Countertop quote checklist for Venice and Sarasota

Scope and the slab

• The exact material, brand, line, color, thickness and finish, and whether the price holds if that slab is unavailable.
• Slab count and the seam plan, including where each seam falls and who approves it.
• Edge profile, sink and cooktop cutouts, backsplash, and any on-site finishing.
• Template, tear-out and disposal of the existing countertop, stated as included or not.
• Whether cutting happens in the shop or in the house, and how any on-site cutting is dust-controlled; the federal guidance's own recommendation is to do as much as possible in the shop and to take unavoidable on-site finishing outdoors with water.

Who holds the licence for the connected work

• The DBPR Construction Industry FAQ lists countertops among the work that does not require a state contractor licence, and the same page says to check with each county and municipality whether a local licence is still required.
• The DBPR services page states that any plumbing connecting lines to potable water for compensation needs a licensee, that installing a dishwasher needs a licensee, and that paying someone for even the simplest electrical work requires one. Its examples are stated as not all inclusive.
• So the question is not whether the countertop needs a licensee but who reconnects the sink, faucet, disposal, dishwasher or cooktop, and under whose licence.
• Section 489.117(4)(a)1. lists job scopes a local government may not require a licence for, including decorative stone, tile, marble, granite or terrazzo installation, and states the list is not limited to those named. Countertops are not named by that word, and whether quartz, solid surface or laminate installation falls inside those scopes is not stated.

Money and timing

• Section 489.126 states that a contractor receiving an initial payment of more than 10 percent of the contract price for residential work must apply for necessary permits within 30 days and start work within 90 days after permits issue, unless there is just cause or the payer agreed in writing to a longer period.
• That permit clock does not apply where the work needs no permit, and many like-for-like countertop swaps need none. The statute does not cap a deposit; it ties the clock to the 10 percent threshold.
• The casual, minor or inconsequential exemption in s. 489.103(9) applies under an aggregate contract price of $2,500 for labor, materials and all other items, and does not apply where the work is part of a larger operation, where contracts are split to evade the threshold, or to someone who advertises as a contractor.
• A lead time, a price-hold date, and what happens if the slab breaks in fabrication.

Claims to ask to see in writing

• Any certification quoted for the delivered material, and the directory record it comes from. The NSF/ANSI 51 listing directory did not answer a reachability check while this draft was prepared, so nothing here confirms an NSF listing.
• For a solid surface, whether the quoted performance refers to the ISFA 2-01 (2013) solid surfacing standard, which the ISFA publishes as a downloadable document this draft has not read.
• For natural stone, whether the fabricator holds the Natural Stone Institute accreditation, which the institute describes as the industry's third-party verified qualified-labor credential for countertop fabricators and commercial installers, with a find-an-accredited-company database. No Florida accredited fabricator was checked for this draft.
• The written warranty, including any outdoor exclusion and any requirement that the brand's own sealer or certified fabricator be used.
• The safety data sheet for the material, which the manufacturers' own pages refer fabricators to.