Florida general contractor exam FAQ

Hard enough that about half of first-timers don't pass. Business and Finance is the toughest part, with a 47 to 55% fail rate for first-timers. It's not impossible — but treating it casually is how people end up retaking it.

Yes, and this is the trap that fails people. Open-book means you can bring the references — not that the answers are easy to find. If your books aren't tabbed and you don't know them, you'll run out of time. That's the number one reason candidates fail.

Business and Finance. It's the longest (120 questions, 6.5 hours), the most failed, and the most math-heavy. That's why the course spends the most time there and includes plain-English walkthroughs of every calculation type.

Four years from your first passed part. You don't have to take them all at once — many people pass one, then come back for the others. That's why I'd start with Business and Finance: it's the one most people lose.

You wait 21 days, pay the fees again, and retake just that part. Our refund policy is written so the prep itself isn't the part you're gambling on — the terms are on the guarantee page.

You need the books, but fewer than you might think — the Florida Statutes are printed inside the Contractors Manual, so you don't buy those separately. I'll show you the exact list and the correct editions, plus a guide showing exactly where to tab and highlight them yourself.

One person who recently sat for and passed this exam. Not a school chain founded in the 1980s. That means the content reflects what the test looks like now, and I update it when DBPR shifts the content weighting.