State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master
State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA) runs plumbing licensing in Louisiana. Below: the exact ladder, the transfer doors into Louisiana from all 50 states, the renewal and lapse lines, and the master-of-record rule for opening a company — every figure from the board's own publications, checked October 22, 2026.
State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master Checked in part Checked October 22, 2026
Checked in part. The journeyman/master requirements, reciprocity answer, renewal and CPE rules below are from SPBLA primary pages, but two items could not be confirmed there on 2026-10-22: (1) SPBLA does not publish a reinstatement/restart deadline for lapsed licenses on the pages retrieved, so the lapse fields say so rather than guess; (2) the journeyman exam/license fee amounts were interleaved with other license sections in the Board page retrieved, so journeyman fee fields are null (master fees were stated cleanly). Separately, Louisiana HB 953 was reported signed June 12, 2026 with a January 1, 2027 effective date (PHCC and trade press; not yet reflected on SPBLA pages): it folds SPBLA into the State Licensing Board for Contractors as a plumbing subcommittee, cuts journeyman eligibility to 2,500 hours, and adds a 1,000-hour journeyman-experience requirement for the new master/contractor tier. The figures below are the rules in force on the access date.
| The ladder | Louisiana |
|---|---|
| Journeyman credential | Journeyman Plumber |
| Total hours required | 7,000 |
| Classroom hours | not published |
| Apprentice registration | Required — hours count only while registered |
| Exam | State Plumbing Board of Louisiana — Journeyman exam/license fee amounts were not cleanly separable on the Board page retrieved; see partialNote. |
| License fee | Not published |
| Renewal | Every 1 year (renew before December 31) |
| Continuing education | 3.5 hours of continuing professional education per year for journeyman/residential plumbers; 5 hours per year for active masters (La. Admin. Code tit. 46, LV-1001) |
| Master credential | Master Plumber |
Registration, in the board’s terms: Apprentices register with SPBLA (indentured or unindentured/registered). Hours must be plumbing manual labour under the direct, constant, on-the-job supervision of a licensed journeyman or master plumber, proven with official payroll documentation or W-2 forms — 1099s are not accepted.
Master Plumber: Hold a current Louisiana journeyman plumber license (alternatives: an LSLBC Mechanical Work (statewide) license, or a professional engineer license) and pass the master examination. Exam application $110 ($100 examination + $10 processing); on passing, Active master license $190 / Inactive $40 (SPBLA).
Each company must designate one Responsible Active Master Plumber, who is responsible for keeping the company's insurances up to date with the Board. Separately: journeyman plumbers may perform natural gas work only if also licensed as a Natural Gas Fitter — gas fitter requires 3,000 hours (indentured) or 4,000 hours (unindentured) of gas-fitting work, and journeyman plumbers may qualify via a 2-year gas-fitting training period.
Master exam fee: $100
SPBLA licenses renew annually (renew before December 31). No reinstatement window or restart rule for lapsed licenses was published on the Board pages retrieved 2026-10-22.
Reinstatement: Not published on SPBLA pages retrieved — confirm directly with the Board before relying on any late-renewal window.
Past the line: Not published on SPBLA pages retrieved 2026-10-22.
Louisiana endorses journeyman licenses from: Arkansas, Texas. SPBLA states verbatim: 'The State Plumbing Board of Louisiana does only reciprocates with the State of Arkansas and Texas.' Reciprocity is at the journeyman level; all other out-of-state plumbers qualify by documented experience and take the Louisiana examination.
| Licensed in | Door into Louisiana | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Alaska | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Arizona | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Arkansas | Endorsement available | Run the pair → |
| California | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Colorado | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Connecticut | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Delaware | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| District of Columbia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Florida | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Georgia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Hawaii | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Idaho | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Illinois | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Indiana | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Iowa | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Kansas | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Kentucky | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Maine | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Maryland | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Massachusetts | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Michigan | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Minnesota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Mississippi | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Missouri | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Montana | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Nebraska | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Nevada | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Hampshire | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Jersey | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New Mexico | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| New York | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| North Carolina | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| North Dakota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Ohio | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Oklahoma | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Oregon | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Pennsylvania | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Rhode Island | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| South Carolina | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| South Dakota | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Tennessee | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Texas | Endorsement available | Run the pair → |
| Utah | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Vermont | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Virginia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Washington | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| West Virginia | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Wisconsin | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
| Wyoming | No endorsement — exam route | Run the pair → |
Included in the $49 PlumberLicenseCheck Kit
One payment. Yours to keep. The checkers above stay free either way.
The seat: Responsible Active Master Plumber (one designated per company). Each plumbing company must designate exactly one Responsible Active Master Plumber; the active master keeps the company's insurances up to date with the Board (amounts are not stated on the Board's licenses page).
Run the owner gate for your situation →
Rules as published by State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA) and the statutes it administers, checked October 22, 2026. Board: https://www.spbla.com/licenses/
