Florida Certified Underground Utility and Excavation Contractor License

The certified underground utility and excavation license sits between general contracting and the specialty utility trades. Florida treats trenched and trenchless utility installation, modification, and repair as its own statewide credential — and unlike Class C city or county registration, this license carries statewide scope under CILB.

What the application turns on

• Experience: Section 489.111 qualification paths, including the common 4-year worker or foreman route with at least 1 year as a foreman.
• Exams: Initial applicants complete the Florida underground utility and excavation contractor exam process. The combined examination fee at first sit-down is $295 (broken into a $135 development fee, an $80 DBPR administration fee, and an $80 Pearson VUE scheduling fee).
• Fingerprints: DBPR requires electronic fingerprints for the initial filing.
• Financial responsibility: The packet requires a credit report; applicants below 660 must complete the 14-hour financial responsibility course.

Insurance, renewal, and fee timing

• Insurance minimums: DBPR requires this category to maintain at least $100,000 liability and $25,000 property damage coverage, plus workers' compensation compliance.
• Renewal cycle: Certified construction licenses renew on August 31 of even-numbered years.
• Renewal fee: $205 current active renewal, or $255 with a qualified business. Late renewals after August 31, 2026 cost $230 (or $280 with qualified business) — a $25 effective late penalty.
• Continuing education: 14 hours each renewal cycle.

Scope

Florida Statute 489.105 says an underground utility and excavation contractor's services are limited to construction, installation, and repair, on public or private property, whether by open excavation or other means, of main sanitary sewer collection systems, main water distribution systems, storm sewer collection systems, and the continuation of utility lines from main systems to a point of termination up to and including the meter location for the individual occupancy. The license does not include site work outside this defined utility envelope, plumbing inside buildings, or electrical distribution work — those remain with the appropriately licensed trades.

What happens if you work without it

Unlicensed underground utility work falls under Florida's section 489.127 enforcement structure: first offense generally as a first-degree misdemeanor, with repeat and state-of-emergency violations escalating to third-degree felonies.