How to verify a Florida AC contractor license

Look it up in five minutes

Florida licenses air conditioning contractors through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). The public lookup is on MyFloridaLicense.com. It costs nothing and you do not need an account.

1. Go to MyFloridaLicense.com and choose the option to search for a licensee.
2. Search by license number if you have it. It is usually printed on the quote or the truck. If you only have a name, search by the business name or the person's name.
3. Pick the construction industry board if the form asks you to narrow it down.
4. Open the result. Read the license type and status, then the name on it.
5. Check whether the business name you were given is listed as a qualified business under that license.

If the number on the quote does not come up, or comes up under someone else's name, stop. Ask the company for the correct number. A real contractor will not be offended by the question.

What the license letters mean

The letters at the front of a Florida license number tell you what kind of license it is.

Prefix	License
CAC	Certified Air Conditioning Contractor
CMC	Certified Mechanical Contractor
RA	Registered Air Conditioning Contractor
RM	Registered Mechanical Contractor

Both certified and registered are state licenses. For a homeowner the thing to check is that the status is current and active. A mechanical license is broader than an air conditioning license, so a CMC or RM holder can do residential AC work too.

Okaloosa County also has a Licensing Division that registers trades. That is a local layer on top of the state license, not a substitute for it. For AC work, the state lookup is the one that answers the question.

Class A vs Class B

Florida statute 489.105 splits air conditioning contractors by system size. A Class A air conditioning contractor has no size limit. A Class B contractor is limited to 25 tons of cooling and 500,000 Btu of heating in any one system. A house is far below that, so for a home in Crestview or Destin either class is fine. The difference matters on big commercial jobs, not your 3 or 4 ton split system.

You may also see older Class C licenses, which cover servicing only. If the job is a replacement, make sure the license on file covers installation.

What to actually check

• The name matches. The company on the quote should be the company on the license, or listed as the business that license qualifies. A license that belongs to a different business is not their license.
• The status is active. Anything other than current and active is a no.
• The company on the truck is the company on the contract. If one name shows up at your door and another is on the paperwork, ask who is doing the work and who is responsible for it.
• The license covers AC. A general contractor or electrician license is not an air conditioning license, and a handyman doing a change-out is a question people ask about often enough that it is worth saying plainly.

The lookup also shows public complaint and discipline information where it exists. One old complaint on a long-running license is not a reason to panic. A pattern is.

Permits: who pulls one

Florida Building Code requires a permit to replace a mechanical system, and the City of Crestview's permit FAQ says so directly. The same FAQ gives the most useful test on this page: if a contractor asks you to pull the permit, that is a warning sign, and the contractor may not be licensed. A licensed company pulls its own permit.

It is also not a slow process. Crestview says a simple A/C change-out permit is typically issued within a day or two. Okaloosa County puts all trade permits through its Fast Lane, issues them next day and takes applications online through its CSS portal. Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Niceville and Walton County each run their own building departments, so confirm with the one for your address.

Florida's owner-builder exemption, s. 489.103(7), lets you act as your own contractor on your own home if it is not offered for sale or lease. That puts the responsibility on you. It is meant for owners doing their own work, not for covering a contractor who cannot pull a permit. More on the rules in our Florida AC rules guide.

After Isaias, check twice

Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin around 8:30 p.m. CDT on October 9, 2026, as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, and FEMA approved a major disaster declaration. After a storm like that, crews come in from out of the area, and some of the people knocking on doors are not licensed in Florida at all. This happens here regularly: FEMA has issued 7 hurricane and tropical storm major disaster declarations covering Okaloosa and Walton counties since 2017.

• Run the license lookup before anyone opens your air handler.
• Be wary of someone who knocks because they are "in the area," pushes you to decide now, or wants everything up front or in cash. Those are the FTC's warning signs for home improvement scams.
• If you sign at your door or in your home, Florida's home solicitation sale law generally lets you cancel until midnight of the third business day.
• Florida's price gouging law applies to services during a declared state of emergency. Report it to the Attorney General at 1-866-9NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226).

Okaloosa County also posts a Hurricane Recovery Permit Guide. Our guide to AC after a hurricane or flood covers the rest, and the quote checklist helps once you have a price in hand.

Crestview AC Desk is a free referral service. We pass your request to one independent local HVAC company that holds a Florida AC or mechanical license. Run the lookup yourself anyway. It takes five minutes and it is your house.