Does Pennsylvania License Plumbing Contractors? What the Business Needs Instead

Locally, in our research.

We found no statewide Pennsylvania plumbing contractor license and no state plumbing board in the sources we checked, and Pennsylvania's plumbing licensing as our research records it is local: the Allegheny County Health Department and the City of Philadelphia.

For residential work, the one statewide requirement is the Home Improvement Contractor registration with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection — consumer protection, not competency: the law says no person shall hold himself out as a contractor, nor perform any home improvement, without first registering with the bureau.

It is a registration, not a trade license.

Outside Philadelphia and Allegheny County, plumbing contractor licensing, if any, is set by each municipality in our research — we did not survey Pennsylvania's other municipalities.

No statewide agency issues a plumbing contractor license in our research, and we found no statewide class system to describe.

The bodies the research did confirm: the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, which registers home improvement contractors statewide; Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections (L&I), which licenses journeyman and master plumbers; and the Allegheny County Health Department's Plumbing Program, which licenses apprentices, journeymen and masters.

The contractor-level credential in both places is the master plumber license: in Philadelphia, plumbing work must be done by a licensed master plumber, and in Allegheny County, master plumber candidates need two full years of work experience as a journeyman.

Philadelphia journeyman plumbers may not operate a business.

Our research found no statewide qualifier rule for Pennsylvania plumbing businesses — with no state license in our research, there is no qualified-individual requirement to meet.

The qualifier of record is local — in the two places our research covers, it is the master plumber.

Philadelphia: plumbing work must be done by a licensed master plumber, and master plumber candidates need at least one year registered as a Philadelphia journeyman plumber plus a passing score on the Philadelphia Master Plumber Examination.

Allegheny County: master plumber candidates need two full years of work experience as a journeyman, and journeyman candidates need 576 school hours and four years' employment with a registered master plumber.

Our guide to the HVAC contractor license qualifier explains the qualifier's role where a state license does require one.

None at the statewide level in our research: with no state plumbing contractor license in our research, we found no state trade exam and no business-and-law exam requirement.

The exams the research confirmed are local and trade-specific.

Philadelphia's Master Plumber Examination and its Journeyman Plumber Examination are both administered by the International Code Council.

In Allegheny County, the journeyman exam is administered twice a year (spring and fall) and costs $133.00 per examination, the master exam costs $265, and the 2022 version of Allegheny County Article XV applies for the exam; applications go through the county's Accela Citizen Access portal.

No statewide bond requirement for plumbing contractors appears in our research; the insurance rules we confirmed attach to specific registrations and places.

Philadelphia: a master plumber must carry $500,000 general liability, $300,000 auto liability and workers' compensation insurance.

HICPA registration requires liability insurance of at least $50,000 for personal injury and $50,000 for property damage under the statute text we read.

And to pull permits in Pittsburgh, trade license holders must show general liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, plus workers' compensation or a no-employee affidavit.

Our guide to contractor license bonds and insurance covers surety bonds where a state or city does require one.

The statewide figure our research confirmed is the HICPA registration: a $50 fee, and renewals shall be on a biennial basis — every two years — under the statute text we read.

The act text our research fetched may not reflect later amendments, so confirm the current fee with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection before you file.

Philadelphia: the master plumber application fee is $50, credited to the license fee; our research did not confirm Philadelphia's renewal cycle or fee for the master plumber license, so ask L&I.

Allegheny County: the journeyman license renews annually on the plumber's birthday for $125, and the master license renews annually for $375.

Our research did not find any Pennsylvania plumbing contractor reciprocity agreement, and with no statewide license in our research, there is no statewide reciprocity to join.

The nearest rule in our research sits inside Philadelphia's journeyman requirement: the four years registered as a Philadelphia apprentice plumber can be replaced by equivalent out-of-area authorization.

Our research did not establish how Philadelphia L&I or the Allegheny County Health Department treat an out-of-state master plumber or contractor license — ask the licensing department where you will work what it accepts before you bid.

There is no statewide qualifier to lose in our research: with no state license, no qualified individual of record ties the business to the state.

Locally, the master plumber is the qualifier in the places our research covers.

In Philadelphia, plumbing work needs to be done by a licensed master plumber — on that rule, a business whose master plumber leaves needs a new one in place before its plumbing work can go on.

The replacement must qualify on their own record: at least one year as a registered Philadelphia journeyman plus a passing score on the ICC-administered master plumber exam (in Allegheny County, two full years as a journeyman).

One softening rule we confirmed: a Philadelphia master plumber may temporarily deactivate the license, which reactivates their journeyman license.

Our research does not describe L&I's amendment process for moving a business to a new master, so confirm the steps with L&I before the change happens.

HICPA's coverage is keyed to job value: home improvement covers residential jobs over $500, and the registration duty is the one statewide requirement for plumbing contractors doing residential work.

The registration duty has one exception we confirmed: HICPA does not apply to someone whose total home-improvement work was under $5,000 in the previous taxable year.

Our research did not establish a job-value threshold for commercial plumbing work in the sources we read — ask the city or county where the work is done.

Two jurisdictions anchor the research.

Philadelphia: Licenses and Inspections (L&I) issues the trade licenses — the journeyman plumber license does not allow operating a business, and plumbing work must be done by a licensed master plumber who must carry $500,000 general liability, $300,000 auto liability and workers' compensation.

Allegheny County: the Health Department's Plumbing Program licenses apprentices (an Apprentice Plumber card allows plumbing only with a journeyman present), journeymen and masters, with exam applications through the Accela Citizen Access portal.

Outside Philadelphia and Allegheny County, our research did not survey Pennsylvania's municipalities, and licensing, if any, is set locally — before you take a job, ask the building or licensing department for that city or county what it requires of a plumbing business.