North Dakota to Texas: master HVAC technician license reciprocity

Texas's highest HVAC credential is the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor license issued to an individual by TDLR, so it is mapped here to the master level. The license comes in Class A (units of any size) and Class B (cooling up to 25 tons and heating up to 1.5 million Btu/h) with Environmental Air Conditioning, Commercial Refrigeration and Process Cooling or Heating endorsements. A new applicant must be 18, document 48 months of practical ACR experience under a licensed contractor in the past 72 months (or 12 months as a certified technician plus 36 months of experience, with substitutions for HVAC/R degrees, engineering licenses and military training), pay a $115 application fee, pass the PSI exam for each class and endorsement ($74 Class A, $60 Class B, 70% to pass) within one year of filing, and file proof of commercial general liability insurance ($300,000 per occurrence/$600,000 aggregate for Class A; $100,000/$200,000 for Class B). The license is valid one year, renews for $65 and requires 8 hours of continuing education a year; a company must employ a licensed contractor at each permanent location. TDLR has reciprocity agreements with Georgia and South Carolina only; licensees from every other state or municipality apply under TDLR's substantial-equivalence review and may be required to take the Texas exam.

North Dakota issues no master HVAC, mechanical or refrigeration license and has no state mechanical board. The only state-level credential an HVAC contractor needs is the Secretary of State contractor license, a business license for any job over $4,000 (Class D up to $100,000 for $100, up to Class A over $500,000 for $450) that requires liability insurance and workers' compensation verification but no trade exam. The master-level credential is the city master HVAC/mechanical installer license: Fargo's Master Heating license (10,000 hours including 6,000 as a journeyman, exam, $125 per year, liability insurance naming the city), Bismarck's Class A Master HVAC Installer (3,400 hours as a licensed journeyman, exam with 80% to pass, $125 per year), Grand Forks' Master Mechanical Installer (exam with 80%, $170 per year, $5,000 city bond, state contractor license) and Minot's Master Heating/HVAC Installer (board exam, $130 per year). A master exam passed in one of the testing member cities is accepted by the other North Dakota licensing members through the state mechanical reciprocity program, but each city issues its own license. No city recognizes an out-of-state master or contractor license outright; Bismarck's ordinance counts journeyman experience licensed by any governmental jurisdiction toward master exam eligibility, so an out-of-state master generally qualifies to sit a city master exam on the strength of documented experience and then licenses city by city. EPA Section 608 certification applies federally.