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

Sponsors run Nevada apprenticeships, and the programs our research confirmed are registered programs.

Nationally, a registered program is registered either by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL; in Nevada that state agency is the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council, within the Office of the Labor Commissioner.

The sponsors on the Labor Commissioner's published program list we read (dated May 26, 2026) include union JATCs — Plumbers Local 525, Plumbers Local 350, Sheet Metal Locals 88 and 26 — plus the ABC Nevada chapter, PHCC of Nevada and employer Hussmann.

We did not compile every registered program in the state; the Labor Commissioner's published list and apprenticeship.gov are the places to check, and ask any sponsor who registered its program.

Two different things come up.

The apprenticeship itself is the registration: a program registers with DOL's Office of Apprenticeship or a State Apprenticeship Agency — in Nevada, the Nevada State Apprenticeship Council — ask your sponsor who registered it.

A trade license is separate: Nevada has no statewide HVAC technician or journeyman license, and the license the NSCB does issue is a contractor license that belongs to the business, not the qualifying individual.

Our research found no state requirement for HVAC apprentices to register with a licensing board, but confirmed that absence only indirectly — check with the NSAC.

What our research found is local: Clark County has required a Journeyman HVAC Mechanic ID card — our only source is a June 2014 ICC bulletin; check with Clark County — while Reno's journeyman-certificate and apprentice-card rules are for electrical and plumbing work; its page sets out no HVAC card.

The federal layer applies everywhere: EPA 608 certification for anyone whose work on appliances containing CFC/HCFC or non-exempt substitute refrigerants could reasonably be expected to violate the integrity of the refrigerant circuit — apprentices exempt only while closely and continually supervised by a certified technician.

The union programs our research confirmed on the Labor Commissioner's list are Plumbers Local 525, Plumbers Local 350, and sheet metal Locals 88 and 26.

Plumbers Local 525 JATC in Las Vegas (750 Legion Way) runs a separate registered HVAC program — for refrigeration unit repairer — alongside its NSAC-registered plumber/pipefitter apprenticeships, covering Clark and other southern counties.

Plumbers Local 350 JATC in Sparks (1150 Greg Street) runs registered pipe fitter, plumber and refrigeration unit repairer apprenticeships for northern Nevada.

For the sheet-metal side of the trade, Sheet Metal Local 88 JATC in Las Vegas (2540 Marco Street) and Sheet Metal Local 26 JATC in Sparks (1237 Gator Way) run registered sheet metal worker apprenticeships; Local 26 takes applications at nnsmhvactraining.org/apply, and SMART Local 88 describes a 4-year apprentice training program covering residential, commercial and industrial work including HVAC service.

Local 525's and Local 350's own websites were not reachable when we researched, so their intake details — eligibility, applications, start dates — were not captured; ask the JATC.

Yes — the same state list shows the merit-shop and employer side.

The ABC Nevada chapter runs registered Sheet Metal Worker apprenticeships in Las Vegas and a Plumber apprenticeship in Reno.

Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors of Nevada (PHCC, based in Henderson) sponsors a registered plumber apprenticeship in Clark County.

And a single employer, Hussmann Services Corporation in Las Vegas, sponsors a registered installation/service refrigeration mechanic apprenticeship — an example of a shop sponsoring its own program rather than joining a JATC.

Registered apprenticeship pairs on-the-job learning with related technical instruction — the classroom side.

DOL recommends a minimum of 144 hours of related technical instruction per year of apprenticeship; that is a recommendation, not a federal requirement, and programs may be time-based (at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning), competency-based or a hybrid.

Our research did not name the Nevada colleges or providers that deliver the classroom hours for these programs; SMART Local 88 describes a 4-year apprentice training program — ask your sponsor where the classroom part happens.

Where Nevada apprenticeship hours do map onto a credential: the NSCB lets training at an accredited college or university — or other Board-accepted training, such as apprenticeship certificates — stand in for up to 3 of the 4 full years of journeyman, supervising-employee or contractor experience in the specific classification a qualifier needs within the last 15 years.

Nevada has no state HVAC journeyman license for apprenticeship hours to feed; the plumbing path is the one our research confirmed, where four years in a state-registered apprenticeship — or 8,000 documented hours — satisfies the NBOPE journeyman plumber experience route.

Start from the Labor Commissioner's published program list (ours is dated May 26, 2026) to confirm current registrations, then contact sponsors directly: Plumbers Local 525 JATC at 750 Legion Way in Las Vegas — ask for the HVAC/refrigeration unit repairer program — Local 350 JATC at 1150 Greg Street in Sparks, Sheet Metal Local 88 at 2540 Marco Street in Las Vegas or Sheet Metal Local 26 at 1237 Gator Way in Sparks (applications at nnsmhvactraining.org/apply), the ABC Nevada chapter, or PHCC of Nevada.

Federal floors set the basics: a registered apprentice must be at least 16 unless a higher minimum age is fixed by law, and there is no federal maximum age.

Sponsors can add their own entry requirements; the JATCs' minimum ages, deadlines and fees were not captured in our research — ask each program.

If you are accepted, expect a probationary period no longer than 25% of the program length or 1 year, whichever is shorter, a progressively increasing wage schedule with no federally set percentage steps, and, at completion, a certificate from the registration agency — a credential, not a license.

Our guide to how to get a hvac apprenticeship walks the application step by step.