The worst time to vet a contractor is when your house is full of standing water and a stranger in a polo shirt is asking you to sign a tablet on your front porch. After every hurricane, every major storm, and every cluster of burst-pipe events, South Florida homeowners get pressured into deals they later regret — either with shady operators who walk off the job halfway through, or with predatory companies that take over their insurance claim and run up the bill.
This guide is what every Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach homeowner should know before they hire anyone for water, fire, or mold restoration. Before the storm. Before the leak. Before someone with a clipboard shows up uninvited.
The licenses Florida actually requires
Restoration is a regulated activity in Florida. The minimum a legitimate contractor needs:
- Florida Mold Remediator License (MRSR) — required for any contractor performing mold remediation over 10 square feet. Issued by the Florida DBPR. Verify any contractor's license at MyFloridaLicense.com.
- Mold Assessor License (MRSA) — separate license for the person who tests/inspects for mold. By Florida law, a single company cannot both assess and remediate the same mold problem (a conflict-of-interest rule). Watch for companies that try to bundle both.
- General contractor or building contractor license for reconstruction over $2,500 in most counties. The CBC, CGC, or RB designation. Without this, they cannot legally perform the rebuild phase.
- Plumbing license for any plumbing repairs.
- Electrical license for any electrical work.
- Roofing license for any roof work.
A water-damage-only mitigation (drying, extraction) doesn't strictly require a contractor license, but the company performing it should still be a licensed business in good standing.
If a contractor is reluctant to give you their license number, that's the entire conversation. End there.
The IICRC certifications that matter
Beyond the legal licenses, the industry-standard certifications are issued by the IICRC (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification). For each type of work, ask:
- WRT (Water Damage Restoration Technician) — basic competence for any water restoration tech.
- ASD (Applied Structural Drying) — confirms the company can size drying equipment and verify dry standard correctly.
- AMRT (Applied Microbial Remediation Technician) — for mold remediation.
- FSRT (Fire and Smoke Restoration Technician) and OCT (Odor Control Technician) — for fire and smoke jobs.
- HST (Health and Safety Technician) — for biohazard work like sewage backups.
A reputable company has multiple techs with stacked certifications. They'll tell you on request who specifically will be on your job and what certs they hold.
Red flags that should end the conversation
If you see any of these, walk away:
- The contractor showed up uninvited — knocking on doors after a storm is the storm-chaser playbook. Real restoration companies have steady local work; they don't drive a fleet of out-of-state pickups into a hurricane zone.
- Pressure to sign immediately. A sign-now-or-lose-the-spot pitch is always a bad sign. A real contractor will give you their proposal in writing and let you compare.
- They offer to pay your deductible or make the deductible go away. This is insurance fraud in Florida — both for the contractor and for you. Carriers prosecute it.
- They want you to sign an Assignment of Benefits. More on this below.
- They can't or won't give you references in your area for similar work in the last 6 months.
- They show up in an unmarked truck or rental with no company logos.
- No physical office address beyond a P.O. box.
- Lump-sum pricing without a line-item scope.
- Out-of-state license plates when most legitimate competitors are local.
- They ask you for a large deposit before any work starts. Legitimate restoration work bills against insurance proceeds, not large up-front cash.
The we'll handle everything with your insurance pitch sounds great when you're standing in three inches of water. It's also how the AOB trap starts.
The AOB trap
Florida had a chronic abuse problem with Assignment of Benefits. Here's what it is and why you should never sign one:
When you sign an AOB, you're transferring your rights under your insurance policy to the contractor. They become the policyholder for purposes of the claim. They can then:
- File whatever scope of work they want, often inflated.
- Sue your insurance company in your name.
- Settle for whatever they're willing to settle for, regardless of what the actual work cost.
- Make you a defendant if the carrier sues back.
- Refuse to do additional work because they got a low settlement.
Florida law has tightened on AOBs in recent years (HB 7065 in 2019, further restrictions since), but the practice still happens. The simple rule: never sign over your insurance rights to anyone. A reputable restoration company will work directly with your carrier under your direction without an AOB.
If a contractor tells you we need the AOB to work with insurance, they're either misinformed or running the AOB game. Either way, find someone else.
What a clean engagement looks like
A reputable South Florida restoration company will:
- Show up promptly but not push you into immediate decisions.
- Provide proof of license, insurance, and IICRC certifications without you having to ask twice.
- Walk the property and give a written, line-item scope before any work starts.
- Bill against the insurance settlement under your direction, not via an AOB.
- Coordinate directly with your assigned adjuster in writing, copying you on communications.
- Document moisture readings, drying progress, and scope changes daily.
- Stop when the job is done — they won't keep adding scope to inflate the claim.
- Hand off cleanly to a builder for reconstruction if they don't perform reconstruction themselves, or perform it under their general contractor license if they do.
The whole experience should feel like working with a contractor on a normal home project, just with an insurance company involved.
Questions to ask any restoration contractor before hiring
Before signing anything:
- What's your Florida license number, and which licenses do you hold?
- Which IICRC certifications do your techs hold for this type of work?
- Who specifically will be on my job, and what's their experience?
- Can you provide three local references from similar jobs in the last 6 months?
- Will you provide a written line-item scope before starting?
- How do you bill — against insurance proceeds, or do you require an AOB?
- What's your dispute process if the adjuster scope and your scope don't match?
- Are you licensed for reconstruction, or do you sub it out, and to whom?
- What's your warranty on the work?
A good contractor answers these in five minutes without checking with anyone.
When to call RestoFlo
If you have a water, fire, mold, or sewage event in South Florida, we'd like the chance to be the company you call. We're locally owned, IICRC-certified, Florida-licensed for mold remediation and reconstruction, and we work directly with your insurance carrier without an AOB. We'll give you a written scope, references, and license numbers before you sign anything.
24/7 emergency line: (754) 289-4815.
