Florida to Rhode Island: journeyman plumber license reciprocity

How local licensing works. DBPR's Construction Industry Licensing Board certifies (statewide) and registers (locally qualified) plumbing contractors and issues no personal license below contractor. Section 489.1455, F.S. lets counties and municipalities license journeymen in the plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical and HVAC trades on three conditions: 75 percent on a proctored Block and Associates or other board-approved journeyman exam, a registered and state-approved apprenticeship or 12,000 hours of on-the-job training, and Florida Building Commission-approved coursework (within 6 months of certification). Subsection (2) makes every county and municipality recognize a journeyman licensed by any other Florida county or municipality. A journeyman card never authorizes contracting; the holder works under a certified or registered plumbing contractor.

Hillsborough County. Development Services issues a Journeyman Electrician or Plumber Certificate of Competency. Fees on the 2026-09-16 page: $50 nonrefundable initiation, $100 on acceptance, $70 one-time registration. The holder 'must always work under the supervision of a properly licensed Electrical/Plumbing Contractor.' Application is through HillsGovHub with apprenticeship completion (if any), an approved-agency exam score if already tested, and a verification-of-experience form. From the 2026-09-15 reading of the same hub: three years of proven field experience (up to one-half education equivalent), open-book exam at 75 percent or above, $240 fee; the county 'only reciprocates with Broward and Palm Beach County in specific trade categories' and only for journeymen who scored 75% or higher. The 2026-09-16 hub extract did not reprint those figures.

Pinellas County. The Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board journeyman application (read 2026-09-15 for HVAC/electrical FL; pinellas.gov and the PDF failed to extract on 2026-09-16) offered Plumbing, Electrical, Pipe Fitting, Air Conditioning and Sheet Metal Journeyman classifications: open-book independent-agency exam, about six hours, passing grade 70%, $75 non-refundable application fee, notarized employer experience certificates, six-year employment history and three character letters. No out-of-state reciprocity is printed on that form. Journeymen must be certified by PCCLB to work in the county.

Broward, Palm Beach, Orange and Duval. Broward County's Building Code Division Central Examining Boards use a contractor/journeyman packet (Chapter 9) that the HVAC and electrical FL files document for mechanical and electrical journeymen ($225 journeyman application / $120 renewal / $50 letter of reciprocity as of January 1, 2025; 75% GITS or ProV exam). Treat those as leads.

Out-of-state journeymen. None of the county programs reviewed publishes an out-of-state reciprocity rule. Expect to sit the first county's exam; a qualifying Florida county card is then recognized statewide under s. 489.1455(2).