Florida Marine Contractor Licenses

Florida has five marine contractor certifications under the Construction Industry Licensing Board (CILB). One is broad: the marine specialty contractor can build almost any waterfront structure. The other four are narrow, single-scope certifications for bulkheads, docks, pile driving or seawalls, each with a shorter exam.

Legal basis and status

All five are specialty categories created by rule under F.S. 489.105(3)(q). The older marine specialty rule, 61G4-15.033, was repealed on May 5, 2024. All five scopes are now in rule 61G4-15.100(1)(b) through (f), adopted that day and amended August 28, 2024. Each has a current exam on the DBPR schedule.

Rule 61G4-15.100(4) adds an insurance point specific to marine work: marine specialty contractors must keep workers' compensation and liability coverage required by state and federal law, including the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. 901 et seq.).

The five categories

Marine specialty contractor (61G4-15.100(1)(b))

The broadest scope: construction, repair, alteration, extension and excavation for fixed and floating docks, boathouses, mooring devices and mooring fields, seawalls, bulkheads, piers, wharfs, boatlifts, boat ramps, revetments, cofferdams, wave attenuators, dune crossovers and other marine structures. It includes pile driving, framing, concrete, masonry, dredge and fill, and shingle roofing on a new structure of the contractor's own construction.

Marine bulkhead work (1)(d)

Install, alter, repair, maintain, relocate and replace bulkheads and their supporting members, including construction below, above or beyond the mean low water line, "for the sole purpose of constructing, erecting, or dismantling of bulkheads."

Marine dock work (1)(e)

Install, repair, maintain or alter docks, piers and decks of marine nature, including pile driving and other operations needed to build those structures safely.

Marine pile driving (1)(f)

Drive concrete, wood or steel piles in a marine environment to provide foundations for docks, boathouses, seawalls, bulkheads, piers, boatlifts and the other marine structures listed in the rule.

Marine seawall work (1)(c)

The rule text for this category reads: install, alter, repair, maintain, relocate and replace supporting members of piers and docks (piles, columns, posts, stanchions), with construction below, above or beyond the mean low water line "for the sole purpose of constructing, erecting or dismantling of piers, docks and seawalls." The wording overlaps with dock work, so read it closely against the job you plan to do.

Comparison

Every category also requires Business and Finance (120 questions, 6.5 hours). All exams are open book with a 70% passing score.

Exam content

Marine specialty (80 questions). Ten areas, the largest being administering the project (16%), building fixed marine structures (14%), constructing shoreline stabilization (13%), determining project parameters (10%) and anchoring systems (10%). The rest cover soil conditions, foundation systems, dredge and fill, floating structures and close-out.

Bulkhead and seawall (40 questions each). Both outlines put 27% on constructing shoreline stabilization and 20% on anchoring systems, with smaller areas for soil conditions, permitting, foundation systems, dredge and fill and close-out.

Dock work (40 questions). Construction techniques (20%) and maintenance and repair (20%) lead, followed by design and planning (14%), materials (12%), safety (10%) and environmental considerations (10%).

Pile driving (40 questions). Fundamentals (17%) and equipment and techniques (17%) lead, then design for load and integrity, safety and building fixed marine structures (13% each).

Reference lists

The marine specialty list includes the Dock Manual, Timber Pile Design and Construction Manual, Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures, Placing Reinforcing Bars, Principles and Practices of Commercial Construction, the Damage Prevention Guide (F.S. Chapter 556), Florida Building Code: Building and Accessibility (2023), Walker's estimator, the Contractors Manual and OSHA 29 CFR 1926. The narrow categories reuse most of these and add items such as:

• Bulkhead: Concrete Masonry Handbook; Formwork for Concrete
• Dock work: Army Corps State Programmatic General Permit (SPGP); F.S. 403.813; FBC Residential
• Seawall: ACI 318; a Coast Guard boater's guide to federal requirements
• Pile driving: a shorter list without the concrete texts

Exam volume

Pearson VUE exam performance reports show 50 graded marine specialty attempts in 2025 (38 first attempts, 61% first-time pass rate state-wide). The four narrow exams had almost no takers: 2 dock work and 2 seawall attempts in 2025, and none recorded for bulkhead or pile driving.

Steps

1. Choose the category that fits your work. If you do several marine scopes, the marine specialty covers them all.
2. Document experience under F.S. 489.111 (age 18, good moral character, and an experience route such as 4 years with 1 as foreman).
3. Register with Professional Testing, Inc. and schedule exams at Pearson VUE.
4. Pass Business and Finance and the trade exam at 70%.
5. Apply to the CILB with proof of insurance, including federal maritime coverage where it applies.

FAQ

Which marine license should I get? If you build more than one type of structure, the marine specialty is broader than the four narrow categories combined. The narrow ones have shorter exams.

Can a marine contractor build a boathouse roof? The marine specialty rule allows shingle roofing on a new structure of the contractor's own construction.

Do I need federal workers' comp? Rule 61G4-15.100(4) points marine specialty contractors to the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act in addition to state law.

Next step

Every marine category requires the Business and Finance exam. Prepare with our Florida Business and Finance Exam Prep.