Tennessee 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. Under the licensing statute as re-enacted by Senate Bill 553 (2026), effective July 1, 2026, Class I covers single-family dwellings, townhomes and multifamily buildings (including duplexes, hotels, motels and apartments) up to three stories and commercial buildings up to 20,000 square feet; Class II is unrestricted and is the master-level equivalent used here. Class II needs five years of full-time experience (2,000 documented hours each) under a licensed master plumber, at least four of them licensed as a Journeyman Plumber and at least two in unrestricted-scope work; Class I needs four years within the restricted scope, at least three of them licensed as a Georgia Journeyman Plumber. Anyone already licensed as a Georgia journeyman before March 1, 2025 needs only two licensed years for Class II and one for Class I. The applicant scores at least 70 on the appropriate master examination, files a signed affidavit from each supervising master, consents to a criminal background check and pays the Board's published fee; the Division's checklist still also asks for three licensed-plumber references (Class I: at least one master; Class II: at least two). O.C.G.A. § 43-14-23 lets the Division, in its discretion, license without examination someone who has practiced for at least two years under a license from a state with substantially equal requirements that gives Georgia licensees equivalent privileges; Rule 121-2-.03 still frames this as a formal written agreement, and the Division's FAQ states that Georgia has no reciprocity with any other state for master or journeyman plumbers. In practice everyone therefore applies by examination. The statute's Class II wording does not require the licensed journeyman years to be Georgia years, so out-of-state journeyman licensure is expected to count there, but Class I's licensed years must be under a Georgia Journeyman Plumber license.

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.