How Do You Get a Plumbing License in Rhode Island?

Yes.

Rhode Island licenses plumbers statewide under RIGL chapter 5-20, administered by the Department of Labor and Training: the chapter covers master plumbers, journeyperson plumbers and registered apprentice plumbers.

The business layer runs through the same chapter: a company doing plumbing must have a licensed master plumber as an officer or partner continuously supervising the work, or hold a DLT plumbing contractor license while continuously employing a licensed master plumber.

The ladder is three rungs: registered apprentice plumber, journeyperson plumber and master plumber.

The statute frames the middle rung as the working employee: a journeyperson plumber is an employee, except an apprentice plumber, whose principal occupation is the installation, maintenance or repair of plumbing.

An apprentice plumber, meanwhile, agrees to at least 8,000 hours over at least five years under the direct supervision of a master or journeyperson plumber and registers with DLT.

The top rung is where the legal authority concentrates: the master plumber is the license class for anyone who contracts for plumbing work or employs journeypersons or apprentices, and a company trades either on a master as a supervising officer or partner or on a DLT plumbing contractor license that continuously employs a licensed master.

One license also reaches sideways: a master or journeyperson plumbing license covers irrigation and water-filtration/treatment work without an additional license under the same chapter.

The journeyperson numbers are specific: applicants must have been registered apprentices for at least four years, with 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in Rhode Island within a five-year period, including 576 hours of related instruction, and the application fee is $75.

For the master license, you must have held a Rhode Island journeyperson plumber license for at least one year while employed by a licensed master, and the application fee is $75 again.

On the entry rung, an apprentice plumber agrees to at least 8,000 hours over at least five years under a master or journeyperson plumber and registers with DLT.

Our research did not confirm DLT's current application forms, so get the checklist from DLT before you file.

Our research did not verify the exam vendor, a content outline, or which Rhode Island plumbing levels carry an exam — DLT is the source to ask before you schedule anything.

What the statute does establish is that the exam gate matters after a lapse: a plumbing license that is not renewed within two years is forfeited, and getting it back requires re-examination.

So keep the renewal clock in view, and get the current exam details — vendor, scheduling, topics — directly from DLT.

Renewal runs on a two-year cycle tied to the holder's birthday.

The biennial renewal fee is $240 for a master plumber and $72 for a journeyperson.

The deadline has teeth: a license not renewed within two years is forfeited, and getting back on the ladder requires re-examination.

Our research did not verify any continuing-education requirement for Rhode Island plumbers — that is a gap in what we could confirm, not a statement that no CE exists — so ask DLT what applies before your renewal date.

The one out-of-state line our research records is from the journeyperson statute: it allows out-of-state journeyperson licenses with the same requirements.

What our research did not verify is a list of states Rhode Island has reciprocity agreements with, or the paperwork DLT asks for.

Treat the statute as the starting point and confirm your situation with DLT before you count on it.

Our research did not verify a Rhode Island license-lookup address, so this page does not link one.

Licensing runs through the Department of Labor and Training's Professional Regulation unit, and DLT's site is the starting point for a license search or verification; if the search is not obvious from its navigation, contact DLT directly.

Keep in mind that a plumbing contractor also carries a CRLB registration, so verifying a contractor can mean checking that registration as well as the plumbing license.

Not for that work: Rhode Island otherwise maintains its own master, journeyperson and apprentice licenses for irrigation and for water-filtration/treatment systems, but a valid plumbing license covers the work without an additional license under the same chapter.

The statute says so directly for the master level, and the research records the same coverage for journeypersons.

If you plan to advertise irrigation or water-treatment services alongside plumbing, the coverage our research records sits at the journeyperson and master levels — confirm the scope of your specific license with DLT before you rely on it.