The link below will take you to the Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation (DBPR). Here you can acquire a host of information on a state certified contractor and the company they qualify.
www.myfloridalicense.com
The website below takes you to the Florida Dept. of State, Division of Corporations. Here you can research the history of the contractors corporation and who the principals are.
www.sunbiz.org
The website below will take you to the Dade County portal where you can research a contractor that is licensed to work in Dade County only.
www.miamidade.gov/building/contractors.asp
A Florida State Certified Contractor’s license has more stringent guidelines and is more difficult to obtain. It is therefore a more prestigious license and allows the contractor to perform more functions than someone who just has a county license. Most subcontractors carry only county licenses because they are specialty trades and cannot build an entire pool or obtain a pool permit. In contracting with someone to build your pool you should seek a contractor with a state license that lives where the business is located as is the case with Creative Backyards, Inc. You also want that person to oversee the construction of your pool. Too many contractors now days have absentee qualifiers (the license holder) that have no position in the company and no idea of how the pools are being constructed. They just allow someone to use their license and that is a situation that you want to try to avoid.