Washington trade license reciprocity

Washington issues a statewide General Journey Level Electrician (01) certificate of competency through the Department of Labor & Industries. An out-of-state electrician can qualify to sit the Washington journey level exam with an out-of-state journey level certificate obtained by examination in a jurisdiction requiring at least 8,000 supervised hours, or with 16,000 hours of documented out-of-state experience; the exam is open book and requires a 70 percent score on each section, including a Washington laws and rules section. Washington's only electrician reciprocity agreement is with Oregon: holders of an Oregon General Journeyman (J) or General Supervising (S) license obtained by Oregon examination can receive the 01 certificate without taking the Washington exam. Certificates renew every three years on the holder's birthdate and require 24 hours of continuing education.

Washington issues a statewide Master Electrician (01) certificate through the Department of Labor & Industries. To sit the master exam an applicant must have held a valid journey level electrician certificate for four years, and L&I applies this as four years certified as a general journey level electrician with L&I; WAC 296-46B-945 states that no out-of-state credit may be applied toward qualifying for the master exam. Master certificates cannot be obtained through reciprocity, and Washington has no master-level agreement with any state. An out-of-state master electrician therefore first obtains the Washington journey level (01) certificate, holds it for four years, and then takes the master exam. Certificates renew every three years with 24 hours of continuing education.

Washington does not license HVAC technicians or journeymen as such; there is no state HVAC, mechanical or refrigeration trade license, so an out-of-state HVAC journeyman license has nothing to transfer to and is not needed to work for a registered contractor. What Washington does require is an electrical certificate for the electrical side of HVAC work: the Department of Labor & Industries issues the HVAC/Refrigeration (06A) specialty electrician certificate for wiring and line-voltage components within HVAC and refrigeration equipment, and the narrower HVAC/Refrigeration restricted (06B) certificate for low-voltage and small circuits. The 06A requires 4,000 hours of supervised experience as an electrical trainee plus 48 hours of classroom instruction and a PSI exam; the 06B requires 2,000 hours and 24 hours of classes. L&I has an electrical reciprocity agreement only with Oregon and only for the general journey level (01) certificate, so out-of-state HVAC technicians document their hours on L&I's out-of-state experience application and take the specialty exam. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required to handle refrigerants; gas piping and boiler work fall under separate plumbing and boiler programs.

Washington has no master HVAC or mechanical contractor license and no HVAC trade or business exam. A business that installs or services heating, ventilation, air conditioning or refrigeration systems must register with the Department of Labor & Industries as a general contractor or as an HVAC specialty contractor, which requires a Department of Revenue business registration, a continuous surety bond of $30,000 (general) or $15,000 (specialty) or an equivalent assignment of savings, a general liability insurance policy and a $150.20 application fee; unlike plumbing, electrical, elevator, boiler and asbestos work, HVAC carries no additional education, examination or licensing requirement. Electrical work on the equipment must be done by 06A or 06B HVAC/Refrigeration specialty electricians, or by a licensed electrical contractor, and refrigerant handling requires federal EPA Section 608 certification. Registration does not evaluate or credit an out-of-state master HVAC license, and L&I publishes no HVAC reciprocity; a master HVAC licensee who only wants to work for an employer needs no Washington license, while one who wants to contract independently simply registers.

Washington issues a statewide Journey Level Plumber (PL01) certificate of competency through the Department of Labor & Industries; anyone working in the plumbing trade must hold a journey level, specialty, residential service, trainee or temporary permit credential. A new applicant needs four years and at least 8,000 hours as a Washington plumber trainee (4,000 in commercial or industrial work), 16 hours of approved classroom education, and must pass the closed-book Washington journey level exam administered by PSI ($202.10 application fee plus PSI's scheduling fee, then a $242.70 certificate fee). Washington's only plumber reciprocity agreement is with Idaho for journey level plumbers: holders of an active Idaho journey level card receive the PL01 certificate without examination. Every other out-of-state plumber submits a copy of an active state license for L&I review; if L&I finds it comparable, the applicant is approved to sit the Washington exam and may buy a one-time 120-day temporary permit ($100.30) to work while waiting to test. Hours worked for out-of-state employers or in out-of-state apprenticeships are not credited. Certificates renew every three years on the holder's birthdate for $242.70 with 24 hours of continuing education (at least 12 hours of plumbing code and 4 hours of electrical).

Washington has no master plumber license. WAC 296-400A-010 lists every certificate the state issues (journey level PL01, residential PL02, residential service PL04, pump and irrigation PL03, domestic well PL03A, backflow PL30, and trainee), and the Journey Level Plumber certificate is the highest credential an individual can hold; the only add-on is the Medical Gas Piping Installer endorsement (MG01), which is a specialty, not a supervisory tier. Since July 1, 2021 a business that advertises, bids or performs plumbing work must hold a Plumbing Contractor license under RCW 18.106.400, but that is a business registration rather than a person-held trade license: the firm registers with the Department of Revenue, files a $6,000 surety bond, carries $250,000 combined (or $200,000/$50,000) liability insurance, pays a $148.10 license fee plus $53.20 to designate a Washington-certified plumber who works for the firm full time, and renews every two years; no exam is taken by the owner. An out-of-state master plumber therefore has nothing to transfer to at this level. To work as a plumber they obtain the journey level (PL01) certificate through the journeyman path (Idaho reciprocity or license review plus the Washington exam), and to contract they form a business and license it as a plumbing contractor with themselves or an employee as the designated certified plumber.

Washington does not license residential building contractors. It registers every construction contractor with the Department of Labor & Industries, and registration is the only credential a homebuilder or remodeler needs: there is no trade examination, no business-and-law examination, no experience or apprenticeship requirement, no financial statement and no named qualifying party anywhere in chapter 18.27 RCW or chapter 296-200A WAC. The same registration covers houses and commercial buildings, because Washington's two classifications divide work by the number of trades rather than by market. A General contractor registration is for a business whose work uses more than one building trade on a single job or under a single building permit, and it covers residential and commercial work alike; a Specialty contractor registration limits the business to one of 63 named trades such as roofing, framing and rough carpentry, siding, drywall or HVAC. L&I's own application makes the point explicitly: it asks whether you will do commercial, residential or both, then says the question is 'for statistical reasons and you will not be held to the type you choose.' A developer who subdivides land for residential purposes or builds one or more residential units needs the general registration, and there is no separate homebuilder, residential builder or home improvement credential above or below it. The registration belongs to the business rather than to a person, so a builder moving to Washington registers the sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or LLC that will sign contracts; every owner, member, partner and corporate officer signs the application before a notary and provides a Social Security number or ITIN, and each must be at least 18. What Washington requires instead of qualifications is financial protection for the customer: a Uniform Business Identifier from the Department of Revenue, a continuous $30,000 surety bond for a general registration or $15,000 for a specialty registration, general liability insurance of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage or $250,000 combined single limit, and a $150.20 fee for a two-year registration.

Washington's unlimited tier is the General contractor registration issued by the Department of Labor & Industries, and it is the same credential described at the residential level: one registration covers both house and commercial work, because Washington draws no residential/commercial line. A general contractor is defined by trade breadth rather than by market or contract value: it is a contractor 'whose business operations require the use of more than one building trade or craft upon a single job or project or under a single building permit', including anyone who superintends or consults on such work, while a specialty contractor is limited to one of 63 named trades and may subcontract only work incidental to that trade. There is no dollar cap, no classification letter and no project-size tier on a general registration. Washington does not examine contractors at all: chapter 18.27 RCW and chapter 296-200A WAC contain no trade exam, no business-and-law exam, no experience requirement, no net worth or financial statement test and no qualifying party, and L&I's application asks for none of them. What the state requires is a registered business with money behind it, which the department verifies rather than judges: a Uniform Business Identifier from the Department of Revenue, a continuous $30,000 surety bond (or an assigned savings account for the same amount), general liability insurance of $200,000 public liability and $50,000 property damage or $250,000 combined single limit, a notarized application signed by every owner, member, partner and officer, and $150.20 for two years. Registration is required of every contractor with almost no threshold: the only general exemption is work on a single project whose total price for labor, materials and everything else is under $500, and even that is lost if the person advertises as a contractor. Registration is statewide and exclusive; RCW 18.27.130 bars any city or county from issuing its own contractor registration, license or bond, though a city may still charge a general business license fee and a gross receipts tax, and a building department must verify a contractor's registration before it issues a permit.

Washington licenses home inspectors statewide. The Department of Licensing issues the license and runs the program on the advice of the Home Inspector Advisory Licensing Board, and since September 1, 2009 nobody may act as, advertise as or hold themselves out as a home inspector in Washington without one. The Department puts it plainly: the license is needed by anyone who examines the condition of a home for a fee. It is worth being clear about how much more this is than Washington asks of the people who build the houses — construction contractors merely register with the Department of Labor and Industries under chapter 18.27 RCW, on an application that asks for a business identifier, workers' compensation coverage and the names of the principals but sets no examination and no coursework at all — while a home inspector must complete 120 classroom hours, do 40 hours of supervised field training and pass a two-part written examination. There is a single license grade with no apprentice, associate or trainee tier below it. Washington requires no insurance and no bond of a home inspector, but the law does bar the inspector, and anyone at the same company, from doing any work other than inspection-related consultation on a house for a year after the report. Licenses run two years and expire on the licensee's second birthday following issuance.