This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Start with repair and maintenance if that is the skill, and add replacement when you can pull the permit and warrant the install. Say which fuels and which brands you will not touch. A page that only sells new systems attracts an argument you may not want yet. In Florida the first customers are in Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville. Miami HVAC runs in humidity and salt air, and the insurance inspection asks the age of the system before a buyer will relax. Tampa HVAC is humidity, lightning, and condensate leaks that look like a roof leak. Lakeland–Winter Haven HVAC is humidity, lightning, and condensate lines that clog and look like a plumbing leak. The emergency is no cooling, a frozen line, or a condensate leak that looks like a roof leak. The emergency is no cooling, a frozen line, or a condensate leak that looks like a roof leak.
Florida is humidity, lightning, and hurricane season. Cooling runs most of the year. Insurers ask about roof age, leaks, and equipment condition. The state construction board is the starting point, and counties add their own layer.
File an LLC with the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz). The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
$500 in free advertising when you launch
Keep the checklist on your account
The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Use a name you can say when someone is standing in a hot hallway. Search the license board and the state filing office together. The qualifier's name and the company name both end up on the record in many states. Match them on the van.
Search that name at the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Miami.
HVAC licenses are usually held by a person who qualifies the company. A sole proprietorship works when that person is you. An LLC works when the board lets the company hold the registration with you as qualifier. Read the mechanical or air-conditioning section, not a general contractor page from another trade. Form the company before the EIN if you are filing an LLC. The structure does not let you sell replacements without the license.
The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
The Florida licensing page we could verify is the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
Read this page for your trade. A city or county can require its own registration even when the state does not.
Read the state mechanical or air-conditioning license, including who may handle refrigerant, and the city rule for a change-out. A maintenance visit and a system replacement are not the same credential question.
Air-conditioning work in Florida is a licensed contractor category. Start at the Construction Industry Licensing Board and read the mechanical category. Change-outs in Tampa Bay and Miami-Dade also hit local permits and, often, an insurance inspection. Read the current rule.
A city or county can require its own registration even when the state page is quiet. The city guides name the local permit counter. Call that office and write down what they say. Do not pay a third party that promises a license until you have read the official page.
General liability that understands condensers, furnaces, and attic work. Ask about refrigerant and about damage from a condensate leak, which customers often think is a roof. Commercial auto for the van. Workers' compensation before a helper is in an attic in summer. Have the certificate ready for property managers.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in Florida.
Equipment purchases and customer deposits need a business account before the first change-out. A maintenance plan's small monthly payments are easy to lose in a personal account. Deposit them, and set tax money aside when a replacement job pays.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
07Price the work Florida actually has
Lead with diagnosis. A no-cool call is a diagnostic price plus the repair, not an automatic system quote. Write the diagnostic price down, including whether it is waived if they buy the repair.
Replacement prices depend on the equipment location and the ductwork, which you cannot see from a national average. Say that you quote replacement after the diagnostic. Publish the hours you answer when the house is unsafe to stay in.
Miami: hurricane season, salt air, daily humidity, and rain that finds balconies and flat roofs No-cool repair, condensate problems, change-outs, and inspection notes on system age. Tampa: lightning, hurricane season, afternoon storms, and humidity that never fully dries a shaded wall No-cool repair, condensate and duct problems, change-outs, and inspection-driven replacements. Lakeland–Winter Haven: humid heat, a lake-effect afternoon storm, serious lightning, and hurricane season No-cool repair, condensate problems, inspection-driven replacements, and a Polk town list. Orlando: humid heat, a daily afternoon storm, hurricane season, and sandy soil with a high water table No-cool or no-heat diagnosis, the repair, and a replacement only after you have seen the equipment. In Orlando, FL, list Winter Park and Kissimmee together only if one crew really covers both. Jacksonville: humid heat, river and coastal storms, hurricane season, and salt air that is harsher at the beaches than inland No-cool or no-heat diagnosis, the repair, and a replacement only after you have seen the equipment. In Jacksonville, FL, list Riverside and St. Johns together only if one crew really covers both.
08Get found, then create the free site
The Google Business Profile should say repair and replacement as separate services, and it should match the season people are actually in. Photos of equipment in local attics, closets, or roofs beat a stock condenser. The website form asks for the symptom and whether anyone in the house is at risk from the temperature. ServiceBase keeps those requests in a list you can work from the driveway.
In Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
Air-conditioning work in Florida is a licensed contractor category. Start at the Construction Industry Licensing Board and read the mechanical category before you advertise a change-out or a no-cool visit that implies you will replace the system. Refrigerant handling has its own federal credential. Counties add permits. A Polk County truck is not a Tampa license, and a Miami-Dade permit is not a statewide shortcut. Read the current rule on the state's page.
The first month should be the calls you can diagnose: no cool air, a condensate leak, a system that cannot keep up. Orlando, Tampa, and Lakeland–Winter Haven are different housing and different drives. Pick the side you can reach the same day. The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists $100 for articles of organization and $25 for the registered-agent designation as required charges when we read it. Annual report fees are separate. An LLC is optional until you want that structure. It does not replace the license.
Put the cities and the symptoms on a page you control, and match them on the Google listing. Winter is a slower story in most of Florida. The website still has to answer a July no-cool call in the language of the house, not a northern furnace template. The missed-call calculator is how you price the rings you miss while you are in an attic.
Questions
How much does an LLC cost in Florida?
The Florida Division of Corporations fee schedule lists a $100 articles-of-organization fee and a $25 registered-agent designation fee as required for a new Florida LLC. A certified copy ($30) and a certificate of status ($5) are optional. The schedule's $160 line includes those optional items. Annual report fees are listed separately. A sole proprietorship can still be you, under your own name, without this filing. The fee is not a suggestion to form an LLC.
What license does a HVAC need in Florida?
The Florida licensing page we could verify is the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. Read this page for your trade. A city or county can require its own registration even when the state does not.
Where should a new HVAC business start in Florida?
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Miami, Tampa, Lakeland–Winter Haven, Orlando, Jacksonville. Many customers will call in Spanish or English and expect the person who answers to already know insurance inspections and condo rules. A statewide claim is a weak service area.
Is the EIN free?
Yes. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on the EIN step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero.
Where do I check an HVAC license in Florida?
Start at the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board and read the mechanical category. Change-outs also hit local permits. This guide names that path. It does not print a license fee we have not read on the board's own page.
Can I advertise HVAC in Orlando and Tampa on day one?
Only if you will actually make both drives. Orlando, Tampa, and Polk County are different routes. A page that claims all of them and then misses the appointment teaches the next customer to skip you.
