Tennessee 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.

Tennessee does not issue a master HVAC license. The state-level HVAC credential is a contractor license with the CMC (full mechanical: plumbing and HVAC) or CMC-C (HVAC/refrigeration) classification from the Board for Licensing Contractors, which is issued to a business that names a qualifying agent and is required for any project of $25,000 or more. The qualifying agent passes the Tennessee Business & Law exam and the CMC or CMC-C trade exam (Prov from July 1, 2026; CMC candidates need Board pre-approval, $50), and the business files a reviewed or audited financial statement (or, from July 1, 2026, a surety bond of at least half the requested limit) that sets its monetary limit, proves general liability and workers' compensation insurance, and pays $250 ($200 biennial renewal). The Board's trade-exam-waiver agreements let a contractor licensed in Alabama (HVAC), Louisiana (mechanical), Mississippi (mechanical), Ohio (HVAC), South Carolina (HVAC) or West Virginia (mechanical) skip the trade exam but not the Business & Law exam or any other requirement; North Carolina's and NASCLA's waivers do not cover HVAC. Master-level licenses issued to individuals exist only locally: Nashville's Master Mechanical (six years) and HVAC&R (four years) certificates, Memphis/Shelby County's First-Class and Third-Class Mechanical Contractor licenses, and Chattanooga's Master Mechanical Contractor license. A master HVAC license from another state has no state-level recognition in Tennessee; its holder either registers a business for the CMC-C license or applies for the local master card where they will work. EPA Section 608 certification is required federally to handle refrigerants.