Tennessee to Texas: master plumber license reciprocity

Texas licenses Master Plumbers statewide through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE). An applicant may sit the Master Plumber Examination after holding a Journeyman Plumber license in Texas or another state for at least two years, or for one year plus completion of a US DOL Office of Apprenticeship program (Occ. Code §1301.002(5)); a master licensed in another state qualifies by showing the same prior journeyman history. The applicant pays a $25 exam processing fee to TSBPE and a $128.50 exam fee to Pearson VUE, submits fingerprints, passes the exam and pays a $75 initial license fee; the license renews annually for $75 with six hours of continuing professional education. A master plumber works under a Responsible Master Plumber unless he or she registers as an RMP, which requires a $300,000 commercial general liability certificate and allows contracting, permitting and supervising a plumbing company's work. TSBPE publishes no reciprocity agreements, but out-of-state journeyman experience counts directly toward master exam eligibility.

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.