Florida does not require a state contractor license for general handyman work - but that is not a blanket exemption, and it does not cover every trade. Here is the plain-language version, sourced from public guidance and the City of Ocoee, current as of September 2026.
Florida does not require a state contractor license for casual, minor, small-scope handyman work like ours. That is not a blanket exemption, though - it does not cover work that is really part of a larger renovation, and a handyman business has to be careful about how it describes itself and what it advertises.
Electrical, plumbing, HVAC/air conditioning, and roofing work always require their own licensed contractor, no matter how small the job looks. We do not perform any of the following:
This page describes general practice and publicly available guidance, not a legal opinion.
The City of Ocoee’s Building Division requires a permit to install or replace a fence - a site plan and structural details are required, and the fee is a flat $50 as of the schedule we checked. Replacing exterior doors and windows also needs a Window-Door permit. Minor repair (a board here, a hinge there) is treated as maintenance rather than a permit trigger in some neighboring Central Florida cities, but we check Ocoee’s own rule for your specific job rather than assume it carries over -
Source: City of Ocoee Building Division, ocoee.org/163/Building-Division and Ocoee permit FAQ, current as of September 2026.
Not every address with an Ocoee mailing address is inside city limits. Orange County Property Appraiser parcel data shows a real pocket of homes (roughly 3.6% of the residential parcels we checked with an Ocoee mailing address) actually sitting in unincorporated Orange County - permits for those addresses go to Orange County, not the City of Ocoee. We confirm jurisdiction before quoting any permit-requiring job.
The City of Ocoee requires a Local Business Tax Receipt for any business operating in city limits, including home-based contractors - there is no home-based exemption. Orange County separately requires its own county-level receipt.
Source: City of Ocoee Business Taxes and Orange County Tax Collector.