Tennessee to Alabama: master plumber license reciprocity

Alabama certifies Master Plumbers statewide through the Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board; a master plumber may register as the Principal Master for a plumbing business, and every company doing plumbing work in Alabama must register with the Board and name one. To sit the master exam an applicant must have been certified as a Journeyman Plumber for at least one year (the Board describes this as one year of current work experience). Effective January 1, 2026, master-level applicants must pass both the plumbing exam (2021 International Plumbing Code) and a separate business law exam, and after passing have 90 days to pay the certification fees. Certificates are annual, renewing October 1 - December 31 with continuing education due by November 1. The Board's only reciprocal agreement, effective January 1, 2026, is with the Mississippi Board of Contractors at the master level; a master from any other state may sit the Alabama master exam directly if the origin license was earned by exam at 70% or better, is active and in good standing, and is verified by the origin agency.

Tennessee does not issue a master plumber license. The state-level plumbing credentials are (1) the Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP), a personal license for work under $25,000 where the Division of Fire Prevention inspects, which the Board does not treat as a master equivalent and for which it has no exam-waiver agreements, and (2) a contractor license with the CMC-A (plumbing) or CMC (full mechanical: plumbing and HVAC) classification, issued to a business that names a qualifying agent and required for plumbing projects of $25,000 or more. CMC-A and CMC candidates need Board pre-approval ($50) before the plumbing or full-mechanical trade exam; every contractor also takes the Tennessee Business and Law exam (Prov from 2026-07-01; scores typically valid two years). Initial contractor application fee $250. The Board's trade-exam-waiver form lets a contractor whose origin board verifies a comparable plumbing or mechanical exam skip the Tennessee trade exam but not Business and Law, and it cannot be used for the LLP: Ohio plumbing maps to CMC-A, South Carolina plumbing to CMC-A, and Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia mechanical licenses to CMC. That waiver is contractor-to-contractor only (Ohio's OCILB listing of Tennessee as a plumbing-contractor partner is the same relationship from Ohio's side). Master plumber licenses proper exist only locally; Nashville's MPE Board issues a master plumber certificate. An out-of-state master plumber has no statewide personal recognition: to contract for $25,000 or more they need the CMC-A or CMC contractor license; to pull small-job permits they need the LLP where it is accepted, or the local master card where it is not.