The Florida Business & Financial Management Exam
Every Florida construction license — from General Contractor to HVAC, plumbing, roofing, and pool — requires passing the Business & Financial Management exam. It is the one part every trade shares, and the part candidates most often fail first.
- 120
- Questions
- 6.5 hr
- Time limit
- 70%
- To pass
- Open book
- Format
What's on the Business & Finance exam
The exam follows the official DBPR content outline. These are its weighted domains — study time is best spent where the exam puts its points.
Licensing & Regulation
Florida Statutes Chapter 489, CILB rules, license categories, qualifying agents, disciplinary actions.
Florida Lien Law
Florida Statutes Chapter 713: notices of commencement, notices to owner, claims of lien, releases, and deadlines.
Employment & Labor Law
FLSA wage and hour rules, child labor, workers' compensation (FS 440), unemployment, and hiring practices.
Jobsite Safety (OSHA)
OSHA 29 CFR 1926 construction standards: fall protection, scaffolding, excavation, recordkeeping, and inspections.
Financial Management & Accounting
Financial statements, ratios, job costing, percentage-of-completion accounting, cash flow, and billing.
Taxes & Insurance
Payroll taxes, FICA/FUTA, sales tax on construction, builder's risk, general liability, and bonding basics.
Business Organization & Estimating Basics
Business entity types, overhead and markup, bidding fundamentals, and project records.
Sample questions
Original, exam-style questions with the answer and an explanation — a taste of how LicenseReady drills the Business & Finance material.
Under Florida's Construction Lien Law, what is the deadline for a contractor to record a claim of lien after the last day of furnishing labor or materials?
90 days
Under Florida Statute 713.08, a contractor must record a claim of lien within 90 days after the final furnishing of labor, services, or materials.
Source: Florida Statute 713.08 — Claim of Lien
Which document must a sub-subcontractor serve on the owner to preserve lien rights in Florida?
Notice to Owner
A sub-subcontractor (or any lienor not in privity with the owner) must serve a Notice to Owner within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials to preserve their lien rights under Florida law.
Source: Florida Statute 713.06 — Notice to Owner
Reference books you'll use
The Business & Finance exam is open book. These are the approved references its questions come from — tabbing them in advance is half the battle.
Lien Law (FS 713)
Lien questions are deadline questions. Tab the deadline sections and answer from the statute, not from memory — one wrong number is the difference between a right and wrong answer.
Licensing Law (FS 489)
Know the layout cold: definitions up front (489.105), business/qualifying-agent rules in the 489.119–489.1195 range, prohibitions and penalties at 489.127–489.129.
Workers' Comp (FS 440)
The construction industry rule is stricter than the general rule — coverage required with just one employee. Exemption questions hinge on the officer/ownership limits.
OSHA 1926
OSHA questions are number questions: heights, depths, distances, and hours. Tab the big subparts and trust the printed number over your memory.
Federal Labor Law
Federal labor questions are concept questions, not lookup questions — know the overtime rule, the child-labor prohibitions, and the employee-vs-contractor test before exam day.
IRS Circular E
Memorize the FICA split (6.2 + 1.45 = 7.65%, employer-matched) and which form is which: 941 quarterly, 940 annual FUTA, W-2 employees, 1099 contractors.
Builder's Guide to Accounting
Calculation questions come straight from this book's methods. Tab the ratio formulas and the percentage-of-completion chapter, and bring a calculator you know.
Contractor's Manual
This is your home base on exam day. Learn its table of contents — most candidates lose time flipping because they never learned which chapter holds which statute.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions is the Florida Business & Financial Management exam?
120 questions. You have 6.5 hours and need 70% correct to pass.
Is the Business & Financial Management exam open book?
Yes. Every Florida CILB construction exam is open book — you bring approved, tabbed reference books. The challenge is finding answers fast enough, which is why pacing and tabbing matter as much as knowledge.
What topics are on the Business & Finance exam?
The exam is weighted across 7 domains: Licensing & Regulation, Florida Lien Law, Employment & Labor Law, Jobsite Safety (OSHA), Financial Management & Accounting, Taxes & Insurance, Business Organization & Estimating Basics. Heavier-weighted domains deserve more study time.
Which Florida licenses require the Business & Finance exam?
Every Florida CILB construction license — General, Building, and Residential Contractor, HVAC, Mechanical, Plumbing, Roofing, and the Pool trades — requires passing Business & Finance. It's the same exam across all of them.
LicenseReady is an independent exam-preparation service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), the Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB), or Professional Testing, Inc. All practice questions are original content created by LicenseReady — they are not actual examination questions. Exam-structure information comes from publicly available DBPR publications. Third-party product names (AIA, ACCA, and others) are trademarks of their respective owners, used only to identify the referenced works.