GC must pay his “Sub” contractors. However, this is simply a myth. There is no such requirement in the Florida statutes.
However, a general or building contractor’s license is required for any structural component of the project. The trade contractors in those categories such as carpentry, concrete, structural steel, etc. have general or building contractor licenses because there are no specific state licenses for these individual trades. Many of the counties of Florida still issue county licenses and some of the small trade contractors carry this license and are not yet state certified.
Permits
On any new building that is being planned to be constructed, the biggest hurdle is getting the site work approvals. Depending on the land’s zoning, the county may require a “Master site plan” to be prepared by a civil engineer and submitted to the county for approval. Then the civil engineer has to complete all the details of the site plan and submit it to the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) or other water management districts as they are divided up around the state of Florida. Getting a site plan approved by all the agencies and getting the site work permit could take 4 – 6 months or longer depending on the project. Because the civil engineering and site approvals take so long I generally recommend hiring a civil engineer first and getting them moving along with their work. Once we feel comfortable that the proposed site plan will receive approvals then the actual building plans can begin.
Once the architect and/or engineers have completed the building plans they can be submitted to the local building department for approval.
Except in the case of extremely simple projects, it’s usually much more efficient and cost effective to have a licensed and insured general contractor pull the entire building permit, become the contractor of record and to supervise and coordinate the work of the various contractors needed to get the project completed. However, if the project only involves a few trades then those individual “Contractors” can pull the permits required for the work they have been hired to perform and no general contractor is required. In spite of what some may say, this does not constitute “Contracting without a license” on the part of the owner. The act of an owner hiring licensed and insured contractors does not make him a “Contractor”. If the owner hires “unlicensed contractors” then the owner is guilty of aiding and abetting an unlicensed contractor and both the owner and the unlicensed contractor would be in trouble with the law. Or, if the owner were to physically work on the job himself or hire some carpenters or electricians, or plumbers, etc., put them on his payroll and have them work on his project THEN he would be contracting without a license and be in big trouble.
On most projects an owner would be wise to hire a CM which is a licensed general contractor. If the CM is a licensed and insured GC then they can pull the building permit, become the contractor of record and manage the project for the owner saving the owner a substantial amount of money.