What the class means
Plumbing is a licensed trade in Florida. A certified plumbing contractor holds a CFC, which is the class recorded in the state's own occupation table for the construction board. A registered plumbing contractor holds an RF, issued on the strength of a local authority's licensing rather than the statewide examination.
The license travels with a person, the qualifier, rather than with the name on the van. That is the distinction that catches people out.
Which jobs need a permit
Replacing a water heater is permitted work in all three cities on this site, and so is repiping a house. Clearing a drain is not. If you are being quoted for something structural and nobody has mentioned a permit, ask.
Cape Coral runs its own building division, Fort Myers goes through Lee County and Naples goes through Collier County. Ask which office your job goes through before you sign.
After hours is a different conversation
Most plumbing calls people remember are emergencies, and an emergency is the worst moment to be checking a license. Look the number up while nothing is leaking and keep it somewhere you can find it.
This site does not hold after-hours terms for any business and does not publish prices, so ask on the call what an out-of-hours visit involves and get the answer before you agree to it.
Running the check yourself
Open the DBPR licensee search, put the company name in the business-name field and read the status line. Active is the only status that lets someone pull a permit.
Every business ranked on this site prints its license number beside its name. Searching the number is faster than searching the name and it removes the guesswork about which company you are looking at.
The qualifier is the name to write down
The state record names a qualifier, the licensed person who takes responsibility for the work a company does. That name is the durable part of the record. Company names change, vans get repainted and phone numbers move, and the license stays attached to a person.
Ask on the call whether the qualifier named on the record is still with the business. A company whose qualifier has left cannot pull a permit until it finds another one, and that is a thing you would rather learn before the work starts than two weeks into it.
Questions about this
Does replacing a water heater need a permit
It is permitted work in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples, and the licensed plumber pulls the permit rather than you. Ask for the permit number when the work starts.
Can an unlicensed handyman do plumbing work in Florida
Plumbing is a licensed trade. Check the license before anyone opens a wall, because an unpermitted repair is a problem on your property record rather than on theirs.