Alabama trade license reciprocity

Alabama issues a statewide Journeyman Electrician license through the Alabama Board of Electrical Contractors. A new applicant must document at least 8,000 hours of experience installing electrical wiring, apparatus or equipment (up to 2,000 hours may be substituted with approved education or apprenticeship) and pass the journeyman exam administered by Prov, either the Alabama exam or the NASCLA Portable Journeyman exam ($115 either way); the license fee is $35 and it renews annually for $35. Exams currently reference the 2023 NEC and will move to the 2026 NEC on January 1, 2027. Alabama law also lets counties and municipalities license and examine journeymen for work inside their boundaries, but a statewide Board license is deemed qualifying in every county and municipality, and journeymen employed by a Board licensee are exempt from local licensing. The Board's only journeyman reciprocity partner is Texas; every other out-of-state journeyman must qualify by documented experience and take the Alabama exam.

Alabama's highest person-held electrical credential is the statewide Electrical Contractor license, which the Board's own page says 'may also be interchanged with Master Electrician'. Under Ala. Code §34-36-7(c) it is issued only to a person (never to a firm), and the licensee then qualifies a business through the EC-2 business information form, so it is treated here as the master level. A new applicant must document 8,000 hours (four years) of experience designing, planning, laying out and directly supervising electrical construction, or 8,000 hours as a journeyman in charge of jobs, and pass the Alabama Electrical Contractor exam or the NASCLA Electrical Contractors exam through Prov ($165); the license fee is $150, renewal is $150 per year, the license is unlimited in voltage and bid amount, and 14 hours of continuing education are required every two years. The Board has electrical contractor reciprocity with Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana and Texas, accepts the NASCLA Electrical Contractors exam as a basis for reciprocal licensing, and ended reciprocity with Georgia. Counties and municipalities may also license electrical contractors for work within their boundaries, but a statewide license is deemed qualifying everywhere in the state.

Alabama does not issue a journeyman, technician or mechanic license for heating, air conditioning or refrigeration work. The only state credentials under Ala. Code §34-31-18 et seq. are the Certified Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor and Certified Refrigeration Contractor certifications, and §34-31-24 requires only that the person in responsible charge of a business be certified; installers and service technicians work as employees of a certified contractor with no personal state license. The Board's exam application still quotes an older version of §34-31-28 that let an applicant qualify for the exam through two years of a Board-issued apprentice registration, but the 2024 statute keeps only the 3,000-hour or approved-curriculum routes and the Board publishes no apprentice or technician registration form. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has nothing to transfer to in Alabama and is neither required nor recognized for employment; §34-31-28(d) also bars counties and municipalities from imposing further testing on certified contractors, and no Alabama city journeyman card for HVAC work was verified from an official page. A journeyman who wants to contract independently must qualify for the contractor certification described at the master level. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is still required of anyone who handles refrigerants.

Alabama's HVAC credential is the Certified Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor certification (with a parallel Certified Refrigeration Contractor certification for commercial refrigeration) issued by the Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. It is treated here as the master level because it is earned personally by examination: under rule 440-X-3-.04 an individual must satisfy every requirement, and when a partnership, corporation or LLC is certified the certificate is issued in the name of the person in responsible charge together with the business name. A new applicant must show 3,000 hours of work experience (the exam application asks for notarized employer affidavits covering at least two years within the past five years, with W-2 forms) or graduation from an approved HVAC or refrigeration curriculum, then pass the open-book Prov exam ($175; 115 questions, 70% to pass). Active certification costs $220 per year and requires a business name and a $20,000 performance bond; inactive status is $110 with no bond; four hours of continuing education are required each year after the first, and renewal is due by December 31. The Board accepts licenses by reciprocity from Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina (Residential Building Commission or Contractor's Board), Texas, West Virginia and Louisiana when the applicant passed an equivalent exam with at least 70%; there is no business and law exam, and §34-31-28(d) prohibits counties and municipalities from requiring further local testing of certified contractors.

Alabama certifies Journeyman Plumbers statewide through the Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board in Homewood; under Ala. Code § 34-37-6(a) a Board certificate is required to engage in plumbing anywhere in the state, and the Board's pages describe no county or city plumber licensing. A new applicant must complete at least two years as a registered Apprentice Plumber (or a Board-approved apprentice training program plus registered apprentice time equal to two years, or two years of documented equivalent experience approved at a Board meeting), then pass the Board's journeyman plumber exam, which since January 1, 2023 tests the 2021 International Plumbing Code. After passing, the applicant has 90 days to pay the certification fees or must re-test. Certificates are issued for the calendar year and renew each October 1 - December 31, with continuing education due by November 1 to avoid a deficiency plan and fee. The Board has no journeyman reciprocity agreement with any state; an out-of-state journeyman may sit the Alabama exam directly if the origin license was earned by an exam passed at 70% or better, is active and in good standing, and is verified by the origin agency.

Alabama certifies Master Plumbers statewide through the Plumbers and Gas Fitters Examining Board; a master plumber may register as the Principal Master for a plumbing business, and every company doing plumbing work in Alabama must register with the Board and name one. To sit the master exam an applicant must have been certified as a Journeyman Plumber for at least one year (the Board describes this as one year of current work experience). Effective January 1, 2026, master-level applicants must pass both the plumbing exam (2021 International Plumbing Code) and a separate business law exam, and after passing have 90 days to pay the certification fees. Certificates are annual, renewing October 1 - December 31 with continuing education due by November 1. The Board's only reciprocal agreement, effective January 1, 2026, is with the Mississippi Board of Contractors at the master level; a master from any other state may sit the Alabama master exam directly if the origin license was earned by exam at 70% or better, is active and in good standing, and is verified by the origin agency.

Alabama licenses residential builders statewide through the Home Builders Licensure Board in Montgomery, which is a different agency from the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors that handles commercial work. A license is required to construct, remodel, repair or improve a residential structure where the cost of the undertaking including labor and materials exceeds $10,000. There are three tiers: a license without limitation (unlimited), which covers whole houses, work involving more than one trade and residential roofing; a license with limitation (limited), for single-trade work that is not a whole residence; and a license limited to residential roofing. The license is held by the business, not the person: an individual may be licensed personally, but a partnership, corporation, LLC or non-profit must name a designated qualifying representative who is a general partner, officer, member or manager and who personally meets the experience and examination requirements, so an inbound builder applies as or for the entity that will sign contracts. An unlimited license is earned by passing the Alabama Home Builders Skill exam and the Business and Law exam through Prov and by showing business-related financial responsibility through a credit report; Alabama sets no minimum years of experience. The Board publishes one reciprocity rule, naming five states whose residential licensees may skip the Skill exam.

Alabama licenses commercial and public general contracting statewide through the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors in Montgomery; residential homebuilding is licensed separately by the Home Builders Licensure Board. A license is required for any undertaking, including labor and materials, costing $100,000 or more, and for swimming pool construction of $5,000 or more; subcontractors working under a licensed prime at or above those figures must also be licensed, and an awarding authority must confirm licensure before accepting a bid. The license belongs to the business rather than the person: it is issued to an individual, partnership, corporation, LLC or LLP and is qualified by a named qualifying party on the Board's Qualifying Party Form, so an inbound contractor applies as or for the entity that will sign contracts. Licenses are granted by classification, with major classifications including Building Construction, Building Construction Under Four Stories, Highways and Streets, Municipal and Utility, Heavy and Railroad, Mechanical and Electrical, each with named subclassifications, and at least three completed projects must be documented for every classification requested. Every license also carries a bid limit set by the financial statement the applicant files rather than by skill. The Board names five states whose licensees may have the trade examination waived; the business law examination is never waived.

Alabama licenses home inspectors statewide under the Alabama Home Inspectors Registration Act, Title 34, Chapter 14B of the Code of Alabama. The program was run by the Alabama Building Commission until Act 2015-435 moved its rules to the Department of Finance, and it is now administered by the Division of Construction Management, which issues, renews, suspends and revokes the licenses and hears complaints. There is one home inspector credential and no junior grade: the license is issued to an individual and never to a business, and you must hold it to perform a home inspection for compensation anywhere in the state. The Residential New Construction Designation is an optional add-on earned with an eight-hour training module, not a second license, and the Division says expressly that the lack of it does not limit any licensee's rights. Every applicant passes two written examinations, the National Home Inspector Examination and the ASHI Standards and Ethics Examination, and every licensee carries both general liability cover and $250,000 of errors and omissions insurance. Licenses run by calendar year and expire on December 31 whatever month they were issued. The Division licenses EIFS inspectors separately, on different qualifications, under the same Act.