Officials with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation warns are warning Central Florida homeowners affected by Hurricane Ian to do their research when they hire a contractor to perform any home repairs.

The agency reports the amount of illegal activity by unlicensed contractors, including construction or fraud, rises after a natural disaster. That’s why agency employees constantly survey heavily affected neighbors for any signs of illegal work and distribute flyers, with information on what to look out for, to homeowners.

“There have been several arrests, particularly in other parts of the state, that were also impacted beyond Central Florida and so we wanted to make Central Floridians also stay safe,” DBPR Secretary Melanie Griffin said.

Griffin said there are several red flags that can help a homeowner detect whether a contractor is licensed by the state.

An unlicensed contractor is usually "someone who is offering to take money or cash, or give you some type of credit or gift card in lieu of your insurance claim,” she said. “You want to make sure you’re not signing over your rights. Certainly, if someone has a P.O. box instead of a physical address, that can also be a red flag, or someone that doesn’t have proper licensure.”

According to DBPR, the fiscal year after Hurricane Irma, there were 315 more unlicensed activity (ULA) reports made compared to non-hurricane years. In the fiscal year after Hurricane Michael there were 459 more ULA reported compared to other non-hurricane years. Agency officials say they expect the number to be much higher post-Hurricane Ian.

You need to make sure you "also hired a general contractor that understands how to do restoration and remediation, making sure everything is dried and remediated properly,” Mike Shorb, a licensed contractor, said.

He said homeowners should also be patient when they hire a licensed contractor because many home repair businesses are swamped with the amount of work to be done in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

Orange County Construction 911, the business Shorb works for, is working on 40 emergency repairs since the storm and he said there are hundreds of other homeowners on a minimum week-long waiting list.

He said patience is also required for restoration projects, which occur after emergency repairs and mediation.

“There’s a national shortage of materials and labor and that was prior to the hurricane hitting," Shorb said. "So now the hurricane has hit, there’s been hundreds of thousands of homes affected and that’s only going to make things a little worse for everyone."

In order to report someone performing unlicensed work, visit the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation website to file a complaint.

The DBPR website also allows individuals to check the licensure status of an individual.