Plumbing Contractor License in District of Columbia: Requirements, Qualifier, Bond and Exams

Yes — District-wide.

DC licenses the plumbing and gasfitting trades through the DLCP Board of Industrial Trades: licenses are offered for plumbing, gasfitting and a combination of both plumbing/gasfitting, at apprentice, journeyman and master levels, and the business that contracts for the work needs a separate trade contractor license from the same board.

This page covers the business license.

The worker-side ladder — the apprentice, journeyman and master credentials your qualifier holds — is its own track, covered in detail in the District of Columbia plumbing license guide on this site.

The issuing agency is the DLCP Board of Industrial Trades.

For this trade our research records one contractor classification: Plumbing/Gasfitting — the row in DLCP's trade contractor table that carries the two $5,000 bonds and the March 31 (even year) expiry.

The individual plumber/gasfitter licenses in the trade come as plumbing, gasfitting or combined plumbing/gasfitting.

The sources we read show no job-value tiers and no separate residential and commercial contractor classes for plumbing; that is what we checked, not a statement about DLCP's full classification list, so confirm the current classes with the Board.

The company-side steps run through the same instructions: the company registers with DLCP Corporations in good standing, and the designated master accepts the designation online.

The qualifier is a DC-licensed master plumber/gasfitter whom the company designates, and DLCP's instructions require the designated master to accept the designation online.

The experience number our research confirms is the master credential's exam-eligibility bar: 8 years/16,000 hours, paired with tax records and an employment verification letter as documentation.

The journeyman rung beneath it lists 4 years/8,000 work hours, and proof of completing a nationally certified apprenticeship waives the journeyman exam.

Whether the designated master must be an owner or may be an employee is not stated in our research — put the question to the Board when you apply.

None for the contractor license.

DLCP's trade contractor instruction sheet states there is no exam required to obtain a contractor's license — no trade exam and no separate business-and-law exam — and the license's designated master is responsible for supervising the work and the people on the company's projects.

The exams our research records in the trade sit on the individual plumber and gasfitter licenses: they are open book, with study references listed as the International Plumbing Code (2012) and International Fuel Gas Code (2012).

Those code titles are exam study references, not a statement of the construction codes DC has adopted, and no exam vendor appears in our research — check with DLCP before scheduling anything.

Bonds are the requirement our research confirms: a DC plumbing/gasfitting contractor license requires surety bonds of $5,000 for the company and $5,000 for the master — the two amounts listed on the Plumbing/Gasfitting row of DLCP's trade contractor table, next to its March 31 (even year) expiry.

Insurance is the open part: the sources we read set no insurance minimum for plumbing contractor applicants, so ask the Board what proof of coverage, if any, your application needs.

HVACHires' guide to contractor license bonds and insurance explains how license bonds differ from liability insurance and gathers state-by-state amounts.

The renewal clock is fixed: regardless of when they are obtained, DC's plumbing and gasfitting licenses expire March 31 on even-numbered years, and DLCP's trade contractor table puts the Plumbing/Gasfitting contractor license on the same March 31 (even year) expiry.

The price is the gap: our research found no contractor license fee.

The only DC plumbing license costs on record are individual ones from a District bulletin — $175 for a Journeymen Plumber and/or Gasfitter license and $185 for a Master Plumber and/or Gasfitter license — and that bulletin is undated in our records and points to a March 31 even-year expiry, so its figures may have changed for the current cycle.

Confirm the current contractor license fee with the Board rather than from this page.

The agreement on record is on the individual licenses, not the contractor license.

Maryland journeyman and master plumbers and gasfitters who were licensed by examination can obtain DC licenses by reciprocity without taking DC's exam.

For a contractor business that matters on the qualifier side: a Maryland master plumber/gasfitter licensed by exam can obtain a DC license without another exam — ask the Board how the reciprocity levels map before you count on it for your designated master.

Our research records no contractor-level reciprocity — no out-of-state contractor license that stands in for the trade contractor license — so plan for the DC structure either way: a company in good standing with DLCP Corporations, a designated DC-licensed master, and the two $5,000 bonds.

Our research did not find a replacement deadline: whether the Board must be notified, and by when, when the designated master leaves was not found in DLCP's trade contractor instructions.

Whether one master may serve as the designated master for more than one company is open too — treat both as Board questions before you build a multi-company qualifier arrangement.

What is established is what the master carries: the designated master is responsible for supervising the work and the people on the company's projects, and the license requires a designated master who accepts the designation online.

If yours leaves, ask the Board promptly about replacing the designation, and read HVACHires' qualifying agent guide for how the qualifier arrangement works in the trades.