Plumbing Contractor License in Rhode Island: Requirements, Qualifier, Bond and Exams

Yes — statewide, and the requirement attaches to people before companies.

Rhode Island licenses master plumbers, journeyperson plumbers and registered apprentice plumbers across the state under RIGL chapter 5-20, administered by the Department of Labor and Training, and the master plumber is the license class for anyone who contracts for plumbing work or employs journeypersons or apprentices.

On top of the trade license sits a second, separate layer for the business: contractor work on structures requires a current, valid certificate of registration from the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB).

Both layers run across Rhode Island.

Our research did not examine city-level plumbing requirements, so check with the city or county where a job is permitted as well.

The Department of Labor and Training (DLT) administers the chapter and licenses its three statewide classes: registered apprentice plumber, journeyperson plumber and master plumber.

The contracting class is the master plumber — the license for anyone who contracts for plumbing work or employs journeyperson plumbers, plumber's apprentices or other persons to assist with installation, maintenance or repair.

A journeyperson plumber, by contrast, is an employee whose principal occupation is the installation, maintenance or repair of plumbing.

A company that does not keep a master as an officer or partner instead holds a DLT plumbing contractor license backed by a continuously employed master.

One scope note: a master or journeyperson plumbing license also covers irrigation and water-filtration/treatment work, which otherwise have their own license lines.

The qualifier is a licensed master plumber, and the statute gives a business two ways to attach one: a master plumber as an officer or partner who continuously supervises the work, or a DLT plumbing contractor license held while the company continuously employs a duly licensed master plumber.

The master behind the business has a fixed pipeline of their own: a master plumber applicant must have held a Rhode Island journeyperson plumber license for at least one year while employed by a licensed master.

One rung below, the journeyperson license takes at least four years as a registered apprentice — 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in Rhode Island within a five-year period, including 576 hours of related instruction.

The application fee is $75 at both rungs.

Our research did not verify Rhode Island's plumbing exam vendor, exam content, or any business-and-law exam requirement — ask DLT what the current exams require before you schedule anything.

What the chapter does state plainly: a plumbing license that is not renewed within two years is forfeited, and getting it back requires re-examination.

That rule is one more reason to automate the biennial renewal date.

The confirmed requirement is insurance, and it comes from the CRLB rather than the trade license: plumbing contractors need CRLB registration with at least $500,000 in liability insurance — the statute puts it as $500,000 combined single limit covering bodily injury and property damage, in effect throughout the period of registration — plus workers' compensation.

Registration itself is unavoidable for contractor work on structures, and corporations must designate a responsible individual.

The registration or renewal fee is $150.

On bonds, our research did not establish a surety bond requirement for Rhode Island plumbing contractors — that is a gap in our research, not a statement that no bond applies — so confirm the current requirement with the CRLB before you bid.

Two layers, four numbers.

The trade license renews every two years on the holder's birthday: $240 per two-year renewal for a master plumber and $72 for a journeyperson, on top of the $75 application fee at each rung.

The CRLB layer costs $150 per registration or renewal.

What our research did not capture: the fee for the DLT plumbing contractor license itself, the CRLB registration term, and any continuing-education requirement — price all three from DLT and the CRLB directly before you budget, and automate the renewal date, because a license left unrenewed for two years is forfeited and requires re-examination.

Our research verified no reciprocity states for Rhode Island plumbing licenses, and no agreement appears in the sources we read.

The one out-of-state route our research recorded is in the journeyperson section of the chapter: it allows out-of-state journeyperson licenses that meet Rhode Island's same requirements (5-20-17(5)), though our research verified no further detail and no list of states.

For the master license itself, the requirement stands as written — holding a Rhode Island journeyperson plumber license for at least one year while employed by a licensed master — and our research found no equivalency route for out-of-state masters.

Ask DLT how it will treat your specific license before you build a hiring plan around it.

The statute's verb is continuous: the contractor-license route requires the company to continuously employ a duly licensed master plumber at all times while holding the license, and our research found no explicit rule on how fast a departed master must be replaced — no grace period is established in the sources we read.

Our research also did not establish whether one master may qualify more than one company; ask DLT both questions before you share a qualifier across related businesses.

Treat the replacement as urgent and recruit from the journeyperson bench early, since a new qualifier must hold a Rhode Island journeyperson license for at least one year while employed by a licensed master — and that journeyperson license takes at least four years as a registered apprentice, with 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in Rhode Island within a five-year period, including 576 hours of related instruction.