Florida Statutes Chapter 489 on the Contractor Exam: Which Section Answers Which Question

The official Business & Finance outline has six areas, and none of them is called licensing. Chapter 489 is named outright under F, Complying with Government Regulations (15%), next to Chapter 455, Chapter 713, the board's rules in 61G4 of the Florida Administrative Code, continuing education, and license holder responsibilities. It also turns up under A, Establishing the Contracting Business (11%), which lists state and local licensure requirements and the scope of a contractor license. The other areas are B, Managing Administrative Duties (26%); C, Managing Trade Operations (10%); D, Conducting Accounting Functions (32%); and E, Managing Human Resources (6%). The state says each share can move by about three points.

So you won't find a fixed percentage for 489 alone. Our practice bank tracks licensing law as its own domain because it's one skill, finding the right section fast, wherever the outline files the question. The Business & Finance exam gives you 120 questions in 6.5 hours, open book, 70% to pass, and a licensing lookup you answer from a tab in forty seconds banks time for the accounting problems.

The 2026 Business & Finance reference list doesn't include Chapter 489 as its own book. It names Florida Statutes Chapter 455 (the one statute listed standalone, and the only item you may bring as a bound PDF), Builder's Guide to Accounting, the Contractors Manual, and three AIA documents: A201, A401, and A701. The Contractors Manual entry lists the 2021 edition and says the 2025 edition is used for the exam beginning February 1, 2026.

In the room, Chapter 489 comes from the Contractors Manual's statute reprints. Before you tab, open your own copy and confirm two things: that Part I is there at its official section numbers, and what year's statute text it reprints. The reference list says answers are based on the listed editions, and the law keeps moving. Section 489.1295, which requires a licensed contractor to pay subs and suppliers within 45 days of being paid (absent a bona fide dispute or different contract terms), was created by a 2026 law, so a 2025 printing can't contain it. Study from the current statute for your own business, and tab the book you'll carry.

The markup rules match every other reference. Underlining in pen or highlighter is allowed. Handwritten or typed notes are not, movable tabs like sticky flags are not, and permanent tabs may carry only headings. A tab reading "489.126 Deposits" is a heading; one reading "10% = permits in 30 days" is a note.

The front half of Part I answers who needs a license and what it takes to hold one. Every section number below is from the 2026 text.

• 489.103, Exemptions: 24 numbered exemptions, including employees working within their employer's license (2), owner-builders who personally supervise the work (7), casual or minor work under $2,500 in aggregate (9), people who only furnish materials (12), and cord-and-plug AC units of 3 tons or less with no ducts (14). Most exemptions carry conditions, so read the whole subsection.
• 489.105, Definitions: the contractor categories in subsection (3), paragraphs (a) through (q). General, building, and residential, (a) through (c), are Division I; everything from (d) on is Division II. Subsections (7) through (10) define certified and registered contractors, (4) and (5) the primary and secondary qualifying agent, (13) business organization, and (14) financially responsible officer.
• 489.111, Licensure by examination: 18 years of age, good moral character, and one of the experience routes in (2)(c).
• 489.113, Qualifications for practice: the exam requirement in (1), including the one-part exemption for a building construction degree with a 3.0 GPA, which leaves only Business & Finance. Subsection (2) requires certification or registration to contract at all, (3) requires subcontracting electrical, mechanical, plumbing, roofing, sheet metal, swimming pool, and air-conditioning work unless you hold that license, and (5) says the certificate is not transferable.
• 489.115, Certification and renewal: renewal every 2 years (4)(a), at least 14 hours of continuing education per biennium (4)(b), and the insurance affidavit and credit report (5).
• 489.116, Inactive and delinquent status: you can contract only on an active license (1), and a delinquent license not renewed by the end of the licensure cycle becomes void (5).
• 489.117, Registration: registered contractors work only where they met local requirements (1)(b), and (4)(a) lists job scopes, such as painting and handyman services, that local governments may not license.

The middle of Part I is where a lot of question stems end up, because it regulates money, contracts, and the company itself.

• 489.119, Business organizations: an LLC, corporation, or partnership contracts through a qualifying agent (2); if the only qualifier leaves, the business has 60 days to employ another (3)(a); and the license number goes on every offer of services, bid, contract, and advertisement (5)(b). Our qualifying agent guide covers 489.119 and 489.1195 in depth.
• 489.1195, Responsibilities: primary qualifiers are responsible for operations, field work, and finances; secondary qualifiers only for their own jobs' field work.
• 489.124, Business records: keep complete financial and business records for the preceding 3 years, and keep the department told of your current mailing address.
• 489.126, Moneys received: on residential work, a contractor who takes an initial payment of more than 10% of the contract price must apply for permits within 30 days and start work within 90 days after the permits issue, unless there's just cause or the owner agreed in writing to longer. The penalties climb with the amount, from a first-degree misdemeanor under $1,000 to a first-degree felony at $200,000 or more.
• 489.127, Prohibitions: the list of acts no person may commit in (1), including contracting or advertising without a license (f) and running a company more than 60 days after its only qualifier left (g). Subsection (4) bars lending your license number to an unlicensed person or unqualified business. Older materials may cite that rule as s.489.1265, which no longer exists as a separate section.
• 489.128, Unlicensed contracts: a contract entered into by an unlicensed contractor is unenforceable by that contractor, and no lien or bond claim exists in the contractor's favor.
• 489.131, Applicability: what local governments keep, including permits, inspections, and business tax receipts.

Section 489.129(1) is a long lettered list of grounds for discipline, and the penalties include probation, reprimand, suspension, revocation, restitution, continuing education, costs, and fines up to $10,000 per violation. Three of those paragraphs matter twice, because they also decide who can collect from the recovery fund: (g) financial mismanagement or misconduct that causes a customer financial harm, (j) abandoning a project, presumed after 90 days without just cause or proper notice, and (k) signing a false statement that the work is bonded, that subs and suppliers are paid, or that insurance is in place.

The Florida Homeowners' Construction Recovery Fund, created in 489.140, pays homeowners who lost money to a licensed contractor's violation of one of those grounds. The claimant needs a final judgment, arbitration award, or board restitution order, has to exhaust any bond or insurance first, and files within 1 year after the underlying action concludes (489.141). The spouse of the contractor, and a homeowner whose contractor was unlicensed at the time of the contract, can't collect.

• Per-claim caps, 489.143(3): for contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2024, $100,000 for a Division I claim and $30,000 for a Division II claim. Older contracts carry lower caps, so read the subsection's dates.
• Per-licensee caps, 489.143(6): for those same contracts, $2 million in aggregate for a Division I licensee and $600,000 for a Division II licensee.
• The consequence, 489.143(9): when the fund pays a claim, the contractor's license is suspended automatically on the payment date and stays suspended until the contractor repays the fund in full with interest. Bankruptcy doesn't clear it.
• The notice, 489.1425: every residential contract must carry the recovery fund statement unless labor and materials total $2,500 or less. A first violation can draw a fine up to $500; a repeat draws $1,000 per violation.

Most licensing questions test whether you went to the right section and read the exception. These examples are ours, written to show the pattern; none is an exam question.

Which notice. A residential contract needs the recovery fund statement under 489.1425 and, on a one- to four-unit residence over $2,500, the lien law warning under 713.015. Candidates who remember "there's a required notice" pick the wrong one. Tab both.

The deposit clock. A homeowner pays 15% down on a $60,000 addition, and five weeks later nobody has applied for a permit. Because the payment is more than 10% on residential work, 489.126(2) required the permit application within 30 days. Read the rest of the subsection before answering, since just cause and a written extension change the result.

The departing qualifier. An LLC's only qualifier quits on March 1. The 60-day window to employ a replacement is in 489.119(3)(a), and operating past it is a prohibited act under 489.127(1)(g). A question can send you to either section, so know that they point at each other.

Who collects. A homeowner wins a judgment against a contractor who abandoned the job, then learns the contractor was unlicensed when the contract was signed. The fund won't pay (489.141(2)(d)), and the contractor couldn't have enforced the contract either (489.128).

Tab the sections that answer most questions, in statute order: 489.103 (exemptions), 489.105 (definitions), 489.113 (qualifications and required subcontracting), 489.115 (renewal and continuing education), 489.119 (business organizations), 489.126 (deposits), 489.127 (prohibitions), 489.128 (unlicensed contracts), 489.129 (discipline), and 489.140 through 489.144 with 489.1425 (recovery fund). Tab Chapter 455 separately, since it's its own book on the list, and note that violating any provision of 455 is itself a ground for discipline under 489.129(1)(c).

Then drill lookups rather than rereading the chapter. Answer licensing questions against the clock, look up every miss in your own tabbed book, and track whether your time per lookup falls. Once 489 lookups take under a minute, spend that study time on accounting. If you're not sure where you stand on Business & Finance overall, the free readiness quiz takes a few minutes and shows which outline areas need the work.