The Florida Roofing Trade Knowledge Exam
The Roofing Trade Knowledge exam is a required part of the Certified Roofing Contractor license in Florida. It is open book, like every Florida CILB exam, so the tested skill is as much knowing where to find an answer as knowing it cold.
- 80
- Questions
- 5 hr
- Time limit
- 70%
- To pass
- Open book
- Format
What's on the Trade Knowledge 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.
Steep-Slope Systems
Shingles, shakes, tile, and architectural metal: underlayment, fastening, and flashing.
Low-Slope Systems
Built-up, modified bitumen, and single-ply membranes; waterproofing; drains and gutters.
Code & Wind Requirements
Florida Building Code roofing provisions, HVHZ concepts, and product approvals.
Materials & Estimating
Squares, waste factors, slopes, and material handling.
Rooftop Safety
Fall protection, ladders, hot work, equipment, and OSHA roofing rules.
Sample questions
Original, exam-style questions with the answer and an explanation — a taste of how LicenseReady drills the Trade Knowledge material.
In roofing terminology, one "square" of roofing covers how much roof area?
100 square feet
A roofing square is the standard unit of measure for roof coverage and equals 100 square feet of roof area. Materials such as shingles are sold and estimated by the square, so all takeoff math converts roof area into squares.
Source: Roofing Construction & Estimating — Roofing Units of Measure
Asphalt shingles are generally a steep-slope product, but they may be installed on slopes as low as which pitch, provided the manufacturer's and code's enhanced underlayment conditions are met?
2:12
Asphalt shingles perform best at slopes of 4:12 and steeper, but they are permitted down to a 2:12 slope when special low-slope underlayment provisions required by the code and the shingle manufacturer are followed. Below 2:12, shingles are not an acceptable covering and a low-slope membrane system must be used.
Source: NRCA Roofing Manual — Asphalt Shingles — Slope Limitations
Reference books you'll use
The Trade Knowledge exam is open book. These are the approved references its questions come from — tabbing them in advance is half the battle.
OSHA 1926
OSHA questions are number questions: heights, depths, distances, and hours. Tab the big subparts and trust the printed number over your memory.
Roofing References
Florida roofing is code-first: product approvals, underlayment, and attachment requirements decide questions that would be judgment calls elsewhere. Tab the FBC roofing chapter before anything else.
Florida Building Code
Code questions give themselves away with words like 'minimum', 'required', or 'permitted'. Go to the code — never answer a code question from memory when the book is on the desk.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions is the Florida Roofing Trade Knowledge exam?
80 questions. You have 5 hours and need 70% correct to pass.
Is the Roofing Trade Knowledge 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 Trade Knowledge exam?
The exam is weighted across 5 domains: Steep-Slope Systems, Low-Slope Systems, Code & Wind Requirements, Materials & Estimating, Rooftop Safety. Heavier-weighted domains deserve more study time.
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.