Tennessee to West Virginia: master plumber license reciprocity

West Virginia issues a statewide Master plumber license through the Division of Labor under W. Va. Code 21-14. The statute defines a master plumber as a person who has passed a written master examination with a score of at least 70 percent and who is competent to design plumbing systems and to instruct and supervise journeyman plumbers and plumbers in training; the master written examination may not be taken until one year after passage of the journeyman plumber examination. This is a personal license, distinct from a Plumbing contractor license issued by the West Virginia Contractor Licensing Board under W. Va. Code 30-42 (the Licensing Section administers that board as well). Since January 1, 2009 plumbing work for others requires a Commissioner of Labor plumber license. Out-of-state master plumbers are expected to use the Commissioner's unread reciprocity rule (21-14-4(3)) and, where they qualify, RECAP (W. Va. Code 21-17-3), which requires issuance of the occupational license when a comparable origin license has been held at least one year. The Division publishes no named plumber partners. Ohio's Construction Industry Licensing Board lists a West Virginia Master Plumber (exam-issued) among credentials that can reciprocate into an Ohio plumbing contractor license; that is Ohio's inbound contractor rule, not a West Virginia master-plumber agreement.

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.