HVAC Contractor License in Mississippi: Requirements, Qualifier, Bond and Exams

Yes — statewide.

The Mississippi State Board of Contractors (MSBOC) licenses contractor businesses — commercial and residential — and its rules reach across Mississippi: all contractors and subcontractors performing work on commercial jobs over $50,000, including equipment installation, need an MSBOC commercial license (the Certificate of Responsibility), and subcontractors doing residential electrical, mechanical, HVAC or plumbing work on a residential construction or improvement project must be licensed by MSBOC too.

Individual technicians are a different story: our research found no statewide Mississippi license for individual HVAC technicians — MSBOC's pages list contractor classifications — and city-level licensing was not part of our research, so check locally where the work is done.

Our Mississippi HVAC license guide for individuals covers the worker side.

The issuing agency is the Mississippi State Board of Contractors (MSBOC).

For commercial work it issues the Certificate of Responsibility in classifications.

The Mechanical major classification covers all aspects of heating, cooling, refrigeration and associated equipment piping and ductwork as well as plumbing work; an HVAC-only contractor can instead hold the Heat, Ventilation, A/C – HVAC specialty, which is test-required.

MSBOC's classification list also carries separate ductwork and refrigeration specialties.

On the residential side, the classifications are Residential HVAC and Residential Mechanical, the latter covering both HVAC and plumbing.

Mississippi's qualifier is the qualifying party, and MSBOC is specific about who it can be: an owner, officer or responsible managing employee of the business.

One person can qualify at most 3 companies at once (a 4th needs the Board's special approval), and a company may have different qualifiers for different classifications — a shop that holds both the HVAC specialty and the Refrigeration specialty, for example, can point each commercial classification at its own qualifying party.

What our research did not find is a stated years-of-experience requirement for the qualifier: the MSBOC pages we read name who can qualify without spelling out experience, so confirm the current experience and examination expectations with the Board before you staff the role.

Two exam layers, both set by MSBOC: every applicant must pass the Mississippi Law and Business Management exam plus any required trade exam for the classification, and all exams are administered by PSI and are open book.

One boundary worth knowing before you buy a NASCLA study plan: MSBOC accepts NASCLA exams only for commercial general building and master electrical — not for mechanical, HVAC or plumbing — so the NASCLA route does not replace the HVAC trade exam in Mississippi.

Ask MSBOC which trade exam maps to your classification when you apply.

Insurance, not a bond, is the requirement our research confirms.

Commercial applicants must show general liability coverage of $300,000 per occurrence or $600,000 aggregate at a minimum; for residential applicants there is no minimum coverage amount stated, just proof of coverage.

The same board page notes workers' compensation proof for applicants with 5 or more employees.

A bond is the open part: what we read sets no bond amount for HVAC contractors, so ask MSBOC whether your classification or a specific project carries a bonding requirement.

What commercial applicants do need on the financial side is a CPA-reviewed financial statement, covered under cost below.

The application fee is $400 for a commercial license and $50 for a residential one.

Commercial applicants also need a CPA-reviewed financial statement showing net worth of at least $50,000 for a major classification or $20,000 for a specialty, plus the insurance above.

Once issued, the license runs on a short clock: residential licenses and commercial certificates of responsibility must be renewed every 12 months, a late renewal is possible up to 180 days after expiry, and after that a new application is required.

Continuing education reaches the residential side only: each qualifying party for a residential license must complete 2 hours of continuing education from a board-approved provider (Miss.

Code Ann. §73-59-11) — the pages we read do not state whether that is annual or per renewal — and our research found no CE requirement for commercial licenses.

Yes, but only as trade-exam waivers — no entry on MSBOC's reciprocity page transfers a license.

The page describes the Tennessee agreement as waiving all exams, and its own line about Tennessee — that it is the only state waiving Mechanical and Plumbing — is quoted below.

For the HVAC trade exam it lists Alabama, through the general contractor board, and Louisiana, whose exam scores can waive the HVAC exam, and Ohio, whose entry covers electrical, HVAC, plumbing and/or refrigeration.

The page separately states that the Mississippi Business and Law exam is always required — even alongside the Tennessee entry above — and that is a tension on MSBOC's page, not one our research can settle: confirm with the Board how your state's entry is applied before you rely on it.

Move fast: the Board must be notified and a replacement qualifying party made within 90 days of the disassociation.

Failure to replace the qualifier within that window results in a hearing notice — a show-cause hearing — and the departing qualifier's classification is removed from the license unless it is replaced.

For a shop that holds only that one classification, the removal leaves no classification on the license.

Because a company may have different qualifiers for different classifications, losing one qualifier does not necessarily strip every classification at once.

MSBOC's qualifying-party page carries a $25 change-of-qualifier fee.

And note the clock's start: the 90 days runs from the date of disassociation, not from when you start looking, so if your qualifier gives notice, start the replacement search immediately.

The threshold for commercial work is $50,000, and the requirement covers all contractors and subcontractors performing work on commercial jobs over $50,000, including equipment installation.

Our sources state the threshold, not how MSBOC measures a job's value or how equipment installation is counted toward it, so confirm with the Board how your project will be treated before you bid.

On the residential side, MSBOC's FAQ requires subcontractors doing residential electrical, mechanical, HVAC or plumbing work on a residential construction or improvement project to be licensed, and it states no dollar threshold for those trade licenses.

Do not assume a small-job exemption on the residential side; ask MSBOC where a specific project falls.