Four Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Marine Contractor

Is Your Contractor properly Licensed?
Will the contractor obtain all the necessary permits?
Is your contractor properly insured?
Will your contractor be there if you have a problem?

1. Is the contractor properly licensed?

Ask to see copies of their State and County contractors’ license. You can look up a contractor with Monroe County and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Be sure your contractor has a Monroe County Certificate of Competency (Contractor’s License) to protect yourself from:

Having no recourse if work does not meet code, is shoddy or unsafe.
Liability for injured workers on your property.
Fines for aiding and abetting unlicensed contracting.
Interruption of your project.
After the fact permit fines.

State Certified Building contractors are licensed to work throughout the state. They are held to a higher level of competency. You are also protected from monetary loss by the Florida Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund. This is a fund of last resort and is administered by the Construction Industry Licensing Board which makes the determination of eligibility for an award. This fund is only available if your contractor is State licensed.

The three categories of Florida State building contractor license are:

Residential Contractor: is limited to construction, remodeling, repair or improvement of one-family, two-family, or three-family residences which are not more than two stories in height.
Building Contractor: is limited to construction, remodeling, repair or improvement of commercial buildings and single-dwelling or multiple-dwelling residential buildings. These buildings cannot exceed three stories in height.
General Contractor: is unlimited as to the type of work which he or she may do.

2. Will the contractor obtain all the necessary permits?

If your contractor asks you to get an owner permit, beware! Is it because they cannot pull a permit? If you obtain an Owner Permit you may bear all the liability for accident or injury on the job. If you obtain an Owner Permit you must either do the work yourself or if you hire someone, they must be properly licensed and insured. You cannot hire anyone who is not licensed to do work under an Owner Permit.

Boat Lift Permits

Boat lifts require Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and municipality permits.
DEP and ACOE permits take approximately 3 months to obtain.
They are good for five years from issuance.
Most municipalities require the DEP and ACOE permits at the time of the local permit application. These can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to be processed.
Boat lifts require electrical hook up. All electrical permits are the responsibility of the electricians.

Docks/Seawalls Permits:

New docks or seawalls:

Require sealed engineer drawings to be filed with the DEP and ACOE to obtain a permit.
Depending on the nature of the work and its environmental impact permits can take a year or more to obtain.
Mitigation fees may be assessed if your project will involve damage to any wetlands or destruction of any protected plant life. They will be used to restore similar wetlands to those destroyed at another site. The potential fees are unknown until the ACOE permit is issued and can range from several hundred to thousands of dollars, depending on the environmental impact of your project.
If mitigation fees are assessed, a copy of the receipt will be needed to file with the municipal building department.

Repairs to docks or seawalls:

Will not require new ACOE and DEP permits if the repaired dock is within 2 feet of the original permit.
Depending on the nature of the repair, new sealed drawings may be required and a new municipal permit obtained.
Municipal repair permits can take from a few weeks to months to obtain.

Monroe County and Lower Enclosures:

The Monroe County Building Department uses the Property Record prepared by the Monroe County Property Assessors office to determine if a living area exists in a downstairs enclosure.
Monroe County requires that all properties sold since June 1, 2004 have a FEMA inspection before they will process any permit.
Houses built prior to December 31, 1974 that included a downstairs Floor Living Area (FLA) do not require a FEMA inspection.
Any building additions made after December 31, 1974 will not be exempt.
Any violations will have to be cleared before they will begin to process a permit request. This is true of any permits you apply for in Monroe Co., not just boat lift and dock permits.
Monroe County Information Page http://monroecofl.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/MonroeCoFL_Growth/floodplain

Lifetime Dock & Lumber, Inc. will not knowingly turn in a permit application that will precipitate a FEMA inspection without consulting the homeowner first.

3. Is your contractor properly insured?

Ask your contractor for proof of Insurance - You should always ask for a Certificate of Insurance prior to signing a contract or allowing work to be started.

1. General Liability Insurance

In Monroe County, all contractors that pull permits are required to carry General Liability Insurance. A homeowner would be wise to require it of any contractor they use as well. This is to guard against liability in the event a contractor does damage to the homeowner/neighbors property or the contractor injures someone other than their employee.

2. Workers Compensation Insurance

All contractors are required to carry Workers Compensation Insurance with the following exception. “Only corporate officers or members of a limited liability company (LLC) engaged in the construction industry are eligible for an exemption.” Ask your contractor to provide you with a copy of their “Certificate of Exemption from Florida Workers’ Compensation Law”; if they tell you they are exempt.

The Certificate of Exemption is only for the qualifying individuals noted above and this only applies to non-marine construction. If an exempt contractor also has employees on the jobsite, workers compensation insurance must be provided for them. Under most circumstances, if a contractor does not provide this insurance for his employees and a worker is injured on a job, the homeowner will be responsible for the medical expenses and possibly find himself involved a lawsuit.

3. USL&H Insurance

Marine Contractors are required to have USL&H insurance when doing work adjacent to navigable waters and there is no exemption from USL&H for marine contractors. When using a marine contractor ask your contractor to provide you with a Certificate of Insurance stating that USL&H coverage is provided. Jones Act Insurance is required for barge work.

4. Will your contractor be there if you have a problem?

Many contractors will try their hands at a business and then not last very long. You want to deal with someone who is established, easy to contact and someone you can depend upon for support.

Find out how long the contractor has been in the construction business. Experience goes a long way to a high quality job.
Ask your contractor for references from satisfied customers who have had similar work performed.
Check to see that they have a brick and mortar address and not just a P.O. Box.
Can they provide post installation service?
Is your contractor a member of any professional organizations?

Your Project is Important.

Make Sure You Get What You Pay for and Protect Your Investment.

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Licensed and Fully Insured
State of Florida Certified Building Contractor License # CBC 051193
Insurance - General Liability, Auto, Florida Workers Compensation
For Marine Construction Work - All workers covered by required Federal
USL&H and Jones Act Insurance