Louisiana to North Carolina: journeyman HVAC technician license reciprocity

North Carolina has no license called 'journeyman HVAC'. The closest state-issued, person-held credential below contractor level is the Heating Technician license from the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors: an individual who has passed the 4-hour technical examination for Heating Group 1 (hydronic), Group 2 (forced air over 15 tons) or Group 3 (forced air 15 tons or less), Class I (any building) or Class II (single-family dwellings), but not the business and law examination. A technician license is not a contracting license and is not required to work for a living: any W-2 employee of a licensed heating contractor may perform work under the contractor's license, so the technician license mainly lets its holder be listed as a sub-licensee to help supervise work, or qualify a state, local-government or private-school maintenance department. Eligibility is 3,000 hours of hands-on installation, maintenance, service or repair experience (up to half from technical education), a $150 exam fee, a nationwide criminal background report and Social Security verification. The Board publishes no reciprocity for any state at this level; an out-of-state journeyman documents their hours on the Board's employment-history form and takes the technical exam. Refrigeration (commercial, industrial, transport and service, but not comfort cooling) is licensed separately by the State Board of Refrigeration Contractors, which licenses only contractors and has no technician-level credential. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants.

Louisiana does not issue a statewide journeyman or technician license for heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work. The only state HVAC credential is the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) commercial contractor license in the Mechanical classification (or its Heat, Air Conditioning, Ventilation, Duct Work and Refrigeration subclassification), required for any mechanical project of $10,000 or more and issued to the contracting business or sole proprietor on the strength of a qualifying party who passed the trade exam; the LSLBC's FAQ and Types of Licenses pages list no journeyman, master or technician license. Journeyman mechanic licensing exists only where a city or parish ordinance creates it: New Orleans issues a Class 'B' Journeyman Mechanical Contractor License ($55 per year) to applicants who pass the ICC G31 National Journeyman Mechanical exam and work under a Class 'A' air conditioning and refrigeration contractor, Jefferson Parish requires air conditioning and heating equipment to be installed or replaced by a parish-licensed mechanical contractor, and Shreveport registers contractors and refers journeyman and master testing to the ICC or the LSLBC. Under La. R.S. 37:2156.1(I), however, employees of a statewide-licensed mechanical contractor cannot be required to pass any local examination or certification as a condition of working for that contractor, so a local journeyman card matters mainly to technicians working for contractors below the state threshold or outside the state system. None of these jurisdictions publish reciprocity for out-of-state journeyman licenses; the portable credential in practice is the ICC journeyman mechanical exam. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required of anyone who handles refrigerants.