State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master
Construction Industries Division, Regulation and Licensing Department (CID) runs plumbing licensing in New Mexico. Below: the exact ladder, the transfer doors into New Mexico 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. Journeyman hours, application fee, 3-year term and renewal CE confirmed in the PSI journeyman packet issued for CID and in 14.6.4 NMAC (accessed 2026-10-22). Not confirmed on a primary source: a plumbing-specific reciprocity list (the PSI form's reciprocity list is for the electrical EE98J certificate only), the PSI exam fee itself, and a lapse/reinstatement window — those fields are null or marked review rather than filled from secondary guides, which incorrectly assign the 8,000-hour contractor figure to journeymen.
| The ladder | New Mexico |
|---|---|
| Journeyman credential | Journeyman Plumber (JP) — Certificate of Competence |
| Total hours required | 4,000 |
| Classroom hours | not published |
| Apprentice registration | No state registration system |
| Exam | PSI (for the Construction Industries Division) — Application fee is $75 per classification, processed only if approved (PSI packet, accessed 2026-10-22). Each exam carries a separate PSI fee; the exam fee amount was not stated in the primary packet checked, so exam.fee is null. Certificate is active 3 years, expiring the last day of the month of issuance. |
| License fee | Not published |
| Renewal | Every 3 years |
| Continuing education | 16 hours of approved continuing education per 3-year cycle, minimum 8 hours of code update, for mechanical/plumbing journeyman certificates (PSI journeyman renewal instructions for CID, accessed 2026-10-22); renewal base fee $75, plus $25 if submitted after expiration |
| Master credential | No master plumber license — Qualifying Party for a contractor license (e.g. MM-1 Plumbing) |
Registration, in the board’s terms: New Mexico does not register apprentices as a separate state step in the CID journeyman packet checked 2026-10-22. An apprentice may work only under the direct supervision of a validly certified journeyman employed by a validly licensed contractor (14.6.4.8 NMAC). Experience must have been gained while employed by a contractor licensed in the trade, or as legal work in the state where it was performed (PSI journeyman application, May/Aug 2025, accessed 2026-10-22). The combined JP+gas classification JPG and the stand-alone JG/JPF classifications sit in the same 2-year / 4,000-hour group.
No master plumber license — Qualifying Party for a contractor license (e.g. MM-1 Plumbing): New Mexico has no master tier. The step above journeyman is serving as the Qualifying Party (QP) for a licensed contractor. MM-1 through MM-4 plumbing/mechanical QP classifications require 4 years / 8,000 hours of experience (PSI Qualifying Party application, May 2025, accessed 2026-10-22), plus the trade exam and the Business & Law exam where required. QP application fee $30 plus a $6 certificate fee per classification (PSI QP packet).
A contractor must be, or employ, a certified journeyman to perform the work even when the business holds a contractor license (PSI journeyman packet). Exam fee amounts were not stated in the primary packets checked 2026-10-22, so examFee is null. A $10,000 license code bond is widely reported for contractor licensure but was not confirmed in the primary packets fetched in this pass and is therefore not recorded as a figure in ownerGate.
Certificates run 3 years to the last day of the issuance month. Renewal submitted after expiration carries an extra $25 fee (PSI renewal instructions, accessed 2026-10-22). No outside reinstatement deadline was stated in the primary documents checked.
Reinstatement: Late renewal is accepted with a $25 additional fee per the PSI renewal instructions checked 2026-10-22; the instructions state no final cutoff, so no month figure is recorded.
Past the line: Not confirmed on a primary source checked 2026-10-22.
New Mexico endorses journeyman licenses from: none. General rule in the PSI packet (accessed 2026-10-22): reciprocity applicants must have held the license at least 1 year in the state where they tested and be active and in good standing, and need not submit work-experience forms. However, the named multi-state reciprocal list in the journeyman application applies to the Electrical Journeyman (EE98J) certificate only. A plumbing-specific reciprocity list was not confirmed on a primary source in this pass, so accepts is empty; secondary sites that list 11 reciprocity states for New Mexico plumbers appear to be copying the electrical list.
| Licensed in | Door into New Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Alaska | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Arizona | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Arkansas | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| California | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Colorado | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Connecticut | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Delaware | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| District of Columbia | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Florida | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Georgia | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Hawaii | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Idaho | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Illinois | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Indiana | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Iowa | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Kansas | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Kentucky | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Louisiana | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Maine | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Maryland | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Massachusetts | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Michigan | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Minnesota | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Mississippi | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Missouri | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Montana | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Nebraska | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Nevada | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| New Hampshire | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| New Jersey | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| New York | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| North Carolina | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| North Dakota | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Ohio | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Oklahoma | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Oregon | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Pennsylvania | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Rhode Island | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| South Carolina | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| South Dakota | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Tennessee | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Texas | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Utah | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Vermont | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Virginia | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Washington | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| West Virginia | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Wisconsin | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
| Wyoming | Endorsement by review — not guaranteed | Run the pair → |
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The seat: Qualifying Party (QP) holding the contractor classification (e.g. MM-1). The contracting business itself is licensed, and it must have a Qualifying Party whose experience and exams cover the classification of work. The business must also be, or employ, a certified journeyman for the work being performed (14.6.4 NMAC; PSI packets, accessed 2026-10-22).
Statewide CID certification; no separate city journeyman license was identified on the primary sources checked 2026-10-22.
Run the owner gate for your situation →
Rules as published by Construction Industries Division, Regulation and Licensing Department (CID) and the statutes it administers, checked October 22, 2026. Board: https://www.rld.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/14.6.4_Integrated.pdf
