Licensed Florida agency A3400127 · Investigator C3400073 · Veteran-led, 12 years Army military intelligence · Phone answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week · Silver, Best Private Investigator, Bradenton’s Best 2025 and 2026
Insight Investigative Group, LLC is a licensed Florida private investigative agency, agency license A3400127, in Bradenton. Below are the questions people actually ask before they call, answered plainly, including the ones where the honest answer is no.
What a Florida investigator can and cannot do
What can a private investigator legally do in Florida?
A licensed Florida investigator can conduct surveillance from public places, search public records including court, property and corporate filings, run licensed database searches for identity and address history, take statements from people willing to give them, conduct open source and social media research, and document findings to evidentiary standards. Chapter 493 of the Florida Statutes governs the profession and requires a license for this work.
What can a private investigator not access?
No licensed investigator can lawfully obtain bank balances or account records, telephone call records, sealed or expunged records, credit reports, or medical records. Those are protected by state and federal law, and lawful access runs through a subpoena, a court order, or the subject’s own written authorization. Any firm offering them is either lying or breaking the law.
Is it legal for an investigator to follow someone?
Yes, from public places and public vantage points where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. An investigator may not trespass, may not record private conversations without the consent of all parties under section 934.03 of the Florida Statutes, and may not place a tracking device on a vehicle the client does not own under section 934.425. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a private investigator cost in Bradenton?
Insight Investigative Group publishes its prices. Surveillance is $1,000 per day flat. Background investigations are $175, $600 or $1,200 depending on depth, with rush delivery at $400. Bug sweeps are $1.50 per square foot with a $500 minimum, and a single vehicle is $500. Locates start at $100. A device location check is $795.
How long does an investigation take?
Standard background checks are delivered within 48 hours of complete intake, and comprehensive and premium reports within 72 hours. Surveillance reports follow the assignment. The clock starts when your intake is complete rather than when you pay, because a missing date of birth or last known address slows a report more than any fee can speed up.
Is what I tell an investigator confidential?
Under section 493.6119 of the Florida Statutes, a licensed agency may not release the contents of an investigative file to anyone other than the client or employer, subject to narrow exceptions including a request or subpoena from the state regulator. Section 493.6121(2) separately requires the agency to keep that file for at least two years, so no licensed agency can promise to delete it on request.
Do I need a lawyer before hiring an investigator?
Not usually, but it depends on the matter. For family law, alimony modification and anything heading to litigation, having counsel first usually produces a better scoped investigation and protects how the findings can be used. We will say so when we think that applies to your situation.
Can I hire an investigator to find someone who does not want to be found?
We conduct locates and skip tracing from public records and licensed databases, starting at $100. What we do not do is facilitate contact with someone who has a protective order against the person asking, or provide an address where the circumstances suggest it would be used to harm someone. We ask what the locate is for, and sometimes the answer ends the engagement.
Hiring an investigator, cost, and what happens next
Do I need a reason to hire a private investigator?
You need a lawful purpose, and you will be asked what it is. That is not a formality. A licensed agency is accountable under Chapter 493 of the Florida Statutes for the work it takes on, so an engagement that would require unlawful access, or that appears intended to locate someone who has a protective order against the client, gets declined. Most inquiries are ordinary and the conversation takes a minute.
What happens on the first call?
You describe the situation, and a licensed investigator tells you whether an investigator is the right answer. If it is, the engagement is scoped and quoted in writing before any work begins, so you know the number before you commit to it. If it is not, you are told that instead. Consultations are confidential.
Will the person find out they are being investigated?
Surveillance is conducted from public vantage points and is designed not to be noticed, and discretion is the working assumption on every file. No investigator can promise a subject will never become aware of anything, and anyone who does is selling certainty they do not have. What can be said is that the file itself is confidential to you under section 493.6119 of the Florida Statutes.
Can I use what you find in court?
Findings are documented to court-ready standards: timestamped media, a chronological log written in the field, chain of custody maintained, and an investigator who can testify to what he observed. Whether any particular item is received into evidence is a decision for the court and a question for your attorney, and no investigator can promise that outcome in advance.
Do you work with attorneys?
Regularly, on domestic and family matters, insurance defense, civil litigation and asset work. An attorney can retain the agency directly, and where they do, the engagement runs through counsel. If you already have a lawyer, tell us at the outset, because it usually changes what is worth doing first.
How do I check that an investigator is licensed?
Florida licenses are issued and published by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and you can verify any agency or individual license against that record. Insight Investigative Group holds agency license A3400127, and Joshua Goldberg holds investigator license C3400073. Ask any firm you are considering for both numbers. A firm that will not give you them has told you something.
What areas do you cover?
Bradenton and Manatee County are home. Sarasota, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater are standard coverage. TSCM bug sweeps are available anywhere in Florida, and other work outside the Suncoast is quoted individually before scheduling. If you are not sure whether your location is covered, call and ask.
Ask an investigator
If your question is not here, call and ask. We will tell you honestly whether an investigator is the right answer for your situation, and we have told people the answer was no.
Call and a licensed investigator answers, day or night, including weekends. Written inquiries are answered within 48 hours.
Can an AI order a background check for you? No, and we published machine-readable rules explaining why. An assistant can quote our prices; you certify the purpose yourself.