How do you know you’ve hired a professional plumber? It says so on their business card. Case closed… right? Not quite! Here in central Florida it’s really important to know if you have a true pro working in your home, or just a handyman or other unlicensed worker. Doing plumbing work for profit without a state license is not legal if the work connects to a sanitary drainage system, such as a bathroom. It’s not like getting pulled over without a license; the real risk is to the home owner if something goes wrong.
So What’s The Problem?
How does that work? Risk to you the homeowner if a handyman doesn’t get the drain cleaned right? It’s pretty simple. A professional plumber has insurance just in case something goes wrong. If a drain breaks, they can get it resolved even if that involves some heavy weight construction work. To be insured this way, you need to be allowed to do that job in the first place by a higher authority!
How Can I Find Out?
Here in Florida, this permission to allow a plumber to work is granted by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. And only after you pass an exam proving you know your stuff. You finally get assigned a license number that you can use to prove you’re the real deal. This officially lets you clean drains or perform plumbing work.
You can always check the status of a plumber’s license on the DBPR Licensing Portal. Just type in the license number of your plumber and you’ll know if they’re a real plumber. The website will list the plumber who passed the test, and/or the company they’re doing business under. Feel free to try it with our license to get a feel for what it looks like. License number CFC1429092
Coming Full Circle
And that brings us back to how it’s a risk to our readers: no license means no insurance company would ever bother insuring the work, usually including the homeowner’s insurance. If something goes wrong, it’s up to you and your unlicensed “plumber” to come up with the cash to fix it. The handyman might not stick around for that. Overall it can be a pretty expensive risk to take if the drains are buried in your concrete foundation, so please consider it when you’re searching for a plumber!