More than 10 percent of the contract price is the line in Florida Statute 489.126(2). The section applies when a contractor receives an initial payment totaling more than that share for repair, restoration, improvement, or construction to residential real property. Ten percent exactly is not the trigger. The statute does not cap deposits at 10 percent, and it does not make every larger deposit illegal.
When the section applies, the contractor must apply for necessary permits within 30 days after the payment date, and must start the work within 90 days after all necessary permits are issued. Both clocks are subject to a no-permit exception, just cause, and a written agreement for longer periods. This page maps those duties and the bounded written-demand process. It does not promise a refund, a recovery, or a prosecution.
What Florida Statute 489.126 actually says about a deposit
The section covers money received for residential construction and improvement work. People often call it the Florida contractor deposit law, although its reach extends beyond deposits.
Subsection (2)(a) provides the threshold in direct language:
“A contractor who receives, as initial payment, money totaling more than 10 percent of the contract price for repair, restoration, improvement, or construction to residential real property must:”
The subsection then provides two separate duties. Subsection (2)(a)1 says:
“Apply for permits necessary to do work within 30 days after the date payment is made, except where the work does not require a permit under the applicable codes and ordinances, and”
Subsection (2)(a)2 says:
“Start the work within 90 days after the date all necessary permits for work, if any, are issued,”
Read the wording once more, because it is doing two things at once. The threshold is “more than 10 percent”, not ten percent or more, and the permit application is a separate duty from starting the work. Application is not issuance. Issuance is the date the second clock counts from.
Both deadlines carry an important qualifier. Subsection (2)(a) continues:
“unless the contractor has just cause for failing to apply for the necessary permits, starting the work, or refunding the payment, or unless the person who made the payment agreed, in writing, to a longer period to apply for the necessary permits or start the work or to longer periods for both.”
A written agreement can therefore provide longer periods. The subsection also recognizes just cause. Neither provision turns the percentage into a maximum deposit or a safe harbor.
What more than 10 percent means on this site’s published bands
The statute measures the initial payment against the contract price. The table below is this site’s own arithmetic on this site’s published cost bands. It is not a quote, a typical Polk County deposit, or a statement that a larger first check is automatically unlawful.
| Published band | 10 percent of that band |
|---|---|
| Screening an existing covered patio, $1,500 to $3,500 | $150 to $350 |
| Full-cage rescreen, $1,400 to $3,200 | $140 to $320 |
| Roof plus enclosure, $6,000 to $14,000 | $600 to $1,400 |
| New pool cage, $9,000 to $18,000 | $900 to $1,800 |
| Three season room, $8,000 to $20,000 | $800 to $2,000 |
| Glass sunroom, $22,000 to $45,000 | $2,200 to $4,500 |
Subsection (2) attaches above those 10 percent figures, not at them. Ten percent exactly is not the trigger.
Contract scope still matters. A rescreen and a new pool cage are not the same job. One replaces screening on a structure that is already standing. The other adds an enclosure with its own contract price and its own permit question. Two different statutory money lines can attach to one enclosure job: this more-than-10-percent initial-payment rule, and the $2,500 construction-lien warning threshold in F.S. 713.015, which is a different rule explained in contractor lien on a Polk County house.
The two clocks, and when each one starts
The two deadlines do not start on the same day.
The first clock starts the day you pay. Where subsection (2)(a) applies, the contractor has 30 days from that payment date to apply for the permits the job needs, unless the work does not require a permit under the applicable codes and ordinances.
The second clock starts later. It runs from the date all necessary permits are issued, not from the date you paid and not from the date the application was filed. The statute gives 90 days from issuance for work to start, unless a written extension or just cause applies.
So an application date and an issuance date are two different things. Filing is the first duty. Issuance is the building department’s act, and it is the date the second clock counts from.
A notice of commencement in Polk County is a third date again. Recording one does not make it the permit-issuance date named in subsection (2)(a)2.
Your contract can give the contractor a longer period for permitting, for starting work, or for both. Under the subsection quoted above, that longer period has to be in writing.
How to check the 30-day permit deadline
The 30-day duty is about applying for necessary permits. A homeowner can look for an application in the issuing agency’s records. That search is not the whole statutory test.
Use the Polk County permit search guide to run an address-first lookup with the right issuer in mind. A record that shows an application is evidence that something was filed. It is not, by itself, the issuance date the 90-day start-work clock uses. A blank search is not proof that nobody applied. Coverage, issuer, address history, spelling, date, and record type can hide a file that exists.
The portal is also not a ruling on your contract, just cause, or a written extension. Those live in the agreement and in the dates on the actual permit documents.
If you are assembling the enclosure file itself, the screen enclosure permits guide can help organize that next step. It is not authority under F.S. 489.126.
What the statute says a homeowner has to do first
Subsection (2)(b) describes a written-demand procedure. It calls the person who made the payment the contractee.
Subsection (2)(b)1 states:
“the contractee must make written demand to the contractor in the form of a letter that includes a demand to apply for the necessary permits, to start the work, or to refund the payment sent via certified mail, return receipt requested, mailed to the address listed in the contracting agreement.”
The subsection also covers the case where there is no address to write to. It opens with the condition:
“If there is no address for the contractor listed in the contracting agreement, or no written agreement exists”
From there the statute redirects the same certified mailing to the address listed for licensing purposes with the department, or with the local construction industry licensing board if applicable.
Read the delivery method closely, because it is specific. A phone call, a text, or an ordinary email is not the certified-mail letter that subsection (2)(b)1 describes.
Subsection (2)(b)2 then explains the possible inference:
“It may be inferred that a contractor does not have just cause if the contractor fails to apply for the necessary permits, start the work, or refund payments within 30 days of receiving written demand to apply for the necessary permits, start the work, or refund the payment from the person who made the payment.”
The words “may be inferred” matter. The provision describes an inference, not an automatic conclusion, refund, or criminal case about any individual dispute.
The separate rule about money taken and work stopped
Subsection (3) addresses another situation. It concerns money received beyond the value of work already performed, followed by a period without work.
Subsection (3)(a) states:
“A contractor who receives money for repair, restoration, addition, improvement, or construction of residential real property in excess of the value of the work performed may not fail or refuse to perform any work for any 90-day period or for any period that is mutually agreed upon and specified in the contract.”
That is a different sum from the one in subsection (2). The initial-payment rule measures what you paid against the whole contract price. Subsection (3) measures what the contractor took against the work actually done.
The statute carries that split into how it grades a violation. Subsection (5) measures “the total money received” when subsection (2) is broken. Subsection (6) measures “the total money received exceeding the value of the work performed” when subsection (3) is broken. Subsection (4) also describes intent, inference, and prosecution rules that apply to those violations. None of that is a consumer-recovery promise, and listing the degrees of offense here would not decide a case.
A notice to owner is not this statute, and it is not a lien. Our guide to a contractor lien on a Polk County house covers those records and their own deadlines.
Why the section reaches an unlicensed contractor too
Section 489.126 is not limited to licensed contractors. Subsection (1) reaches:
“any person performing or contracting or promising to perform work described therein, without regard to the licensure of the person.”
That single phrase, “without regard to the licensure of the person”, is what gives the section its reach. It does not make unlicensed work okay, and it is no substitute for checking a license before you sign.
Do that check anyway. Our guide to checking a screen enclosure contractor’s license in Polk County walks it. Compare four things that should all match: the name on the contract, the name on the license, the name that pulls the permit, and the name on the check.
Lakeland Outdoor Pro is a referral service. Verify that the contract name, license, permit applicant, and payee align, and ask whether the matched provider will pull any required permit under its own license.
Frequently asked questions
Is 10 percent the maximum contractor deposit in Florida?
No. Florida Statute 489.126 does not establish 10 percent as a cap, required deposit, or safe amount. Subsection (2) attaches permit and start-work duties when an initial payment totals more than 10 percent of the contract price.
How much deposit can a contractor ask for?
Section 489.126 does not set a maximum contractor deposit. It says that receiving more than 10 percent as an initial payment triggers duties involving permit applications and starting work, subject to its written-agreement and just-cause language. A larger deposit is not automatically unlawful under this section.
When does the contractor’s 30-day permit clock begin?
The 30-day clock begins on the date the initial payment is made. It concerns applying for necessary permits, not receiving permit approval. The subsection excepts work that does not require a permit under applicable codes and ordinances.
When does the 90-day start-work clock begin?
The 90-day clock begins when all necessary permits for the work, if any, are issued. It does not begin when the deposit is paid or when the application is filed. Issuance is the building department’s act. A written agreement may provide a longer start period, and just cause remains in the statute.
Can a Polk County homeowner check whether a permit was filed?
You can search the issuing agency’s records. A found application is not the same as an issuance date, and a blank result is not proof that no application exists. Use the permit search guide rather than treating any one portal screen as the statute.
Is the trigger 10 percent or more?
No. Florida Statute 489.126(2) says “more than 10 percent” of the contract price. Ten percent exactly is not the trigger. Ten percent or more is not the statutory wording.
How many days does a contractor have to refund after a demand?
The statute’s inference is 30 days after a written demand sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Subsection (2)(b)2 says it may be inferred that a contractor does not have just cause if the contractor fails to apply for the necessary permits, start the work, or refund payments within 30 days of receiving that demand. It is an inference, not an automatic refund.
Does Florida Statute 489.126 apply to unlicensed contractors?
Yes. Subsection (1) reaches any person promising to perform the work described in the section, without regard to licensure. That reach is not a reason to skip a license check before you sign.
Get the scope on paper before the deposit
Lakeland Outdoor Pro connects Polk County homeowners with insured local aluminum crews. Getting the scope written down first is what makes a deposit a defined contract step instead of a guess.
Call (863) 777-5379 to talk through a screen room, pool cage, patio cover, three season room, or sunroom. Ask the matched crew what the initial payment is, as a percent of the contract price, and which permit and start dates the agreement actually uses.