The Driveway Test™

12 Things to Verify Before Any Garage Door Company Pulls Up to Your Home

A consumer protection guide from WagMore Garage Doors — Jacksonville, Nocatee, Ponte Vedra, St. Augustine & all of Northeast Florida

The 12-Point Driveway Test

#1: Is the business licensed with the state of Florida?

Florida law requires garage door companies to hold an active license with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). This covers the business — not necessarily individual technicians, since the state does not require individual certification for garage door work. That makes the next question even more important.

Ask for the company's DBPR license number and verify it at myfloridalicense.com before anyone touches your door. Takes 30 seconds. A legitimate operation will give it to you without blinking.

Also confirm the company carries general liability insurance and workers' compensation coverage. If an uninsured tech is injured on your property, the liability can fall on you.

#2: How are your technicians trained — not just hired?

Here's what most homeowners don't know: Florida does not require individual garage door technicians to hold any license or certification. The state licenses the business. The person who shows up at your door could have been hired last week with zero formal training, and nothing about that is technically illegal.

This is why training culture matters more than credentials in this industry. Ask the company directly: What does your training process look like? Do techs work alongside experienced staff before running solo calls? Do you have in-house training facilities or standards?

#3: Do you pull permits — and can you prove it after the fact?

Florida Building Code requires a permit for garage door replacements in Duval and St. Johns County — full stop. The permit triggers a county inspection that confirms the installation meets local wind-load and structural requirements. It protects you at closing, protects you in a storm claim, and creates a legal record of compliant work.

Here's the part most homeowners don't know: a significant number of garage door companies skip permits entirely. Some say they pull them and don't. You won't find out until you go to sell the house and the unpermitted work surfaces in the buyer's inspection report — or until a hurricane claim gets denied because the door wasn't code-compliant.

For homes in Nocatee, World Golf Village, Ponte Vedra, and other HOA communities: permitted work also satisfies ARC/HOA documentation requirements. An unpermitted replacement can still trigger a compliance notice.

#4: Are your technicians paid on salary or commission?

Commission-based pay is the industry standard for garage door technicians — and the trade organizations actively promote it as a business model. The structure is straightforward: technicians earn more when they sell more. Springs, rollers, cables, openers — every part they recommend is a potential income opportunity.

That's not a conspiracy. It's a math problem. The person diagnosing your door is doing two calculations simultaneously: what's wrong with your door, and what that finding means for their paycheck. Those two calculations don't always land in the same place.

#5: Is your quote all-in — and what grade of parts?

Two separate questions bundled into one, because both get exploited routinely.

First: is the quote actually all-in? Door price, hardware, installation labor, haul-away of the old door, and permit fees should all be on one written number. Low advertised prices are almost always door-only — labor and disposal get added later, sometimes 30–50% above the initial quote.

Second — and this one is less obvious: what grade of parts is the quote based on? The cheapest quote in your stack may be the cheapest because it specs builder-grade springs, lightweight rollers, and standard hardware that will need replacement in five years. A quote for heavy-duty, high-cycle components looks more expensive today and costs less over the life of the door.

Ask specifically: What is the cycle rating on the springs? Are the rollers nylon or steel? What gauge steel is the door? These aren't trick questions — a confident company answers them without hesitation.

#6: Is the door wind-load rated for my specific address — and what's the FL# number?

Florida Building Code sets wind-load requirements for garage doors based on location, and those requirements vary across Northeast Florida. Homes in Ponte Vedra Beach, Vilano Beach, and South Ponte Vedra face stricter thresholds than inland communities in Mandarin or World Golf Village — but all of them have mandatory minimums.

An undersized door isn't just a performance issue. It's a code violation. In a major storm event, a non-rated door can buckle under wind pressure, creating interior pressure that can lift the roof structure. Insurance companies have denied hurricane claims when the installed door didn't meet local code.

You can verify Florida Product Approval numbers at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation database. Any reputable company will have this number available before the door is ordered — not after.

#7: What does the warranty cover — parts AND labor — and is it in writing?

Verbal warranties are legally meaningless in Florida. If it isn't written, signed, and in your hands before the job starts, it doesn't exist.

Beyond the written requirement, the structure of the warranty matters as much as its length. "Lifetime warranty on springs" sounds comprehensive. Read the fine print: many of those warranties cover the spring itself but not the labor to install the replacement — which means every future spring failure costs you a service call and installation fee on top of the "free" part.

• What does the parts warranty cover, and for how long?
• What does the labor warranty cover — separately — and for how long?
• If a spring fails in 10 years, do you cover the replacement spring AND the labor to install it?
• Is the warranty transferable if I sell the home?
• Where is this written, and can I have a copy before work starts?

#8: What insurance do you carry — and what are the coverage limits?

"We're insured" is a nearly useless answer. Ask for specifics.

General liability insurance protects your property if the company damages something during the job. Workers' compensation protects you if a technician is injured on your property — without it, you may be liable for their medical costs. Both should be active, verifiable, and carried at adequate limits for the work being done.

Ask for the certificate before anyone arrives. A legitimate company issues them routinely — it's a standard business document. Hesitation is a red flag. Refusal is a disqualifier.

#9: Are your technicians background-checked and drug-tested?

A garage door technician has access to your home, your garage, and often your interior. They know your address, your schedule (when you called, when you'll be home), and the layout of your property. The screening standards a company applies to its hires says everything about what they think of their obligation to you.

Background checks and drug screening aren't universal in this industry. Many small operators skip them entirely — not because they're hiring bad people, but because they're hiring fast and loose and the industry doesn't require it.

#10: Do your technicians arrive in uniform and drive marked trucks?

This question sounds like it's about aesthetics. It isn't. Uniformed technicians in marked trucks are an accountability signal. It means the company is comfortable being identified. It means the technician represents a brand, not just themselves. It means if something goes wrong, there's a clear chain of accountability.

An unmarked vehicle and an untucked polo don't mean the person is unqualified. But they do mean the company isn't investing in the signals that say: we stand behind whoever we send to your door.

This matters especially for homeowners who are not present during the service call — a spouse, an elderly parent, a tenant. A clearly identified professional is a meaningful safety signal.

#11: Are you locally owned and operated — or a franchise?

Franchise and corporate-owned garage door operations are built around a different set of incentives than locally owned companies. Franchise technicians often work under commission structures set by the parent company. Customer complaints get routed through corporate channels. The decision-maker is somewhere else.

A locally owned, owner-operated company has its reputation tied to the zip codes it serves. The owner lives here. Their kids go to school here. Their name is on the truck. When something goes wrong — and occasionally something does — there's a person with a local stake in making it right.

#12: Do you give me options — or just one price, take it or leave it?

An educated customer makes a better decision. A company that presents options — different door grades, different spring packages, repair versus replace — is a company confident enough in its work to let you choose. A company that gives you one price and applies pressure to decide immediately is a company that profits from your uncertainty.

Options also reveal the quality of the technician's diagnosis. If every assessment comes back with one solution at one price point, ask yourself: did they actually evaluate your door, or did they show up with a predetermined recommendation?

The pressure-close is especially common when a technician is already in your driveway and the door is partially disassembled. Know that you have the right to stop, get a second opinion, and make the call on your own timeline.

The Driveway Test Scorecard

Print this. Screenshot it. Text it to yourself before you call anyone.