How to Verify a Florida Pest Control (WDO) License

To verify a Florida pest control or WDO company, look it up in the FDACS licensing system at aeslicensing.fdacs.gov, search by company name or license number, and confirm three things: the license status is Active, the category list includes “Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control,” and the expiration date has not passed. Only a company licensed in that WDO category can legally issue the Form 13645 report your closing needs. This guide walks through the lookup step by step, explains what the license terms mean, and shows the red flags that separate a real inspector from a door-knocker.

Why verifying the license matters before a WDO inspection

Verification matters because an inspection from the wrong license is not a valid WDO report. In Florida, all structural pest control is regulated by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) under Chapter 482 of the Florida Statutes, and Florida Statute 482.226 requires the wood-destroying organism report to be provided “by the licensee or its representative qualified under this chapter to perform such inspections.” If the company or individual is not properly licensed and endorsed for WDO work, the Form 13645 they hand you may not satisfy your lender, your title company, or the contract — and you could be relying on someone with no accountability if a missed infestation surfaces after closing.

A quick check protects the whole transaction. It confirms the report will be accepted, that the inspector carries the required professional liability coverage, and that a real regulator stands behind the license. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing.

Where to look: the FDACS license lookup

The authoritative source is FDACS, not a review site or a company’s own claims. Start at the FDACS Pest Control Licensing and Certification page, which links to the department’s licensing system, the AES Licensing Portal. As of the 2025 consolidation (verified July 2026), FDACS merged its older pest control sites into this one portal; the previous public search at aessearch.fdacs.gov now serves only historical CEU data and directs users to aeslicensing.fdacs.gov for current records.

Within the portal, FDACS publishes public license reports you can search — one for pest control company (business) licenses and one for individual licensees (certified operators and cardholders). You do not need an account to search them. If you prefer to confirm by phone, FDACS staff can look up a license for you; the department’s consumer helpline is 1-800-HELP-FLA (1-800-435-7352).

Step by step: how to verify a company

Verifying a specific company comes down to a name-or-number search and reading three fields. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the FDACS portal. Open aeslicensing.fdacs.gov (or reach it from the FDACS Pest Control Licensing and Certification page) and open the public license lookup.
2. Search by company name or license number. Enter the exact business name as it appears on the estimate or Form 13645, or the license number if you have it. You can usually narrow the results by county to find the right location of a multi-branch company.
3. Confirm the status is Active. The record should show an active license — not expired, inactive, revoked, or suspended.
4. Confirm the WDO category. The license’s category or classification list must include “Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control.” That is the credential that authorizes Form 13645 inspections.
5. Check the expiration date. Make sure the license has not lapsed. Florida pest control business licenses are renewed periodically, and a lapsed license means the company is not currently authorized.
6. Verify the person, not just the company. In the individual licensees report, confirm the certified operator or the technician doing your inspection, then ask to see their FDACS identification card in person and check that it carries the wood-destroying-organism endorsement and the company name.

If any field is missing, ambiguous, or contradicts what the company told you, stop and call FDACS before proceeding.

Reading the result: status, category, and license number

The record tells a short, specific story once you know the fields. Status confirms the license is live today. Category confirms scope — a company can be perfectly legitimate for general pest work yet not licensed to issue a WDO report, so the “Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control” line is the one that matters for a real-estate inspection. Issue and expiration dates show how long the company has held the license and whether it is current.

Then there is the license number itself. Florida structural pest control business licenses are issued by FDACS per business and follow a consistent format: a “JB” prefix followed by six digits, such as JB123456. Across the FDACS registry our own catalog is built from, every licensed Termite and WDO business carries a number in that JB format, and it is what appears on Form 13645 as the “Business License Number.” Matching the number on your report to the number in the FDACS record is the single cleanest way to confirm you are dealing with the same licensed entity — not a similarly named outfit. This is also the field our directory leans on: every company profile in our inspector catalog is built from the FDACS registry and shows the company’s FDACS license number, so you can cross-check it against the state record in one step.

Certified operator vs identification cardholder

These two terms cause most of the confusion, so it helps to define them from the statute. Under Florida Statute 482.021:

• A certified operator is “an individual holding a current pest control operator’s certificate issued by the department.” This is the credentialed professional who passed the state exam in a category and personally supervises the company’s pest control in that category. A licensed pest control business must employ a certified operator.
• An identification cardholder is “an owner or employee to whom a current card has been issued by the department.” Technicians and inspectors work under FDACS-issued ID cards.

For a WDO inspection specifically, the person performing it must be a certified operator in the termite/WDO category or an employee whose ID card carries the wood-destroying-organism endorsement, working for a company in good standing with FDACS. The card, issued by FDACS, should identify the department and show the endorsement and the pest control company’s name. A legitimate inspector will produce it on request.

Chapter 482 categories: “Termite and WDO Control” vs “General Household Pest”

Not every pest control license is the same, and the category is decisive. Florida Statute 482.021 defines a category as “a distinct branch or phase of pest control,” and lists them as: fumigation, general household pest control, termites and other wood-destroying organisms pest control, and lawn and ornamental pest control. Two of these come up constantly for homeowners:

Category	What it covers	Can issue Form 13645 WDO report?
Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control	Termites, powderpost beetles, old house borers, and wood-decaying fungi	Yes
General Household Pest and Rodent Control	Ants, roaches, rodents, and other household pests	No

The takeaway: a company that handles your monthly ant and roach service under a General Household Pest license is not, on that basis, authorized to perform a real-estate WDO inspection. It needs the Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control category. When in doubt, the category line in the FDACS record settles it. (For what those organisms actually look like on a report, see our guide to drywood termite evidence.)

Red flags: unlicensed inspectors and door-knockers

A few warning signs reliably flag someone you should not hire. Watch for:

• No license or card when asked. A legitimate operator can show an FDACS ID card and appears in the FDACS database. Refusal or excuses are disqualifying.
• Not found in the FDACS lookup. If the business name and number do not appear as an active, WDO-endorsed license, do not accept the report.
• “Free inspection” door-knockers. An unsolicited canvasser offering a free inspection primarily to sell a treatment package is a classic pressure tactic; the inspection and any resulting treatment are separate decisions, and the report must stand on its own.
• Home inspectors doing WDO work outside their lane. Home inspectors in Florida are licensed by a different agency (the Department of Business and Professional Regulation) and cannot legally complete Form 13645 unless they also work for a licensed pest control company and carry the WDO endorsement. A bundled home-plus-WDO inspection is fine — but confirm the WDO portion is signed under a real pest control license. See WDO vs home inspection for how the two differ.
• Pressure to sign immediately or to skip the written report. The Form 13645 report is the deliverable; anything less is not a WDO inspection.

What to do if the company is not listed — and how to file a complaint

If a company does not appear in the FDACS lookup, treat it as unverified until proven otherwise. First, re-check the spelling and try the license number or a county filter, since branches of larger companies are sometimes listed under a slightly different legal name. If it still does not appear as an active, WDO-endorsed license, call FDACS to confirm before you hire — a missing record is a serious warning sign.

To report an unlicensed operator or a problem with a licensed one, contact FDACS directly. The department’s consumer helpline is 1-800-HELP-FLA (1-800-435-7352), and its Bureau of Licensing and Enforcement can be reached at (850) 617-7997. FDACS also takes consumer complaints through its Consumer Protection division. Keep copies of your inspection report, invoice, and any written estimates or advertisements, which help the department act. Verifying the credential before the inspection — and knowing exactly when a report is required, covered in our WDO requirements guide — prevents most of these problems from ever starting.

Bottom Line

Verifying a Florida pest control or WDO license is a five-minute, no-cost check that protects your entire transaction: search FDACS at aeslicensing.fdacs.gov, confirm the license is Active, confirm the category includes Termite and Other Wood-Destroying Organism Control, and match the license number to the one on your report and ID card. Skip it and you risk a report your lender will not accept, or an “inspector” with no accountability. Our catalog does the first pass for you — browse licensed Florida WDO inspectors, each shown with its FDACS license number so you can confirm the credential yourself before you book.