We were just featured by our friends over at the Palm Beach Post! Their business editor Antonio Finn wrote a great article featuring our 2017 study about unlicensed business activities in Florida. You can read the whole article (including some great quotes from Alex) over at the Palm Beach Post.
We are thrilled about the coverage, especially since it helps us on our mission to help Palm Beach county residents find trusted pool repair companies to work with. The Post interviewed Alex, and highlighted some of the data that affects our county’s residents:
Palm Beach County ranked third among Florida’s 67 counties in total unlicensed business reports filed since 2010 — though thankfully the county ranked much lower on the list when the data was broken down by per capita.
We obviously still have a long way to go, but stories like this help to highlight some of the pitfalls of picking a home construction or repair firm at random from the internet. We have fantastic sunny weather year round here in Palm Beach County, but with another hurricane season always on the horizon, it’s worth educating yourself on the types of shady construction businesses to look out for.
If you think you’re dealing with a potentially unlicensed professional and want to get more information about protecting yourself, a good place to start is the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. You can find them online at myfloridalicense.com, or call them directly at 850-487-1395. Their job is to oversee many types of contractors, so you should be able to call them with the name of a contractor to verify their credentials. And if you come across an unlicensed pool contractor (and there have been many over the years), don’t be afraid to let us know either.
For other types of businesses, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is the place to do. They can be found at freshfromflorida.com online, or you can call them directly at 1-800-435-7352.
