Nevada to Virginia: master plumber license reciprocity

Virginia issues a statewide Master Plumbing tradesman license to individuals through the Board for Contractors' Tradesmen Program at DPOR. Under 18VAC50-30-39(D) a first-time applicant qualifies for the PSI master exam with one year as a licensed journeyman in the trade, three years holding a valid Virginia residential plumber tradesman license, or nine years of verified practical experience; the application fee on the 2026 form is $171.75 including the technology fee, and the PSI master exam fee published on the Tradesmen page is $125 (regulatory cap $225). A current journeyman or master plumber license from another governing body outside Virginia is itself an accepted qualification to sit the master exam, and a licensee who has held an out-of-state license for at least three years may apply through Universal License Recognition and receive the master license without the Virginia trade exam. DPOR does not publish a plumbing reciprocity agreement with any origin state; the only plumbing-related partner on the Board list is WSSC. The master tradesman license is a personal qualification; contracting for work over $1,000 requires a separate Class A, B or C contractor business license. Licenses expire three years from the last day of the month of issuance; renewal is $160 plus three hours of board-approved plumbing code continuing education per designation.

Nevada does not issue a master plumber license to individuals, and no county or city was found to issue a master-level plumbing card; Clark County recognizes a 'plumbing qualified individual', which is simply the person who qualifies a contractor's C-1 license with the State Board. The state-level credential is a classification C-1 Plumbing and Heating Contracting license from the Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB), issued to a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or LLC and qualified by a named individual rather than held by the plumber personally. An out-of-state master plumber who only wants to work for an employer needs no Nevada license at all (apart from the local journeyman card in Clark County and Reno). To contract, the qualifying individual must show four years of experience as a journeyman, foreman, supervising employee or contractor within the past 15 years (NRS 624.260), pass the PSI-administered Nevada Business and Law exam and the C-1 trade exam within six months of filing (three attempts each), and the business must pay the $300 application fee and $600 biennial license fee, submit a financial statement, fingerprints and background check, and post a bond of $1,000 to $500,000 set by the Board, plus the Residential Recovery Fund assessment ($200 to $1,000) if it does residential work. Under licensure by endorsement (NAC 624.600 and 624.615) the C-1 trade exam and the experience certification are waived for a qualified individual who has held an active license, as the same qualified individual, with no discipline or pending action for the past four years in Arizona (CR-77 Plumbing Including Solar), California (C-36 Plumbing together with C-4 Boiler, Hot Water Heating and Steam Fitting) or Tennessee (CMC Full Mechanical Contractor); a Florida CF Plumbing Contractor gets experience credit but must pass the Nevada C-1 trade exam; the Business and Law exam is never waived. The NSCB equivalency charts contain no Utah chart and no C-1 row for Connecticut, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, Hawaii, Alabama or West Virginia.