Last updated 2026-08-21
TL;DR
To start as a well driller in Florida you need a water well contractor license from a water management district. Statute 373.323 requires age 18, 2 years of well work, a 10-well list, and a passing exam. The license is statewide. Each hole still needs a construction permit. Form the company on Sunbiz and confirm current fees with the district that takes your application.
Do you need a license for well driller in Florida?
Yes. If you construct, repair, or abandon water wells as a business in Florida, you need a water well contractor license from a water management district. Florida Statute 373.323 is the rule. Not a trade-association certificate, and not a city card. Working without that license is unlawful under s. 373.336, except for the narrow property-owner exemptions in s. 373.326.[1][2][3]
Florida Statute 373.323 states: "Every person who wishes to engage in business as a water well contractor shall obtain from the water management district a license to conduct such business."[1]
That sentence is the whole game. Helpers on a licensed contractor's crew do not each need their own card. The person who engages in the business does. If you bid the job, run the rig as the contractor, or hold yourself out as the well contractor, you need the license.
A private "certified driller" wallet card from a national group does not replace s. 373.323. Counties and cities can still hit you with local business taxes and well permits. They cannot invent a second water well contractor license. The same statute says licensure by a water management district "shall be the only water well contractor license required for the construction, repair, or abandonment of water wells in the state or any political subdivision thereof."[1]
Do not advertise, take deposits, or spud a customer's well until the district has actually issued the license. The unlawful-acts statute is not a suggestion.[2]
Who issues the Florida water well contractor license?
A water management district issues it. Not DEP as a walk-up counter, and not the county building department. Florida Statute 373.069 creates the five districts that cover the state. You file with one of them. After that one district licenses you, the contractor card is good statewide.[5][1]
The five districts are the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the Suwannee River Water Management District, the St. Johns River Water Management District, Southwest Florida Water Management District, and the South Florida Water Management District.[5]
Pick the district where you live or where you will actually drill. Call that office and ask which intake they want. Rule 62-531.300 is the application rule. It sits on top of the statute, and the district staff will tell you which attachments they still want in the current packet.[7]
DEP writes the statewide contractor rules. The district runs your file, sits the exam process, and prints the license. That split confuses people who Google "Florida DEP well license" and then wait for a Tallahassee approval that never comes.
You still deal with DEP construction standards when you build the hole. Licensing and construction standards are two different piles of paper. Keep them straight or you will mail the wrong form to the wrong shop.
What experience do you need before the Florida exam?
Florida Statute 373.323 says an applicant is entitled to take the exam if the applicant is at least 18 and has at least 2 years of experience constructing, repairing, or abandoning water wells. That 2-year floor is statutory. A weekend seminar does not wipe it out.[1]
The same section tells you how to prove the time. You need a letter from a water well contractor and a letter from a water well inspector employed by a governmental agency, both attesting that well work has been a major activity for you. You also need a list of at least 10 water wells you constructed, repaired, or abandoned in the preceding 5 years. At least 7 of those 10 wells must have been constructed by you. For each well the list must include the owner's name and address, location, primary use, approximate depth and diameter, and the approximate completion date.[1]
Florida Statute 373.323 requires the application well list to include at least 10 water wells from the preceding 5 years, and at least 7 of those wells must have been constructed by the applicant.[1]
That well list is where files stall. People remember depths and forget owners. They count pump replacements as "constructed" wells. Construction has a legal meaning in s. 373.303. Read that definition before you build the list, or the district will bounce it.[14]
Start the list while you still work under someone else. Get the inspector letter while that person still remembers your holes. Waiting until you quit is how you spend a year chasing signatures.
Rule 62-531.300 is where the district hangs the rest of the application mechanics. Confirm the current packet, fee, and exam seat with that district. Do not treat a blog fee as the official charge.[7]
How long does well driller take in Florida?
The statutory minimum is 2 years of experience before you are entitled to sit the exam. Add the time to assemble the two letters and the 10-well list, plus however long your district takes to schedule the test and issue the card after you pass. Florida does not publish one statewide processing clock. Confirm timing with the district that will own your file.[1][7]
If you already have the 2 years and a clean well list, the rest is paperwork and an exam date. That can be weeks or a few months. Nobody honest can promise you a date.
Starting from zero on a helper's seat? Plan in years, not weeks. The 10 wells have to fall inside the preceding 5 years, and 7 of them have to be wells you constructed. You cannot compress that with a classroom.[1]
Forming the company is the fast part. Articles of organization for a Florida LLC file online with the Division of Corporations. The legal entity can exist in days. The entity does not let you drill for customers. The individual contractor license does.[10][1]
First paying work after licensure depends on a rig you can keep running, insurance a customer will accept, and permit turnaround in the district where the hole sits. Those are local facts. They are not in s. 373.323.
How much does well driller cost in Florida?
There is no official Florida startup price for a well driller. License application and renewal charges sit under s. 373.329 and the district that processes you. Confirm the current dollar amount with that district. I will not invent this year's fee.[6]
The cheap, documentable slice is the company paper. Florida Division of Corporations charges $125 to file articles of organization for a Florida LLC.[10] A local business tax receipt under Chapter 205 is a separate city or county bill. That amount changes by place. Ask the clerk where you will park the trucks.[12]
The real money is iron, not stamps. Used truck-mounted rotary rigs trade from the tens of thousands into the mid six figures, depending on depth rating, compressor, and how tired the mast is. New iron runs higher. There is no Florida price list for this. If a course quotes one "turnkey" number, treat it as marketing.
Insurance, fuel, bits, casing stock, grout, and a yard will dwarf the license fee in year one. Per-well construction permit fees are extra, and they vary by district and well type. St. Johns River Water Management District publishes its own well-construction permitting path. Other districts do the same. Read the district that owns the hole.[13]
Do not finance a deep high-capacity rotary before you have licensed work that needs that depth. A lot of first-year Florida work is domestic and irrigation holes in sand and limestone, not a 12-inch public-supply well. Buy the machine that matches the jobs you can actually permit.
How do Florida well construction permits work?
The contractor license is not a permit to drill a specific well. Florida Statute 373.313 requires prior permission before construction, repair, or abandonment of a water well, unless an exemption applies. Rule 62-532.400 is the statewide permit rule. The water management district or a delegated local government issues that permit.[4][9]
You pull the permit for that hole, then you drill. You do not drill and "catch up the paper later." Inspectors notice.
Each district runs its own intake. St. Johns River Water Management District states the well-construction permit requirement on its well construction permitting page. Southwest Florida, South Florida, Suwannee River, and Northwest Florida each have their own portal or form. Use the office that has jurisdiction over the well location, not the office that issued your contractor card if those are different.[13]
| Paper | Who handles it | When it is due |
|---|---|---|
| Water well contractor license | One of the five water management districts | Before you engage in the business |
| Well construction, repair, or abandonment permit | WMD or delegated local government | Before you start that hole |
| Completion and grout records | You, filed with the permitting office | After the work, by the deadline on the permit |
| Sunbiz entity filing | Florida Division of Corporations | When you form the company |
| Local business tax receipt | City or county under Chapter 205 | Before you operate in that locality |
Permit conditions can dictate casing, grout intervals, setbacks, and what you must report. Chapter 62-532 is the construction-standards home. Read the permit you actually received. Statewide rules plus the paper in your truck both matter.[9]
Can you drill a well on your own Florida property without a license?
Sometimes. Florida Statute 373.326 exempts certain people who construct a well on land they own or lease, for a single-family house that is their residence (or intended residence), or for farming on their own farm, when the water is not for the public or for someone else's house. That exemption is narrow. It is not a license to drill for neighbors.[3]
The exemption does not automatically kill the construction permit. s. 373.313 still speaks to prior permission. Plenty of landowners still need a well construction permit even when they are not required to hold a contractor license. Confirm both questions with the district or delegated local government before you turn a bit on your own dirt.[4][3]
If the well will serve a rental, a second home you do not occupy, a subdivision, or any public water use, you are outside the exemption. Hire a licensed contractor or get licensed yourself.
The "I'll punch a few wells for friends until I get my card" plan is a bad one. That is practicing water well contracting. s. 373.336 makes it unlawful.[2]
How do you set up the well driller business entity in Florida?
File the company with the Florida Division of Corporations on Sunbiz, then keep the contractor license in the name of the person who actually qualified. The license under Chapter 373 is a person-level water well contractor license. The LLC does not sit the exam. You do.[1][10]
Florida Division of Corporations charges $125 to file articles of organization for a Florida LLC.[10] That filing can include the registered-agent designation. If you operate under a name that is not the legal entity name, look at a fictitious name registration on the same Sunbiz system. Confirm that fee on the current fictitious-name page. I will not guess it here.
Get an EIN from IRS if you will hire or open a business bank account. Register with Florida Department of Revenue if you will sell taxable property (pumps, tanks, parts) or have employees. A city or county business tax receipt under s. 205.042 (municipalities) or the matching county levy may still be due where you keep the yard.[12]
Form the entity after you know you can sit the exam, not two years early so you can "look legitimate" on Facebook. An empty LLC still has annual-report duties. It does not make unlicensed drilling legal.
Write an operating agreement that says who owns the rig and who holds the license if a partner leaves. Courts see a lot of ugly breakups over a mast and a customer list. That is not a state form. It is still worth doing.
What insurance and workers' comp rules apply to a Florida crew?
Florida's water well contractor statute is not a full insurance code. Customers, general contractors, and some local bid packages will still demand general liability with your name on the certificate. Buy what the work requires. Confirm any bond or insurance the district currently asks for on the application. Do not assume a number you saw on a forum.[7]
Workers' compensation is a different statute. Florida Statute 440.10 requires covered employers to secure compensation for employees. Construction-industry employers in Florida are treated strictly. If you have even one employee on the crew, plan on coverage unless a lawyer who does Chapter 440 tells you that your exact facts are exempt. Confirm with the Division of Workers' Compensation. Internet summaries of "sole prop exemptions" go stale and get people fined.[11]
A 1099 helper who only works your lever and your pipe is often still your employee in a dispute. Do not build a first-year business on fake independent-contractor paperwork.
Vehicle coverage for a heavy rig is its own mess (liability, cargo, inland marine on the tools). That is an insurance broker conversation, not a licensing one. Budget it before you bid a county job that wants a $1 million certificate tomorrow.
What paperwork do you file after you drill a Florida well?
After the hole is in, you still owe the permitting office a completion record and the grout information that office requires. The well construction permit and Chapter 62-532 set that duty. Deadlines are on the permit and in the district's instructions. Confirm the current number of days. It is not one magic statewide figure I can invent for you.[9][13][4]
Log what you actually set. Casing diameters, seat depths, grout intervals, grout type, static water, and yield if you measured it. Inspectors compare that sheet to what they saw on site. A pretty log that does not match the hole is worse than an ugly honest one.
Keep a copy in the truck and a copy in the office. When a pump installer or a county health review asks what you grouted with three years later, you will not remember the bag count.
If you want those board and grout-log sheets in one place, WellDrillerPath sells a $179 one-time Well Board + Grout-Log Kit. It does not replace the district's own forms. It just keeps the paper you already have to retain from ending up as a muddy stack on the dashboard.
Abandoned and repaired wells have their own reports. Do not treat a repair as a free-hand job with no file. s. 373.313 still wants prior permission for repair and abandonment unless you are truly exempt.[4]
What first-year spending is a waste of money in Florida?
Buying a brand-new deep rotary before you have a license, a well list, and a district that will permit your typical jobs. The machine payment does not care that your exam is in "a couple months."
Paying a packager to "handle Florida licensing" when the statute is two letters, a 10-well list, an application under 62-531.300, and an exam. A competent office manager at the shop you work for now can help you build that list for free.[1][7]
A national certification course sold as if it were the Florida license. It is not. s. 373.323 is the Florida license.[1]
Leasing a big shop on a five-year term while you still take helper wages. A fenced yard and a conex will hold casing until the books work.
Spend money, in order, on this: the 2 years of real seat time, the application file, the exam, liability and workers' comp that match the crew you actually have, a used rig that fits domestic and irrigation work in your district, then the shop. Flip that order and you get a pretty truck and no legal work.
Compare notes with how other states paper this if you might move. The Alabama start path and the Texas business path are different statutes. Do not mix their checklists into a Florida file.
What if you already hold a well driller license in another state?
You still need the Florida water well contractor license before you engage in the business here. Florida Statute 373.323 is the Florida card. Another state's license does not automatically authorize Florida work.[1]
The same statute has a mutual-recognition path for people licensed elsewhere when the other state's requirements are substantially equivalent. Whether your state counts, whether you still sit Florida's exam, and what proof the district wants are district-level calls. Ask the Florida district that will take the file. Get the answer in writing.[1][7]
Bring your out-of-state license verification, your well list, and any exam content outline you have. Florida construction practice in karst limestone and the Floridan aquifer is not the same as a glacial sand well in the upper Midwest. Expect Florida-specific law and grout questions even if they honor your experience.
If you are comparing paper across states, read the actual Alabama license guide, the Texas license guide, the Arkansas start guide, and the Tennessee license path. Use those as contrast. Do not copy their forms into a Florida packet.
WellDrillerPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a drilling company. For a single kit that holds board and grout-log paper, the Well Board + Grout-Log Kit is $179 one-time at /start. Confirm every current fee, form, and exam date with the water management district. No article can promise you an approval.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for well driller in Florida?
Yes, if you engage in business constructing, repairing, or abandoning water wells. Florida Statute 373.323 requires a water well contractor license from a water management district. Doing the work without that license is unlawful under s. 373.336, except for the narrow own-property exemptions in s. 373.326. A city card or a national certificate is not a substitute.
How much does well driller cost in Florida?
License fees are set under s. 373.329 and the water management district that processes the file. Confirm the current dollar amount with that district. A Florida LLC files for $125 on Sunbiz. The large costs are the rig, insurance, casing stock, and per-well permits. Those are not on one state price list. Used rotary rigs often run from the tens of thousands into the mid six figures.
How long does well driller take in Florida?
You need at least 2 years of experience before you are entitled to take the exam under s. 373.323. Building the required 10-well list and two letters takes its own time. Exam seating and license issuance are not on a published statewide clock. Confirm with the district. Company formation on Sunbiz can take days and still does not authorize drilling.
Is a Florida water well contractor license good in every county?
Yes for the contractor license itself. Section 373.323 says licensure by a water management district is the only water well contractor license required in the state or any political subdivision. You still need a construction permit for each well from the district or delegated local government that has jurisdiction over that hole, plus any local business tax receipt.
How many wells must be on a Florida license application?
Florida Statute 373.323 requires a list of at least 10 water wells constructed, repaired, or abandoned within the preceding 5 years. At least 7 of those 10 must have been constructed by the applicant. Each entry needs owner, location, primary use, approximate depth and diameter, and approximate completion date.
Who writes the experience letters for a Florida well contractor application?
The statute asks for two letters. One comes from a water well contractor. The other comes from a water well inspector employed by a governmental agency. Both attest that you have been engaged in well construction, repair, or abandonment as a major activity. Start those letters while people still remember your holes.
Do employees on a Florida drilling crew need their own license?
The person who engages in business as the water well contractor needs the license. Helpers on that contractor's crew do not each hold a separate contractor card. If an employee starts bidding jobs or holding themselves out as the contractor, that person needs their own license under s. 373.323.
Can a Florida LLC hold the water well contractor license instead of a person?
The Chapter 373 license is issued to the person who meets the age, experience, and exam requirements. Form the LLC on Sunbiz for liability and tax reasons. The individual still qualifies, sits the exam, and holds the contractor license. Confirm with the district how they want the business name shown on the file.
Do you need a permit for every well in Florida?
Usually yes. Section 373.313 requires prior permission before construction, repair, or abandonment of a water well unless an exemption applies. Rule 62-532.400 is the statewide permit rule. The water management district or a delegated local government issues that permit. The contractor license does not replace it.
How many continuing education hours does a Florida well contractor need?
Rule 62-531.350 sets a minimum of 12 classroom hours of approved continuing education during each biennium as a condition of license renewal. Confirm current course-approval lists and the renewal window with the water management district that issued the license, because the district runs the renewal file.
Does Florida take another state's well driller license by reciprocity?
Not automatically. You need a Florida water well contractor license to engage in the business here. Section 373.323 includes a mutual-recognition route when another state's requirements are substantially equivalent. Whether your state qualifies, and whether you still sit a Florida exam, is a question for the receiving water management district.
What happens if you drill a well in Florida without a license?
Section 373.336 makes it unlawful to practice water well contracting without an active license issued under that part. Districts can also refuse or hold permits. Customers can walk away from an unlicensed contract. The cheap path is still the legal path: get the 2 years, file the list, pass the exam, then drill.
Sources
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.323 (2024): Every person who wishes to engage in business as a water well contractor must obtain a WMD license; age 18, 2 years of experience, two attestation letters, a 10-well list with at least 7 constructed wells, statewide exclusivity of that license, and a mutual-recognition path.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.336 (2024): It is unlawful to practice water well contracting without an active license issued under this part.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.326 (2024): Narrow exemptions exist for certain individuals constructing a well on their own or leased property for a single-family residence or their own farm when the water is not for public or third-party residential use.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.313 (2024): Prior permission is required before construction, repair, or abandonment of a water well unless an exemption applies.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.069 (2024): Florida law creates the five water management districts that cover the state and issue water well contractor licenses.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.329 (2024): Licensure fees for water well contractors are addressed in s. 373.329 and must be confirmed with the processing water management district.
- Florida Administrative Code Rule 62-531.300: Rule 62-531.300 sets application requirements for water well contractor licensure filed with a water management district.
- Florida Administrative Code Rule 62-531.350: Each water well contractor must complete a minimum of 12 classroom hours of approved continuing education during each biennium as a condition of license renewal.
- Florida Administrative Code Rule 62-532.400: Rule 62-532.400 is the statewide rule for permits to construct, repair, or abandon a water well.
- Florida Division of Corporations, File a Florida LLC: The filing fee to submit articles of organization for a Florida limited liability company is $125.
- Florida Senate, Statute 440.10 (2024): Covered Florida employers must secure workers' compensation for employees under Chapter 440.
- Florida Senate, Statute 205.042 (2024): Municipalities may levy a local business tax, which is separate from the water well contractor license.
- St. Johns River Water Management District, Well Construction Permitting: A water management district publishes a separate well-construction permitting process that still applies after contractor licensure.
- Florida Senate, Statute 373.303 (2024): Section 373.303 defines construction and related well terms used to decide which holes count on the license application list.