Oregon 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 one year 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.

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.