LicensebyState

Moving to Ohio as a master plumber: every state's rule

Ohio has reciprocity agreements with 5 states. Everyone else follows its standard out-of-state path: experience credit.

Ohio master plumber · “Plumbing Contractor (OCILB state license)”

Statewide license

Verified September 16, 2026· 5 sources

Issued by Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB), Ohio Department of Commerce

Ohio has no license called 'master plumber'; its top person-held plumbing credential is the statewide Plumbing Contractor license issued by the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB) to an individual who qualified by examination (R.C. 4740.01(A)), who then assigns it to a contracting company. Other states' reciprocity forms pair this license with their master plumber licenses (West Virginia's form, for example, matches its Master Plumber to Ohio's Plumbing Contractor), so it is treated here as the master level. A new applicant must be 18, a citizen or legal alien, have five years as a tradesperson in the plumbing trade immediately before applying (or be an Ohio registered engineer with three years of construction business experience), pass BCI and FBI background checks, pass both sections of the PSI-administered examination (Plumbing trade and Business & Law), carry $500,000 of contractor liability insurance in one company name, and pay a $25 application fee and $25 license fee; licenses expire annually and renew with continuing education (online CE limited to 4 hours per one-year renewal). OCILB's published reciprocity list covers plumbing licenses from Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, with the Ohio Business and Law exam still required for Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee licensees.

States Ohio reciprocates with

Every origin state

Reciprocity 5Experience credit 35No credit 10
Every state's path into Ohio
StateMechanismNoteVerified
AlabamaExperience credit2026-09-16
AlaskaExperience credit2026-09-16
ArizonaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
ArkansasReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-16
CaliforniaExperience credit2026-09-16
ColoradoExperience credit2026-09-16
ConnecticutExperience credit2026-09-16
DelawareExperience credit2026-09-16
District of ColumbiaExperience credit2026-09-16
FloridaExperience credit2026-09-16
GeorgiaExperience credit2026-09-16
HawaiiExperience credit2026-09-16
IdahoExperience credit2026-09-16
IllinoisExperience credit2026-09-16
IndianaExperience credit2026-09-16
IowaExperience credit2026-09-16
KansasNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
KentuckyExperience credit2026-09-16
LouisianaExperience credit2026-09-16
MaineExperience credit2026-09-16
MarylandExperience credit2026-09-16
MassachusettsExperience credit2026-09-16
MichiganExperience credit2026-09-16
MinnesotaExperience credit2026-09-16
MississippiReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-16
MissouriNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
MontanaExperience credit2026-09-16
NebraskaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
NevadaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
New HampshireExperience credit2026-09-16
New JerseyExperience credit2026-09-16
New MexicoExperience credit2026-09-16
New YorkNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
North CarolinaExperience credit2026-09-16
North DakotaExperience credit2026-09-16
OklahomaExperience credit2026-09-16
OregonNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
PennsylvaniaNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
Rhode IslandExperience credit2026-09-16
South CarolinaReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-16
South DakotaExperience credit2026-09-16
TennesseeReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-16
TexasExperience credit2026-09-16
UtahExperience credit2026-09-16
VermontExperience credit2026-09-16
VirginiaExperience credit2026-09-16
WashingtonNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16
West VirginiaReciprocityexplicit agreement2026-09-16
WisconsinExperience credit2026-09-16
WyomingNo creditno state license to transfer2026-09-16

Getting licensed in Ohio from scratch

No license yet, or nothing that transfers? This is how Ohio issues a master plumber license to a first-time applicant.

Verified September 23, 2026· 10 sources

Plumbing Contractor license by examination

Ohio has no state journeyman plumber license, so there is no lower tier to hold first: a plumber qualifies for the state Plumbing Contractor license directly from documented trade experience. The usual route is five years as a tradesperson in the plumbing trade immediately before applying, shown with five consecutive years of tax records plus permits, an active journeyman card, an apprenticeship completion certificate or 40 hours of plumbing code courses. After OCILB approves the notarized application you complete BCI and FBI background checks, then pass two open-book PSI exams, the Plumbing Contractor trade exam and the Ohio Contractor's Business and Law exam, with 70% on each. The license is issued to you personally on proof of passing, a $25 fee and $500,000 of liability insurance, and must be assigned to one contracting company registered to do business in Ohio.

The trade exam has 100 scored questions in 4 hours, and its code questions are based on the 2024 Ohio Plumbing Code and the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code. You bring your own copies of those two codes, Mathematics for Plumbers and Pipefitters (8th edition) and Modern Plumbing (9th edition); they may be highlighted, underlined and indexed but not written in. The Business and Law exam has 50 scored questions in 2 hours with the NASCLA Ohio contractor's guide provided at the test center, and it need only be passed once every three years if you later add another trade. Board approval is valid for one year, and results come at the end of the exam. After a failed exam you wait 60 days to retake; after five failures you must reapply. By statute the board authorizes the license within 90 days after the application is filed for a qualified applicant who passes. The license covers commercial plumbing statewide; local building departments may also require it for residential work, and some cities (such as Toledo) license journeyman plumbers separately. Holders of a substantially similar out-of-state license have a separate examination route under R.C. 4740.06(C).

Trade exam
Required
Law / code exam
Required
Exam given by
PSI
Exam format
Open book
Passing score
70%
Renewal
Every year
Continuing education
10 hours per cycle

Who can apply

  • You must document at least 5 years of qualifying work experience.Documented with W-2s, Schedule C or K-1 for the last five consecutive years, plus one of: a permit for each of those years pulled by the licensed contractor you worked for; an active journeyman card; a certificate of completion from an Ohio- or U.S. Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship; or 40 hours of live or webinar plumbing code courses from an OCILB-approved training agency, dated within one year of the application. Active military service may be credited.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Other ways to qualify

Each of these replaces the requirements above. You only need one.

Ohio registered professional engineer

A currently registered Ohio professional engineer with three years of business experience in the plumbing construction industry may sit for the exam. An engineer not registered in Ohio needs five years of business experience in the trade.

  • Currently registered as a professional engineer in Ohio
  • You must document at least 3 years of qualifying work experience.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Five years as an Ohio government plumbing inspector

  • You must document at least 5 years of qualifying work experience.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Five years in the trade, not immediately before applying

The plumbing section may accept five years of trade experience that does not fall in the five years before the application, provided at least three of the five years were construction work on commercial or residential plumbing projects. Education programs other than an Ohio-approved apprenticeship may substitute for up to one year of the five.

  • You must document at least 5 years of qualifying work experience.Up to one year may be replaced by an education program. Counter sales, purchasing, clerical and unrelated general-contractor work do not count.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Owner, partner or employee of a licensed plumbing contracting company

  • You must document at least 5 years of qualifying work experience.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Uniformed services experience

An applicant who was actively engaged in substantially similar plumbing work in the uniformed services for at least three of the five years before applying may sit for the exam. Veterans attach a DD214 and may add training records or a commanding officer's letter.

  • You must document at least 3 years of qualifying work experience.
  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • United States citizen or legal alien with documentation
  • No disqualifying offense or crime of moral turpitude, no violation of R.C. Chapter 4740, and no fraud in obtaining a license or in the conduct of business

Steps to get licensed

  1. 1Application fee. Pay the application fee ($25). Notarized OCILB Examination Application fee per trade, nonrefundable, payable to Treasurer, State of Ohio.
  2. 2Background check. Complete a background check. BCI (Ohio) and FBI fingerprint background checks after the board approves the application and before the exam, with results sent directly to OCILB; the checks are valid for one year.
  3. 3Trade exam. Pass the destination's trade exam. Ohio Plumbing Contractor exam (PSI): 100 scored questions, 4 hours, open book on the 2024 Ohio Plumbing Code and 2024 International Fuel Gas Code, 70% to pass.
  4. 4Law / code exam. Pass a law, rules, or code exam. Ohio Contractor's Business and Law exam (PSI): 50 scored questions, 2 hours, open book, 70% to pass.
  5. 5Exam fee. Pay the exam fee ($69). PSI examination fee per registration, first attempt or retake, nonrefundable.
  6. 6License fee. Pay the license or certificate fee ($25). License issuance fee per trade, sent with the passing score report.
  7. 7Insurance. Carry the required insurance ($500,000). Certificate of contractor liability insurance of at least $500,000, including complete operations coverage, in one contracting company's name with OCILB as certificate holder.
  8. 8Business license. Obtain a business license. The contracting company the license is assigned to must be registered with the Ohio Secretary of State to do business in Ohio.
  9. 9Other. Assignment of the license to one contracting company (no DBAs), or a written request for inactive status.

Published fees on this path total $119, excluding exam-vendor fees, bonds, and insurance.

Keeping it active

Every year with 10 hours of continuing education per cycle and a $60 renewal fee.

Ten hours each year in any course approved by an OCILB specialty section; plumbing licensees have no required code split unless they also hold an electrical license, in which case five hours must be electrical code. Hours do not carry over, and no more than four hours per one-year renewal may be self-paced online. After a year of compliance you may join the compliant contractor program, which lowers the requirement to eight hours for an annual renewal or allows a three-year renewal with 24 hours of CE and a $180 fee.

Licenses expire annually on the original license date and may be renewed up to 90 days before expiration. A late renewal within one year of expiration carries a late fee of up to $120; after more than one year you must reapply and retest. You must keep $500,000 of liability insurance in force but no longer file proof with the renewal.

Exam preparation

Most boards contract PSI, Prov, or ICC for exams. Check which code edition the exam is written to before buying a prep course.

  • Trade exam
  • Law / code exam
  • Exam fee · $69

Liability insurance

Some states require proof of general liability or workers' compensation coverage at licensing time.

  • Insurance · $500,000

Business registration

If you plan to contract in your own name, budget for a business license or entity registration on top of the trade license.

  • Business license

Continuing education

Renewals usually need approved CE hours, often on the latest NEC. Reciprocal licensees are rarely exempt.

  • Continuing education

Sources for this section

  1. Ohio Adm.Code 4101:16-1-08 - Compliant contractor program · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Ohio Administrative Code) · Admin Rule · verified September 23, 2026
  2. Ohio Adm.Code 4101:16-2-01 - Examination qualifications · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Ohio Administrative Code) · Admin Rule · verified September 23, 2026
  3. Ohio Adm.Code 4101:16-2-02 - Application for examination; criminal records check · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Ohio Administrative Code) · Admin Rule · verified September 23, 2026
  4. Ohio Adm.Code 4101:16-2-08 - Continuing education hours of instruction requirements · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Ohio Administrative Code) · Admin Rule · verified September 23, 2026
  5. Ohio Adm.Code 4101:16-2-09 - Fees and insurance · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (Ohio Administrative Code) · Admin Rule · verified September 23, 2026
  6. OCILB - Contractors & Contracting Companies (five licensed trades, requirements, reciprocity list) · Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance · Agency Page · verified September 17, 2026
  7. OCILB Examination Application (form DIC 3524, PDF) · Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board · Form · verified September 23, 2026
  8. Ohio Revised Code 4740.01 - Construction industry licensing board definitions · R.C. 4740.01 · Ohio Legislative Service Commission · Statute · verified September 17, 2026
  9. Ohio Revised Code 4740.06 - License application; qualifications for examination · R.C. 4740.06(B), (C), (E), (F), (G), (H) · Ohio Legislative Service Commission · Statute · verified September 23, 2026
  10. PSI Candidate Information Bulletin - Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board contractor examinations · PSI Services LLC for the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board · Form · verified September 23, 2026

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