Tennessee to New Jersey: master plumber license reciprocity

New Jersey's person-held plumbing license is the statewide Master Plumber credential issued by the State Board of Examiners of Master Plumbers in the Division of Consumer Affairs under N.J.S.A. 45:14C-1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 13:32. A licensed master is the person who may plan, lay out, install and repair plumbing and supervise others; a plumbing contractor must have a licensed master who owns at least 10 percent of the business as bona fide representative. N.J.A.C. 13:32-2.2 requires a four-year U.S. DOL plumbing apprenticeship or a qualifying engineering bachelor's degree, then one year / 1,200 hours of practical hands-on work as a New Jersey journeyman inspected by a New Jersey plumbing inspector, plus propane education. The examination (13:32-2.3) has three parts — NSPC written, practical, and New Jersey laws/regulations — each requiring a score of 70. Chapter 32 has no reciprocity / endorsement section, so an out-of-state master is not treated as receiving an exam waiver. Current published Board fees (13:32-5.1(a)) are a $100 non-refundable application fee without prior registration ($50 with prior registration), an initial license fee of $160 in the first year of the biennial period or $80 in the second, biennial renewal $160, and a $25 initial pressure seal.

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.