Today I attended Governor Ron DeSantis’s first ever Deregathon. The Twenty-three licensing boards of Florida met to see what recommendations they would make to help Florida businesses have less regulation. The Governor spoke of saving the citizens of Florida money by having less regulation while still protecting Florida residents from harm.
Home inspectors in Florida do not have a licensing board and are directly licensed by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. There is only about Eleven-thousand licensed home inspectors in Florida with only Seven-thousand active licenses and less than four-thousand actually doing home inspections.
Some professions have boards in Florida with some requirements that maybe unnecessary. While attending the meetings I heard the Construction industry licensing board discussing ways to make business and licensing more streamline. I heard the Realtor’s Board discuss their licensing requirements and even the Building Code administrators and Inspectors Board with ways for military personal to obtain their licenses.
The Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB) had great ideas about simplifying processes to obtain other licenses. Making it easier for Division 1 contractors to do roofing. They discussed adding Handy-person licenses so people could legally get small projects done easier. Concerns over Owner-Builder permits and construction while discussing ways to shrink the board itself. They discussed ideas on how to allow for Division 2 contractors to hire subcontractors and even allowing those with a college degree in construction to skip testing for the license. There was even talk of finding ways to reduce the cost of the books for contractors ( currently about $2100.00) so more could easily become licensed.
I was happy to unofficially attend and represent some of the licenses I currently have. Knowing what it took to obtain some of the licenses I am concerned about how it might affect me, my crew, family, and friends. I believe that the Governor has all great intentions with this initiative and understand that many rules and regulations can get in the way of getting the job done and taking care of business. I will continue to watch how this develops in the future because we have a long way to go before there are any changes. I was nice to see government working and debating for the betterment of its citizens. and I am glad I went. Watch for future updates.
