Florida Residential Contractor cannot legally rehab quad plex?

[James Bradin]

I am trying to rehab a quadplex that I own in Bradenton, Florida. I have found, what appears to be a, a solid contractor however we just ran into a potential roadblock. The contractor has worked on several SFH's and duplexes. He initially said that he could not work on commercial real estate. I explained to him that anything under 4 units is still considered residential real estate. He is a Residential Contractor and not a General Contractor. However, after doing more digging he sent me the following excerpt from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation:

"Residential Contractor - means a contractor whose services are limited to construction, remodeling, repair, or improvement of one-family, two-family, or three-family residences not exceeding two habitable stories above no more than one uninhabitable story and accessory use structures in connection therewith."

It does not make sense to me that FL contractor regulations would differ from lenders, however it appears to be the case.  Does this mean that I can only hire a general contractor?  I did not know there was a difference.  Has anyone else seen anything like this?