Oregon to Georgia: master plumber license reciprocity

Georgia issues statewide Master Plumber licenses in two classes through the Construction Industry Licensing Board's Division of Master and Journeyman Plumbers. Class I is limited to single-family dwellings, one-level dwellings designed for not more than two families, and commercial structures not exceeding 10,000 square feet; Class II is unrestricted and is the master-level equivalent used here. A master applicant must document five years of plumbing work covered by the Georgia State Plumbing Code, including at least two years licensed as a Journeyman Plumber; Class II also requires commercial or industrial plumbing experience. The applicant scores at least 70 on the appropriate master examination, names three licensed-plumber references (Class I: at least one master; Class II: at least two masters), and pays the Board's published fee. Rule 121-2-.03 authorizes the Division to issue a master license by reciprocity or endorsement under a formal written agreement with another state board whose exam is substantially equal and who offer a similar privilege to Georgia licensees; the rules pages name no partner states (unlike the Electrical Division's published AL/LA/NC/SC/TN list, and unlike conditioned-air's 2022 form that listed LA and suspended SC/TX). Everyone else applies by examination, with out-of-state journeyman time counting toward the two licensed years and other plumbing work counting toward the five-year total.

Oregon has no master plumber license and no other person-held plumbing credential above journeyman. ORS 693.095 permits the State Plumbing Board to adopt rules for a 'supervising plumber' license, but no such rule exists in OAR chapter 918, division 695, and the Building Codes Division's license table lists only the Journeyman Plumber (JP) and three limited specialty licenses (residential water-heater, water-treatment and solar heating and cooling installer) as individual plumbing licenses; the Journeyman Plumber is therefore the highest license an individual can hold. The business-side credential is the Plumbing Business (PB) license under ORS 447.040, issued by the Building Codes Division to a firm that already holds a Construction Contractors Board (CCB) license: the owner or corporate officer files the Contractor/Business License Application (form 440-2888) with a $150 non-refundable fee and the CCB number, no signing supervisor or qualifying-person experience is designated for a plumbing business, no exam is taken, and the license renews on a three-year cycle (all PB licenses next expire July 1, 2029). A plumbing business license 'does not authorize the contractor to work as a journeyman plumber,' and the business may not let anyone perform journeyman work without an individual JP license. An out-of-state master plumber therefore has nothing to transfer to at this level: to work with the tools they obtain the Journeyman Plumber license through the journeyman path (Idaho or Montana reciprocity, or experience credit plus the Oregon exam), and to contract they register a business with the Secretary of State, license it with the CCB, and add the $150 BCD Plumbing Business license.