A clear breakdown of the three exams, question counts, passing scores, and open-book rules for Florida's certified general contractor path in 2026.
Updated on: 2026-08-25
If you take one thing from this article, take this: a Florida certified general contractor doesn't sit for one big exam. You sit for three separate open-book, computer-based, multiple-choice exams, and you have to pass each one on its own. Business and Financial Management (120 questions, 6.5 hours), General Contractor Contract Administration (60 questions, 4.5 hours), and General Contractor Project Management (60 questions, 4.5 hours). The minimum passing score is 70% on each, reported as a percentage and not rounded up.
I've seen more candidates trip over the format and the rules than over the actual construction knowledge. So let's get the structure right first, then dig into what each exam covers and where people lose points.
What "certified general contractor" means in Florida
Florida law treats a general contractor as a contractor whose services are unlimited regarding the type of work performed, subject to statutory exceptions. General contractors sit in Division I along with building and residential contractors. The definition and the examination requirement both live in Florida Statute Chapter 489.
There's a distinction that matters here. A certified contractor holds state certification and can generally contract statewide. A registered contractor is tied to local competency approval and local registration. This article is about the state-certified general contractor exams administered through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, not county trade tests. If someone tells you the county exam and the state exam are interchangeable, they're wrong.
The 2026 exam structure
| Exam part | Required | Scored questions | Time limit | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business & Financial Management | Yes | 120 | 6.5 hours | Computer-based |
| General Contractor Contract Administration | Yes | 60 | 4.5 hours | Computer-based |
| General Contractor Project Management | Yes | 60 | 4.5 hours | Computer-based |
The official DBPR construction examinations table lists these three Division I parts separately. Building and residential contractors also take Business and Finance, but their other two exams have different question counts. So if you've read on a forum that the general contractor exam runs "120/80/120," ignore it. The current structure is 120/60/60.
One real exception: an applicant with a qualifying bachelor's degree in building construction (or another board-approved related field) and a GPA of at least 3.0 may only need to take and pass the Business and Finance portion. That's a narrow carve-out, not the standard path. Most candidates take all three.
How the exams actually run
The Florida construction exams are open book, computer-based, and multiple choice with four answer choices per question. Every question is equally weighted. You can move between questions, flag items for review, and use a review screen that shows answered, unanswered, skipped, and remaining questions.
You get up to 15 minutes for the computer tutorial, and that time does not eat into your exam clock. The clock starts when you view the first exam question. Two vendors handle the process: Professional Testing, Inc. (PTI) registers candidates, builds the exams, and scores them, while Pearson VUE schedules and administers the computer-based testing. You apply through PTI, and once approved you can schedule with Pearson VUE. The DBPR examination information page notes scheduling can happen within 72 hours after PTI approval, subject to the applicable process.
All of the above comes from the official candidate information booklet, which is the controlling source for delivery, format, and scoring.
The passing score, and the part people get wrong
The booklet is specific:
- Minimum passing score: 70%
- Scores reported as percentages
- Scores are not rounded to the nearest percent
- You get an official result report immediately after finishing
Because questions are equally weighted, 70% works out to these raw equivalents:
| Exam part | 70% equivalent |
|---|---|
| Business & Financial Management (120 q) | 84 correct |
| Contract Administration (60 q) | 42 correct |
| Project Management (60 q) | 42 correct |
Two things trip people up. First, there's no averaging. A 92% on Business and Finance does nothing for you if you land at 68% on Project Management. You pass or fail each exam independently. Second, the no-rounding rule is real. A 69.5% does not become a 70%. It's a fail. Build a cushion into your prep instead of aiming for the exact line.
Business & Financial Management: where the weight sits
The official content outline breaks Business and Finance into six areas across 120 questions, and notes each area's percentage can vary by up to plus or minus three points. The passing score isn't in that outline; it comes from the candidate booklet.
| Content area | Approx. share | ~ out of 120 |
|---|---|---|
| Conducting Accounting Functions | 32% | ~38 |
| Managing Administrative Duties | 26% | ~31 |
| Complying with Government Regulations | 15% | ~18 |
| Establishing the Contracting Business | 11% | ~13 |
| Managing Trade Operations | 10% | ~12 |
| Managing Human Resources | 6% | ~7 |
Accounting Functions and Administrative Duties together make up roughly 58% of this exam. That's your study priority, plain and simple. But the other four areas still put about 50 questions on the table, so don't skip government regulations or business setup thinking they're rounding error.
Expect both concepts and math. You'll see overhead and labor cost calculations, bid and proposal prep, draw requests, cash flow and job costing, payroll and tax obligations, lien-law responsibilities, and questions on business structure, insurance, and bonding. It isn't a bookkeeping quiz. It's the financial and regulatory reality of running a contracting business.
Contract Administration: read the contract questions carefully
The Contract Administration outline covers 60 equally weighted questions across four areas, again with a plus-or-minus three-point tolerance.
| Content area | Approx. share | ~ out of 60 |
|---|---|---|
| Project Contracts | 40% | ~24 |
| Preconstruction Activities | 27% | ~16 |
| Obtaining Licenses, Permits and Approvals | 20% | ~12 |
| Construction Procedures and Operations | 13% | ~8 |
Project Contracts is the biggest domain, and it goes well past naming contract types. You need to work with lump-sum, cost-plus, guaranteed-maximum-price, and unit-cost contracts, plus general/supplemental/special conditions, subcontractor agreements, addenda, change orders, field authorizations, payment schedules, schedules of values, partial lien releases, substantial completion, retainage, punch lists, and certificates of occupancy.
Preconstruction Activities isn't only estimating either. It pulls in evaluating subcontractor and supplier bids, determining margins and profit, distinguishing fixed and variable costs, and recognizing liquidated damages and regulatory contingencies. Candidates who prep this section as "just takeoffs" tend to underperform.
Project Management: the construction-methods heavyweight
Project Management is 60 equally weighted questions across three domains, same three-point tolerance.
| Content area | Approx. share | ~ out of 60 |
|---|---|---|
| Construction Methods, Materials, Tools, Equipment | 63% | ~38 |
| Safety | 20% | ~12 |
| Reading Plans and Specifications | 17% | ~10 |
That 63% category is enormous and broad. It spans surveys, benchmarks, setbacks, easements, and site plans; soils, compaction, moisture content, and foundations; excavation, cut-and-fill, trenching, shoring, and dewatering; concrete forms, reinforcement, footings, piles, and slabs; masonry, wood and metal framing, span tables, and wind loads; tilt-up, SIPs, ICFs, and slip forming; R-values and building envelopes; roofing and wall systems; and crane and hoisting operations.
Safety leans hard on OSHA, fall protection, scaffolding, trench safety, and hazardous materials like asbestos, lead, and mold. Plan reading covers drawings, sections, symbols, specifications, shop drawings, submittals, codes, and ADA requirements.
One thing the content documents make explicit: basic math runs across the whole exam. Area and volume, fractions and decimals, percentages, triangle calculations, square roots and powers, and simple algebra can show up anywhere, not just in the plan-reading slice. If your arithmetic is rusty, fix that early. It pays off on all three exams. A structured contractor exam study schedule helps a lot here, because these domains reward steady coverage over cramming.
"Open book" has rules, and they bite
Open book in Florida means approved reference books under testing rules. It does not mean bring whatever helps. The official rules generally require:
- Only books on the applicable approved reference list may enter the room
- Original editions unless the list specifically permits a PDF
- Books must stay bound
- Pen or highlighter underlining is allowed
- Handwritten and typed notes are not allowed
- Removable tabs, Post-it flags, and pull-off labels are not allowed
- No new marks during the exam
- One copy of each approved reference
That's the trap. Candidates show up with a book full of sticky tabs and loose notes and get told to strip them or leave them out. Permanent underlining and highlighting are fine. Removable tabs are not. This is exactly why good prep programs teach you to prepare your references correctly ahead of time. 1 Exam Prep sells pre-tabbed and highlighted books and teaches highlighting and tabbing instruction that stays inside the rules, which saves you from having to redo a book the week before you test.
Verify the reference list before you test
The DBPR reference-list system separates computer-based and pencil-and-paper exams. As of this research, the searchable general/building/residential list still showed a 2025 validity window even though the site was touched in 2026, and the 2026 Business and Finance list indicates the 2025 Contractors Manual edition begins being used for that exam on February 1, 2026.
Editions change. Do not treat a list you found six months ago as current. Pull the live reference list from the DBPR page right before you schedule, and again before you walk in. That single habit prevents one of the most avoidable fails there is.
Common misconceptions worth killing
| Misconception | Reality |
|---|---|
| "It's 120/80/120." | Current table is 120 / 60 / 60. |
| "Computer-based means closed book." | It's open book with approved references only. |
| "Any tabbed book is fine." | Underlining and highlighting yes; removable tabs and notes no. |
| "Scores are averaged." | Each part is a separate pass/fail. |
| "69.5% rounds to 70%." | No rounding. It's a fail. |
| "A 19-book package is the official requirement." | That's a commercial package. The DBPR reference list controls what's official. |
| "There's a separate general trade-knowledge exam." | The three parts are Business & Finance, Contract Administration, Project Management. |
| "The outline predicts exact questions." | Outlines warn that past exams don't represent all possible content. |
On pass-rate claims: 1 Exam Prep advertises a 98.7% first-time pass rate. That's a provider marketing figure, and it's a useful signal about their program, but it isn't a DBPR or Pearson VUE statewide statistic. Treat it as what it is.
Retakes and score review
Fail a part and you can request a review of the questions you missed, subject to the rules. The request generally has to be made within 21 days of the exam, the review happens at a Pearson VUE center, and only your most recent exam and incorrect answers are eligible.
I'd add a caution the commercial guides often skip: the candidate booklet reviewed here doesn't establish a blanket four-year rule keeping all passed parts valid. If you're counting on that, confirm it in the current governing rule or your application-specific instructions rather than trusting a repeated claim.
What I'd do first
Start with the two math-and-money-heavy exams because they punish weak fundamentals: Business and Finance (Accounting plus Administrative Duties is ~58%) and Contract Administration (Project Contracts is 40%). Then build Project Management around that giant construction-methods domain. Prepare your reference books to the rules early, confirm the live DBPR reference list before scheduling, and practice under timed, open-book conditions so you're comfortable finding answers fast instead of reading cover to cover. Practice questions and a paced study plan close most of the gap between people who pass on the first try and people who don't.
FAQ
How many exams does a Florida certified general contractor take?
Three: Business and Financial Management, General Contractor Contract Administration, and General Contractor Project Management. Each is separate, and you must pass each one. The bachelor's-degree exception can reduce it to just Business and Finance, but that's a narrow case.
What is the passing score for the Florida general contractor exam?
70% on each exam, reported as a percentage and not rounded. At the listed question counts that's 84 of 120 on Business and Finance and 42 of 60 on each of the other two. There's no averaging across parts.
Is the Florida general contractor exam open book?
Yes, but only with approved reference materials prepared to the rules. Highlighting and pen underlining are allowed. Removable tabs, sticky flags, handwritten notes, and typed notes are not. Confirm the current reference list before you test.
Are the practice question counts and domain percentages fixed?
Not exactly. The official outlines say domain percentages can vary by up to three points in either direction, and they warn that past exams don't represent every possible question. The percentages are a study-priority guide, not a guarantee.
Which exam should I study for first?
There's a good argument for starting where fundamentals matter most. Business and Finance and Contract Administration lean heavily on math, cost, and contract mechanics, and Project Management piles on a wide construction-methods domain. Shoring up arithmetic and cost concepts early tends to help across all three.