Oregon to South Dakota: master plumber license reciprocity

South Dakota has no 'master plumber' license. The top individual tier is the statewide Plumbing Contractor license issued by the State Plumbing Commission - a person 'qualified and skilled in the planning, superintending, and the practical installation of plumbing, and otherwise qualified and registered to contract for plumbing installations and conduct the business of plumbing' (SDCL 36-25-1(6)) - which this site maps to the master level. A new applicant needs six years' experience as a plumbing contractor, plumber or apprentice at not less than 1,900 hours per year, with at least two of those years as a plumbing contractor or plumber, then passes the Commission-administered three-part exam on the South Dakota plumbing code (2024 Uniform Plumbing Code with state amendments) at 80%; the code may be used on the sizing-drawing part of the contractor exam. Fees are a $50 application fee, a $100 exam fee and a $275 license fee; licenses expire December 31 and renew annually for $275 with four hours of continuing education each calendar year. Out-of-state master plumbers or plumbing contractors licensed by examination in a state with similar laws and a UPC-equivalent code may be licensed without examination under SDCL 36-25-21; others are approved for the contractor exam on proof of equivalent experience.

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.