Contractor-license state (no state journeyman license)
Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors runs plumbing licensing in Tennessee. Below: the exact ladder, the transfer doors into Tennessee 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.
Contractor-license state (no state journeyman license) Checked in part Checked October 22, 2026
Checked in part. Checked 2026-10-22 against Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors (tn.gov) LLP pages. Tennessee has NO state journeyman or master plumber license — those credentials are issued locally by cities/counties. LLP facts (1 year of experience, $75 for a 2-year license, PSI exam, no out-of-state exam waiver) are from tn.gov. The PSI exam fee and LLP renewal/reinstatement amounts appear only in secondary guides, so exam.fee is null and renewal is described without a dollar figure.
| The ladder | Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Journeyman credential | Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP) — no state journeyman license |
| Total hours required | not published |
| Classroom hours | not published |
| Apprentice registration | Not required by the state |
| Exam | PSI — PSI LLP exam fee is not published on the tn.gov pages fetched 2026-10-22 (secondary guides list $57 — not used). LLP license fee itself is $75 for two years, payable to the Contractor's Board — LLP. |
| License fee | $75 |
| Renewal | Every 2 years |
| Continuing education | No CE requirement stated for the LLP on the Board pages checked 2026-10-22 |
| Master credential | Contractor — Mechanical Plumbing (CMC-A) / Full Mechanical (CMC) |
Registration, in the board’s terms: Tennessee does not register apprentices and does not license journeymen at state level. The LLP is an individual license for projects under $25,000; it is not a contractor license and an LLP may not advertise as a contractor.
Contractor — Mechanical Plumbing (CMC-A) / Full Mechanical (CMC): For projects of $25,000 or more the business entity must hold a Tennessee contractor license with a CMC-A (plumbing) or CMC classification. The license is issued to the entity (sole proprietor, corporation, partnership or LLC); an individual Qualifying Agent passes the trade exam and the Business and Law exam on the entity's behalf, after Board pre-approval. The contractor license is accepted statewide for permits, subject to local licensing/permit rules.
Contractor application and exam amounts were not confirmed on the tn.gov pages fetched for this batch, so no dollar figure is given. A CMC/CMC-A holder is exempt from also holding an LLP.
LLP renewal/reinstatement dollar amounts and windows were not confirmed on a primary source fetched 2026-10-22, so no reinstatement window is asserted.
Reinstatement: Not confirmed from a primary source checked 2026-10-22 — secondary guides describe a $50 LLP renewal and a $75 reinstatement fee once expired more than 3 months, but the Board page fetched did not publish them.
Past the line: Not confirmed from a primary source checked 2026-10-22.
Tennessee endorses journeyman licenses from: none. The Board states the LLP exam is not reciprocal with other states' license exams and there are no out-of-state LLP exam waivers. Contractor trade-exam reciprocity is a separate, contractor-level question handled by the Board; at the individual (LLP/journeyman) level Tennessee accepts no state.
| Licensed in | Door into Tennessee | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Alaska | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Arizona | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Arkansas | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| California | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Colorado | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Connecticut | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Delaware | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| District of Columbia | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Florida | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Georgia | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Hawaii | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Idaho | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Illinois | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Indiana | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Iowa | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Kansas | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Kentucky | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Louisiana | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Maine | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Maryland | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Massachusetts | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Michigan | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Minnesota | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Mississippi | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Missouri | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Montana | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Nebraska | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Nevada | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| New Hampshire | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| New Jersey | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| New Mexico | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| New York | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| North Carolina | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| North Dakota | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Ohio | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Oklahoma | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Oregon | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Pennsylvania | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Rhode Island | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| South Carolina | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| South Dakota | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Texas | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Utah | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Vermont | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Virginia | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Washington | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| West Virginia | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Wisconsin | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
| Wyoming | No endorsement — experience credit toward the contractor route | Run the pair → |
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The seat: Qualifying Agent (QA) — Contractor license, CMC-A/CMC classification. At $25,000 or more (labor, materials and equipment) a plumbing job — as prime or as subcontractor to a contractor — requires the entity's contractor license with a plumbing classification. The license belongs to the business entity on whose financial statement it is issued; the QA is the individual who passed the exams for it, and the license does not automatically follow the QA if they leave.
Plumbing is regulated at state AND local level in Tennessee. Several cities/counties run their own journeyman/master licensing and permit regimes and some do not accept the LLP for permits — the Board instructs LLP applicants to check with local code enforcement first. A local business tax license may also be required.
Run the owner gate for your situation →
Rules as published by Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors and the statutes it administers, checked October 22, 2026. Board: https://www.tn.gov/commerce/regboards/llp.html
