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. 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.

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.