In many cases continuing education course providers repeat almost the same information or course topic to their students each renewal cycle. You may want to actually learn something on a particular topic for example; How to Win Federal Construction Contracts, Improving Jobsite Productivity, Bidding for Maximum Return, Time Management for the Contractor. How do I find a specific course topic?

The first step:

A list of approved Florida contractor continuing education providers can be found online at www.MyFlorida.com/dbpr. Once at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation website navigate to "Doing Business with US", then on the left side of page click "Find a CE Course." On the new page is a drop down box under "Board" – highlight "Construction Industry Licensing Board." Next below this box is one labeled "Requirement" – use the drop down menu to highlight the type of required course you want to take: advanced building code, business practices, general, laws & rules, workers’ compensation, wind mitigation, or safety. Leave the next two boxes empty. Finally click on "Search" icon in the lower right corner. The result will be list of approved course titles. Each course title has a little more information if you click the blue icon labeled "Info." However we wanted to know about a specific continuing education course topic then read about the next step.

The second step:

If you know a key word in a course title you may want to take – for example courses on the topic of estimating complete the following steps: The second box listing Requirement – highlight "Gen – General." In the third box type the word you want to search for – in this example we are looking for courses about estimating – type the word estimating. Finally click the on the "Search" icon. All of the courses with the word estimating in the title will be displayed. Click on the blue box titled "Info." This will display more information about the course.

In the first paragraph of this article we listed numerous course titles. Each title has a main topic or word that can be typed into the "Course Name" box. For example the course titled Bidding for Maximum Return. How would I find this? You can search for the word bidding or bid in the "Course Name" box. This will be one of the courses displayed – all will have the word you wanted to search for. Next click on the blue box titled "Info" the additional course information is displayed together with the name of the continuing education provider. Write this provider name down to see other courses offered by this continuing education school.

The third step:

Finally with the name of a particular continuing education provider that has a topic that really interests you and you want to see other courses this provider offers then do the following: Under the "Requirement" box you select "Gen - General". In the third box type in the Provider name and then click search. The page will display all the courses that continuing education provider offers.

Hopefully this will aid you in finding course topics that are of real interest to you. The goal or intent of continuing education is to educate participants so they can improve their trade and business skills. This will result in a better finished product to the Florida consumer and most importantly more profit for the construction contractor.