State ladder: apprentice → journeyman → master
District of Columbia Board of Industrial Trades (Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection) runs plumbing licensing in District of Columbia. Below: the exact ladder, the transfer doors into District of Columbia 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 experience figure (4 years / 8,000 hours, by exam or by apprenticeship-completion waiver) is consistent across the Board's exam-application materials as summarized by multiple sources, and the reciprocity/waiver rule was confirmed on primary statute text (D.C. Code 47-2853.12) on 2026-10-22. No DLCP primary page stating current license fees, the master experience total, CE, or lapse terms could be fetched in this pass, and secondary sources conflict on fees ($65 application + $110 journeyman license in exam-prep listings vs. higher roadmap figures) and on the master total (8 years / 16,000 hours vs. 7 years including journey time) — so those fields are null and the master requirement is recorded as unconfirmed.
| The ladder | District of Columbia |
|---|---|
| Journeyman credential | Journey Plumber |
| Total hours required | 8,000 |
| Classroom hours | not published |
| Apprentice registration | Required — hours count only while registered |
| Exam | PSI / Board of Industrial Trades examination program — Journey exam reported as 70 questions and master exam as 100 questions, both at a 70% passing score, in Board exam materials summarized by exam-prep sources; the current exam fee was not confirmed on a primary DLCP page (secondary figures conflict), so fee is null. |
| License fee | Not published |
| Renewal | Every 2 years |
| Continuing education | None published |
| Master credential | Master Plumber |
Registration, in the board’s terms: Apprentices register with the Board of Industrial Trades and work under a licensed journey or master plumber while accumulating the 8,000 hours. No fixed classroom-hour total was confirmed on a primary DLCP page in this pass, so classroomHours is null.
Run my District of Columbia numbers in the eligibility checker
Master Plumber: Not confirmed on a primary DLCP source in this pass. Secondary sources conflict: the Board's exam-application summary reproduced by exam-prep providers lists eight years / 16,000 hours for the Master examination, while licensing roadmaps list seven years including time as a journey plumber. Do not rely on either figure without checking DLCP — see partialNote.
A master plumber operating a contracting business must also hold a DC Basic Business License.
Licenses are on a two-year cycle. Lapse, late-renewal, and reinstatement terms were not confirmed on a primary DLCP page in this pass.
Reinstatement: Not confirmed on a primary source as of 2026-10-22.
Past the line: Not confirmed on a primary source as of 2026-10-22.
District of Columbia endorses journeyman licenses from: none. D.C. Code 47-2853.12(b): a board shall waive the examination for a person licensed and in good standing in a state whose standards, when the license was issued, were at least as high as the District's and which admits District licensees in a like manner (or who holds acceptable national certification). Under 47-2853.12(c)(3), journeyman plumber/gasfitter applicants under 47-2853.122(b) are exempt from any additional District-law examination. No named state list was confirmed, so accepts is empty.
| Licensed in | Door into District of Columbia | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No endorsement — exam route | 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 → |
| 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 → |
| Louisiana | 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 | No endorsement — exam route | 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: Master Plumber. Journey plumbers may not run an independent plumbing contracting business; contracting sits at the master level, and a master operating a business must also obtain a DC Basic Business License (Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection).
The District is a single jurisdiction — Board of Industrial Trades licensing is the only layer; there is no separate city system inside DC.
Run the owner gate for your situation →
Rules as published by District of Columbia Board of Industrial Trades (Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection) and the statutes it administers, checked October 22, 2026. Board: https://law.justia.com/codes/district-of-columbia/title-47/chapter-28/subchapter-i-b/section-47-2853-12/
