Plumbing Apprenticeships in Indiana: Programs, Requirements and How to Apply

Indiana is a federal Office of Apprenticeship (OA) state: registered apprenticeship there is administered by the US Department of Labor, not a State Apprenticeship Agency.

Nationally, a program becomes a registered apprenticeship when it is registered either by DOL's Office of Apprenticeship — through state field offices where no recognized SAA exists — or by a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency acting for DOL; in Indiana, that registering body is the OA.

Registered apprenticeship pairs on-the-job learning with related technical instruction, and an apprenticeable occupation must require at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning under the industry standard.

Indiana layers a state list on top: the Indiana Plumbing Commission publishes its own list of Commission-approved apprenticeship schools, and on the apprenticeship route it is years in one of those approved programs that lead to the journeyman exam.

The approved list spans union JATCs and JACs, PHCC chapter schools, the ABC of Indiana Apprenticeship Trust and other schools — the sections below break it into union, merit-shop and school entries.

The state's apprentice credential is a license: the Indiana Plumbing Commission issues a plumbing apprentice license alongside journeyman plumber, plumbing contractor and plumbing corporation.

To qualify as a plumbing apprentice you must be at least 17 and registered in a Commission-approved apprenticeship program, and the apprentice license application fee is $10.

The program side is separate: where a program is a registered apprenticeship, registration in Indiana is with the US Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship — our sources confirm the Commission's approval, not each program's federal registration.

Apprentice licenses expire October 1 of every even year, renew for $10, and apprentices must confirm continued enrollment in an approved program at renewal; on continuing education, our research did not find CE requirements for Indiana plumbing licenses on the Commission's licensing page, so ask the Commission what applies.

At the end, a registered apprenticeship earns a certificate from the registration agency — here the federal OA — and that certificate is not a plumbing license; what it sets up in Indiana is the apprenticeship route to the journeyman exam, which rests on four approved-program years and being at least 18.

The regulator's own approved-schools list leads with its union entries: Indianapolis Plumbers & Steam Fitters Local 440 JATC, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 166 JATC, Local 210, Local 661 JAC, South Bend Local 172 JATC and Terre Haute Local 157 JAC — listed alongside an Evansville Plumbers & Pipefitters Training entry our sources do not attach to a named local.

Two of the state's UA locals confirm their application details: Plumbers, Steamfitters & HVACR Service Technicians Local 440 JATC in Indianapolis accepts apprenticeship applications year-round — its site showed applications open for the 2026-2027 program year — and Plumbers & Steamfitters UA Local 136 in Evansville runs a training center with an online apprenticeship application.

Our sources did not connect Local 136 to a specific entry on the Commission's list, so treat those as separate confirmations and ask the local how its program counts.

Nationally, the UA says its apprenticeships are registered with DOL, typically last five years, and cover plumbing, pipefitting, HVACR, welding and fire protection; for anything the list does not state — intake dates, wages, entry tests — ask the local or the federal Office of Apprenticeship.

Yes — the regulator's own list names them.

The ABC of Indiana Apprenticeship Trust in Indianapolis sits on the Commission's approved-schools list (nationally, ABC describes itself as founded on the merit shop philosophy), and the PHCC chapter entries are Fort Wayne PHCC, North Central Indiana PHCC, Southeast PHCC (Prosser Career Ed Center), South Central Indiana PHCC and SWIPHCC.

PHCC offers apprenticeship content nationally through its online learning academy.

The Commission's list is what gives these programs their license value: at least four years in a Commission-approved program is the apprenticeship route to the journeyman exam.

Individual employer programs are another possibility our sources do not name — if a contractor offers to train you, ask whether the program sits on the Plumbing Commission's approved list, and confirm with the Commission if it is not.

In Indiana the state publishes the provider list directly: the Commission's approved apprenticeship schools — the same list this page groups into union, merit-shop and other entries — are the training providers the regulator names, and the list includes schools beyond the associations: Northwest Indiana Plumbing Apprenticeship School and Mechanical Skills, Inc. Our sources name those two without classifying them further, so contact the school about its program, sponsorship and intake.

The Commission also regulates what approved schools must deliver: within the first four years of the apprenticeship program, each school must give each student an examination testing the practical knowledge of the curriculum studied — copper, cast iron and plastic pipe assembly projects, with 70% required on each — before a 4-year apprenticeship counts as complete.

Federally, DOL recommends — but does not require — a minimum of 144 hours of related technical instruction per year of apprenticeship; ask your program what its own related instruction requires.

Pick a program from the Plumbing Commission's approved-schools list and apply to it: Local 440 in Indianapolis takes applications year-round, UA Local 136 in Evansville online, and the others by contact.

Federally, a registered apprentice must be at least 16 unless a higher minimum age is set by law — Indiana's apprentice license sets its bar at 17 — registered programs must pay a progressively increasing wage schedule tied to skill, and a probationary period cannot exceed 25 percent of the program length or 1 year, whichever is shorter.

Then the state side: the apprentice license qualifies at 17 or older while registered in the approved program, applies for $10, and runs to October 1 of every even year, when it renews for $10 with continued enrollment confirmed at renewal.

The school's practical exam — copper, cast iron and plastic pipe assembly projects, with 70% required on each — comes before the 4-year apprenticeship counts as complete; at four approved-program years you meet the apprenticeship route to the journeyman exam — the Commission approves your application, you register with PROV at provexam.com, and candidates may take the exam seven times within a two-year period.