Illinois to North Carolina: master HVAC technician license reciprocity

North Carolina has no 'master HVAC' license; its highest HVAC credential is the Heating Contractor license issued to an individual by the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors under G.S. 87-21, in Heating Group 1 (steam, vapor and hot-water comfort heating), Group 2 (forced-air heating/cooling with more than 15 tons of cooling) and Group 3 (forced-air heating/cooling of 15 tons or less), each with Class I (any building) and Class II (single-family detached dwellings) except Group 2, which is Class I only. The license is earned personally by passing the 4-hour technical exam and the 1.5-hour Business and Law exam and belongs to the individual, who may list it in a firm name and add sub-licensees; that is why this site maps it to the master level. A new applicant needs 4,000 hours of hands-on experience (up to half from technical education), pays $150 per examination, submits a nationwide criminal background report and Social Security verification, and after licensure pays an annual license fee of $150. The Board states that it has no license reciprocity with any state; the only technical-exam waiver is with South Carolina, and North Carolina residents licensed in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia may ask for licensure without examination under the Neighbor State License Recognition Act. Commercial, industrial, transport and service refrigeration (not comfort cooling) requires a separate Class I-IV Refrigeration Contractor license from the State Board of Refrigeration Contractors ($100 exam, 4,000 hours, EPA 608 Type II or Universal required), which has no reciprocity but offers the same neighbor-state route to new NC residents. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants.

Illinois does not issue a statewide master HVAC or mechanical contractor license and has no state mechanical board; the master-level credential exists only at the municipal level under names that vary by city. Springfield issues a Mechanical License to individuals who document 5 years (residential) or 7 years (commercial) of practical mechanical experience and pass the ICC National Standard Master Mechanical exam (G29); Peoria licenses HVAC contractors on an ICC contractor certificate from the 2018 code cycle or newer ($150 a year); Aurora and Elgin accept the ICC Master Mechanical certification or, in Elgin, a license from any Illinois city that gives a written exam; unincorporated Cook County registers HVAC contractors for a fee with $1,000,000 in liability insurance; and Chicago has no mechanical license at all, requiring a general contractor license to pull permits. None of these jurisdictions publishes a reciprocity or endorsement path for another state's master HVAC license; Springfield's only grandfather clause is limited to licenses issued before October 2007. A master HVAC contractor arriving from another state should expect to pass the ICC Master Mechanical exam once and then license or register separately in each municipality where they will work. EPA Section 608 certification applies to anyone handling refrigerants.