Florida HVAC License Reciprocity & Transfer

What it takes to transfer an HVAC contractor license you already hold in another state into Florida. This page covers license transfer only — not how to get licensed from scratch.

Transferring an existing license into Florida

Florida's board sets the route, so it is the same for every origin state we have verified below.

Pathway: Endorsement of an out-of-state license
Fees: $350
Minimum years licensed: 10
Exam: Not required
Processing time: Processing time not published by the board

Fees are the state fees recorded for this route; see each origin's full requirements for the breakdown.

Source: Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing Board (DBPR CILB)

By origin state

From California → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open question for California licenses

CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is explicitly scoped in the document to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing Contractor applicants only — Class A/B Air-Conditioning is not listed. Whether AC applicants face this same requirement, a different one, or none at all is not stated in the document and is not assumed here either way.

From Ohio → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open questions for Ohio licenses

Ohio's HVAC contractor license and Florida's Class A/B Air-Conditioning certification are both state contractor licenses, so Ohio's is plausibly 'similar' — but Ohio's license covers commercial work only, while Florida's Class A is unrestricted. Whether that satisfies Option C, and whether it maps to Class A or Class B, is CILB's determination.
CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is scoped to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing applicants only — Air-Conditioning is not listed. Whether AC applicants face this requirement is not stated in the document and is not assumed here.

From Texas → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open question for Texas licenses

CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is explicitly scoped in the document to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing Contractor applicants only — Class A/B Air-Conditioning is not listed. Whether AC applicants face this requirement is not stated in the document.

Not yet researched

We haven't published sourced requirements for transferring an HVAC contractor license into Florida from: New York. Rather than guess, we leave these out until we can cite the board directly — check with the Florida board in the meantime.