Landscaping

Florida licensing classes

Build stages and phases

Job types

Permits

Permit triggers from the pack. The pack does not name the local permit or its filing window on purpose, so this page does not either. The building department confirms those.

• Pruning, trimming or removal of a tree on single-family detached residential property where the owner holds signed documentation that the tree poses an unacceptable risk

  No permit · Fla. Stat. 163.045(2)-(3)

• Tree work that is not single-family detached residential, or that touches a heritage or specimen tree, a protected species, or a mangrove

  Permit likely, confirm locally · Fla. Stat. 163.045(1)(b), (4)

• Disturbing a gopher tortoise burrow, or land-clearing and construction activity where a burrow is present

  Permit required · FWC gopher tortoise relocation permit · Fla. Admin. Code Ch. 68A-27, via the FWC gopher tortoise rules and permits pages

• Hardscape, pavers and decorative stone work

  Permit likely, confirm locally · Fla. Stat. 489.117(4)(a)

Compliance rules

Obligations that fire on a job, from this trade's pack. Items marked as an open question were not fully settled by the research and should be confirmed, not asserted.

• Any pesticide on turf needs the Ch. 482 licence state

  Fla. Stat. 482.071(1); Fla. Stat. 482.111(2)(a); Fla. Stat. 482.156

• Weed-and-feed is not covered by the fertilizer certification state

  Fla. Stat. 482.1562

• Use inconsistent with the labeling is a federal violation federal

  7 U.S.C. 136j(a)(2)(G); 40 CFR 171.101(c)

• GI-BMP training before the fertilizer certification state

  Fla. Stat. 403.9338; Fla. Stat. 482.1562

• The county or city fertilizer ordinance governs the job site local

  Open question No county or municipal fertilizer ordinance was verified in this pass. The dates, the covered nutrients, the exemptions, the buffer distances from water bodies, the deflector-shield requirements and whether a certification card must be carried all vary by jurisdiction, and the widely-cited summer blackout window is withheld rather than stated. Defer to the county or municipality where the job site is.

  Fla. Stat. 403.9337

• Year-round landscape irrigation conservation measures statefrom research, not fully settled

  Open question Which days are assigned to odd and even addresses was reported inconsistently between the two-day and three-day county sets and is withheld. The Southwest Florida Water Management District rule for the Tampa Bay market and the St. Johns River Water Management District rule were not researched at all, and a Tampa account is not governed by 40E-24. Local governments and utilities may be stricter, and many are. Defer to the water management district for that county, as tightened by the city, county or utility.

  Fla. Admin. Code R. 40E-24.201; SFWMD landscape irrigation page (26 Aug 2026)

• Cross-connection control on an irrigation connection statefrom research, not fully settled

  Open question Which device type is acceptable, who may install it, who must test it and how often is set by the water utility and the local jurisdiction and it varies. No device type, tester qualification or test interval may be stated as a settled Florida requirement. Defer to the water utility and the local jurisdiction.

  Fla. Admin. Code R. 62-555.360

• Documentation standard for permit-free residential tree removal state

  Fla. Stat. 163.045(1)-(3)

• Tree permitting outside the statutory carve-out local

  Open question No local tree ordinance was researched for any jurisdiction. Defer to the local government.

  Fla. Stat. 163.045

• Mangroves are carved out and sit under their own act state

  Open question The professional qualifications required for mangrove trimming under that act were not researched beyond the carve-out itself. Defer to FDEP or the delegated local government.

  Fla. Stat. 163.045(4); Mangrove Trimming and Preservation Act, ss. 403.9321-403.9333

• Gopher tortoise relocation permit before disturbing a burrow statefrom research, not fully settled

  Open question The reported burrow-avoidance buffer that would remove the permit requirement, and the mitigation-contribution specifics, come from FWC guidance summaries rather than the rule text, which was not read directly. Both are withheld; verify with FWC before relying on either to clear a site. Defer to FWC.

  Fla. Admin. Code Ch. 68A-27, via the FWC gopher tortoise rules and permits pages

• Clippings out of the street and the storm drain localtrade convention

  Open question Which ordinance applies and precisely what it prohibits is jurisdiction-specific; no county or municipal ordinance was verified in this pass. Defer to the county or municipality where the job site is.

• Preempted licensing does not mean no permit localfrom research, not fully settled

  Open question No local permit requirement was researched for hardscape, lighting or irrigation work in any Florida jurisdiction. Defer to the local building department and the city or county.

  Fla. Stat. 489.117(4)(a)

• Landscape lighting can cross into licensed electrical work statetrade convention

  Open question Where exactly that line sits was not researched. Defer to a licensed electrician and the local building department.

• Pesticide labeling rules govern lawn care marketing federal

  40 CFR 156.10(a)(5)(ix), (v), (x)

• Reasonable basis before dissemination federal

  FTC Policy Statement Regarding Advertising Substantiation (1983; appended to Thompson Medical Co., 104 F.T.C. 648, 839 (1984), aff'd 791 F.2d 189 (D.C. Cir. 1986))

• Advertised warranties and plant guarantees federal

  Open question Only the section titles of the warranty guides were verified; the operative disclosure text was not fetched, so it may be cited as governing but not paraphrased as if quoted. Defer to 16 CFR Part 239 itself, and counsel.

  16 CFR Part 239 (239.2, 239.3, 239.4, 239.5)

• An HOA may not prohibit Florida-friendly landscaping state

  Open question Whether a particular HOA covenant is enforceable is a legal opinion on a specific instrument. Defer to the customer's lawyer.

  Fla. Stat. 373.185(3)

Vocabulary the trade actually uses

• GI-BMP
• limited certification
• L&O
• signal word
• certified operator
• fertigation
• rain sensor
• PVB
• RPZ
• St. Augustine
• chinch bugs
• brown patch
• hurricane cut
• right plant, right place