The quick answer
Building, replacing, resizing, or re-anchoring a pool cage is permitted structural work. It requires a licensed Florida Structural Aluminum or Screen Enclosure Specialty Contractor — or the homeowner, on their own home, under the owner-builder exemption.
Rescreening an existing pool cage — new mesh in a sound, unchanged frame — generally needs no permit and no specialty license.
"Pool cage" is a screen enclosure by another name
Florida has a lot of words for roughly the same structure: pool cage, pool enclosure, screen enclosure, screen room, lanai, patio enclosure. Homeowners and crews use them loosely and often interchangeably. The state does not — as far as licensing is concerned, they are all aluminum-framed screen enclosures, and one license covers the lot.
So there is no separate "pool cage license" in Florida. What you are looking for is the Structural Aluminum or Screen Enclosure Specialty Contractor license, issued through the DBPR. A pool cage is simply the largest and most exposed thing that license lets you build.
When the license is required
The trigger is the structure, not the pool. You need the license once the job involves:
- Building a new pool cage or pool enclosure
- Replacing or rebuilding the aluminum frame, uprights, beams, or panel roof
- Changing the cage's size, shape, or footprint
- Changing how it anchors to the deck, slab, footings, or house
- Replacing framing members bent or corroded after a storm
- Converting screen sections to glass, window and door units, or vinyl panels
- Anything that must be engineered and permitted for wind load
What does not require it: pulling torn screen out of an existing, undamaged cage and splining in new mesh. That is maintenance. It is also, not coincidentally, the part of the work that pays the least and that anyone can compete on.
The exam behind that license is the DBPR Trade Knowledge test — 50 questions, open book, 70% to pass. Try it free across all 288 practice questions before you commit to the application.
Why pool cages are the strictest version of this work
Pool cages tend to be the biggest enclosures on any given property — tall, wide-span, often with large unsupported openings and a screened roof. That combination presents a lot of surface to the wind while being anchored to a pool deck and, usually, tied into the house.
The consequence is that the engineering is less forgiving than on a small screen room. Member sizes, span limits, fastener spacing, and above all the anchoring into the deck are where a cage succeeds or fails. Pool deck slabs are not always thick enough or in good enough condition at the perimeter to take the specified anchors, and that is a detail that has to be resolved before the permit, not discovered during inspection.
After a hurricane, damaged cages get rebuilt in volume and fast — which is precisely when unlicensed work and after-the-fact permitting problems spike. Penalties for unlicensed contracting escalate after a declared state of emergency.
What the license lets you do
As a licensed structural aluminum and screen enclosure specialty contractor you can:
It does not cover work that alters the building's structural integrity — roof trusses, lintels, load-bearing walls, or foundations. Those go to the appropriate licensed trade.
For homeowners: hiring someone to build a pool cage
If you are having a cage built or rebuilt, a few things are worth checking before you sign:
- The contractor is licensed for this specific trade. A general handyman or a screen-repair outfit is not automatically licensed to build structure.
- They are pulling the permit in their own name. If they ask you to pull it as the homeowner, that usually means they cannot — and it moves the liability to you.
- There is engineering for your address. Not a generic plan reused from another job.
- Inspections are part of the plan. A permitted cage gets inspected; a bid that quietly skips that step is not cheaper, it is unfinished.
An unpermitted cage tends to resurface at the worst time — during a sale, or after a storm when an insurer asks how the structure was permitted and engineered.
How to get licensed
The path is the same as for any Florida structural aluminum and screen enclosure contractor:
- Meet the state's experience requirement for the trade.
- Pass the DBPR Trade Knowledge exam — 50 scored questions, 2.5 hours, 70% to pass, open book, at a Pearson VUE testing center.
- Pass the separate Business and Finance exam, which every Florida contractor takes once.
- Clear the financial, insurance, and background requirements and apply to the DBPR.
Requirements vary by city and county and change over time. Confirm current requirements with your local building department and the DBPR before applying or beginning work.
Building cages for a living? Get licensed.
FLPassPro preps the Trade Knowledge exam: 288 practice questions across all 10 official DBPR content areas, each with a full explanation. First 5 questions free, no account needed.