Tennessee to South Dakota: master plumber license reciprocity

South Dakota has no 'master plumber' license. The top individual tier is the statewide Plumbing Contractor license issued by the State Plumbing Commission - a person 'qualified and skilled in the planning, superintending, and the practical installation of plumbing, and otherwise qualified and registered to contract for plumbing installations and conduct the business of plumbing' (SDCL 36-25-1(6)) - which this site maps to the master level. A new applicant needs six years' experience as a plumbing contractor, plumber or apprentice at not less than 1,900 hours per year, with at least two of those years as a plumbing contractor or plumber, then passes the Commission-administered three-part exam on the South Dakota plumbing code (2024 Uniform Plumbing Code with state amendments) at 80%; the code may be used on the sizing-drawing part of the contractor exam. Fees are a $50 application fee, a $100 exam fee and a $275 license fee; licenses expire December 31 and renew annually for $275 with four hours of continuing education each calendar year. Out-of-state master plumbers or plumbing contractors licensed by examination in a state with similar laws and a UPC-equivalent code may be licensed without examination under SDCL 36-25-21; others are approved for the contractor exam on proof of equivalent experience.

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.