Nevada to Utah: journeyman plumber license reciprocity
Nevada does not issue a statewide journeyman plumber license, so there is nothing to transfer. Here is Utah's standard path for out-of-state applicants.
Your origin state does not issue a statewide license at this level, so there is no license to transfer. The destination's standard out-of-state path is shown; expect to meet it in full.
Reference only, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the licensing board before you apply. Full disclaimer.
Out-of-state applicants without an equivalent license (standard route with out-of-state experience credit)
Your out-of-state credentials give no advantage. You meet the destination's requirements from scratch.
If the origin jurisdiction is gray on DOPL's Endorsement to Utah: Journeyman Plumber map (California, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York as of the 7/1/2020 map), the applicant must meet Utah's standard journeyman qualifications: completion of an approved apprenticeship program of at least 576 classroom hours plus 8,000 hours of licensed plumbing experience under a licensed journeyman or master, or 16,000 hours without the program. Hours earned outside Utah count when documented on the Verification of Plumbing Experience form by the employer together with official verification of the applicant's license from the jurisdiction where the hours were obtained; the map says city, county or non-equivalent state licenses 'may be used to assist with documentation of compliance with some Utah qualifications'. Since January 19, 2026 first-time candidates attach the experience form (and, for out-of-state trade-program graduates, official transcripts) to their Prov exam registration; no DOPL pre-approval is needed. The applicant then passes the Utah Plumber Written Exam and the Utah Plumber Practical Exam through Prov, and submits the DOPL application with the $116 fee after passing.
Hour thresholds conflict between DOPL pages: the apply page and the v20260420 application require 576 classroom hours plus 8,000 apprentice hours (or 16,000), while the Exam Information page lists testing eligibility as '7 semesters or the competency exam equivalence; and 6,000 hours' (or 16,000) and the 2020 map describes 4 years in a program or 8 years outside one. The 8,000-hour figure from the current application is used here.
At a glance
- Trade exam
- Required
- Law / code exam
- Not required
- Out-of-state hours
- Count toward eligibility
What you must already have
- You must document at least 8,000 hours of qualifying work experience.8,000 hours as a licensed apprentice under a licensed journeyman or master plumber together with completion of an approved 576-classroom-hour apprenticeship program; otherwise 16,000 hours. At least 2,000 and no more than 3,000 hours may be credited per 12-month period.
- Hours obtained outside Utah must be supported by official verification of the applicant's license from the jurisdiction where the hours were obtained, in addition to the employer-completed Verification of Plumbing Experience form.
What you'll do to get licensed in Utah
- 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($116). Non-refundable DOPL application-processing fee (application v20260420).
- 2Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. Utah Plumber Written (theory) Exam and Utah Plumber Practical Exam, administered by Prov; register directly with Prov and pay exam fees to Prov; pass before submitting the DOPL application.
- 3Other. Verification of Plumbing Experience form(s) completed by employers, official apprenticeship transcripts if using the 8,000-hour route, and official out-of-state license verification.
- 4Continuing education. Complete continuing education. 12 hours of approved CE per licensing cycle (8 core, 4 core or professional) to renew.
Published fees on this path total $116, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.
What you'll need to buy or arrange
Exam preparation
Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.
- Trade exam
Continuing education
Renewals usually need approved CE hours, often on the latest NEC. Reciprocal licensees are rarely exempt.
- Continuing education
How Utah licenses journeyman plumbers
Utah journeyman plumber · “Journeyman Plumber”
Statewide license
Issued by Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL)
Utah issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber license through the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) under the Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act (Utah Code 58-55) and Rule R156-55c; DOPL also licenses Apprentice Plumbers, Residential Journeyman Plumbers (residential work only, 6,000 hours plus schooling or 12,000 hours) and Residential Master Plumbers. A new journeyman needs either completion of an approved apprenticeship program (576 classroom hours) plus 8,000 hours of licensed apprentice experience, or 16,000 hours, and must pass the Prov-administered Utah Plumber Written (theory) and Practical exams before applying; the DOPL application fee is $116 and exam fees are paid to Prov. Utah has no signed reciprocity agreements. Instead, under Utah Code 58-1-302 it licenses by endorsement anyone whose license appears in green on DOPL's Endorsement to Utah: Journeyman Plumber map, provided the license has been held at least one year and is active and in good standing; no Utah exam is required for journeyman endorsement. Applicants from jurisdictions without an equivalent statewide license use verified out-of-state hours toward the standard route. Renewal requires 12 hours of approved CE per licensing cycle (8 core).
Why Nevada has nothing to transfer
Nevada journeyman plumber · “Journeyman Plumber (county/city card)”
Licensed by cities and counties
Nevada has no statewide journeyman plumber license. The Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB) licenses plumbing and heating contractors under classification C-1 (NRS/NAC 624), issues licenses only to businesses with a qualifying individual, and its FAQ says it does not license individual journeymen, so an out-of-state journeyman plumber license has nothing to transfer to at the state level and is not needed to work for a licensed C-1 contractor in most of the state. A personal credential exists only under local building codes: Clark County Code Chapter 22.02 requires a plumbing qualified individual or a journeyman plumber on site for permitted plumbing work and issues a renewable county journeyman plumber certificate to people who pass the journeyman exam accepted by the Building Official (plumbing is the one trade for which the county code publishes an experience prerequisite for the exam), and the City of Reno requires anyone installing, altering or adding to a plumbing system to hold a valid journeyman certificate under Reno Municipal Code Title 14. Neither jurisdiction publishes a waiver of its exam for an out-of-state license: Clark County's only equivalency is for a certificate from its accepted testing agency or another Nevada political subdivision within the county, while Reno lets contractors with a reciprocal license from another city, county, state or country work inside the city for 12 months before they must obtain the Reno certification. The City of Las Vegas, Henderson and the rural counties were not surveyed for plumbing cards.
How local licensing works in Nevada
How local licensing works. NRS Chapter 624 licenses only contractors. A C-1 Plumbing and Heating license is issued to a business and qualified by an individual with four years of journeyman-or-higher experience within the past 15 years (NRS 624.260); the NSCB FAQ states that Nevada does not license individual journeymen. Whether a working plumber needs a personal card is decided by each county's or city's building administrative code, and only Clark County and Reno were confirmed to require one for plumbing.
Clark County (unincorporated Las Vegas valley, Laughlin and other unincorporated areas). Clark County Code §22.02.245 issues plumbing permits only to contractors holding an active Nevada C-1 license. §22.02.250(B) requires the permit-holding contractor to employ at least one plumbing qualified individual and to have a qualified individual or a journeyman plumber present in a supervisory capacity while permitted plumbing work is under way. §22.02.255 defines a journeyman as someone who has passed the appropriate journeyman examination accepted by the Building Official and makes the county photo certificate renewable; the plumbing category is the only one in §§22.02.255-.260 for which the code publishes an experience prerequisite before the applicant may sit the exam (the exact number of years could not be re-extracted from the county PDF on 2026-09-16 and should be confirmed with the Department of Building and Fire Prevention). The only equivalency in the code (§22.02.255) is for a current certificate from an accepted independent testing agency or from a political subdivision of Nevada within Clark County, on obtaining the county photo certificate at the holder's expense; there is no provision for other states' journeyman licenses, so an arriving plumber must sit the county-accepted exam. The county's current exam vendor and card administrator for plumbing were not confirmed from an official page.
City of Reno. Reno's Development Services page states that no person may perform installations, alterations or additions to a plumbing system in the city unless done by a holder of a valid journeyman certificate, that apprentice plumbers must carry a card from an approved apprenticeship program, and that the requirement does not apply to homeowners, to contractors who keep an on-site written agreement naming the certified supervisors of their subordinate employees, or to 'contractors with reciprocal licenses from another city/county/state/country' for their first 12 months of work inside the city limits, after which the Reno plumbing certification must be obtained. Out-of-state experience is useful only as evidence toward Clark County's experience prerequisite and, for those who want to contract, toward the NSCB's four-year qualifying-individual requirement.
- Clark County (Department of Building and Fire Prevention)
- City of Reno (Development Services)
- City of Las Vegas (Department of Building and Safety; plumbing card requirement not verified)
- City of Henderson (plumbing card requirement not verified)
Common questions
- Do I have to take the Utah journeyman plumber exam if I'm licensed in Nevada?
- Yes. Utah requires the trade exam on this path.
- What does it cost to get a Utah journeyman plumber license from Nevada?
- Published fees on this path total $116, not counting exam vendor fees or bonds.
- Do my Nevada work hours count in Utah?
- Yes. Documented out-of-state experience counts toward Utah's eligibility requirements.
- Does it work the other way, from Utah to Nevada?
- Not necessarily. Reciprocity is directed. Going from Utah to Nevada, the mechanism is not applicable.
Sources
- Utah Code 58-55-302 - Qualifications for licensure (Utah Construction Trades Licensing Act) · Utah Code 58-55-302; 58-1-302 (license by endorsement) · Utah State Legislature · Statute · verified September 16, 2026
- Utah DOPL - Plumbing Exam Information · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Agency Page · verified September 16, 2026
- Apply for a Journeyman Plumber License (DOPL) · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Agency Page · verified September 16, 2026
- Utah DOPL - Plumbing licensing home page · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Agency Page · verified September 16, 2026
- Utah DOPL - Plumbing Continuing Education · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Agency Page · verified September 16, 2026
- Endorsement to Utah: Journeyman Plumber (state-by-state equivalency map) · Utah Code 58-55; 58-1-302 · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Other · verified September 16, 2026
- Utah Plumber Application (JP / RJP / MP / RMP) with Verification of Plumbing Experience forms, checklist and instructions · Utah Admin. Code R156-1-301 (cited on the form) · Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL) · Form · verified September 16, 2026
- Utah Admin. Code R156-55c - Plumber Licensing Act Rule · Utah Admin. Code R156-55c · Utah Office of Administrative Rules · Admin Rule · verified September 16, 2026
Verified dates are when a person last opened each source and confirmed the facts above. Cite the board, not us.