Plumbing Contractor License in Virginia: Requirements, Qualifier, Bond and Exams

Yes.

Virginia licenses plumbing contractor firms statewide through the Board for Contractors at DPOR, and the same board licenses the individual tradesmen — plumbers, HVAC workers, gas fitters, electricians and backflow workers — who work for them.

The license requirement is keyed to job size: the smallest class, Class C, covers single contracts over $1,000, so a firm contracting for plumbing work needs a DPOR contractor license with the PLB classification once one contract passes that figure.

The Board for Contractors at DPOR issues contractor licenses in three classes set by job size — per-contract value and annual volume.

Class C covers contracts over $1,000 and under $30,000, with annual work under $250,000; Class B covers $30,000 to under $150,000 per contract, with annual work of $250,000 to under $1 million; Class A covers contracts of $150,000 or more, or annual work of $1 million or more.

Within the license, the trade classification for plumbing is PLB — the board's qualified-individual rule lists plumbing contractors (PLB) and names the master credential that classification's qualifier must hold.

Virginia's qualifier is the qualified individual (QI), and the statute makes a master tradesman license a condition of licensure for plumbing contractors.

For the PLB classification the QI must hold a Master plumber tradesman license issued by the Board for Contractors, and must be a full-time employee of the firm or a member of its responsible management.

Experience minimums scale with class: 5 years in the classification for Class A, 3 years for Class B and 1 year for Class C.

To sit for the Master plumber tradesman exam itself, a candidate needs a journeyman license in the trade held for at least 1 year, a residential tradesman license held for 3 years, or 9 years of practical experience — Virginia's tradesman levels for plumbing are residential tradesman, journeyman and master.

The trade credential sits with the qualifier: the QI must hold a Master plumber tradesman license, and PSI delivers Virginia's contractor and qualifier exams, with fees paid directly to PSI — $40 for one portion, $72 for two, $85 for three, and $85 for the QI specialty exam.

Class A and B firms must also name a designated employee — a full-time employee or responsible manager — who passes the board-approved Class A/B examination.

On the business side, the requirement in the DPOR pages we read is education rather than an exam: applicants must complete eight hours of pre-license education covering basic business.

Virginia's financial-responsibility rules are set by class.

A Class A firm must verify a net worth or equity of $45,000, and a Class B firm $15,000; either class can post a $50,000 surety bond in place of the net-worth showing.

Class C has no financial requirement.

Contractor insurance minimums were not confirmed in the pages we read, so check the current insurance rule with the board before you bid — our HVAC contractor bond guide covers the bond-and-insurance layer in depth.

Initial license fees are $235 for Class C, $380 for Class B and $400 for Class A, each plus a $25 Recovery Fund assessment, and changing the qualified individual on an existing license costs $125.

Effective July 1, 2026, certain DPOR fees also include a separate technology fee of $7.25 per year, running through June 30, 2030.

The contractor renewal cycle was not confirmed in the pages we read, so confirm your renewal date and fee with the board.

Budget for the qualifier's own credential too: an original tradesman license is $150, tradesman licenses run on two-year terms, and plumbers complete 3 hours of continuing education per term on the current International Plumbing Code.

Our research did not surface a Virginia reciprocity rule for contractor licenses or the Master plumber tradesman credential: the Board for Contractors pages we read do not describe agreements with other states, and we found no verified list of partner states.

Treat an out-of-state license as the start of a fresh Virginia application — the class, qualified-individual and exam requirements above — and ask the board directly whether any of your experience or credentials transfers.

When the qualified individual leaves, the license is conditioned on a master tradesman, so plan on naming a new one — and DPOR charges a $125 fee for changing the qualified individual on the license.

Two practical questions were not confirmed in the pages we read: Virginia's deadline for replacing a departing QI, and whether one QI may serve more than one firm.

Both matter if you share a qualifier across sister companies or your master plumber gives notice — confirm both with the board, and start recruiting the next Master plumber tradesman before the current one leaves.

To grow one internally, the exam-eligibility routes above — a journeyman license in the trade held for at least 1 year, a residential tradesman license held for 3 years, or 9 years of practical experience — are the pipeline, and our guide to the HVAC contractor license qualifier explains the qualifier model itself.

Two recent changes are worth knowing.

The tradesman regulations were amended effective April 1, 2025, so older guides and forum posts may cite repealed section numbers when they describe the residential, journeyman and master tradesman levels.

And from July 1, 2026, certain DPOR fees include the $7.25-per-year technology fee, which runs through June 30, 2030.

Check the board's current pages rather than an older guide.