New Mexico · HVAC licensing · official-source guide
New Mexico licenses HVAC contracting at state level. The Construction Industries Division of the Regulation and Licensing Department issues the MM-3 heating, ventilation and air conditioning license, along with the broader MM-98 mechanical license. The headline requirement is a qualifying party with four years of trade experience who passes the trade exam and a business and law exam.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-14. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
The Construction Industries Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department licenses HVAC contracting, and it does so at state level. CID says its work includes licensing contractors, enforcing licensing laws, and requiring licensure for any person practicing or offering to practice construction contracting. No New Mexico city issues its own separate HVAC contractor license, so one CID license covers work from Farmington to Hobbs. CID runs three offices: Santa Fe at 2550 Cerrillos Road, Albuquerque at 5500 San Antonio Drive, and Las Cruces at 505 South Main Street inside the Loretto Town Center. Inside CID, the Mechanical Plumbing Bureau inspects mechanical and plumbing work and enforces the adopted codes, standards and licensing. The bureau publishes a bureau chief contact and an Albuquerque mailing address for code questions. Licensing paperwork is not processed in house. CID states plainly that the processing of all CID renewals and other licensing paperwork is handled by PSI, while permitting and inspections continue to be handled by the department. PSI receives applications at its Albuquerque office on San Mateo Boulevard NE, and CID warns that complete submissions must be delivered by hand or by mail because faxed or emailed forms will not be accepted. That split decides who you call. A stalled renewal, an exam date or a qualifying party form is a PSI matter. A red tag, a permit question or a mechanical code interpretation is a CID Mechanical Plumbing Bureau matter. Knowing which desk owns your problem saves days when a job is sitting waiting on an inspection.
The license most HVAC companies in New Mexico hold is the MM-3, defined in 14.6.6.11 NMAC as heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The rule sets four years of experience for the classification and spells out the scope. An MM-3 licensee may install, alter, repair, service and maintain HVAC air handling and refrigeration equipment and piping. The rule names fans, coils, condensing units, self contained packaged air conditioning or heating units, evaporative cooling units, and ductwork and accessories. It includes solar air heating and cooled mechanical air handling and ventilation applications. An MM-3 may connect water to existing valved outlets and install controls and control wiring not to exceed 24 volts. The 24 volt ceiling is the line that trips people up. Low voltage thermostat and control wiring sits inside the MM-3 scope. Line voltage power to the equipment does not, and a disconnect or a new circuit belongs to an electrical licensee. The rule does give MM-3 holders room to sell a complete job. It says the licensee may bid and contract for structural alterations, electrical wiring and other work incidental to this scope, provided that work is performed by a validly licensed contractor. So an MM-3 company can quote a changeout that needs a new whip and a curb adapter, as long as the electrical portion is subcontracted to a licensed electrical contractor. Working outside the classification scope is not a paperwork slip. The same rule says work performed outside that scope violates the Construction Industries Licensing Act and its rules and is grounds for disciplinary action.
Sourcessrca.nm.gov
MM-3 stops at air handling and refrigeration. New Mexico splits the rest of mechanical work into separate classifications, and a contractor who quotes past the MM-3 scope needs the matching license. MM-2 is natural gas fitting, four years of experience, covering natural gas piping and fittings, hot water heating systems not exceeding 30 psi or 400,000 btu per hour input, steam and hot water boilers, warm air heating systems including chimney connections, flues, refractories and burners, and warm air appliances and other listed gas appliances. MM-2 may not install LP gas systems. MM-4 is heating, cooling and process piping, also four years, covering hydronic heating and cooling, steam and hot water piping at any temperature or pressure, chilled water and condensing water systems, air handling equipment, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, boilers, refrigeration water chillers, cooling towers, and fuel oil tanks and piping. MM-1 is plumbing. MM-98 is the combined mechanical license. The rule states that MM-98 indicates licensure in the individual classifications MM-1 through MM-4 and covers all work described in them, plus the work described in MS-3 septic tanks and sewer, MS-6 lawn sprinklers, MS-12 fire protection sprinkler systems and MS-14 dry chemical fire protection. For a residential company doing gas furnaces and air conditioners, MM-2 plus MM-3 is the usual pair. There is one more wrinkle worth money. CID states that a holder of an MM-02 or MM-98 can obtain an LP04 license from PSI without testing, by submitting an LPG Dealer License Application with payment of $125.00 plus $15.00 for each qualifying party, and that LP licenses renew annually unlike mechanical licenses.
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New Mexico does not license a person as a contractor. It licenses a business entity, and that entity has to be backed by a certified individual. CID says it issues licenses to qualified business entities that employ or are owned by one or more qualifying parties who are validly certified by CID to perform the scope of work the licensee intends to engage in. The qualifying party is the human being who sat the exams. The license is the company. Two consequences follow. First, if your qualifying party leaves, the license stops being qualified, and 14.6.3 NMAC lists failure of a license to be qualified by a qualifying party certificate among the events that make a license invalid. Second, a qualifying party certificate does not survive sitting idle. The rule says a new qualifying party certificate that does not qualify a valid license within 12 months from the date the exam score was reported to CID automatically expires, and a qualifying party who does not qualify a valid license for any consecutive two year period loses eligibility and the certificate expires. Getting recertified after that means applying again, retesting and paying all applicable fees, although the director may waive the exam for an additional 12 months if the applicant documents equivalent technical and business knowledge. The entity itself must be legally authorized to do business in New Mexico to apply for, renew or retain a license. On the death of a sole proprietor the license automatically cancels. Work in progress may continue for not more than 120 days after a cancellation.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1srca.nm.gov 2
CID requires the qualifying party applicant to have the number of years of experience required for the classification, and it adds a timing rule that catches career changers. The experience must be within the 10 years immediately preceding application. For MM-3, MM-2, MM-4 and MM-98 the requirement is four years. The mechanical specialty classifications MS-3 septic tanks and sewer and MS-6 lawn sprinklers require two years, while MS-12 fire protection sprinkler systems and MS-14 dry chemical fire protection require four. Journeyman classifications generally require two years. Proof is not a resume. Applicants submit a qualifying party application together with a work experience affidavit, and CID sets out how the affidavit works: the applicant fills in the applicant portion, each person attesting to the work experience uses a separate affidavit and fills in the affiant portion, and the affiant signature must be notarized. Applicants use as many affidavits as needed to cover the full period of experience for the classification sought. CID or PSI reviews the affidavit, and applicants must be preapproved before they can schedule exams. If the affidavit or the experience is not acceptable, the applicant is notified in writing. Schooling can substitute for part of the time. For journeyman certification, 14.6.4 NMAC counts technical training from an accredited college, university, manufacturer accredited training program, technical vocational institute or accredited apprenticeship program in lieu of work experience, applying each year of equivalent training as one half year of experience, and capping accredited training at one half of the total work experience requirement.
A New Mexico qualifying party has to clear two hurdles. CID says applicants must pass the exams applicable to the classification being sought, as well as a contractors business and law exam. There is an alternative on the business side. CID states that a business and law course may be scheduled with approved vendors in lieu of the business and law exam, so a contractor who tests badly can sit a course instead. The trade exam has no such substitute. Rule 14.6.3 NMAC sets the standard. No applicant is eligible to take a qualifying examination until satisfactory work experience documentation has been provided, covering four years within the 10 years immediately prior to application. Exams are administered by CID or its designee, which in practice is PSI. A passing score is seventy five percent or higher. An applicant who fails to appear or fails to reach seventy five percent may take another regularly scheduled exam after reapplying and paying the fee, but may not repeat the exam more than twice in any 30 day period. Cheating voids the exam, forfeits all fees and immediately voids any license or certificate issued on the basis of that exam. Scheduling runs through PSI, online at its New Mexico contractor registration site, by fax or by mail, and CID notes that a passing score is valid for one year once you have passed. Rule 14.5.5.8 NMAC also allows exam review requests: $25.00 for a review after failing an MM-98 or business and law exam, and $40.00 for a special review after failing twice.
The company license is only half the compliance picture in New Mexico. Rule 14.6.6.11 NMAC requires a journeyman certificate of competence in the appropriate trade classification of every individual performing mechanical and plumbing work. Apprentices may work under the direct supervision of a validly certified journeyman. A journeyman may only work in the certified trade when employed by an entity that is validly licensed for that type of work, or that holds a valid annual permit authorizing it. Two certificates matter most to an HVAC shop. JR is journeyman refrigeration and can work under an MM-3 or MM-98 license. JSM is journeyman sheet metal and can also work under an MM-3 or MM-98. Other mechanical certificates include JP plumber, JPF pipe fitter, JG natural gas fitter, JPG plumber and natural gas fitter, JS sprinkler, JW welder, JMG medical gas installer, MS-12J and MS-14J fire protection, and BO1 and BO2 boiler operator. Journeyman classifications generally require two years of experience, and a passing score is seventy five percent or higher. CID lists all journeyman certificate fees at $75.00. New Mexico also caps crew composition. The ratio of certified journeyman to unregistered apprentices must not exceed one journeyman overseeing two unregistered apprentices on commercial or industrial work, and one journeyman to three on residential work. That ratio drives how you staff a duct crew on a commercial fit out. New Mexico then wires the federal refrigerant rule into the JR certificate itself. Rule 14.6.6.11 NMAC says the JR applicant must demonstrate compliance with Environmental Protection Agency recovery requirements before a certificate is issued. The federal requirement comes from EPA regulations at 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, and EPA states that technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release ozone depleting refrigerants into the atmosphere must be certified. EPA publishes four test areas: Core, Type 1 for small appliances, Type 2 for high pressure, and Type 3 for low pressure. EPA does not issue the cards, approved certifying organizations do. A Section 608 card alone does not let anyone contract in New Mexico, and an MM-3 license alone does not let an uncertified technician recover refrigerant.
New Mexico fees come from two places, and both matter. CID's own instructions say a qualifying party applicant submits the completed application and work experience affidavit to PSI with a $36 fee, and that the company then submits a completed license application to PSI with a $36 application fee plus applicable license fees. Rule 14.5.5.8 NMAC sets those license fees. The basic fee for an initial license or renewal in the MM-98 classification, along with GA-98, GB-2, GB-98, GF-98 and EE-98, is $100.00 per year or $200.00 for two years for each such classification. The basic fee for an initial license or renewal in any other classification, which includes MM-3, MM-2 and MM-4, is $50.00 per year or $100.00 for two years. Each applicant for an initial license or for any additional classification pays a non refundable application fee under the same rule, and the rule states that figure as $30.00, which is the amount CID now publishes as $36. Exam review costs $25.00 after a first failure on an MM-98 or business and law exam, and $40.00 for a special review after failing twice. The rule also authorizes the division to increase exam fees by a multiplier of up to three upon commission approval. Journeyman certificate fees are listed by CID at $75.00 for all journeyman certificates. Military service members and veterans are not charged a fee for the first three years for a license or certificate issued under the expedited provisions of 14.6.3 NMAC, and that license is valid for a three year period.
New Mexico ties licensure to proof of financial responsibility. Rule 14.6.3 NMAC states that upon initial licensure and as a condition of renewal each applicant shall furnish the division a bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) underwritten by a corporate surety authorized to transact business in New Mexico. The bond must be effective for the entire period of licensure and each renewal cycle, and maintaining it is itself a condition of licensure. Payment from the bond is used to cure division certified code violations caused and not corrected by the licensee. Claims must be made within two years following final inspection or within two years of issuance of a certificate of occupancy, whichever is earlier. A bond carrier must give the division and the licensee thirty days written notice before canceling, and if no replacement bond arrives the division moves immediately to cancel the license. Workers compensation is not optional for contractors here. The New Mexico Workers Compensation Administration lists contractors engaged in contracting or licensed under the Construction Industries Licensing Act as employers who need coverage, alongside businesses registered as an LLC or incorporated, and businesses that employ three or more employees. CID repeats that the Workers Compensation Administration requires all licensees to obtain coverage. On the tax side, the Taxation and Revenue Department says anyone who engages in business in New Mexico must register and will receive a New Mexico Business Tax Identification Number, and that there is no fee to register. CID requires that tax registration certificate with the license application.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1srca.nm.gov 2workerscomp.nm.gov 3tax.newmexico.gov 4
CID or its designee mails every licensee a renewal application at least 30 days before expiration, but 14.6.3 NMAC puts the duty squarely on the contractor: whether or not the form is received, it is the sole duty and responsibility of each licensee to timely renew. The filing date is the postmark date, or the date of hand delivery. Every current qualifying party must sign the renewal form. If the renewal is late, or is rejected for failing renewal requirements, the license is suspended and subject to cancellation. The fee rule prices renewals annually or for two years at a time, so a mechanical license is not an annual grind the way an LP gas license is. CID notes in its own FAQ that LP licenses must be renewed annually, unlike mechanical licenses. Continuing education lands on the journeyman certificates rather than the company license. CID states that renewals of journeyman plumbing and mechanical certificates of competence require a minimum of 16 hours of approved continuing education course work in every three year period, of which 8 hours are specific to code change or update and 8 hours may be other industry related approved course work. The requirement covers JP, JPF, JG, JPG, JSM, JS, JR, MS-12J and MS-14J. Rule 14.6.4 NMAC adds that no journeyman certificate shall be renewed in the absence of proof of compliance, and proof must be submitted with the renewal application. CID also notes that the General Building Bureau does not impose continuing education on its contractors.
New Mexico writes its advertising rules as disciplinary violations rather than as a marketing checklist, which makes them easy to miss and expensive to break. Rule 14.5.8.8 NMAC lists actions that may subject a licensee to discipline, and three of them are about how you present yourself. Contracting without displaying your full name as it appears on the license issued by the division is a violation. Advertising a classification or trade in which a contractor is not licensed by the division is a violation. Advertising a service in a false, fraudulent or misleading manner is a violation. So is performing, or holding oneself out as able to perform, professional services beyond the scope of your license and field of competence. Read together, those rules control your truck lettering, your website and your estimates. If you hold MM-3 only, calling yourself a plumbing and heating company invites a complaint, because MM-1 plumbing is a classification you do not hold. If your license is issued to a legal entity name, that exact name belongs on what you hand the customer. The consequences are not limited to a warning letter. On finding a violation, the commission or an informal hearing officer may issue a letter of reprimand, deny, revoke, suspend or otherwise limit a license, assess an administrative penalty, require continuing education hours within limited time constraints, or any combination. Advertising also breaks the handyman exemption in 14.6.2 NMAC, which requires that the individual not advertise or maintain a sign, card or other device indicating to the public that he is qualified to engage in contracting.
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CID states flatly that contracting without a license in New Mexico is against the law, and that the division may stop the construction project and file a criminal charge of unlicensed contracting in Metropolitan or Magistrate Court. Violators are eligible for licensure one year from the date of conviction. The criminal penalties come from Section 60-13-52.A of the Construction Industries Licensing Act. If the dollar value of the contracting work is $5,000 or less, the contractor may be sentenced to the county jail for 90 days or to a fine of $300 to $500, or both. If the dollar value of the contracting work is over $5,000, the contractor may be sentenced to the county jail for 6 months or to a fine of 10 percent of the dollar value of the contracting work, or both. That percentage structure means the exposure scales with the job. There is a civil track as well. Rule 14.5.8.12 NMAC says that if the division does not criminally prosecute a suspected unlicensed contractor under Section 60-13-52, the commission may take administrative action under the Uniform Licensing Act and seek an administrative penalty of $1,000.00 per violation. Licensed contractors are exposed too, because aiding and abetting unlicensed contracting is itself a listed violation. The narrow exemption is the handyman certificate in 14.6.2 NMAC, for an individual working one project at a time not exceeding seven thousand two hundred dollars ($7,200) compensation a year, and it does not apply to electrical wiring, plumbing or gas fitting.
An HVAC license in New Mexico is a permit pulling license, and CID expects it to be used. Its FAQ states that a homeowner may not run their own ductwork and needs a New Mexico licensed contractor to pull a permit, install the ductwork and call for the required inspections. It also states that replacing a water heater or a furnace requires a permit pulled by a licensed contractor before the work is performed and inspected. The code being inspected against is 14.9.2 NMAC, the 2021 New Mexico Mechanical Code, which adopts by reference the 2021 Uniform Mechanical Code as amended. New Mexico is a Uniform Mechanical Code state, not an International Mechanical Code state, which matters when you are pricing a job off plans drawn elsewhere. CID publishes its mechanical and plumbing inspection fees line by line. An administrative fee for any inspection is $37.50. Each ventilation system is $4.00, each refrigeration system $4.00, each combination unit for HVAC $4.00, each fan coil unit $4.00, each commercial duct system $4.00, and each commercial kitchen hood $4.00. Each duct work system is $10.00, each chiller $10.00 and each cooling tower $10.00. Each evaporative cooler is $6.00. Each final certificate of approval is $7.50. Reinspections bite: each re-inspection is $80.00 and a second re-inspection is $120.00. Building permits are processed by date received, with residential permits running three to four working days and commercial permits five to ten working days.
The CID license is statewide, but the counter you walk up to changes by city. In Albuquerque, the city runs its own Building Safety Division, and its permit page lists building permits and plan review, plus building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical inspections and trade permits, all reached at 505-924-3320 at Plaza del Sol. The city says a plumbing or mechanical permit is required for installation of equipment or ductwork and that the work can only be completed by a licensed contractor, and the same applies to installation of a water heater. Albuquerque adds a second obligation that has nothing to do with CID. The Planning Department's Business License Section enforces a Business License Ordinance requiring all businesses to apply for and pay a business license fee for each outlet, branch, location or place of business within the municipal limits before engaging in business. Applications and renewals require a current dated copy of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department Registration Certificate showing the physical business address, and the process is now fully online. In Santa Fe, the Land Use Department states it is the authority having jurisdiction over building permits within the city limits, and it lists new and replacement mechanical equipment among the work that requires a permit. Santa Fe takes stand alone mechanical trade permits through its Citizen Self Service portal, and notes that secondary permits for mechanical work may usually be submitted without construction drawings, though equipment cut sheets may be requested. Elsewhere, permits and inspections run through the CID offices in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1rld.nm.gov 2cabq.gov 3cabq.gov 4santafenm.gov 5
Homeowners and general contractors in New Mexico can check you in under a minute, so it pays to know what they will see. The Regulation and Licensing Department directs the public to verify a Construction Industries Division license through the PSI license management search. The search screen offers two paths. Searching an individual takes a certificate number, first name, last name, city or zip code, which is how a customer confirms a journeyman certificate. Searching a company requires selecting a company type, and Contractor is one of the options alongside LP-Gas and the manufactured housing categories, then entering a license number, business name, city or zip code. The business name field warns that you must type at least the first word of the business name, including symbols. That detail is worth checking against how your entity name is spelled on the license, because a customer who types your trade name and finds nothing tends to assume the worst. Keep the name on your license, your advertising and your estimates identical, since 14.5.8.8 NMAC treats contracting without displaying your full name as it appears on the license as a violation. The same public channel runs in reverse. CID takes complaints through an online investigation and enforcement portal and a paper Request for Investigation form, and it publishes enforcement actions. A clean record on the PSI search is a sales asset in a state where unlicensed work carries criminal exposure.
Sourcespublic.psiexams.com 1rld.nm.gov 2rld.nm.gov 3srca.nm.gov 4
New Mexico gives out of state HVAC contractors very little to work with, and CID says so directly. The division posted a notice about the volume of reciprocal journeyman inquiries and answered it in one line: the only journeyman classification reciprocated in New Mexico is EE-98J, residential and commercial electrical with 8,000 hours of experience. That reciprocity is accepted from Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, and applying means submitting the journeyman certificate application with a copy of the license from the reciprocal state and $75 to PSI. Nothing in that notice extends to mechanical classifications. A JR refrigeration or JSM sheet metal certificate from a neighboring state does not transfer. The same holds at company level. There is no reciprocal MM-3 or MM-98. An out of state HVAC company has to certify a qualifying party the long way: document four years of experience within the preceding 10 years on notarized work experience affidavits, get preapproved, pass the trade exam at seventy five percent, and pass or course out of the business and law exam. The entity then has to be legally authorized to do business in New Mexico, post the ten thousand dollar bond, register with Taxation and Revenue, and carry workers compensation. Military applicants get a faster lane. Rule 14.6.3 NMAC requires the division to issue within 30 days of a completed application and sets a three year fee exemption for service members and veterans.
These are common details other guides publish about New Mexico, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
You need an MM-3 for the air conditioning, air handling and ductwork side. Gas furnaces and natural gas piping fall under MM-2 natural gas fitting, which covers warm air heating systems and listed gas appliances. Most residential companies hold both, or hold MM-98, which 14.6.6.11 NMAC says covers MM-1 through MM-4.
Only up to 24 volts. The MM-3 scope in 14.6.6.11 NMAC allows controls and control wiring not to exceed 24 volts. The rule does let you bid and contract for electrical wiring incidental to the work, provided that work is performed by a validly licensed contractor, so subcontract the line voltage.
For the JR journeyman refrigeration certificate, yes. Rule 14.6.6.11 NMAC says the applicant must demonstrate compliance with EPA recovery requirements before the certificate is issued. EPA certification under 40 CFR Part 82 Subpart F comes from an approved certifying organization, not from EPA itself.
Four years, and CID requires that the experience be within the 10 years immediately preceding the application. Proof comes on notarized work experience affidavits, with a separate affidavit from each person attesting to your time. You must be preapproved before PSI will let you schedule the exams.
Seventy five percent or higher, under 14.6.3 NMAC for qualifying parties and 14.6.4 NMAC for journeymen. You may retake a failed exam after reapplying and paying the fee, but not more than twice in any 30 day period. A passing score stays valid for one year.
You have to satisfy it. CID says applicants must pass the exams for the classification plus a contractors business and law exam, and it also states that a business and law course scheduled with an approved vendor may be taken in lieu of the business and law exam. The trade exam has no course substitute.
Rule 14.6.3 NMAC requires a bond of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) from a corporate surety authorized to do business in New Mexico, at initial licensure and at every renewal. It must stay in force for the whole license period, and the surety must give the division and you thirty days notice before canceling.
PSI. CID states that the processing of all CID renewals and other licensing paperwork is handled by PSI, while permitting and inspections stay with the department. CID mails a renewal form at least 30 days out, but 14.6.3 NMAC makes timely renewal your responsibility whether or not the form arrives.
The journeyman certificates do. CID requires a minimum of 16 hours of approved course work in every three year period for mechanical and plumbing journeyman renewals, with 8 hours on code change or update and 8 hours on other approved industry topics. JR and JSM are both on the covered list.
No. Rule 14.5.8.8 NMAC makes advertising a classification or trade in which a contractor is not licensed a disciplinary violation, along with advertising a service in a false or misleading manner. Plumbing is MM-1, a classification MM-3 does not include. Penalties range from a reprimand to revocation and administrative penalties.
CID may stop the project and file a criminal charge. Under Section 60-13-52.A, work valued at $5,000 or less can draw 90 days in county jail or a fine of $300 to $500, or both. Over $5,000 it is up to 6 months or a fine of 10 percent of the job value, or both.
Yes. Albuquerque's Business License Ordinance requires every business to apply and pay a business license fee for each outlet, branch, location or place of business inside city limits before engaging in business, and applications need a current New Mexico tax registration certificate. The city also issues its own mechanical permits and inspections.
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