Emergency Contractor Review Checklist: Vetting a Contractor in the Days After a Storm

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Checklist
• Published September 26, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Condominiums · HOAs · Cooperatives

After a storm the usual procurement process is not available. There is no time for three bids, references and a committee. What is still available is fifteen minutes of checking that eliminates most of the operators who will cost the association money. This checklist is what those fifteen minutes should cover, and what the paperwork has to say before anyone signs it.

Nothing here requires a lawyer to perform. It requires someone to do it before the crew starts rather than after, and to write down what they found. Where an item exists because a statute says so, the citation is under it.

The roofing rules in section 489.147 deserve particular attention. They were written for storm chasing, they carry real penalties, and a contractor who breaks them in front of you is telling you what the rest of the job will look like. For the wider contracting picture see vendor contract review and restoration contracts.

Licence: check it yourself, before anything else

• Look the number up on the Department of Business and Professional Regulation licence search and print or screenshot the result into the vendor file.
• Confirm the licence is active and not expired, suspended or on probation, and note the status date.
• Confirm the licence category covers the work: a general contractor is not a roofing contractor, and a roofing licence does not cover structural repair.
• Confirm the name on the licence matches the entity on the proposal, and identify the qualifying agent.A business organization is unlicensed unless it has a primary or secondary qualifying agent licensed for the scope of work. A crew working under someone else's licence is the classic post-storm problem.§ 489.128(1)(a)
• Understand what an unlicensed contract is worth before you rely on it as a remedy.Unenforceability protects the association against the contractor's claim. It does not get back money already paid, and it does not repair the building.A contract entered into on or after October 1, 1990 by an unlicensed contractor is unenforceable in law or in equity by the unlicensed contractor; the rights of other parties to enforce contract, lien or bond remedies are unaffected. § 489.128
• Confirm the contractor will pull the permits in its own name, and refuse any arrangement where the association or an owner pulls them.An owner-pulled permit moves the code liability to the association and is a standard sign the contractor cannot pull one.

Insurance: verify it, do not accept a copy

• Require a certificate of insurance sent directly from the agent or broker, not a PDF from the contractor.
• Confirm general liability limits adequate to the work, and confirm the policy is in force on the date work starts.
• Confirm workers' compensation coverage, or a valid exemption, for every person who will be on the property.An injured uninsured worker on association property is the association's problem. Ask specifically about subcontracted crews, which is where the coverage gap usually sits.
• Require the association to be named as an additional insured, and require the endorsement, not just the certificate box.
• Require notice to the association of cancellation or non-renewal during the project.

The paperwork you refuse to sign

• Refuse any assignment of benefits, however it is labeled.A policyholder may not assign, in whole or in part, any post-loss insurance benefit under a residential or commercial property insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 2023; an attempt to do so is void, invalid and unenforceable. § 627.7152(13)
• Read every "work authorization," "direction to pay" and "letter of protection" all the way through, because assignment language lives inside them.
• Refuse any contract that ties the price to the insurance proceeds rather than to a scope of work."We will do whatever insurance pays" is not a price and is not a scope. It guarantees a dispute about both.
• Instruct the manager in writing that only a board-authorized signer may sign contractor paperwork, and tell the contractors that too.

Money: deposits, draws and what is lawful

• Treat any demand for a large cash deposit as disqualifying, and pay by association check or transfer so the payment is traceable.
• Where more than 10 percent of the contract price is paid up front, hold the contractor to the statutory timetable.A contractor who receives more than 10 percent of the contract price as a down payment for residential real property work must apply for necessary permits within 30 days after the payment and start the work within 90 days after all necessary permits are issued, absent the owner's agreement otherwise. § 489.126(2)(a)
• Understand that failing that timetable is not merely a contract breach.Violations of § 489.126(2) carry criminal penalties graduated by the amount received, from a first-degree misdemeanor under $1,000 to a first-degree felony at $200,000 or more. § 489.126(5)
• Tie every draw to completed, inspected work rather than to a calendar.
• Hold retainage until final completion and final lien releases, and say so in the contract.

The roofing rules, which are the ones being broken

• Treat a door hanger, flyer, business card, magnet or e-mail urging you to make a roof insurance claim as a warning sign, and keep it.A communication encouraging a consumer to contact a contractor or public adjuster about a roof damage insurance claim is a prohibited advertisement unless it carries the required disclosures in at least 12-point type and at least half the size of the largest font used.§ 489.147(1)
• Confirm any such advertisement carries all three disclosures: that the consumer is responsible for the deductible, that paying, waiving or rebating a deductible is third-degree felony insurance fraud, and that filing a claim with false, incomplete or misleading information is third-degree felony insurance fraud.§ 489.147(1)
• Refuse any offer of a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, or waiver or absorption of the insurance deductible, and end the conversation there.A contractor may not offer a residential property owner a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, or waiver of any insurance deductible. § 489.147(2)(b)
• Refuse any offer or request for compensation for referring services for which insurance proceeds are payable.§ 489.147(2)(c)
• Stop any contractor who starts interpreting the policy or advising the board on coverage.That is adjusting. A contractor who is not a licensed adjuster or an attorney may not do it, and a contractor who does it is usually building toward an assignment or a padded scope.§ 489.147(2)(d)
• Require the good faith itemized and detailed estimate of the cost of services and materials before signing anything authorizing repairs under a property insurance claim.Providing an insured with an agreement authorizing repairs without providing a good faith estimate of the itemized and detailed cost of services and materials is a prohibited practice. § 489.147(2)(e)
• Calendar the cancellation right the day a roof contract is signed after a declared emergency.A residential property owner may cancel a contract to repair or replace a roof without penalty within 10 days after execution or by the official start date, whichever comes first, where the contract was entered into within 180 days of an event that is the subject of a declaration of a state of emergency. § 489.147(6)(a)
• Report a contractor who offers to cover your deductible, rather than negotiating with them.The offer is the fraud. A board that accepts it is on the wrong side of the same statute.

Written scope and price, even when hurried

• Require a written scope of work that describes what will be done, to which buildings and which areas, before the crew mobilizes.
• Require a price, a not-to-exceed figure, or a published rate schedule with unit rates for labor, equipment and materials.
• Require the contract to name the start date and a completion date or duration.
• Require a written change order process, signed before extra work is performed.Post-storm disputes are almost always about change orders nobody signed. Say in the contract that unsigned extras are not payable.
• Require the contractor to warrant that it is licensed and insured, and to indemnify the association for claims arising from its work.

Liens and releases, from the first dollar

• Record a notice of commencement before work begins, and post a certified copy or a notarized statement with a copy at the job site.§ 713.13(1)(a)
• Note that improvements with a direct contract price of $2,500 or less are exempt from most of the construction lien part.§ 713.02(5)
• Require a partial waiver and release of lien upon progress payment with every draw, covering the period paid.§ 713.20(4)
• Require a waiver and release of lien upon final payment before the final check clears, from the contractor and from every subcontractor and supplier who served a notice.§ 713.20(5)
• Do not accept a waiver that a lienor refuses to give in the statutory form, and do not demand a form different from the statutory one.A person may not require a lienor to furnish a lien waiver or release different from the forms in § 713.20(4) or (5). § 713.20(6)
• Do not rely on a waiver of lien rights signed before the work was furnished.A right to claim a lien may not be waived in advance; a lien right may be waived only to the extent of labor, services or materials furnished, and an advance waiver is unenforceable. § 713.20(2)

Price gouging, out-of-state crews and the authority to sign

• Compare the quoted price against what the same work cost in the 30 days before the declaration, and keep the comparison.It is prima facie evidence of an unconscionable price that the amount charged represents a gross disparity between the price and the average price at which that commodity was sold or offered in the usual course of business during the 30 days immediately prior to the declaration of a state of emergency, unless the increase is attributable to additional costs incurred or to regional, national or international market trends. § 501.160(1)(b)
• Note that the prohibition applies within the declared area, for the duration of the declaration.It is unlawful to rent or sell or offer to rent or sell at an unconscionable price within the area for which a state of emergency has been declared; the prohibition runs for the period of the initial declaration, not to exceed 60 days, and may be extended by executive order. § 501.160(2)
• Understand the definition is broad enough to reach repair services and building materials, not just water and ice."Commodity" includes goods, services, materials, merchandise, supplies, equipment, resources or other articles of commerce, including those necessary for consumption or use as a direct result of the emergency. § 501.160(1)(a)
• Treat an out-of-state crew as requiring the same licence check as anyone else, because Florida licensure is what matters, not a licence from elsewhere.
• Confirm the board's authority to sign this contract: the emergency resolution ceiling, the chapter's bidding threshold, or a board vote taken and minuted.§ 718.1265(1); § 719.128(1); § 720.316(1)
• Ratify the emergency action at the next regular board meeting for a condominium or cooperative, and re-approve it as a matter of practice for an HOA.§ 718.112(2)(c)1.; § 719.106(1)(c). Chapter 720 has no equivalent provision.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes reviews restoration, mitigation and roofing contracts for Southwest Florida associations, often within a day, and advises boards on the authority to sign them under emergency powers. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Construction page.