Oregon · HVAC licensing · official-source guide
Oregon has no separate HVAC trade license. The Construction Contractors Board licenses the business, and every heating and cooling company that bids or performs work needs a current CCB license with an endorsement matching the structures it serves. One owner or employee must finish 16 hours of pre-license training and pass the Oregon exam.
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-14. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Oregon does not issue a separate HVAC trade license. The Construction Contractors Board licenses the business, and under ORS 701.021 any person or joint venture that undertakes, offers to undertake or submits a bid to do work as a contractor must hold a current CCB license with an endorsement matching the structures worked on. The Building Codes Division sits next to the CCB and handles mechanical code and permits, but it does not license mechanical contractors. BCD states plainly that it issues electrical, plumbing, boiler, elevator and manufactured dwelling licenses for individuals and businesses. Nothing on that list is HVAC. So an Oregon furnace and heat pump company carries a CCB number, and that CCB number is the one that belongs on the truck, the written bid and the website. Oregon exempts only a thin slice of work. ORS 701.010(4) exempts a person working on one structure under contracts totaling less than $1,000 when the work is casual, minor or inconsequential, and that exemption stops applying the moment the person advertises or puts out any sign or card indicating to the public that they are a contractor. A condenser swap or a ductless head install blows past that ceiling on the first invoice. The practical reading for an Oregon HVAC owner is simple. Get licensed before you quote, because offering and bidding the work is regulated in Oregon, not just performing it.
The CCB endorsement decides which buildings you may legally touch, and most Oregon HVAC firms land in the specialty categories. A Residential Specialty Contractor performs work involving one or two unrelated building trades on residential or small commercial projects, which describes a heating and cooling company well. A Residential General Contractor may run an unlimited number of unrelated trades on the same structures. On the commercial side, a Commercial Specialty Contractor covers one or two unrelated trades on small or large commercial projects, and a Commercial General Contractor covers an unlimited number. Oregon defines the structure types in the endorsement chart. A residential structure is a site built home or a building with dwelling units four stories or less. A small commercial structure is a nonresidential building of 10,000 square feet or less and not more than 20 feet high, or a unit of 12,000 square feet or less in a larger structure, or any structure where the entire contract price of all construction work does not total more than $250,000. A large commercial structure is anything that is neither. A residential endorsement reaches residential and small commercial work. A commercial endorsement reaches small and large commercial work. If you install rooftop units on a shopping mall and also change out residential furnaces, you need both endorsements, which means two bonds and one liability policy written at the higher of the two limits.
Oregon sets the surety bond and general liability minimums by endorsement, and the numbers are not interchangeable. A Residential Specialty Contractor files a $20,000 residential bond and carries $300,000 per occurrence in liability coverage. A Residential General Contractor files a $25,000 residential bond and carries $500,000 per occurrence. A Residential Limited Contractor, which is capped at less than $40,000 in expected annual gross sales and $5,000 per job site, files a $15,000 bond with $100,000 per occurrence. Commercial numbers step up sharply. A Commercial Specialty Contractor Level 2 files a $25,000 commercial bond with $500,000 per occurrence, while a Level 1 files a $55,000 commercial bond with $1 million aggregate. A Commercial General Contractor Level 2 files a $25,000 commercial bond with $1 million aggregate, and Level 1 files an $80,000 commercial bond with $2 million aggregate. The 2023 Legislature raised every CCB bond amount by $5,000 through House Bill 2922, effective January 1, 2024, so an older bond form on file may be short. Two rules trip up growing HVAC shops. Carrying both a residential and a commercial endorsement requires two separate bonds, one for each. The single liability policy must be written in the higher amount required by the endorsements you hold. The certificate must also name the Construction Contractors Board as certificate holder.
Sourcesoregon.gov 1oregon.gov 2
Oregon runs the contractor exam through the business, not through individual techs. Before the CCB will license your HVAC company, one person must become the Responsible Managing Individual. The RMI has to be an owner or employee who manages or supervises the construction activities of the business. That person must be at least 18, complete at least 16 hours of pre-license training from a CCB approved provider, and pass the Oregon exam. The training provider notifies the testing vendor, PSI, and PSI then sends registration directions. The exam is built on the Oregon version of the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management, second edition, and a Spanish translation of the manual exists. It is 80 multiple choice questions, three hours long, and a passing score is 70 percent, which works out to 56 correct answers. The cost is $60. It is open book, and you may tab, highlight and underline the manual before the session, but you may not write in it during the exam. You get your score immediately. If you fail, you reschedule, pay again and retest. Applicants who already hold the NASCLA Accredited Examination for Commercial General Building Contractors skip the 16 hours of training but still sit the Oregon laws and rules exam after emailing a transcript to the CCB. One deadline matters: you must apply for the license within 24 months of passing, and a license lapsed more than 24 months forces the training and test again.
Sourcesoregon.gov
The CCB license runs in two year cycles, and the application fee is $400 for a two year license. OAR 812-003-0142 sets it out in two stages: effective July 1, 2024 the fee for all renewal or reissued licenses became $400, and effective July 1, 2025 the fee for all new licenses became $400. Before those dates the figure was $325. The increase of $75 came out of a 2024 CCB board process; the fee had been set at $325 since 2010. Application fees are not refunded, with one narrow exception. If a licensee applies to renew and the agency cannot renew because the applicant formed a new business entity, the CCB may refund the renewal fee less a $40 processing fee. Licensees on active duty in the armed forces may skip a renewal fee that comes due during that service. The online application expects documents attached before you reach the payment screen: the company specific surety bond with power of attorney, the certificate of liability insurance, proof of passing the Oregon exam, a disclosure if no Social Security number has been issued, an organizational structure chart when another business entity is an owner, and a signed Certification and Signatures page. You also file your corporation, LLC or assumed business name with the Oregon Secretary of State first. The CCB warns that applications may take six to eight weeks to process, so a spring hiring plan needs a winter application.
Oregon gates the commercial endorsements on documented years, which is where an HVAC company moving from houses into rooftop work usually stalls. A Commercial General Contractor Level 1 or Commercial Specialty Contractor Level 1 must certify eight years of construction experience. Level 2 of either endorsement requires four years. Level 1 and Level 2 contractors may perform the same work; the difference shows up in the experience certified and in the bond and insurance amounts attached to each level. The experience does not have to sit with the owner. The CCB counts the combined years held by one or more key employees. A key employee is an owner or employee who is a corporate officer, manager, superintendent, foreperson or lead person, or another employee identified by board rule. Qualifying time includes years working as a licensed contractor, journeyman, foreperson or supervisor, or as any other employee engaged in construction work for a licensed contractor. Oregon also allows substitutions. Completion of an apprenticeship program may substitute for up to three years. A bachelor degree in a construction related field may substitute for up to three years. A bachelor or master degree in business, finance or economics may substitute for up to two years. An associate degree in construction or building management may substitute for up to one year. For a service company, the cleanest path is usually to hire or promote a lead installer whose documented years carry the commercial endorsement you want.
Sourcesoregon.gov
Oregon ties continuing education to your endorsement and to how long you have been licensed. Residential contractors owe education every two year license period: three hours of CCB laws, regulations and business practices classes, plus five hours of other approved courses if the CCB has licensed you six or more years, or 13 hours of other approved courses if you have been licensed less than six years. The CCB will not credit more than three hours of its own laws and rules classes. You satisfy the three hours either through a live three hour class, including webinars, or through three one hour classes inside your online services account. Other courses generally have to appear in the CCB course catalog, though courses from accredited colleges and universities or from state and federal agencies count if they run at least an hour and relate to business practices or your trade. Commercial contractors are on a headcount formula instead. Level 2 commercial general or specialty contractors need 32 hours completed by key employees every two years. Level 1 needs 16 hours with one key employee, 32 with two, 48 with three, 64 with four, and 80 hours with five or more, based on the lowest number of key employees during the renewal cycle. A contractor licensed for both commercial and residential work follows only the commercial requirement. Several Oregon licenses exempt the CCB license from continuing education, including an owner, officer or employee who is an Oregon licensed electrician or plumber.
Sourcesoregon.gov
This is the rule Oregon HVAC marketers break most often. OAR 812-003-0120 bars anyone from advertising or holding out contractor services without a current valid license, and bars claiming to be licensed, bonded or insured without one. It then requires the license number itself in specific places. Newsprint classified and display advertising prepared by or at the direction of the contractor must show the number. All written bids, written inspection reports and building contracts subject to ORS chapter 701 must show it. Telephone directory space ads and display ads must show it. Audio only advertising such as radio must contain an audible statement of the number. Video or combined video and audio advertising such as television must show it visually. All advertising by internet media, including website advertising, must show it visually. Business cards, business letterhead, business signs at construction sites and all other written or visual advertising must show it. Two carve outs exist. Permanently affixed signs at the contractor place of business that primarily and prominently display the contractor name are not treated as written or visual advertising, and promotional gifts such as pens, cups and clothing are excluded. For a heating and cooling company that means the number belongs in the footer of every landing page, in every paid search ad destination, on yard signs at jobs, and inside every written estimate you hand a homeowner.
Sourcessecure.sos.state.or.us
Oregon publishes a penalty schedule, so the exposure is not guesswork. Under ORS 701.992 the board may assess a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each offense against a person who violates chapter 701 or a CCB rule. OAR 812-005-0800 fills in the amounts the agency works from. Advertising or submitting a bid as a contractor in violation of ORS 701.021 draws $600, reducible if the person becomes licensed or pulls the ad or bid immediately after notice and no work came of it. That becomes $700 per offense with no reduction when there is a prior violation, or when an inactive, lapsed, invalid or misleading license number was used. Performing the work unlicensed draws $1,000 per offense when the board has no evidence of prior unlicensed work and no consumer suffered damages, reducible if the person gets licensed within a set time. It jumps to $5,000 per offense when an owner files a complaint for damages, and $5,000 per offense on a repeat or where an inactive, lapsed, invalid or misleading number was used. Failure to include the license number in advertising or on contracts is a separate line: $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second, $400 for subsequent offenses. Hiring an unlicensed subcontractor is $1,000 per offense, which matters when an HVAC prime sublets crane work, electrical or insulation on a changeout.
Oregon regulates the paperwork on residential work, and HVAC replacement tickets clear the threshold easily. ORS 701.305 bars a contractor from performing work to construct, improve or repair a residential structure or zero lot line dwelling for a property owner without a written contract when the aggregate contract price exceeds $2,000. If a job starts under that figure and grows past it, you have five days from when you knew or should have known to deliver a written contract. OAR 812-012-0110 lists what the contract or an addendum must carry: your name, address, phone number and CCB license number as shown on board records, the acknowledgment of a written warranty offer where one is required, an explanation of the owner rights under the contract including the ability to file a complaint with the board and any mediation or arbitration clause, the customer name and address, the address where the work happens, a description of the work, and price and payment terms. It must be legible and in dark ink. Consumer notices have to be delivered on or before the date the contract is entered into, and you keep proof of delivery for two years. ORS 701.310 gives the owner a cancellation window until midnight at the end of the next business day on an initial contract. The penalty schedule is real: failing to use a required written contract runs $500, then $1,000, then $5,000.
Sourcesoregonlegislature.gov 1secure.sos.state.or.us 2secure.sos.state.or.us 3
Oregon adopts one statewide mechanical code. The 2025 Oregon Mechanical Specialty Code is based on the 2024 International Mechanical Code and the International Fuel Gas Code, took effect October 1, 2025 with a six month phase in, and became mandatory on April 1, 2026. During the phase in either the 2022 or the 2025 edition could be used. The Mechanical Board works with the Building Codes Division to adopt and administer it. Most permits come from a local building department, and BCD publishes a local building department directory, plus the statewide ePermitting service for buying permits and scheduling inspections. The piece built for HVAC contractors is the mechanical minor label program, available statewide to contractors holding a valid CCB license who are not in violation of the minor label rules in OAR chapter 918, divisions 100 and 440. Minor labels cover moving or replacing ductwork that does not involve fire dampers or penetrations of firewalls, fire assemblies or floors, relocating grilles and air inlets or outlets, replacing existing heating, cooling and ventilation equipment including minor alterations of fuel piping downstream of the appliance shutoff valve, adding central air conditioning to existing ductwork in one and two family dwellings, installing new mini split heat pumps in one and two family dwellings, and installing radon mitigation exhaust fans. They cannot be used where the fuel type changes, where replacing fuel burning equipment forces a new venting system, or on commercial equipment above 2,000 cubic feet per minute, above 400 pounds, or above 5 ton cooling capacity.
A CCB license does not let your technicians do everything on a mechanical job. The Building Codes Division issues the electrical, plumbing, boiler, elevator and manufactured dwelling licenses for individuals and businesses in Oregon, and those are separate credentials from the CCB business license. That split matters when a heat pump changeout touches a circuit or a gas or water line, because the CCB number does not stand in for a BCD individual license. BCD exams carry their own mechanics. The passing score for all division licensing exams is 75 percent or better. You choose your testing location on the application, the exam has to be taken within 60 days of the date on the Letter of Authorization, and changing locations after the Letter of Authorization is issued means paying the license fee again for a new letter. The exam location sends the exam to the division for grading, results are not given by telephone, and you should allow two weeks. Anyone who fails waits 30 days before retesting. Reciprocity in Oregon is narrow and does not reach HVAC. The state holds agreements only with states that have substantially similar electrical and plumbing criteria, and only for General Journeyman Electrician, General Supervising Electrician and Journeyman Plumber licenses. There is no reciprocal path for a contractor license, so an out of state HVAC company moving into Oregon runs the full CCB application.
Oregon does not certify refrigerant handling, the federal government does, and that certification is separate from anything the CCB issues. EPA regulations at 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, require technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of equipment that could release refrigerants into the atmosphere to be certified. The rule defines a technician by activity: attaching and detaching hoses and gauges to an appliance to measure pressure, adding or removing refrigerant, or any other activity that violates the integrity of a small appliance or an MVAC like appliance other than disposal. Technicians pass an EPA approved test administered by an EPA approved certifying organization, and the tests are specific to the equipment type. EPA built four types. Type I covers servicing small appliances. Type II covers servicing or disposing of high and very high pressure appliances other than small appliances and MVACs. Type III covers low pressure appliances. Universal covers all three. A core test taken open book cannot be used toward Universal certification; the core has to be proctored for that. Section 608 credentials do not expire. Apprentices are exempt while closely and continually supervised by a certified technician. EPA does not issue the cards itself. For an Oregon HVAC owner the sequence is straightforward: the company holds the CCB license and the endorsement, and each technician who breaks into a sealed system holds the matching Section 608 card.
Oregon cities do not issue a competing HVAC license, but the Portland metro area adds registration and tax obligations that catch out of area contractors. Portland has required a business license since 1854, and today the Portland Business License Tax is a net income tax on business activity conducted in Portland. The Revenue Division administers it jointly with the Multnomah County Business Income Tax and the Metro Supportive Housing Services Business Income Tax. You are generally doing business in these jurisdictions if you carry on any profit seeking activity there, including through employees or representatives, and a stock of goods, an office or a place of business triggers it. Businesses operating within Portland or Multnomah County must register for a Revenue Division tax account within 60 days. Exemption thresholds apply but filing usually does not go away. For the Portland Business License Tax, taxfilers are exempt if gross receipts from all business activity everywhere fall below $50,000 for tax years beginning before January 1, 2026, below $75,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and below $100,000 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. The Multnomah County threshold is $100,000. The Metro tax reaches businesses above $5 million in gross receipts. Permits are separate again: Portland Permitting and Development runs building permits, inspections and code enforcement inside the city.
Sourcesportland.gov 1portland.gov 2
Assume every serious Oregon prospect runs your number before they sign. The CCB operates a public license search at search.ccb.state.or.us, with an option to search all records or active records only, and records update every six hours. The CCB tells consumers to search by the shortest distinct part of a business name and not to assume a contractor is unlicensed when a name does not match, since punctuation and spelling break searches. The same search hub links out to separate CCB searches for locksmiths, lead safe contractors, home inspectors and public works bonded contractors, and to other agencies including the Building Codes Division for electrical and plumbing licenses and the Department of Consumer and Business Services for employers carrying workers compensation insurance. That last link is the one homeowners use to confirm your crew is covered. Complaints run on strict clocks that HVAC contractors should know before a callback turns into a filing. For residential work on an existing structure, the complaint form must be received within one year after the work was substantially completed. For a new structure, it is one year from the date the structure was first occupied or two years from substantial completion, whichever is earlier. Commercial complaints run 14 months from first occupancy on a new structure, or 14 months from substantial completion on an existing one. Complaints can only be filed against licensed contractors.
These are common details other guides publish about Oregon, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Oregon licenses the business through the Construction Contractors Board and has no separate mechanical trade license. The Building Codes Division issues electrical, plumbing, boiler, elevator and manufactured dwelling licenses, not HVAC. Your CCB license plus the right endorsement is the credential that lets an Oregon heating and cooling company contract, bid and advertise.
Most fit Residential Specialty Contractor, which covers one or two unrelated building trades on residential or small commercial projects. It carries a $20,000 residential bond and $300,000 per occurrence liability. If you want unlimited trades on those same structures, the Residential General Contractor endorsement takes a $25,000 bond and $500,000 per occurrence.
Your Responsible Managing Individual completes at least 16 hours of pre-license training from an approved provider, then tests through PSI. The exam is 80 multiple choice questions over three hours, open book on the Oregon NASCLA manual, and passing is 70 percent, or 56 correct. The test costs $60 and scores come back immediately.
The license runs two years and the application fee is $400. OAR 812-003-0142 set $400 for renewals and reissued licenses from July 1, 2024 and for new licenses from July 1, 2025. The prior figure was $325. Fees are not refunded except in one narrow new entity situation, minus a $40 processing charge.
Yes. OAR 812-003-0120 requires all advertising by internet media, including website advertising, to show the license number visually. The same rule covers radio, television, print, phone directory ads, business cards, letterhead, job site signs, written bids and contracts. Missing it draws $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $400 after that.
Advertising or submitting a bid as a contractor without a license draws $600 under the CCB penalty schedule, reducible if you become licensed or withdraw the bid immediately after notice and no work followed. A repeat, or using an inactive, lapsed, invalid or misleading number, is $700 per offense with no reduction.
Every two year period you need three hours of CCB laws, regulations and business practices classes, plus five hours of other approved courses if you have been licensed six or more years, or 13 hours if you have been licensed less than six. Only three hours of CCB classes will be credited toward the total.
Minor labels cover equipment replacement, duct changes without fire assembly penetrations, adding central air to existing ductwork, mini split heat pumps in one and two family dwellings and radon exhaust fans. They cannot be used when fuel type changes, when new venting is required, or on commercial equipment over 2,000 cfm, 400 pounds or 5 tons.
Not for the contractor license. Oregon reciprocity agreements cover only General Journeyman Electrician, General Supervising Electrician and Journeyman Plumber individual licenses, with states having substantially similar electrical and plumbing criteria. An out of state HVAC company runs the full CCB application, including the RMI training and Oregon exam.
When the aggregate contract price exceeds $2,000, under ORS 701.305. If a job crosses that line mid-stream you have five days to deliver the written contract. The contract must show your CCB license number as it appears on board records, along with the owner rights explanation, scope, price and payment terms.
Yes for refrigerant work. Federal rules at 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F require certification for technicians who maintain, service, repair or dispose of refrigerant containing equipment. Type I covers small appliances, Type II high pressure, Type III low pressure and Universal all three. The credentials do not expire, and supervised apprentices are exempt.
Businesses operating in Portland or Multnomah County must register for a Revenue Division tax account within 60 days. The Portland Business License Tax exemption threshold is $75,000 in gross receipts for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and $100,000 from 2027. Multnomah County uses a $100,000 threshold.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.