Colorado · HVAC licensing · official-source guide
Colorado has no statewide HVAC, mechanical, or refrigeration contractor license; the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies licenses only electricians and plumbers. In Denver, the largest metro, Community Planning and Development requires a Mechanical Contractor License plus an individual Supervisor Certificate, each renewed every three years and non-transferable to other Colorado cities or counties.
State-level license
No — see local details
Public lookup
Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
No. Colorado does not issue a statewide HVAC, mechanical, or refrigeration contractor license. The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, known as DORA, runs the state's Division of Professions and Occupations, and that division publishes a full list of every profession and business type it licenses on its own licensing and permitting page. The list runs alphabetically from Addiction Counselors through Public Adjusters and includes Electricians, described as Including Apprentices and Contractors, and Plumbers, also Including Apprentices and Contractors. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and mechanical contracting do not appear anywhere on that list. Colorado regulates electrical and plumbing work at the state level because those trades carry direct safety risk tied to wiring and potable water. HVAC and refrigeration work was left to local government instead. This means a person can legally install furnaces, ductwork, air conditioning systems, and refrigeration equipment anywhere in Colorado without ever applying to a state board, as long as they satisfy whatever the city or county where the work happens requires. It also means the word license means something different depending on which Colorado jurisdiction a contractor is standing in. In Denver, it means a Community Planning and Development contractor license. In a county with no local program, it can mean nothing more than a building permit pulled by a licensed plumber or electrician for the parts of a job that touch their own trades. This page focuses on Denver, the state's largest city, because it runs the most developed HVAC licensing program in Colorado and functions as the closest thing the state has to a model for how this trade gets regulated.
Sourcesdora.colorado.gov
In the City and County of Denver, HVAC and refrigeration contracting is regulated by Community Planning and Development, commonly called CPD, through its Contractor Licensing division. CPD issues contractor licenses and certificates to individuals and companies who perform construction and trade work inside Denver, and mechanical work, which is Denver's category for HVAC, boilers, refrigeration, and related systems, sits alongside general contracting, building contracting, residential contracting, specialty work, plumbing, and electrical as one of the license types CPD manages. CPD states plainly on its own site that Denver does not accept or reciprocate contractor licenses or certificates issued by other counties or states. A mechanical contractor license from Colorado Springs, Aurora, or any other Colorado city carries no weight inside Denver city limits, and a Denver mechanical license carries no weight outside them. Every jurisdiction runs its own program from the ground up. CPD is reachable by email at Contr.Licensing@denvergov.org, by phone at 720-865-2770, and in person on the second floor of the building at 201 West Colfax Avenue, with office hours Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed for lunch between noon and 1 p.m. Because Colorado has no state board for this trade, CPD's rules, forms, exams, and fee schedule are the actual law that governs HVAC contracting in the city, not a supplement sitting on top of a state program the way plumbing and electrical licensing work. Anyone quoting HVAC work in Denver needs to know CPD's requirements specifically, not general Colorado contractor licensing rules, because for this trade those general state rules simply do not exist.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
CPD splits HVAC licensing into two layers. The first layer is an individual credential called a supervisor certificate, or for narrower work a journeyman or operator certificate. The second layer is the contractor's license itself, issued to the business. An applicant cannot get a contractor's license without first holding a supervisor certificate, without employing someone who holds one, or, for the electrical and plumbing trades only, without holding the matching Colorado state electrical or plumbing license. There is no state substitute for mechanical work, because Colorado does not license mechanical contractors, so every Denver HVAC contracting business must have a supervisor certificate holder of its own on staff. When CPD reviews a contractor license application, mechanical applicants are not asked to upload a state mechanical card, unlike electrical contractors, who must upload a current State of Colorado Electrical Contractor card, and plumbing contractors, who must upload a current State of Colorado Plumbing Contractor card. Fire Protection A and B contractors must upload a State of Colorado Fire Suppression certificate. Mechanical applicants instead rely entirely on the Denver-issued supervisor certificate and a Supervisor Statement of Responsibility form, which the certificate holder signs, and, if that person is not an owner, officer, partner, member, or sole proprietor of the company, a company letterhead letter naming them Supervisor of Record. This two step design means a company can lose its mechanical contracting privileges in Denver simply by losing its supervisor certificate holder, until it trains or hires a replacement and files new paperwork with CPD.
CPD does not issue one generic HVAC certificate. It issues a set of narrow, named certificates, each tied to a specific scope of work, and a mechanical contractor's license only covers the scope its qualifying supervisor certificate covers. Heating and Ventilating Journeyman covers installing warm air heating, ductwork, ventilation, evaporative cooling, exterior sheet metal, gas piping, burners, venting, controls, and the air conditioning and refrigeration systems that go with comfort cooling, but only while working for a Heating and Ventilating Contractor Class A or a Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning Contractor. Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor covers the same work at the business qualifying level for both commercial and residential jobs, plus up to 50 tons of self contained comfort cooling refrigeration. Heating and Ventilating Class B Supervisor is residential only, limited to one and two family dwellings, IRC townhomes, and U occupancies. Refrigeration Journeyman and Refrigeration Operator cover installing and, separately, operating refrigeration systems and cooling towers. Boilermaker Journeyman and Boiler Operator Class A and Class B cover steam boiler installation and operation at different pressure and horsepower thresholds. Gas Service Journeyman and Master cover gas pipefitting. Steamfitter Journeyman and Steam and Hot Water Supervisor cover steam and hydronic heating, solar water heating, and related process piping. Stationary Engineer combines high pressure steam boiler operation with mechanical refrigeration system operation. A contracting business that wants to advertise as a full service HVAC company in Denver typically needs its qualifying supervisor to hold the Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor certificate at minimum, and needs separate refrigeration or boiler certificates on staff to legally take on work outside that scope.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
CPD sets its mechanical certificate experience requirements in years and, for journeyman level certificates, in total hours. Heating and Ventilating Journeyman, Refrigeration Journeyman, Boilermaker Journeyman, and Steamfitter Journeyman each require four years of field installation experience gained in an apprenticeship or an on the job training program, totaling a minimum of 7,000 hours. Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor, the certificate that qualifies a business for commercial and residential HVAC contracting, requires eight years total, broken into four years working as a heating and ventilating journeyman mechanic plus four years working as a designer, draftsman, or supervisor. Refrigeration Operator requires three years in refrigeration operating work as a trainee or apprentice. Stationary Engineer requires four years, split between three years operating high pressure steam boilers or high temperature water heating boilers and one year operating refrigeration equipment that requires a licensed operator under the Denver Building Code. CPD does not take an applicant's word for this experience. Every applicant submits notarized letters that state exactly what work was performed, when it started and ended by month and year, and at what address, for each project claimed, and projects have to fall within the last ten years. CPD also allows experience gained as a journeyman, supervisor, or contractor under another recognized licensing authority to count toward these totals on a year for year basis, which matters for out of state applicants relocating to Denver.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
Every Denver mechanical certificate is tied to a specific exam, and CPD names the exact exam code on its own certificate pages rather than leaving it to a private prep company to define. Heating and Ventilating Journeyman, Refrigeration Journeyman, Boilermaker Journeyman, and Steamfitter Journeyman all require passing ICC Exam number F31, National Standard Journeyman Mechanical. Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor, Steam and Hot Water Supervisor, and the master level boiler certificates require ICC Exam number F29, National Standard Master Mechanical, the supervisor level companion exam. Gas Service Journeyman requires ICC Exam number F34, National Standard Journeyman Gas Pipefitter, and Gas Service Master requires ICC Exam number F33, National Standard Master Gas Pipefitter. Two certificates use Denver specific exams instead of national ICC exams. Refrigeration Operator requires Exam number 228, Colorado Denver Refrigeration Operator, and Stationary Engineer requires Exam number 227, Colorado Denver Stationary Engineer. These are proctored, closed book, code based exams, not general knowledge quizzes, and CPD's certificate pages link out to separate instructions for scheduling each one rather than administering them directly. Because the exams are tied to the certificate type rather than to the word HVAC generally, a contractor moving between comfort cooling, boiler, and refrigeration work in Denver may need to sit for more than one of these exams over the life of the business, and each exam has its own scheduling process and its own fee charged by the testing vendor rather than by the city.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
CPD prices its mechanical licensing program in a published fee schedule rather than folding the cost into a permit fee. A mechanical contractor's license, the business level credential, costs 250 dollars, the same flat rate CPD charges for General Contractor Class A, Building Contractor Class B, Residential Contractor Class C, and Specialty Class D licenses, and all of these renew every three years. At the individual level, a Supervisor Certificate costs 60 dollars, and a Journeyman Certificate or an Operator Certificate each cost 40 dollars, also renewed every three years. For comparison, Denver's Plumbing A License costs 160 dollars and renews every two years, tied to the underlying state plumbing card, while the Electrical License itself carries no CPD fee because that trade is qualified through the state Electrical Board instead of a city exam. Applicants who need a duplicate license, a duplicate certificate, or a personal name change on an existing license or certificate pay 25 dollars for each request. CPD accepts payment online through its e-permits system by credit card or electronic check once an application is approved, by mail with checks payable to Manager of Finance, or in person at the Contractor Licensing counter on the second floor of 201 West Colfax Avenue using cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, or Discover. None of these city fees include the cost of the ICC or Denver specific exam itself, which is billed separately by the testing vendor and is not part of CPD's published fee table.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
CPD runs its contractor license application online through its e-permits portal, or by mail. Either way, the paperwork starts with the individual credential. The supervisor certificate holder who will qualify the business fills out a Supervisor Statement of Responsibility. If that person does not own or officially hold a title at the company, the company must also submit a letter, on company letterhead and signed by an owner, officer, partner, member, or the sole proprietor, naming that individual as the Supervisor of Record. Next comes proof the business itself is real and current. The applicant compiles Colorado Secretary of State documents matching the company's legal structure, whether that is a corporation, an LLC, a partnership, or a sole proprietorship, and whoever signs the contractor license application, meaning an owner, officer, partner, member, or sole proprietor, must be listed on those current Secretary of State filings, or the company must instead provide notarized meeting minutes or a notarized list of current owners naming that person. Applicants must also read Chapter 1 of the Denver Building and Fire Code, which CPD says explains a license holder's responsibilities in the city. Online applications submitted through e-permits take roughly 14 to 20 business days to review, the same turnaround CPD quotes for mail in applications. Once approved, CPD sends an email, and the applicant has 90 days to return to the online application and pay the license fee before that approval lapses and the process has to start again.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
Denver mechanical certificates and mechanical contractor licenses both run on a three year renewal cycle, and CPD allows a contractor license to be renewed starting 30 days before it expires and for up to a full year after it expires, after which the business has to go through reinstatement instead of a simple renewal. CPD does not describe a continuing education requirement tied to mechanical certificate renewal anywhere on its certificate or fee pages, which is a real gap in what this research can confirm and is listed separately in the unsourced section rather than assumed to be zero. If CPD denies an application, whether for a new certificate, a renewal, or a license, the applicant gets one more chance to apply a second time with additional documentation attached. If that second attempt is also rejected, CPD imposes a six month waiting period before the same person can apply again for that same certificate type. This waiting period applies per certificate type, so a rejected Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor application does not block a separate application for, say, a Refrigeration Journeyman certificate in the meantime. Because Denver licenses and certificates are not portable to any other Colorado jurisdiction, none of these renewal, reinstatement, or waiting period rules carry over if a contractor relocates the business outside city limits, since the receiving city or county runs its own separate program with its own separate rules.
CPD states its no reciprocity rule in plain language on its Contractor Licensing page: Denver does not accept or reciprocate contractor licenses or certificates from other counties or states. That single sentence describes the entire structure of HVAC regulation in Colorado. Because there is no state mechanical license to fall back on, an HVAC contracting business that wants to legally work in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora, the state's three largest cities, needs to separately qualify in each one, under whatever program that city or the county around it runs, using whatever supervisor, journeyman, or master credential and exam that jurisdiction requires. This research was able to confirm Denver's program in detail directly from Community Planning and Development's own site. It was not able to confirm, from a primary government source fetched today, the specific license names, fee amounts, experience requirements, or exam requirements that Colorado Springs, which runs building and licensing functions through the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, or Aurora currently apply to mechanical or HVAC contractors, and those specifics are listed in the unsourced section below rather than guessed at. A contracting business that already holds a Denver mechanical contractor license should not assume that license, or the supervisor certificate behind it, will be honored anywhere else in Colorado, and should contact the building or licensing department of any other city or county directly before bidding work there.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
Separate from any city license, federal law regulates the refrigerant side of HVAC work everywhere in the United States, including every Colorado jurisdiction. Under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, and the EPA regulations that implement it at 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, any technician who maintains, services, repairs, or disposes of equipment that could release refrigerant into the atmosphere must hold EPA Section 608 Technician Certification. This applies to attaching and detaching hoses and gauges, and adding or removing refrigerant, on everything from small appliances to large comfort cooling systems to motor vehicle air conditioner-like equipment. EPA breaks the certification into four types. Type I covers servicing small appliances. Type II covers servicing or disposing of high or very high pressure appliances other than small appliances and motor vehicle air conditioners. Type III covers low pressure appliances. Universal certification covers all of the above, and to earn it a technician must pass the core exam plus all three type specific exams, and the core exam cannot have been taken open book if it will be used toward Universal. Every exam must be administered by an organization the EPA has approved to certify technicians. Once earned, Section 608 Technician Certification does not expire, unlike Denver's three year certificate and license cycle. Apprentices are exempt from the certification requirement as long as they work under the close and continuous supervision of someone who already holds it. A Denver mechanical contractor license does not substitute for this federal certification, and the federal certification does not substitute for a Denver license either.
Sourcesepa.gov
Beyond the trade specific certificate and license work, CPD's own application process points to at least one general business requirement that is directly sourced: whoever signs a Denver contractor license application on behalf of a company, meaning an owner, officer, partner, member, or sole proprietor, must currently appear on that company's Colorado Secretary of State filings, or the company must provide notarized documentation identifying its current ownership instead. That means the business has to be properly formed and kept current with the Secretary of State before CPD will process a mechanical contractor license application, regardless of whether the certificate holder's exam and experience paperwork is otherwise complete. This research could not confirm, from a primary source fetched today, the specific Colorado requirements around general liability insurance minimums, surety bonds, workers compensation coverage thresholds, or state sales and use tax licensing that would apply to an HVAC contracting business generally, separate from what CPD requires for the license itself. An attempt to reach the relevant Colorado Department of Revenue page during this research was blocked before a usable page loaded. Those items are listed in the unsourced section rather than stated as fact, and a contractor should confirm each one directly with the Colorado Secretary of State, the Department of Revenue, and the Division of Workers Compensation before starting work in the state.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
CPD publishes a public Contractor License Search tool on its own site, separate from its main Contractor Licensing page, and it works as a straightforward name or license number lookup rather than requiring an account or a phone call. Anyone hiring HVAC work in Denver, a property manager, a general contractor bringing in a mechanical sub, or a homeowner comparing bids, can use it to confirm a business currently holds an active mechanical contractor license before signing anything, and to check whether the supervisor certificate backing that license is current rather than expired or under review. Because Denver licenses and certificates do not transfer between jurisdictions, this tool only confirms status inside Denver city limits, and it will not show anything for a contractor whose only credential comes from Colorado Springs, Aurora, or elsewhere in the state. This research did not find, on the pages reviewed, a specific Denver rule requiring a contractor to print its license number on advertising, vehicles, or written estimates, or a stated penalty for leaving it off, the way many states with a formal HVAC board require by statute. That gap is listed in the unsourced section below rather than assumed to not exist, since CPD's own reference to Chapter 1 of the Denver Building and Fire Code in its application instructions suggests that code may address advertising or display duties in text this research did not open today.
These are common details other guides publish about Colorado, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Colorado licenses only electricians and plumbers at the state level through DORA, the Department of Regulatory Agencies. HVAC, mechanical, and refrigeration contracting has no state license, so requirements come entirely from the city or county where the work happens.
Denver's Community Planning and Development department issues a Mechanical Contractor License to the business, which requires an individual Supervisor Certificate, such as Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor, on staff. Both are city credentials, not state ones.
CPD charges 250 dollars for a mechanical contractor license, the same rate as its other construction license classes, renewed every three years, plus a 60 dollar Supervisor Certificate fee and 40 dollar Journeyman or Operator Certificate fees for the individuals who qualify the business.
A Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor certificate, which covers commercial and residential work, requires eight years total: four years as a heating and ventilating journeyman plus four years as a designer, draftsman, or supervisor. Journeyman certificates require four years and 7,000 hours.
Heating and Ventilating Journeyman applicants take ICC Exam F31, National Standard Journeyman Mechanical. Heating and Ventilating Class A Supervisor applicants take ICC Exam F29, National Standard Master Mechanical. Refrigeration and boiler certificates use their own exam numbers within those same two families.
No. Denver states directly that it does not accept or reciprocate contractor licenses or certificates from any other Colorado county or state. A business working in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Aurora needs to qualify separately in each city.
Yes, if the technician handles refrigerant. EPA Section 608 Technician Certification is federal, required under the Clean Air Act for anyone who services, maintains, or disposes of equipment that could release refrigerant, and it applies on top of any Denver or other city license.
No. EPA states that Section 608 Technician Certification credentials do not expire once earned, unlike Denver mechanical certificates and licenses, which both run on three year renewal cycles and have to be actively renewed.
Yes, under EPA rules, as long as the apprentice works under the close and continuous supervision of a technician who already holds Section 608 certification. This exemption is federal and applies no matter what city license a business holds.
CPD allows one more attempt with additional documentation. If that second attempt is also rejected, CPD requires a six month wait before the same applicant can apply again for that same certificate type, though other certificate types are not affected.
CPD runs a public Contractor License Search tool on its website that lets anyone look up whether a business currently holds an active mechanical contractor license and whether its supervisor certificate is current, before signing a contract.
No. CPD allows a Colorado electrical or plumbing license to substitute for a supervisor certificate only in those two trades. Mechanical and HVAC contracting has no equivalent state license, so Denver's own supervisor certificate is always required.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.