Pool quote checklist for Venice and Sarasota

Which licence, and what it covers

• Florida has three pool contractor categories. Section 489.105(3)(j) is the commercial pool/spa contractor and (3)(k) the residential pool/spa contractor; both cover construction, repair and servicing, including installing, repairing or replacing equipment, interior finishes, package pool heaters, all perimeter and filter piping, and equipment rooms. (3)(k) is limited to residential pools.
• Section 489.105(3)(l) is the swimming pool/spa servicing contractor, which covers repair and servicing — replacing existing equipment, installing new equipment, interior refinishing, reinstalling or adding heaters, repairing or replacing perimeter and filter piping, and draining a pool for renovation — but **not new pool construction**. For a resurfacing or equipment job, that is the relevant category; for a new pool it is not.
• All three categories exclude direct connections to a sanitary sewer or to potable water lines. Ask who makes those connections and under which licence.
• Ask whether the licence is **certified** or **registered**. Section 489.105(8) defines a certified contractor as holding a department certificate of competency, who may work in any jurisdiction; s. 489.105(10) limits a registered contractor to the jurisdictions where they met competency requirements.
• The seven specialty categories in Rule 61G4-15.032 — Layout, Structural, Excavation, Trim, Decking, Piping, Finishes — may work only under contract and supervision of a (3)(j) to (l) contractor, and may not contract with the public. Since July 1, 2022 a person who is not certified or registered may do pool work only under a supervising pool contractor who is responsible for it.

The safety feature, decided before the pool is filled

• Which of the five s. 515.27 features the contract provides — a s. 515.29 barrier, an approved safety cover, 85 dBA exit alarms, self-closing self-latching doors with a 54-inch release, or an ASTM F2208 alarm — stated as a line item with who supplies and installs it. A new pool needs at least one to pass final inspection and receive a certificate of completion.
• If it is a barrier, whether it meets the s. 515.29 specification: at least 4 feet high on the outside, no gap a young child could get through, surrounding the perimeter, far enough from the water's edge, with outward-opening self-closing self-latching gates releasing on the pool side.
• The City of Sarasota requires a signed Residential Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Safety Act form naming the chosen method, and cites the rule that the final electrical and barrier inspection happens **before the pool is filled**. Ask when that inspection is scheduled relative to filling and plastering.
• The two documents s. 515.33 already requires the contractor to hand the buyer: a document containing chapter 515's requirements, and the Department of Health drowning prevention publication required by s. 515.31. Ask for both at signing.

Money, and the clock it starts

• Section 489.126(2)(a) applies when an initial payment exceeds 10 percent of the contract price for residential work: the contractor must apply for necessary permits within 30 days of payment and start work within 90 days after permits issue, unless there is just cause or the payer agreed in writing to a longer period.
• Subsection (2)(b) gives the owner a written-demand process by certified mail, and failing to act within 30 days of the demand creates an inference of no just cause.
• The penalties in subsections (5) and (6) scale by amount, from a first-degree misdemeanour under $1,000 up through third-, second- and first-degree felonies at $1,000, $20,000 and $200,000. The statute does not address financing or third-party escrow.
• A draw schedule tied to inspections rather than to dates, and what happens if the excavation hits rock or a high water table.

The permit package and the equipment

• A pool energy efficiency compliance form, a suction outlet data sheet, and heater and cover specifications where a heater is installed — all of which the City of Sarasota's contractor checklist requires.
• The two main drains shown meeting ASME/ANSI A112.19.8, which the city's minimum plan requirements call for and which the federal act makes the standard for every drain cover entering commerce.
• Electrical clearances per NEC Table 680.8(A), stated by the city checklist as 10 feet overhead and 5 feet underground from the water's edge.
• A backflow device before final on any pool or spa addition or remodel, and the city's note that any pool undergoing **structural changes** must meet new-pool requirements. The checklist does not define remodel or say whether resurfacing counts, so ask the building division rather than the contractor.
• An equipment list, and whether equipment in a side yard needs the sound-mitigating wall the city's plan requirements call for.
• For a pump or heater, whether the brand states federal compliance or ENERGY STAR certification at all — one brand in this collection states both and another states neither.