Colorado to South Carolina: master HVAC technician license reciprocity

South Carolina has no 'master HVAC' license. The highest person-held HVAC credential is the Contractor's Licensing Board's Qualifying Party certification in the Air Conditioning (AC), Heating (HT), Refrigeration (RG) or Packaged Equipment (PK, up to 25 tons and 500,000 BTU per unit) classification of the Mechanical Contractor license: the individual passes the South Carolina technical exam for each classification through PSI and the South Carolina Business Management & Law for Commercial Contractors exam, documents two years of experience within the past five (or a PHCC Academy of North Carolina heating and air-conditioning apprenticeship), and is certified as the qualifying party for a licensed entity (which may be a sole proprietorship); the certification stays with the person, who 'is not a licensed contractor' alone. The license itself is issued to the business, with a $350 licensure fee and a financial statement or surety bond sized by license group (Mechanical Group 2, jobs to $100,000: working capital $10,000 or net worth $15,000, or a $15,000 bond). A residential-only alternative is the Residential Builders Commission's Residential HVAC Installer and Repairer license ($135 application, $220 license), issued to the individual after one year of residential HVAC experience and the residential technical plus Business Management and Law exams. South Carolina has technical-exam waiver agreements, listed in the Board's Technical Exam Waiver Agreement List (revised May 2026), covering HVAC classifications for Alabama (Heating and Air Conditioning, Refrigeration), Georgia (Unrestricted Conditioned Air), Louisiana (Statewide Mechanical), North Carolina (Heating Groups 1, 2 and 3), Ohio (HVAC, packaged equipment only), Tennessee (CMC and CMC-C), Texas (Class A and Class B air conditioning and refrigeration) and Utah (HVAC, warm air heating, refrigerated air conditioning and refrigeration exams passed before May 2017), plus the MASC/CAGC HARV Master Mechanical card. Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina licenses obtained by exam and held for a year also waive the technical exam for the residential license. Every waiver applicant must still pass the South Carolina Business Management & Law exam. Licensees from other states take the South Carolina technical exam. EPA Section 608 certification is a separate federal requirement.

Colorado issues no state master HVAC, mechanical or contractor license; the state licenses only electricians and plumbers, and mechanical licensing is left entirely to cities, counties and regional building departments. The master-level credential is therefore a local supervisor certificate or mechanical contractor license. Denver issues person-held Heating and Ventilating Class A and Class B and Refrigeration Class A and Class B supervisor certificates (6 to 8 years of experience plus the ICC F29 Master Mechanical or F32 Residential Mechanical exam, $60 for three years) and then licenses the mechanical contractor that employs the certificate holder ($250 for three years). The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department licenses Mechanical Contractors in classes H-A commercial, H-B residential and H-C specialty classes on the ICC W29 Master Mechanical, W32 Residential Mechanical or N33 Master Gas Pipe Fitter exams ($100 per license plus a $50 application fee). Neither jurisdiction recognizes out-of-state licenses: Denver does not reciprocate certificates from other counties or states and PPRBD accepts no out-of-state exams, so an arriving master HVAC contractor documents experience locally and passes the ICC exam required by each jurisdiction where they will pull permits.