Maryland trade license reciprocity

Maryland issues a statewide Journeyperson Electrician license through the State Board of Electricians in the Department of Labor. Statewide journeyperson and apprentice licensing began July 1, 2021 under the Maryland Electricians Act; before that the State licensed only master electricians and each county or Baltimore City licensed journeypersons, and those local bodies now issue registrations rather than licenses. A new applicant qualifies with 4 years of electrical work under the direction and supervision of a master electrician (or a similarly qualified employee of a governmental unit) and then passes the PSI-administered journeyperson exam (70 questions, 70% to pass, open book on the NEC, $65); completing a MATC- or federally-approved apprenticeship with 576 classroom hours and 8,000 work hours waives both the experience and the exam requirements. The original license fee is $18.50. Maryland no longer reciprocates out-of-state journeyperson licenses: the Board's how-to-apply page says 'currently there are no provisions to reciprocate a journeyperson license obtained out of state' and that applicants must apply by examination. Master-license reciprocity with Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia is unaffected. Licensed journeypersons work under the direction and control of a master electrician.

Maryland issues a statewide Master Electrician license through the State Board of Electricians (renamed from the State Board of Master Electricians by the 2021 Maryland Electricians Act). The master license is the credential under which electrical contracting is done: a master must carry at least $300,000 general liability and $100,000 property damage insurance with the Board as certificate holder, and local jurisdictions issue registrations to State master licensees. A new applicant needs 7 years of regular, principal employment providing electrical services under a master electrician or a similarly qualified governmental employee (the Board may credit up to 3 years for a formal course of study), must pass the PSI master exam (90 questions, 70% to pass, 240 minutes, open book on the NEC, $65), and pays a $25 original license fee. The Board reciprocates master licenses obtained by examination from Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Delaware, and from Maryland counties and Baltimore City; each has its own years-held condition.

Maryland issues a statewide HVACR Journeyman license through the Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors in the Department of Labor, a different board from the State Board of Electricians. Everyone who provides or assists in providing heating, ventilation, air-conditioning or refrigeration services in Maryland must hold a Board license (apprentice, journeyman, journeyman restricted, limited, master restricted or master); the journeyman license authorizes HVACR work under the direction and control of a licensed contractor, and a journeyman restricted license covers a single area (forced air, hydronic, ventilation, air conditioning or refrigeration). A new journeyman must have held a Maryland apprentice license for at least 4 years with at least 6,000 hours of training under a licensed contractor and pass the PSI-administered journeyman exam with 70% ($150 exam fee, $25 license fee); graduates of a Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Council program are licensed without the exam. The Board has reciprocal agreements only with Delaware and Virginia, under which a qualifying journeyman is licensed without the Maryland exam. Licenses run to October 1 of odd-numbered years and renew for 2-year terms; Anne Arundel and Prince George's Counties also require a county HVACR license.

Maryland's highest person-held HVACR credential is the Master HVACR Contractor license issued by the Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors; it authorizes installation and maintenance in all areas of HVACR work and is the license under which HVACR contracting is done. The Board also issues Master Restricted (one or more areas: forced air, hydronic, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration) and Limited Contractor (maintenance and repair only) licenses. A new master must have been licensed as a journeyman (or journeyman restricted, limited or master restricted) and regularly and principally employed providing HVACR services under a master for at least 3 years, with 1,875 hours in the year before applying, and pass the PSI master exam (100 questions, 70%, 240 minutes, open book, $150); the license fee is $94.50. A master, master restricted or limited licensee who signs or approves HVACR contracts must carry $300,000 general liability and $100,000 property damage insurance with the Board as certificate holder. The Board reciprocates only with Delaware and Virginia; licensees of those states who qualify are licensed without the Maryland exam.

Maryland issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber/Gas Fitter license (statutory name: journey plumber) through the State Board of Plumbing in the Department of Labor. A journey plumber provides plumbing services under the direction and control of a master plumber or limited master plumber. Qualification on the Board's License Requirements page is four years as an apprentice plumber plus 7,500 hours of apprentice work, a 32-hour backflow prevention certification, and the PSI journey exam. State plumber licenses are required throughout Maryland except Baltimore County and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) service area in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, which issue their own plumber licenses. The original license fee is $43.50 (updated July 1, 2025). The Board issues reciprocal Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter licenses to holders licensed by the District of Columbia, WSSC, or Baltimore County (WSSC and Baltimore County applicants must hold both plumbing and gas licenses obtained by examination). Apprentice plumber licenses may be renewed for only two consecutive cycles before the journey exam is required (Bus. Occ. & Prof. §12-308.1).

Maryland issues a statewide Master Plumber/Gas Fitter license through the State Board of Plumbing. By statute a master plumber is licensed to provide plumbing services and natural gas services. Qualification on the Board's License Requirements page is two years as a journey plumber plus 3,750 hours of work as a journey plumber under a master, then the PSI master exam. The original Master Plumber/Gas Fitter license fee is $87.50 (updated July 1, 2025; renewal is also $87.50). Masters who contract to provide plumbing services must carry general liability of at least $300,000 and property damage of at least $100,000 ($400,000 per occurrence), with the Board named as certificate holder; umbrella policies are not accepted. Reciprocal Master Plumber/Gas Fitter licenses are issued to holders licensed by the District of Columbia, Delaware (master only), WSSC, or Baltimore County (WSSC and Baltimore County applicants must hold both plumbing and gas licenses obtained by examination).

Maryland's homes tier is the Home Improvement Contractor license issued by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, and despite its name it is a real competency license rather than a bare registration: the applicant passes a state examination, documents two years of experience, proves financial solvency with a personal financial statement and a full credit report, pays into the Home Improvement Guaranty Fund and carries $500,000 in general liability insurance. The license is held by a person. An individual sits the exam and meets the financial test, and Maryland requires that 'each MHIC licensed business must have an individual who holds an MHIC license and meets the requirements for licensure', so a business is qualified by its licensed individual much as a qualifying party works elsewhere. The license covers the alteration, remodeling, repair or replacement of a residence, condominium units and adjacent work such as decks, driveways, fences, garages and pools, and it covers apartment buildings of three or fewer units. It does not cover building a new home: new home construction is registered separately with the Home Builder Registration Unit of the Office of the Attorney General under the Maryland Home Builder Registration Act, and in Montgomery County and Prince George's County a builder also needs that county's own new home builder or building contractor license. An MHIC licensee does not need the state construction license described at the general level. Maryland eliminated its home improvement subcontractor license in 2016, so a subcontractor may work unlicensed for an MHIC-licensed contractor, but only a licensed contractor may contract with the homeowner.

Maryland issues no general, commercial or unlimited building contractor license and no state agency tests a builder's competence to put up a commercial building. There is no trade examination, no business-and-law examination, no experience requirement, no net worth test and no qualifying party anywhere in the law for this tier. What state law does require is a construction license, bought each year from the Clerk of the Circuit Court: Business Regulation §17-602 says a person must hold one 'whenever the person does construction business in the State', which means agreeing to pave or curb, to excavate, or to do work on a building that uses paint, stone, brick, mortar, wood, cement, structural iron or steel, piping, wiring or any other metal. A contractor who is incorporated or has its principal office in another state must instead take a nonresident construction license. The license is entity-held and nobody qualifies it; it is a revenue license that sits in the same title as Maryland's trader's license, and the clerk collects a fee and issues it without reviewing skill, experience or references. It is issued in the county of the business's principal place of business, or for a nonresident in the county where it first does construction business, and it then authorizes construction business anywhere in the state. Home improvement is carved out: an MHIC licensee needs no construction license, and a construction license may not be used for home improvement work. Skilled trades are licensed separately by their own Maryland boards, and new home construction requires Home Builder registration with the Office of the Attorney General.

Maryland licenses home inspectors statewide through the Maryland Commission of Real Estate Appraisers, Appraisal Management Companies and Home Inspectors, which sits in the Department of Labor's Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing and works under Title 16 of the Business Occupations and Professions Article and COMAR 09.36. There is one license and no junior tier: an applicant needs a high school diploma or its equivalent, 72 hours of an on-site classroom training course approved by the Commission and by a national home inspection organization, and a passing score on the National Home Inspector Examination, which PSI delivers in Baltimore, College Park, Hagerstown and Salisbury. Maryland sets no experience requirement and no supervised-inspection count, so an inbound inspector's years of practice are not what the file turns on. Before the license is issued the applicant must show general liability insurance of at least $150,000 with their own name on the certificate, and that cover has to be in place again at every renewal; there is no surety bond and no errors and omissions requirement. The Commission publishes a list of 28 states whose licensees may apply by reciprocity, which replaces the 72-hour course and the diploma evidence but not the examination, and it tells an applicant from any other state to file the original application instead. The Maryland Home Improvement Commission license that contractors hold is a separate credential under separate law and does not authorize home inspections.