How Do You Get a Plumbing License in North Carolina?

Yes.

North Carolina licenses plumbing contracting statewide, and G.S. Chapter 87, Article 2 requires the license before engaging in the business of plumbing contracting; the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating, and Fire Sprinkler Contractors issues it.

The statute draws the line at the work: minor repairs and part replacements that do not change the energy source, fuel type, or the routing or sizing of venting or piping do not require a license, while installing or replacing a boiler or water heater does.

You also do not need your own license to work on licensed plumbing as a W-2 employee: North Carolina has no journeyman or apprentice plumber license, and a licensed firm's bona fide W-2 employees may perform licensed work under a listed qualified licensee.

The board's plumbing licenses come in two families.

Technician licenses (PT-I and PT-II) are the individual credential: a technician has passed the technical exam but not the business and law exam, so a technician license is not a contracting license.

Both cover potable water and drain/waste/vent piping and must be a sub-licensee of a plumbing contractor to assist with supervision, and a technician cannot supervise work beyond either their own or the contractor's license classification.

Contractor licenses are the contracting credential: P-I covers potable water and drain/waste/vent piping systems in any building, while P-II is limited to single-family detached dwellings — the board uses Roman numerals, and there is no P-III.

Around the main ladder sit the Restricted Limited Plumbing license (exterior sewer, water service, backflow and filtration work), the Limited Water Heater Replacement license and the Fuel Piping licenses, and the same board also licenses heating and fire sprinkler contracting under separate credentials.

There is no journeyman or apprentice plumber license at any level.

Technician Class I applicants need 18 months (3,000 hours) of on-site full-time experience; Class II applicants need 15 months (2,500 hours).

Plumbing contractor applicants need 2 years (4,000 hours) of experience in the category, of which up to half — 2,000 hours, or 45 quarter or 30 semester hours — may be academic or technical training.

Restricted Limited Plumbing applicants need 9 months (1,500 hours), and the Limited Water Heater Replacement license requires holding a heating or fuel piping license for at least two years plus a Board-approved 6-hour course.

Applicants must be at least 18, submit a nationwide criminal background report from Disahealthcare.com with the application, and processing currently averages about six weeks.

The application-and-examination fee is $150 per exam and is non-refundable ($75 application plus $75 exam), and the annual contractor license fee is $150.

The upgrade path runs through the exams: a technician who has passed the technical exam can move up to the contractor license in the same category by passing only the business portion, and a contractor candidate who passes technical but fails business can request a technician license.

PSI Services LLC administers all of the board's exams, which are computer-based, at testing centers in Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

The plumbing technician exam runs 4.0 hours with no business and law exam; plumbing contractor candidates take a 4.0-hour technical exam plus a 1.5-hour business and law exam, and Restricted Limited Plumbing candidates take a 2-hour technical exam plus business and law.

The exams are open-book: you bring your own approved reference books — hard-bound, spiral or ring-bound originals, with highlighting and permanently attached commercial tabs only.

The reference list is built on the 2018 NC Plumbing, Fuel Gas, Administration, Energy Conservation and Residential Codes, and as of June 1, 2026 the exams remain on the 2018 codes because the 2024 code's effective date has been postponed, at the earliest to May 1, 2027.

Fail a portion and the wait is 90 days with a Re-Examination Application and a new fee, though a failed portion can be retaken within six months without retaking the portion you passed.

After you pass, you must submit the License Activation Form and fee within 45 days or retest.

Every license the board issues expires December 31 each year and must be renewed annually — there is no grace period after expiration.

Continuing education is not one of the requirements: the CE requirement for renewal was eliminated on December 31, 2012, and what remains is Disciplinary Education imposed after complaints.

Technician licenses renew at $75 a year, whether listed under a contractor or not; contractor licenses renew at $150 a year.

A renewal received after January carries a $25 late processing fee, and a license not renewed within three years of expiration requires re-examination.

No. The board states plainly that there are no license reciprocity agreements with any other state.

What it does offer: a technical-exam waiver agreement with South Carolina for plumbing and HVAC contractors — the South Carolina exam result stands in for the North Carolina technical exam, but you still pass the North Carolina business and law exam — and the Neighbor State License Recognition Act, which applies to North Carolina residents already licensed in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia.

An out-of-state plumber should plan to apply to the board and meet North Carolina's own experience and exam requirements.

The board's public license lookup is at public.nclicensing.org/Public/Search, and it covers plumbing, heating and fire sprinkler licenses.

Search it by name or license number before you hire a plumbing contractor, or before you take a job with a firm that says it is licensed.

Usually not.

Fuel piping privileges are already included in the Plumbing and Heating Group licenses, so a P-I or P-II contractor does not take a separate fuel piping exam.

There is a standalone Fuel Piping track for people who do only fuel gas piping: an FP Contractor license with 1 year (2,000 hours) of experience and a 2-hour exam plus business and law, and Fuel Piping Technician Class I/II with 9 months (1,500 hours).

On the water side, exterior backflow preventers on 2-inch-or-less piping fall within the Restricted Limited Plumbing license.

Our research did not find a separate medical-gas or backflow-tester license issued by the board; backflow tester certification is typically municipal, so ask the board and the water supplier where you work.