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

Yes.

Texas licenses air conditioning and refrigeration (ACR) contracting statewide through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), and a TDLR ACR contractor license is valid across Texas.

Since September 1, 2021, Occupations Code Section 1302.304 has barred municipalities from charging registration fees to TDLR-licensed ACR contractors; building-permit fees still apply.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) issues the ACR contractor license through its Air Conditioning and Refrigeration program.

There are two classes: Class A covers equipment of any size, while Class B stops at equipment of not more than 25 tons of cooling capacity or 1.5 million BTU/hour of heating output.

Each license also carries an endorsement: E for Environmental Air Conditioning, R for Commercial Refrigeration & Process Cooling and Heating, or C for the combined endorsement covering both E and R.

Texas structures this around an assigned license holder: the statute requires each ACR contracting company to employ full-time, in each permanent office, a license holder whose license is assigned to that company, and one person may assign a license to only one permanent office of one company.

The person who applies for that license must be at least 18 and show either 48 months of practical ACR experience under the supervision of a licensed ACR contractor in the preceding 72 months, or a technician certification held for the preceding 12 months plus 36 months of supervised experience in the preceding 48 months.

Apprenticeship and school count toward those totals: every 2,000 hours of apprenticeship on-the-job training equals 12 months of experience, a 4-year relevant degree equals 24 months, a 2-year program 12 months, and a 1-year program 6 months.

The exams TDLR lists for ACR contractors are trade exams, chosen by class and endorsement: TX Environmental Air A or B and TX Commercial Refrigeration A or B.

You apply to TDLR first and PSI then sends an eligibility notice; a failed exam can be retaken until the application expires one year after filing.

Our research lists no separate business-and-law exam for Texas ACR contractors — the law-and-rules content appears in renewal continuing education, where the 8 annual hours must include 1 hour on Texas state law and rules.

First-time exam fees were not in the TDLR pages we read; TDLR lists a $74 examination fee plus a $25 change fee for a contractor moving from Class B up to Class A.

TDLR requires commercial general liability insurance; the contractor application we read lists liability insurance and no surety bond, and we did not find a bond requirement in the TDLR pages we read.

Class A licensees must carry $300,000 per occurrence / $600,000 aggregate / $300,000 products-completed operations; Class B licensees $100,000 / $200,000 / $100,000.

The insurance must stay in force the whole time the license is active.

A separate provision covers contractors who work as employees: a licensed Texas ACR contractor who works as another contractor's employee can get a no-fee insurance waiver, but a licensee with a waiver may not perform or offer ACR contracting to the general public under their own license.

Applying costs $115, and the license is valid for 1 year from the date of issue (fees as of September 2026).

Renewal is $65 a year, and every renewal requires 8 hours of approved continuing education, including 1 hour on Texas state law and rules.

TDLR ACR licenses have no inactive status.

Not automatically.

TDLR reviews out-of-state and municipal license holders case by case and may require some or all Texas requirements, including the exam.

TDLR points holders of South Carolina and Georgia air conditioning licenses to specific reciprocity agreements between those states.

Anything else starts as a case-by-case review, so confirm your situation with TDLR before you count an out-of-state license toward Texas requirements.

The assigned license is held by a person, who assigns it to the company, so a departure leaves the company without its license holder.

Under the statute, a company that lacks an assigned license holder when a contract is signed and when the work is performed cannot collect a fee or otherwise enforce the contract.

The deadline for replacing a license holder after that person leaves was not found in the TDLR pages we read, so confirm the current rule with TDLR and recruit the next license holder before the current one gives notice.

The sections of Occupations Code Chapter 1302 we read set no dollar job-value threshold for ACR contracting: we found no rule of the form 'a license is required only over $X.'

That reading is ours, not an explicit TDLR statement, so confirm it with the department before you assume small jobs fall outside licensing.