What bond and insurance does an HVAC or plumbing contractor licence require?

A contractor licence bond is usually a bond a licensing board requires as part of getting the licence.

Indianapolis's Board of Heating and Cooling Examiners shows the packet plainly — after board approval, a heating and cooling contractor files proof of a surety bond, general liability insurance and workers' compensation coverage, with fees, before it is licensed.

Three separate proofs, one filing.

The bond is not the insurance, and the names states give it vary.

Alabama's HACR board requires a $20,000 performance bond from contractors in active status.

Idaho calls its $2,000 requirement a compliance bond.

Illinois plumbing contractors file a $20,000 indemnification bond or a letter of credit.

Minnesota, which has no state mechanical contractor licence at all, still requires businesses to file a $25,000 mechanical contractor bond with the Department of Labor and Industry before contracting for gas, heating, ventilation, cooling, air conditioning, fuel burning or refrigeration work.

What the bond obliges you to is defined by the rule that requires it — read your board's statute, not the label.

Who issues it is a surety company, where the state names one: New Mexico requires its $10,000 bond to be underwritten by a corporate surety authorized to transact business in New Mexico, posted at licensure and again at every renewal.

Some boards accept your own money instead of a surety's — Washington takes a $6,000 assigned savings account in place of the plumbing contractor bond, and Oklahoma's plumbing board $5,000 in cash or a certificate of deposit.

Illinois also accepts a $20,000 letter of credit in place of the bond.

Not every state uses a bond.

Maryland runs HVACR contracting on insurance: licensees who sign or approve contracts carry at least $300,000 general liability and $100,000 property damage instead.

Georgia has no mandatory state licence bond for conditioned air contractors or plumbers at all.

And the requirement can follow a person as well as the company — California adds a separate $25,000 qualifying individual's bond when the qualifier is not the proprietor or a general partner, and DC's designated master posts their own $5,000 alongside the company's $5,000.

Which is exactly why the only number that matters for your filing is your board's number.

Each amount below is set in that state's own licensing rule.

Examples from the boards our research covers:

State	Where the bond goes	Amount
California	Every CSLB contractor licence	$25,000 contractor's bond; plus a separate $25,000 qualifying individual's bond when the qualifier is not the proprietor or a general partner
Alabama	HACR active contractor certification	$20,000 performance bond (inactive status requires no bond)
Minnesota	DLI filing — no state mechanical contractor licence	$25,000 mechanical contractor bond; plumbing contractors file a $25,000 surety bond
Washington	L&I contractor registration; plumbing contractor licence	$15,000 specialty ($30,000 general, since July 1, 2024); plumbing contractor $6,000 bond or assigned savings
Oregon	CCB registration	Residential specialty $20,000, residential general $25,000, residential limited $15,000; commercial specialty $25,000–$55,000 by level
Arizona	ROC specialty contractors	Commercial $2,500–$50,000 by annual volume; residential $1,000–$7,500, plus the Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund or an extra $200,000 bond for residential/dual licensees
Nevada	NSCB licence	$1,000–$500,000 (set for each contractor at licence approval)
Alaska	Mechanical or specialty contractor	$10,000
New Mexico	State contractor licence	$10,000, reposted at each renewal
Oklahoma	CIB mechanical contractors; plumbing contractors	$5,000 corporate surety bond (plumbing contractors may substitute $5,000 cash or a certificate of deposit)
Illinois	Plumbing contractor (state registration)	$20,000 indemnification bond or letter of credit
District of Columbia	Refrigeration/air-conditioning and plumbing/gasfitting contractor licences	$5,000 (company) plus $5,000 (designated master)
New Jersey	Master HVACR contractor	$3,000 — a $3,000 bond already filed with the Master Plumbers Board satisfies it
Idaho	HVAC and plumbing contractor certification	$2,000 compliance bond
South Carolina	Mechanical contractor (optional, in lieu of a financial statement)	$7,000–$300,000 by net-worth group
Maryland	HVACR licensees who sign or approve contracts	Runs on insurance rather than a bond: $300,000 GL plus $100,000 property damage
Georgia	Conditioned air and plumbing	No mandatory state bond; an optional $10,000 probate-court bond is available

Two layers sit outside that table.

Some cities add their own bond on top of the state's: a state-registered Illinois plumbing contractor must also hold a City of Chicago plumbing contractor licence to work in Chicago, and the business files a separate $20,000 performance bond with the City Clerk.

And where HVAC licensing is local — Indianapolis states that HVAC licensing in Indiana is at the discretion of the local municipality — the city's board sets it: Indianapolis requires heating and cooling contractors to file proof of a surety bond, but the dollar figure is not stated in the board document our research reviewed, so ask the Board of Heating and Cooling Examiners directly.

Georgia's optional bond is worth a second look if you work across jurisdiction lines: a licensee who deposits the $10,000 bond with the probate court in the county of their principal place of business stops counties and cities from demanding a separate code-compliance bond.

If you are still working out which licence triggers these filings at all, that is the licensing layer — covered in our guides to the HVAC contractor license and the plumbing contractor license.

General liability works the same way — each board sets its own floor, and some boards want their name on the paperwork, not just the coverage amount:

Jurisdiction	Who the minimum binds	Liability minimum
New York City	Master plumber businesses	$1,000,000 per occurrence, plus workers' compensation and disability insurance
Utah	Contractors	$1,000,000 per incident / $2,000,000 total, plus workers' comp (or a Labor Commission waiver if no employees)
Pittsburgh	Trade licence holders pulling permits	$1,000,000 per occurrence / $2,000,000 aggregate, plus workers' comp (or a no-employee affidavit)
New Jersey	Master HVACR contractors offering services to the public	$500,000 combined property damage and bodily injury per occurrence
Ohio	Licensed contractors	$500,000 liability including completed-operations coverage, in the name of the company the licence is assigned to
Rhode Island	CRLB registrants	$500,000 combined single limit, plus workers' compensation
Kentucky (HVAC)	HVAC contractors	$500,000 general liability + $300,000 property damage — state proof exempts them from separate local insurance requirements
Philadelphia	Master plumbers	$500,000 general liability + $300,000 auto liability, plus workers' comp
Louisiana	A master plumber's employing entity	$500,000 aggregate general liability and property damage, plus workers' comp and motor-vehicle liability at the legal minimum
Maryland (HVACR)	Licensees who sign or approve contracts	$300,000 general liability + $100,000 property damage ($400,000 combined), naming the HVACR Board as certificate holder
Maryland (plumbing)	Master plumbers	$400,000 per occurrence ($300,000 GL + $100,000 property damage); no umbrella policies accepted
Texas	ACR contractors (Class A / Class B); Responsible Master Plumber	Class A: $300,000 per occurrence / $600,000 aggregate / $300,000 products-completed operations; Class B: $100,000 / $200,000 / $100,000; RMP designation: proof of $300,000 commercial liability insurance
Washington	Plumbing contractor licence	$250,000 liability insurance
Kentucky (plumbing)	Plumbing businesses operating under a master plumber	$250,000 general liability, plus workers' comp and unemployment insurance compliance
Hawaii	Contractors	$100,000 bodily injury per person / $300,000 per occurrence / $50,000 property damage, plus workers' comp
Illinois	Plumbing contractors	$100,000 per occurrence / $300,000 aggregate bodily injury and $50,000 property damage (or a $300,000 combined single limit), plus $500,000 workers' comp employer's liability
Minnesota	Plumbing contractors	$50,000 per person / $100,000 per occurrence products liability + $10,000 property damage, plus workers' comp
Florida	Air-conditioning, mechanical and plumbing contractors	$100,000 public liability + $25,000 property damage
Alaska	Contractors	$50,000 injury to one person / $100,000 to more than one person / $20,000 property damage, plus workers' comp where required
Oklahoma	Mechanical and plumbing contractors	$50,000 general liability — mechanical contractors name the CIB as certificate holder
Nevada	NSCB licensees	No general-liability minimum stated by the board; proof of industrial insurance (workers' comp) is required

The paperwork details are as binding as the numbers.

Maryland's boards and Oklahoma's CIB are named as certificate holders on the policy, so your agent has to list them.

Maryland's plumbing board refuses umbrella policies toward its $400,000 per-occurrence minimum — you cannot close the gap with an umbrella.

Ohio wants the liability policy in the name of the company the licence is assigned to, not a personal policy.

And Kentucky's rule works in reverse: proof at the state level exempts an HVAC contractor from having to satisfy separate local insurance requirements.

These are floors your board checks, not coverage recommendations — what the policy should actually carry is a question for your carrier and your contracts.

Workers' compensation is the third proof in the packet, and boards check it when you license — Nevada checks it at renewal too, and Nebraska requires a current certificate kept on file.

Indianapolis files it with the bond and general liability proof before licensing.

Arizona's ROC applicants attest to workers' compensation compliance, including the policy number where coverage is required.

Nevada requires proof of industrial insurance to be licensed or renewed, unless the contractor is exempt and signs an affidavit.

Nebraska contractors with one or more employees must keep a current workers' compensation certificate (ACORD 25) on file with NDOL or be removed from the registered list.

Those filings are about your employees: Montana contractors hiring employees must cover them under a Montana workers' compensation policy.

Iowa's contractor licence asks for proof of workers' compensation and unemployment insurance compliance together.

West Virginia bundles the same two verifications with its Tax Department registration.

Illinois folds the coverage into the insurance minimum itself — plumbing contractors carry $500,000 in workers' comp employer's liability alongside their general liability limits.

Solo shops are the exception several jurisdictions write for.

Utah accepts a Labor Commission waiver if the contractor has no employees.

A New York City master plumber business with no employees files a CE-200 exemption from workers' compensation and disability insurance.

Pittsburgh accepts a no-employee affidavit in place of the comp proof.

What we cannot give you is a state-by-state trigger list: the registration thresholds — when exactly a shop must start carrying coverage — were not researched state by state, so do not read any of the above as your state's employee-count trigger.

Before you license — and before you hire your first employee — confirm the requirement with your state's workers' compensation agency and your licensing board.

That first hire changes more than this packet — our guide to hiring HVAC and plumbing techs covers what comes with the person, not just the paperwork.

The boards set the amounts.

What our research confirmed is the size of each requirement and the filing fees wrapped around it.

What a surety charges to issue a bond, or a carrier charges for a policy at these limits, it did not confirm — so treat the tables above as the specification, get quotes from surety and insurance providers against it, and confirm the current figure with your board before you apply or renew.

The costs the rules do state are filing costs, and they are small next to the coverage amounts: Minnesota's mechanical contractor bond filing costs $100 and is valid two years; Rhode Island's CRLB registration or renewal is $150; Alabama's HACR active status runs $220 a year — while inactive status, $110 a year, requires no bond at all.

Renewal cycles matter too: New Mexico reposts its $10,000 bond at every renewal, and DC's bonds expire with the licence, September 30 of even years for refrigeration/air-conditioning and March 31 of even years for plumbing/gasfitting.

The amount can also follow your structure.

California adds a second $25,000 qualifying individual's bond when your qualifier is not the proprietor or a general partner.

DC's designated master posts their own $5,000 next to the company's.

Arizona scales the commercial specialty bond to annual construction volume, Nevada's board sets each contractor's bond individually based on licence type, monetary limit, financial responsibility, experience and character, and South Carolina trades a net-worth financial statement for a bond of $7,000 to $300,000 depending on the group.

And if you post your own money instead of a surety's — Washington's $6,000 assigned savings or Oklahoma's plumbing-board cash/CD option — you are committing your own money rather than paying a bond company.

Illinois also accepts a $20,000 letter of credit in place of the bond.

Once the bond is filed, the policy is active and the comp certificate is on the board's shelf, the bond-and-insurance part of the licence packet is done.

What it earns depends on the crew working under it — the sourcing, pay and screening of hiring HVAC and plumbing techs.

This page is employer career and business information, not legal advice. Bond and insurance rules are set by each state's licensing board — and by cities and counties where licensing is local — so confirm the amounts that apply to your licence with the board that issues it before you apply or renew.