Why a license matters when you hire a technology contractor

The IT, audiovisual, and construction trades have a low barrier to entry. Someone who mounted a few TVs for friends, or spent a season working for an installer, can start a company the following week. Many of these people are pleasant and sound confident. Some are good at the work. A lot of them know far less than they claim, and homeowners tend to find out after the drywall is closed.

Technology makes the problem harder to spot. Most people can tell a crooked cabinet from a straight one. Very few can judge whether a network was designed correctly, whether the cable inside the wall is rated for the job, or whether a lighting control system was programmed with any care. When you cannot evaluate the work, you end up evaluating the salesperson.

Price is easy to compare. The things that keep a system working for fifteen years are not. A low bid may leave out real design work, use lighter cable and fewer wireless access points, cut the programming time that makes a system easy to live with, or assume someone else will handle support. Some of those gaps come back as change orders. Others show up two years later, when nobody answers the phone.

Good salespeople know that homeowners buy trust. That works out fine when the company behind the salesperson can deliver. Before you sign, ask who will design the system, who will install it, who will program it, and who you will call when something stops working.

Florida allows a licensed individual to qualify a business, and that person becomes the company's qualifying agent. The idea is to put a licensed professional in charge. Under Florida Statutes section 489.1195, a primary qualifying agent is responsible for supervising all of the company's operations, all field work at every job site, and the finances of the business and of each job.

Some licensed individuals rent out their license instead. For a fee, they let an unrelated company operate under their name and have nothing to do with the work. This is often illegal, since Florida law prohibits a license holder from letting an unlicensed person use the license to get around the licensing requirements. For you, it means no licensed professional is actually watching over your project.

To check, compare the qualifier's name on the DBPR record with the owners and officers listed for the company on Sunbiz, the Florida Division of Corporations site. Then ask to meet that person. If the company cannot introduce you to the name on its license, take that as a warning.

If a licensed contractor causes you harm, you can file a complaint with DBPR. The licensing board can investigate and discipline the license holder, and that discipline can include fines, orders to pay restitution, and suspension or revocation of the license. For a company whose business depends on that license, a complaint carries real weight. Licensed contractors also carry liability insurance as a condition of keeping the license.

Florida also has the Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund, a fund of last resort for homeowners who lose money because of certain misconduct by state-licensed contractors. It has limits and eligibility rules, and contracts with unlicensed contractors do not qualify.

With an unlicensed company, most of these options disappear. There is no license for a board to act on, and often no insurance. Florida does penalize unlicensed contracting, but a court judgment is only worth what you can actually collect.