Florida General Contractor Exam Practice Test
Practice stays free. The full Florida Contractor Business & Finance study guide is the material itself, taught start to finish — a downloadable PDF + EPUB you keep.
| Administering body | Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (Construction Industry Licensing Board) — exam delivered by Pearson VUE |
|---|---|
| Questions | 120 questions |
| Time limit | 390 minutes |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Fees |
|
| Languages offered | Not published by Florida DBPR What we read and found nothing in: Florida DBPR — Candidate Information Booklet, Construction Licensure Examinations (effective July 2024) |
Frequently asked questions
How many Florida General Contractor Exam practice questions are here?+
A full bank of original Florida General Contractor Exam practice questions across the official content areas, weighted like the real exam, with explanations. Free, no signup.
What is the Florida General Contractor Exam exam like?+
A multiple-choice exam. Practice by topic here, then take the full timed mock exam to gauge readiness.
Are these the real exam questions?+
No. Every question is 100% original, written from public primary sources with explanations. We never copy real exam questions or paid prep material.
Can I study in Chinese or Spanish?+
PrepPass practice is in English, 中文 and Español. The official exam is in English — switch the question language to English any time to rehearse the exact terminology you'll see on test day.
Sample practice questions
A few real questions from this free bank, with full explanations. Use the practice tool above for the whole set.
- 1. Business Organization & Licensing
A construction business is organized as a corporation. If the corporation is sued and cannot pay a judgment, what is generally at risk?
- a.The personal homes and bank accounts of every shareholder
- b.The personal assets of the highest-paid officer only
- c.The corporation's own assets
- d.Only assets the corporation pledged as collateral
Answer: c
Explanation: A corporation is a separate legal entity from its owners (shareholders). This separation creates limited liability: creditors and judgments generally reach only the assets the corporation owns, and shareholders risk losing only what they invested — not their personal homes or savings. That protection can be lost only in unusual cases such as fraud or 'piercing the corporate veil.'
- 2. Contracts & Contract Law
Which alternative dispute resolution method uses a neutral third party whose decision is typically binding on the parties, avoiding a court trial?
- a.Negotiation
- b.Litigation in civil court
- c.Mediation
- d.Arbitration
Answer: d
Explanation: Arbitration submits a dispute to a neutral arbitrator (or panel) who hears both sides and renders a decision that is usually binding and enforceable, much like a private trial. It differs from mediation, in which a neutral only helps the parties negotiate their own voluntary settlement and cannot impose a decision. Many construction contracts require arbitration because it is generally faster and less costly than litigation.
- 3. Estimating & Bidding
A roof measures 2,600 square feet. One roll of underlayment covers 400 square feet after laps. How many rolls must be ordered?
- a.26 rolls
- b.7 rolls
- c.6 rolls
- d.65 rolls
Answer: b
Explanation: Divide the roof area by the net coverage of a roll: 2,600 / 400 = 6.5 rolls. Material comes in whole rolls, so the order rounds up to 7. Answering 6 drops the partial roll and leaves the job short, 26 assumes one roll per 100-square-foot square, and 65 comes from dividing by 40 instead of 400.
- 4. Contracts & Contract Law
A contractor finishes a house but installs a different brand of pipe than specified, with no effect on function or value. Under the doctrine of substantial performance, the contractor may generally:
- a.Recover nothing at all, because any deviation from the specifications defeats recovery
- b.Demand a bonus, since the substituted material performs the same as the one specified
- c.Recover the contract price less the small diminution in value from the deviation
- d.Force the owner to accept the change with no adjustment to the contract price at all
Answer: c
Explanation: Substantial performance means the contractor has performed enough that the owner received essentially what it bargained for, with only minor and unintentional deviations. The contractor may recover the contract price minus an allowance for the defect, usually the diminished value, where tearing out and redoing the work would be grossly disproportionate to the benefit gained. A willful or material departure from the specifications does not qualify.
- 5. Safety & OSHA
A crew is working in a trench 6 feet deep and 90 feet long. What does OSHA require for getting out of it?
- a.One ladder placed at either end of the trench, regardless of the trench's length
- b.A ladder, stairway, or ramp placed so no worker travels more than 25 feet sideways
- c.A rope tied to a stake at the surface, which workers may use to climb the trench wall
- d.Nothing specific, as long as a spotter stands at the surface watching the crew work
Answer: b
Explanation: 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2) requires a stairway, ladder, ramp, or other safe means of egress in trench excavations 4 feet or more deep, positioned so no employee has more than 25 feet of lateral travel to reach it. A 90-foot trench therefore needs several access points, not one at each end. A rope is not a means of egress, and a surface spotter cannot pull a buried worker out. Seconds matter once a wall starts to slough.
- 6. Project Management & Scheduling
The budgeted cost of the work actually performed on a job is $410,000, and the actual cost of that same work is $455,000. This means:
- a.The job is ahead of schedule, because more work was performed than had been planned
- b.The job has a favorable cost variance of $45,000, since earned value exceeds the budget
- c.The job has an unfavorable cost variance of $45,000, since the work cost more than budgeted
- d.The contractor has overbilled the owner by $45,000 on the current application for payment
Answer: c
Explanation: Cost variance is earned value minus actual cost: $410,000 - $455,000 = -$45,000, and a negative result is unfavorable, meaning the completed work cost $45,000 more than it was budgeted to cost. The comparison says nothing about schedule, which is measured by comparing earned value against planned value instead. Overbilling is a billing question, not a cost-performance measurement.
- 7. Financial Management & Accounting
A crew is paid every Friday, material invoices come due in 30 days, and the owner pays about 60 days after each billing. What does this cycle require?
- a.Enough working capital to carry payroll and materials for weeks before cash returns
- b.A guarantee that the job will show a large profit when it is finally completed
- c.Nothing unusual, since the payroll checks clear only after the owner's money arrives
- d.A bigger markup on the bid, which by itself brings the receivable in sooner
Answer: a
Explanation: The contractor pays cash out on Friday but does not get it back for roughly two months, so every active job consumes working capital until the receivable is collected. The company must fund that gap out of cash reserves or a line of credit, and the faster it grows the more cash it swallows. A healthy markup improves profit but does not make the owner pay any sooner, and payroll cannot be deferred until the money arrives.
- 8. Employment & Labor Law
How long does the FLSA require an employer to preserve payroll records?
- a.At least 1 year
- b.At least 5 years
- c.At least 3 years
- d.At least 7 years
Answer: c
Explanation: 29 CFR 516.5 requires payroll records, certificates, agreements and collective bargaining agreements to be preserved for at least 3 years. A companion rule, 29 CFR 516.6, requires the supporting records on which wage computations rest, such as time cards and wage-rate tables, to be kept at least 2 years. One year falls short of both. Five and seven years are common retention policies driven by tax and litigation habits, not by the FLSA.
- 9. Financial Management & Accounting
A contractor borrows $60,000 at 9 percent annual interest and repays it with equal monthly payments over five years. Comparing the first payment with the last, what is true?
- a.The two payments split identically between interest and principal
- b.More of the first payment is principal, because the loan is newest
- c.The first payment is entirely interest and the last is entirely principal
- d.More of the first payment is interest and more of the last is principal
Answer: d
Explanation: Interest each month is charged on the balance still outstanding, which is highest at the start, so early payments are interest-heavy and the split shifts steadily toward principal as the balance falls. The proportions therefore change every single month rather than staying identical. The first payment is not pure interest either: $60,000 at 9 percent produces $450 of interest in month one against a payment of about $1,245, so roughly $795 goes to principal.
- 10. Project Management & Scheduling
In critical path method (CPM) scheduling, the critical path through a project network is best defined as the path that has the:
- a.shortest total duration, because it sets the earliest date the project can finish and carries the most float
- b.greatest number of activities, regardless of their durations, because each added activity adds delay risk
- c.longest total duration, which sets the shortest possible completion time and has zero float
- d.most float, giving the schedule the most flexibility
Answer: c
Explanation: The critical path is the longest-duration chain of dependent activities through the network. Because no other path is longer, it fixes the earliest the project can finish, and every activity on it has zero float, so any slip delays the whole project day for day.