HVAC Apprenticeships in Colorado: Programs, Requirements and How to Apply

Registered apprenticeship programs are registered either by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship, through its state field offices where no recognized State Apprenticeship Agency exists, or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL.

Colorado sits on the SAA side of that split: it is on DOL's list of SAA states.

The union presence our research confirms in Colorado comes from the national directories: the UA's find-a-local directory lists Local 3 Denver (Aurora), Local 58 Colorado Springs, Local 145 Grand Junction and Local 208 Denver, and SMART Sheet Metal Local 9 is based in Denver.

Beyond those directories, our research did not confirm which Colorado employers, association chapters or community colleges sponsor registered HVAC apprenticeships, so treat this page as a starting point and ask each sponsor directly.

Our research did not find a statewide HVAC technician or contractor license in Colorado, and it found no state HVAC board to register with; confirm the rules with your city or county.

The apprentice registration requirement our research found sits on the plumbing side: anyone employed in the plumbing trade who is not a licensed plumber must be registered as a plumbing apprentice with the State Plumbing Board until licensed.

What Denver issues is the closest thing to an HVAC credential our research confirms: its Heating and Ventilating Journeyman certificate can only be used while employed by a Heating and Ventilating Contractor Class A or an HVAC contractor.

Denver also issues Refrigeration Journeyman, Refrigeration Class A and Class B (residential, 5 tons or less) Supervisor, Refrigeration Operator and Gas Service Journeyman certificates; the city's supervisor certificates renew every three years.

A federal rule can reach any Colorado HVAC apprentice: work that could breach a refrigerant circuit — maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of appliances with CFC/HCFC or non-exempt substitute refrigerants — requires EPA 608 certification, and apprentices are exempt only while closely and continually supervised by a certified technician.

The United Association's find-a-local directory lists four UA locals in Colorado: Local 3 Denver (Aurora), Local 58 Colorado Springs, Local 145 Grand Junction and Local 208 Denver.

Nationally, the UA describes its apprenticeships as registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, typically five years long, and covering plumbing, pipefitting, HVACR, welding and fire protection.

That is the UA's national description: our research confirmed the Colorado locals from the directory, not each local's current program details, entry standards or application dates, so ask the local — or its Joint Apprenticeship Committee, where it has one — what it registers and when it takes applications.

SMART Sheet Metal Local 9 is also based in Denver; sheet metal is a separate trade with its own registered apprenticeships, and the International Training Institute for the trade — jointly sponsored by SMART and the contractors' group SMACNA — reports more than 14,000 registered apprentices in the US and Canada, with programs running four or five years.

Our research did not verify a registered HVAC apprenticeship sponsored by a Colorado chapter of the national merit-shop associations, so treat them as places to ask rather than options we have confirmed.

The national associations exist and say this about themselves: Associated Builders and Contractors describes itself as founded on the merit shop philosophy and reports more than 24,000 members; PHCC, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, offers apprenticeship content through an online learning academy, and its Educational Foundation is an EPA-approved 608 certifying program; ACCA reports 60,000 professionals and more than 3,000 company members and is also an EPA-approved 608 certifying program, though our research found no ACCA registered apprenticeship — a gap in the research, not a verified negative.

Employer-based registered programs sit on this side too, and whatever the sponsor, registration runs through the same split: the State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL where a state has one.

Our research found no Colorado rule requiring a formal program for HVAC work; the apprentice registration rule we did find binds the plumbing trade.

The classroom side of a registered apprenticeship is related technical instruction.

Federally, the Department of Labor recommends — but does not require — a minimum of 144 hours of it per year of apprenticeship, and a program's terms may be time-based (at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning), competency-based, or a hybrid of both.

Our research did not confirm which Colorado community colleges, trade schools or union training centers deliver HVAC related instruction, so ask each sponsor where its apprentices take class and how the hours are documented before you enroll.

Our research also found no statewide hour-credit table to point to, since it did not confirm a statewide HVAC license.

The local example is Denver: its Heating and Ventilating Journeyman certificate requires heating and ventilating field installation experience — four years, minimum 7,000 hours — gained in an apprenticeship or on-the-job training, alongside the ICC exam, so whichever route you take there, keep records of your hours.

There is no state application to file in our research, so you apply to the sponsor: ask the UA locals our research confirms what they currently register, and ask any merit-shop chapter or employer program to confirm its registration.

Federally, a registered apprentice must be at least 16 unless a higher minimum age is set by law; there is no federal maximum age, and federal rules bar discrimination against apprentices and applicants aged 40 or older, though a sponsor may set its own qualifications on top.

Pay follows a progressively increasing schedule tied to skill, the entry wage may not fall below the FLSA minimum wage where it applies, and the probationary period cannot exceed 25 percent of the program length or 1 year, whichever is shorter.

Completing a registered apprenticeship earns a completion certificate from the registration agency — it is not a license.

In Denver, the Heating and Ventilating Journeyman certificate requires four years (minimum 7,000 hours) of heating and ventilating field installation experience in an apprenticeship or on-the-job training, plus ICC exam F31 — keep records of your hours.

Our guide to how to get an HVAC apprenticeship covers the search and the application itself.