Plumbing 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 (SAA) acting for DOL.

Colorado is on DOL's list of recognized SAA states.

The federal floor sits on the occupation: an apprenticeable occupation must require at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning under the industry standard.

The union presence our research confirms in Colorado: the UA's find-a-local directory lists Local 3 Denver (Aurora), Local 58 Colorado Springs, Local 145 Grand Junction and Local 208 Denver.

Our research did not confirm which Colorado employers or associations sponsor registered plumbing apprenticeships, so ask before you sign.

Colorado's rule is a licensing-board rule, not a program formality: 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, whether or not they are in a formal program.

Program registration and this board registration are different things: recognized State Apprenticeship Agencies register apprenticeship programs for DOL, while the State Plumbing Board, part of the Division of Professions and Occupations (DORA), licenses the trade at three levels — Residential Plumber, Journeyworker Plumber and Master Plumber.

The experience totals behind them are 2 years (3,400 hours), 4 years (6,800 hours) and 5 years (8,500 hours), with one month of full-time work counted as 163 hours.

Our research does not state how registered-program hours are credited toward those totals, or Colorado's apprentice-to-plumber supervision ratio — the federal rule requires a program's standards to state a numeric ratio but sets no number — so confirm both with the board.

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

The State Plumbing Board's plumbing program also registers Water Installers and Water Principals (water conditioning) separately.

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 (and Canadian authorities), typically lasting five years, 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 JATC, where it has one — what it offers 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 — the International Training Institute for the trade is jointly sponsored by SMART and the contractors' group SMACNA and reports more than 14,000 registered apprentices in the US and Canada — so treat it as the neighboring trade rather than a plumbing route.

Our research did not confirm which Colorado merit-shop organizations or individual employers sponsor registered plumbing apprenticeships — no Colorado PHCC, ABC or ACCA chapter program was verified — so treat this as an open question and ask each sponsor and the apprenticeship agency.

The national associations exist: PHCC, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, offers apprenticeship content through an online learning academy, and Associated Builders and Contractors describes itself as founded on the merit shop philosophy.

A formal program is not what the board's rule requires: what Colorado requires of an unlicensed worker in the trade is apprentice registration with the State Plumbing Board.

The test for any program is registration — a program becomes a registered apprenticeship when it is registered, by DOL's Office of Apprenticeship or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL.

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 each program's registered standards set what it actually asks of you.

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

On the license side, Colorado's experience totals are years-and-hours based, and our sources do not state how classroom or registered-program hours are credited toward them — the State Plumbing Board is the place to confirm that.

Colorado's rule shapes the first step: if you are employed in the plumbing trade and not yet licensed, register as a plumbing apprentice with the State Plumbing Board, whose plumbing pages sit under the Division of Professions and Occupations at dpo.colorado.gov/Plumbing.

Then find a program: ask the UA locals our research confirms in Colorado what they offer, and check that any other program you consider is registered, by DOL's Office of Apprenticeship or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL.

Federally, a registered apprentice must be at least 16 unless a higher minimum age applies, pay follows a progressively increasing schedule tied to the skill you acquire, and the probationary period cannot exceed 25 percent of the program length or 1 year, whichever is shorter.

The finish line is the license: 2 years (3,400 hours) for Residential, 4 years (6,800 hours) for Journeyworker and 5 years (8,500 hours) for Master, with exams through PSI passing at 70 percent for Residential and Journeyworker and 75 percent for Master.

Once licensed, plan for at least 8 hours of approved continuing education in each year of the two-year license period.

In June 2026 the Colorado State Plumbing Board held a rulemaking hearing to adopt new editions of the International Plumbing Code, Fuel Gas Code and International Residential Code; the board's page did not state which edition numbers were proposed, so confirm the code editions in force before you study for an exam.

Our research did not surface other recent changes to the apprentice registration rule or the experience totals, and the figures on this page are as the board published them when read in September 2026.