Without a licence, you're not legally a plumber — you're just someone messing about with pipes. A plumbing licence makes your work legitimate, whether you're a contractor, subcontractor or business owner. If you're looking to start your own plumbing business, your plumbing licence ensures you’re qualified, up to date with technical standards, and protected if something goes wrong.
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Most states require only a high school diploma to begin an apprenticeship or attend a trade school. Once you complete an apprenticeship, pass the exam and pay the licensing fees, you'll be able to get your licence to become journeyman. From there, you can work towards your licence to become a master plumber.
Once you've been issued your licence, you'll need to renew it regularly. The timeframes will depending on individual state law.An apprentice plumber is still learning the trade, so they need to work under supervision while completing training and on-the-job hours. By the time you've finished your apprenticeship, passed your first plumbing licence and become a journeyman plumber, you can work on their own, although there may be some limitations. A master plumber is the highest level, with additional experience and certification that allows you to run their own business, pull permits, and oversee major projects. In short, apprentices learn, journeymen work independently, and masters hold full authority in the trade.
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In some states, may still require a Master plumber to pull permits or own a plumbing business
Training & licensing:
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3. Do you need a plumbing licence to run a business?
Most states require the following licences to work independently:
With this licence, you can work independently on plumbing jobs but often cannot operate as a contractor in your own right. In many states, journeymen need a Master Plumber to pull permits and oversee the legal/business side of projects.
This is the level required in most states to register as a plumbing contractor, run your own business, quote jobs under your business name, and supervise other plumbers.
Some states (like California, Texas, and Florida) also require a separate contractor’s licence in addition to your plumbing licence. This ensures you meet business, insurance, and financial requirements for contracting work.
However, the following states set their licensing requirements at a more local level and may have alternative options available:
Kansas – Cities manage their own licensing.
Nebraska – Local municipalities may have licenses.
Pennsylvania – Cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh require licensing.
Wyoming – Local jurisdictions decide.
Even in these states, you usually still need to check local city or county rules, since many municipalities set their own requirements for apprentices, journeymen, or master plumbers.
Getting a plumbing licence isn't designed to be easy, for good reason! The licensing process ensures prospective plumbers gain the technical knowledge, safety awareness, and real-world experience needed to handle complex plumbing systems safely. While the process can feel long and demanding, the rewards are significant once you’re qualified.
On average, it takes 4–5 years to become a licensed journeyman plumber, followed by an additional 1–3 years of experience to qualify for the master plumber licence.
Apprentices typically log around 2,000 hours per year on the job (full-time, 40 hrs/week). By the time you qualify for journeyman status, you’ll usually have completed 8,000–10,000 hours of supervised work.
Study hours:
Alongside job training, expect 150–250 classroom hours per year (roughly 3–5 hours per week) in plumbing theory, codes, and safety practices. Over the course of your apprenticeship, that adds up to 600–1,000+ hours of study before your journeyman exam.
After holding a journeyman licence for 2–5 years (varies by state), you’ll need to complete additional logged work hours and pass a master plumber exam to qualify.
In total, becoming a master plumber is usually a 6–8 year journey combining thousands of on-the-job hours with several hundred hours of classroom study.
Performing unlicensed plumbing work comes with financial, legal, and reputational risks that can damage your career in the long run.
In short, working without a licence almost always costs more in the long run, both financially and professionally. The safest and smartest option is to get licensed properly and build your career on a solid foundation.
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