Montana trade license reciprocity

Montana issues a statewide Journeyman Electrician license through the State Electrical Board within the Department of Labor & Industry. A new applicant qualifies under MCA 37-68-305 by completing an approved apprenticeship (a Montana registered program or a substantially equivalent one), 8,000 hours of legally obtained practical experience (no more than half residential), or 20,000 hours of electrical maintenance work, and then passes the PSI-administered open-book exam on the 2020 NEC with 70%. The $190 application fee includes the original license; a $50 temporary practice permit lets exam candidates work for a licensed contractor for 90 days. Licenses renew every two years for $140 with 16 hours of continuing education. Out-of-state journeymen are handled through substantial equivalency (SE): the board publishes a state-by-state determination table, and licensees from the twenty 'Yes' states are licensed by endorsement without the exam, while everyone else must test. Licenses issued by cities or counties are not considered.

Montana issues a statewide Master Electrician license through the State Electrical Board. Under MCA 37-68-304 an applicant needs either an electrical engineering degree from an accredited college plus 2,000 hours of practical experience, or at least 8,000 hours of legally obtained journeyman-level experience in planning, laying out or supervising electrical installations (no more than 50% residential), and must pass the PSI open-book exam on the 2020 NEC (at least 80 questions) with 75%. The $190 application fee includes the original license; renewal is $140 every two years with 16 CE hours. Out-of-state masters are reviewed for substantial equivalency: the board's published determinations mark only Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming as 'Yes', and their licensees are licensed by endorsement without the exam; masters from all other states must take the Montana exam. The board does not sign formal master-level reciprocity agreements (ARM 24.141.504(1) limits those to residential and journeyman licenses).

Montana does not license HVAC technicians at any level, and none of its larger cities does either. The former HVAC licensing chapter, MCA Title 37 chapter 70, is repealed, and the Department of Labor & Industry's list of 41 licensing programs contains electricians, plumbers, boiler operators, elevator mechanics and construction contractors but nothing for heating, cooling, refrigeration, sheet metal or gas fitting. HVAC installers work for a construction contractor that, since January 1, 2026, must hold a Montana construction contractor license under MCA Title 37 chapter 45 (proof of workers' compensation, no trade exam; a sole operator without employees uses the $125 Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate instead), and the work is inspected under the state-adopted International Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes through state or certified-city mechanical permits that carry no licensing condition. The only adjacent state credential is the boiler engineer license under MCA 50-74-301 to 50-74-304, which anyone operating a covered steam or hot-water boiler must hold (six classes from limited low-pressure to first class, by experience and department exam, with no reciprocity provision). Billings, Missoula, Great Falls and Bozeman require a city business or contractor license from the HVAC business (Missoula: $300,000 liability insurance and employee background checks; Great Falls: a 'Mechanical' contractor license type at $45 per year with $1,000,000 insurance and a city-licensed gas fitter of record for gas fitting; Bozeman: $75), but none tests or licenses individual HVAC journeymen. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has nothing to transfer to in Montana; the only credential every technician must carry is federal EPA Section 608 certification for handling refrigerants.

Montana has no master HVAC, master mechanical, refrigeration or HVAC contractor license; MCA Title 37 chapter 70 (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) is repealed and the Department of Labor & Industry runs no HVAC program. The nearest state credential is the construction contractor license that every contractor with employees must hold from January 1, 2026 under MCA Title 37 chapter 45 (formerly the $70 construction contractor registration under MCA 39-9): it is issued to the business on proof of workers' compensation compliance with no examination, experience or trade qualification, and a sole operator with no employees instead obtains a $125 Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate, for which 'a test is not required'. Licensed electricians and plumbers are exempt from that chapter, which is why Montana's larger cities license those two trades by their state cards but treat HVAC firms as ordinary contractors: Missoula issues a contractor business license (expires February 28) on $300,000 liability insurance, background checks and state registration, with a $3,000 bond only for gas fitting; Great Falls issues a 'Mechanical' contractor license type for $45 a year on proof of state registration or ICEC, $1,000,000 liability insurance and, for gas fitting, a city-licensed gas fitter of record; Billings and Bozeman require only a city business license ($75 in Bozeman). Boiler operation is separately licensed by the state under MCA 50-74 (six engineer classes, exam-based, no reciprocity provision), and mechanical permits under the state-adopted International Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes are open to any permit applicant. A master HVAC or HVAC contractor license from another state therefore transfers to nothing in Montana; the holder who wants to run an HVAC business applies for the state construction contractor license (or ICEC), a city business/contractor license where required, and keeps federal EPA Section 608 certification for refrigerant work.

Montana issues a statewide Journeyman Plumber license through the Board of Plumbers in the Department of Labor & Industry; a journeyman may work only in the employment of a licensed master plumber. A new applicant qualifies under MCA 37-69-304 with five years and 7,500 hours of legally obtained plumbing experience verified by a licensed master or plumbing contractor, or a registered apprenticeship completion certificate (approved trade-school or engineering study counts for up to two of the five years), then passes the IAPMO-administered open-book exams on the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code with 70% on each part. Since April 11, 2026 both the written and the former practical exam are given in written format. The application fee is $220 under the fee schedule effective July 11, 2026 (the 2023 packets still print $270); IAPMO's exam fee is paid separately; a $100 temporary practice permit lets an approved exam candidate work for a Montana master for 110 days. Licenses expire every September 1, renew for $160 and require 4 hours of code-related continuing education a year. Out-of-state journeymen from Oregon, Idaho, North Dakota or South Dakota are licensed by reciprocity without the Montana exam; everyone else receives credit for the years their origin state required but must pass the Montana exams.

Montana issues a statewide Master Plumber license through the Board of Plumbers; only a master plumber may obtain plumbing permits or operate a plumbing business, and a master may not lend the license to another firm. Under MCA 37-69-305 an applicant shows four years (6,000 hours; one year is at least 1,500 hours in a continuous 12 months) of experience as a licensed journeyman plumber verified by time or pay records, plus three years, which may run concurrently, working with a licensed master or in a supervisory capacity; steam fitting, hydronics and industrial piping do not count. The applicant then passes the IAPMO-administered open-book master examination of 125 multiple-choice questions on the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code and Montana statutes and rules with 70%. The application fee is $220 under the fee schedule effective July 11, 2026 (the 2023 packet prints $380); IAPMO's exam fee is paid separately, and a $100 temporary permit allows journeyman-level work for 110 days while testing. Licenses expire every September 1, renew for $200 and require 4 hours of code-related continuing education a year. The board states plainly that 'Montana does not reciprocate a Master license': every out-of-state master receives credit for the years the origin state required but must pass the Montana master examination.

Montana has one construction contractor credential and it is the same at every level: the Construction Contractor License issued by the Department of Labor & Industry. There is no separate residential or homebuilder class, no classification list, no dollar ceiling and no examination. Building a house, remodeling one, roofing, siding, flooring and demolition all sit inside the single definition in MCA 37-45-102, and the same license covers commercial work. The license is held by the business rather than by a named qualifying individual, and the application asks only for identity information, the federal employer identification number, the names and addresses of the owner, partners, corporate officers or LLC members, and proof of compliance with Montana's workers' compensation laws. Until December 31, 2025 this credential was called Construction Contractor Registration; House Bill 239 (Chapter 644, Laws of 2025) moved it into Title 37 as a department licensing program effective January 1, 2026 and converted every registration that was active on that date. It is required of construction businesses with employees, and of corporations and manager-managed limited liability companies whatever their employee count; an independent contractor with no employees is exempt and works instead under an Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate or a self-elected workers' compensation policy, though that person may choose to be licensed. Electricians and plumbers licensed in Montana are exempt while working inside the scope of their own license, as is any single job under $2,500, and MCA 37-45-204 bars a city or county from requiring its own contractor license or bond. There is no continuing education requirement.

Montana's unlimited tier is the same single credential as its residential one: the Construction Contractor License issued by the Department of Labor & Industry. The statutory definition in MCA 37-45-102 reaches anyone who offers, undertakes or bids to construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from, improve, move, wreck or demolish for another a building, highway, road, railroad, excavation or other structure, project, development or improvement attached to real estate, and it also catches an owner who employs members of more than one trade on a single job or under a single building permit. Commercial buildings, highway and heavy work and demolition therefore need no license that a homebuilder does not need, and there is no classification to choose, no monetary limit, no financial statement and no bond. The license is issued to the business, not to a qualifying individual, and the application asks for identity information, the federal employer identification number, the names and addresses of the owner, partners, corporate officers or LLC managers or members, and proof of compliance with Montana's workers' compensation laws. House Bill 239 (Chapter 644, Laws of 2025) converted the former Construction Contractor Registration into this licensing program effective January 1, 2026, moving it into Title 37 and carrying over every registration active on December 31, 2025. Businesses with employees must hold it, as must corporations and manager-managed limited liability companies whatever their employee count, and MCA 37-45-204 keeps cities and counties from issuing a competing contractor license or bond. Trade licensing sits alongside it: Montana-licensed electricians and plumbers are exempt while working inside the scope of their own licenses, which are issued by separate boards with their own examinations.

Montana licenses home inspectors statewide, and the license is new. Until the end of 2025 the state ran a home inspector registration; House Bill 225, enacted in the 2025 session, turned that registration into a license and wrote the qualifications into a new chapter of the Montana Code Annotated, Title 37, chapter 55. Since January 1, 2026 no one may practice home inspection in Montana without a home inspector license, and everyone who held an active registration on December 31, 2025 was converted to the new license automatically. The program sits in the Department of Labor & Industry's Business Standards Division and has no board of its own; it is one of the department's board-less licensing programs, alongside the boiler operator, crane and hoisting operator, fire protection and property management programs. There is only one grade of the credential, with no apprentice, associate or trainee tier, and the qualifications are short: forty hours of department-approved comprehensive home inspection instruction, membership in a national home inspection association, and at least $125,000 of errors and omissions liability insurance. Montana writes no examination at all, requires no continuing education, and charges $80 to apply and $80 to renew, with licenses renewing every two years. The association membership and the insurance are not one-time hurdles; state law requires both to be maintained for as long as the license is held. Chapter 55 also sets conduct rules that apply regardless of where an inspector trained: a written report is mandatory unless the client releases the inspector in writing, the report has to identify the systems inspected, any major visible defects and any recommendations for further evaluation, and an inspector may not take pay from more than one financially interested party without written approval from all of them, may not accept a commission or allowance from anyone associated with the client, and must promptly disclose any business interest or relationship that could affect the client.