Does Tennessee Require an HVAC License? Who Licenses HVAC Work Instead

No. Our research found no statewide HVAC technician or journeyman license in Tennessee: the Board for Licensing Contractors (Department of Commerce & Insurance) licenses contractors, home improvement contractors, Limited Licensed Electricians and Limited Licensed Plumbers, and it issues no individual HVAC technician license.

On that record we treat individual HVAC licensing as a local matter; the verified local example is Metro Nashville, whose mechanical board issues HVAC certificates.

The state-level requirement that does exist, for HVAC, is for the business: a state contractor license is required for HVAC work, including work performed as a subcontractor, when the job is $25,000 or more, including materials and labor.

A federal layer applies everywhere: under 40 CFR 82.161, anyone who could reasonably be expected to violate the integrity of a refrigerant circuit while maintaining, servicing, repairing or disposing of appliances containing CFC/HCFC or non-exempt substitute refrigerants must pass an exam from an EPA-approved technician certification program, and that EPA 608 certification does not expire.

No state technician license exists in our research; the credentials our research did find for HVAC work are city certificates and the state contractor license.

The city certificate is Nashville's: its Board of Mechanical, Plumbing, and Electrical Examiners and Appeals examines applicants for the master mechanical certificate, the HVAC&R certificate and the gas and appliance certificate — check the building or licensing department wherever else you work.

The state credential is the contractor license: mechanical contractor licensing falls under the CMC (Mechanical Contracting) classification, with sub-classes including CMC-A Plumbing and Gas Piping and CMC-C HVAC, Refrigeration, Gas Piping.

A CMC license shows the holder passed the Board exam, and no county or city may require the state licensee or its employees to pass a local test.

The contractor license requirement starts at jobs of $25,000 or more; below it, the Home Improvement license in the next sentence can still apply.

In nine Tennessee counties (Bradley, Davidson, Hamilton, Haywood, Knox, Marion, Robertson, Rutherford and Shelby), that Home Improvement license is required for residential remodeling jobs of $3,000 to $24,999.

At the individual level our research found no hour or experience totals to report: the state issues no technician license, and we did not confirm hour or experience requirements for the Nashville certificates, so ask the city's board what it expects.

At the contractor level the numbers are concrete: the application and initial license fee is $250 and the renewal is $200, with the exam fee set by the exam vendor.

The qualifying agent — an owner, full-time employee or officer of the company; non-owners complete a power of attorney form — takes the exams for the business, and up to two people may take each exam for a company.

A $50 pre-approval request is required before a candidate may sit the plumbing CMC-A or full mechanical CMC exam; our research does not state a pre-approval for the CMC-C HVAC exam, so confirm with the Board before you book.

Prov administers Tennessee contractor exams from July 1, 2026 — not PSI; PSI keeps previously scheduled exams through September 2026.

Contractor applicants pass the open-book Tennessee Business and Law exam, plus a trade exam for classifications that require one, and exams are typically valid for two years.

The trade exams include Full Mechanical Plumbing & HVAC (CMC), Plumbing (CMC-A) and HVAC (CMC-C).

Our research does not describe the content outline of any of them, so get the candidate information from Prov or the Board before you study.

For local work, the examining body is the city's: Nashville's Board of Mechanical, Plumbing, and Electrical Examiners and Appeals examines applicants for its mechanical certificates.

The state contractor license renews for $200, and the Board's renewal page points to a two-year renewal cycle — the wording ties that cycle to the residential CE rule, so confirm the exact cycle length with the Board when you renew.

An expired license has a 12-month grace period, with a $20/month late fee if renewed within it.

On continuing education, the Board's 8-hour rule applies to BC-A and BC-A/r residential building contractors; no CE requirement is stated for CMC mechanical contractors on the pages we read, so our research shows no CE requirement for a CMC-C HVAC renewal — confirm with the Board.

Our research did not establish whether or when local certificates renew — ask the city.

No. The Board for Licensing Contractors states you cannot operate in Tennessee with a license from another state.

What it offers instead is trade-exam waiver agreements — for example Alabama (HVAC), Ohio (plumbing and HVAC), and Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia (mechanical) — which waive Tennessee's trade exam; they are not reciprocity, so an applicant still meets Tennessee's own license requirements.

For individual technicians the question is mostly moot at the state level, because our research found no state technician license to transfer into; whether an out-of-state license counts is a question for the city where the work happens — ask the local building or licensing department.

The state-side lookup our research found is TDCI's Verify a License page — the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance's license search.

One caveat: our research took that address from the Board's site navigation and did not open the lookup page itself, so confirm it returns the credential you are checking.

The state contractor license is issued by the Board for Licensing Contractors.

Local certificates are different: verification goes to the body that issued the certificate — a Nashville certificate is a Nashville mechanical board matter, not a state one.

Metro Nashville anchors our research: its Board of Mechanical, Plumbing, and Electrical Examiners and Appeals examines applicants for master mechanical, HVAC&R and gas and appliance certificates — the same board also handles master, journeyman and apprentice plumber certificates.

Our research also carries a lead that Memphis/Shelby County, Knoxville and Chattanooga run local trade licensing for plumbing and mechanical work, but we did not read those offices' pages, so treat it as unconfirmed and check the city or county codes department directly.

Wherever you take a job, the body to ask is the building or licensing department for that city or county.