Which agency issues the license now
Idaho moved this program, and searching for the old agency still turns up pages that no longer run it.
The current issuer is the Idaho State Plumbing Board, operating within the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, known as DOPL. The former Division of Building Safety web address now redirects to dopl.idaho.gov, which is the clearest confirmation that the plumbing program sits with DOPL.
The statute has been rewritten to match. Idaho Code section 54-2607 is headed Administrator of the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, Powers and Duties, and the rules governing plumbing are promulgated under sections that include 54-2607 and 67-9406. Idaho Code 54-2616 states that the successful applicant pays fees to the division of occupational and professional licenses. Idaho Code 54-2618 refers to a form prescribed and furnished by the division of occupational and professional licenses.
The governing law is Idaho Code Title 54, Chapter 26, Plumbing and Plumbers. The rules are IDAPA 24.39.20, Rules Governing Plumbing. The board also adopts the Idaho State Plumbing Code, which is the Uniform Plumbing Code with Idaho amendments, through section 600 of those rules.
The board issues six categories, named on its own page: apprentice, journeyman, contractor, specialty apprentice, specialty journeyman and specialty contractor. Licensing contact runs through BCRE-Licensing@dopl.idaho.gov and 208-334-3233.
One thing Idaho does that most states do not: the state itself issues plumbing permits and performs inspections in the jurisdictions it covers. IDAPA 24.39.20.500 sets the permit rules and the permit fee schedule, and DOPL runs a refund policy for permits purchased outside its jurisdiction. That makes DOPL both the licensing body and, in much of the state, the inspection body.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1dopl.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3legislature.idaho.gov 4adminrules.idaho.gov 5legislature.idaho.gov 6
Idaho licenses the person, not the plumbing company
Idaho issues certificates of competency to individuals. There is no plumbing company license and no plumbing business registration number.
Idaho Code 54-2611 sets the classifications and each is written around a person. A plumbing contractor is a person skilled in the planning and supervision of the construction, installation, improvement, extension and alteration of plumbing systems, and able to direct the work of qualified employees. A plumbing journeyman is a person engaged in the installation, improvement, extension and alteration of plumbing systems while employed under the direction of a contractor. A plumbing apprentice is a person engaged in learning and assisting under the supervision of a journeyman. The three specialty classifications mirror those definitions inside a specialty.
The link to the business is made by a rule rather than a separate license. IDAPA 24.39.20.100.03.a, headed Restrictive Use of Contractor Certificate, states that a contractor or specialty contractor can only represent one person or entity as stated on an original or renewal license application. If the representation changes or ends for any reason, the contractor must immediately notify the division in writing, and failure to give that notice constitutes improper transferring of a license.
So the certificate is personal but is tied to one named business at a time. Moving your contractor certificate to a new company is a filing, and doing it silently is treated as improperly transferring a license.
Licensed plumbers are also exempt from the separate Idaho Contractor Registration Act. Idaho Code 54-5205 states that nothing in that chapter restricts persons licensed under chapters including chapter 26 of title 54 from engaging in the practice for which they are licensed. A plumbing contractor holding a certificate of competency does not also register as a general contractor to do plumbing work.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1adminrules.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Journeyman: 8,000 hours with school, or 16,000 without
Idaho gives two routes to a journeyman certificate, and the difference between them is 8,000 hours.
IDAPA 24.39.20.100.02 states that an applicant must pass an examination designated by the board, and either submit evidence of a minimum of eight thousand hours of work experience as an apprentice making plumbing installations in accordance with the requirements of the jurisdiction where the experience was obtained, plus satisfactory completion of 576 hours of a board-approved course of instruction, or submit proof of sixteen thousand hours of plumbing experience.
The board's own licensing page states the same two paths as 8,000 hours of work experience plus four years of approved schooling, or 16,000 hours of work experience.
Eight thousand hours is about four years of full-time work. Sixteen thousand is about eight. The 576 classroom hours are what buy back the second four years, which is why the apprenticeship route is the faster one by a wide margin.
Two kinds of work do not count. The rule states that pipe fitting and appliance plumbing specialty work will not count towards the experience qualifications for a journeyman's certificate of competency. A career spent on pipe fitting does not convert.
The sequence is strict and catches applicants who assume they apply first. IDAPA 24.39.20.100.02.a states that an applicant may sit for the exam after showing proof of completion of either the 576 hours of instruction or the 16,000 hours of experience. The board's licensing page and the journeyman application both say the examination must be passed before applying to DOPL for the license.
Experience is documented on work verification forms, one for each employer. The apprentice route needs the 576 school hours plus 8,000 hours of supervised plumbing installation work; the work-only route needs 16,000 hours of supervised plumbing installation work.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1dopl.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3
Contractor: journeyman first, then an exam and a $2,000 bond
The contractor certificate is the one that lets you hold permits and run the business, and Idaho gates it behind the journeyman certificate.
IDAPA 24.39.20.100.03 states that an applicant must hold a journeyman certificate of competency for a contractor certificate, or the relevant specialty journeyman certificate for a specialty contractor certificate, must successfully pass an examination designated by the board, and must provide a compliance bond in the amount of two thousand dollars.
The bond is not a one-time filing. The rule states that any such bond is required to be effective for the duration of the certificate period, and that proof of renewal of the compliance bond is required to renew or revive a certificate. Certificates run three years under Idaho Code 54-2617, so the bond has to be kept alive across that whole period and proven again at each renewal.
Idaho Code 54-2617 repeats the bond requirement on the way back from inactive status. Converting an inactive contractor certificate to active requires a processing fee, proof of continuing education completion, and a $2,000 compliance bond.
The same rule carries the restriction covered earlier: a contractor or specialty contractor can represent only one person or entity as stated on the original or renewal application, with immediate written notice to the division if that changes.
There is one temporary route around the contractor requirement, and it is narrow. Idaho Code 54-2617 provides a temporary contractor license valid for up to 90 days, allowing an active journeyman to represent a firm when the contractor dies or becomes incapacitated. It permits all contractor duties except obtaining new permits or soliciting work, and may be renewed once on written request.
Specialty contractor scope is limited to the specialty, under IDAPA 24.39.20.100.04.c or 100.04.e.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2
The specialty certificates and exactly what they let you touch
Idaho's two plumbing specialties are narrow, and the rules describe the permitted work in physical terms rather than in general language.
The appliance specialty journeyman requires an examination designated by the board and either a minimum of three thousand hours of apprentice on-the-job specialty-related experience plus satisfactory completion of 72 hours of board-approved specialty-related training classes, or a minimum of six thousand hours of specialty-related work experience.
The permitted scope is tightly drawn. In one-family and two-family residences only, the holder may disconnect, cap, remove and reinstall within sixty inches of the original location: water heating appliances; water treating or filtering devices; air or space temperature modifying equipment which involves potable water; humidifiers; temperature and pressure relief valves; condensate drains; and indirect drains. It does not include installation, testing or certifying of backflow prevention devices, and it does not include any modification to the drain, waste or vent systems.
Sixty inches is the number to remember. Moving a water heater across a garage is outside the certificate.
The water pump specialty journeyman requires an examination and a minimum of three thousand hours of specialty-related work experience, with no school hours alternative stated. Its permitted scope is to install and connect water service piping from pump to storage expansion pressure tank, in one and two family residences only. It also excludes installation, testing or certifying of backflow prevention devices.
Both specialties must comply with all Idaho plumbing laws and rules and with the Uniform Plumbing Code.
A specialty apprentice must maintain state registration and be employed by a licensed contractor. Working outside the scope of a specialty certificate is a listed civil penalty offense under IDAPA 24.39.20.300.03.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov
Every fee the division publishes
Idaho's fees are set partly in statute and partly on the board's published schedule, and the two reconcile once you see that certificates run three years.
The board's schedule lists an application fee of $22.50, charged once. Against that, initial and renewal fees by type are: apprentice $50 initial and $50 renewal; specialty apprentice $30 initial and $30 renewal; journeyman and specialty journeyman $29.40 initial and $21.60 renewal; contractor and specialty contractor $147 initial and $108 renewal.
Idaho Code 54-2616 states the underlying annual figures: plumbing contractor $75.00, plumbing journeyman $15.00, specialty contractor $75.00 and specialty journeyman $15.00 for issuance, with renewals of $36.00 for contractor and specialty contractor and $7.20 for journeyman and specialty journeyman. Multiply the renewal figures by the three year certificate period and you get the $108 and $21.60 on the board's schedule.
Idaho Code 54-2614 sets the registration fee for apprentices at fifty dollars per renewal and for specialty apprentices at thirty dollars per renewal.
The journeyman application puts the initial total at $51.90 for an initial, reciprocal or reopen-closed application, which is the $22.50 application fee plus the $29.40 initial license fee. Access Idaho adds a charge of 2.5 percent for credit card payments.
Idaho Code 54-2617 caps the inactive renewal fee for a contractor or specialty contractor at $36, and sets a $30 processing fee to convert back to active.
Permits are priced separately in IDAPA 24.39.20.500.02. New one and two family dwelling plumbing permits run $130 up to 1,500 square feet, $195 for 1,501 to 2,500, $260 for 2,501 to 3,500, $325 for 3,501 to 4,500, and $325 plus $65 for each additional 1,000 square feet above 4,500. A permit expires 365 days after purchase or last inspection and renews for $65. Transferring a permit costs $45.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3legislature.idaho.gov 4dopl.idaho.gov 5adminrules.idaho.gov 6
The examination, and who writes it
Idaho does not write its own plumbing examination. It designates one.
IDAPA 24.39.20.100 requires an examination designated by the board for the journeyman certificate, the contractor and specialty contractor certificates, the appliance specialty journeyman and the water pump specialty journeyman. Idaho Code 54-2609 is headed Character of Examination, and 54-2612 and 54-2613 cover examination timing, notification and the application for examination.
The board's licensing page names the examination as the IAPMO examination, registered for and taken through PSI. The journeyman application describes the same arrangement, with the exam administered by IAPMO through PSI.
The order of operations is the part worth getting right, because it is the reverse of most states. The board states that applicants must meet the requirements for licensure and pass the IAPMO examination before submitting an application to DOPL. The published steps are to obtain the experience, register for and pass the IAPMO exam through PSI, then apply for licensure through DOPL.
Eligibility to sit is separate from eligibility to be licensed. IDAPA 24.39.20.100.02.a allows an applicant to sit for the exam after showing proof of completion of either 576 hours of board-approved instruction or 16,000 hours of plumbing experience.
Idaho Code 54-2614 addresses failure. A person who fails may reapply on payment of the examination fee, and after a second failure the board may prohibit further attempts for one year.
Idaho Code 54-2610 makes the certificate a prerequisite, and 54-2615 governs issuance of the certificate of competency once the examination is passed and the application approved.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1dopl.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3legislature.idaho.gov 4legislature.idaho.gov 5
Renewal, inactive status and continuing education
Idaho runs a three year certificate and, unusually, asks for no continuing education to renew it.
Idaho Code 54-2617 states that certificates of competency shall be issued for a period of three years and shall expire three years from the date of issue, unless sooner revoked or suspended. Renewal is filed during the month before expiration. A lapsed certificate may be revived within two years without retesting on payment of the initial fees.
Registrations run on their own clocks. Idaho Code 54-2614A states that an apprentice registration is valid for five years and a specialty apprentice registration for three years, each expiring on the last day of the month in which it is set to expire. A lapsed apprentice registration may be revived within one year on payment of the renewal fee.
On continuing education, the statute and the board have to be read together. Idaho Code 54-2617 ties renewal for plumbing contractors and journeymen to providing proof of completion of the continuing education requirements as established by the board. The board then answers the question directly in its own frequently asked questions: there are no continuing education requirements for plumbing.
So the statute creates the hook and the board has hung nothing on it. The accurate statement is that no continuing education hours are currently required to renew an Idaho plumbing certificate, and that this rests on a board decision the board could revisit rather than on the statute forbidding it. Check the board's page before each renewal rather than assuming.
Inactive status is available for contractors and specialty contractors not engaged in plumbing contracting in Idaho, at a fee not exceeding $36. Returning to active requires a $30 processing fee, proof of continuing education completion, and a $2,000 compliance bond.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3
Reciprocity: three states, journeyman level only
Idaho does reciprocate, but only for one license level and only with named states. This is the per-trade detail that generic guides flatten.
The board's journeyman application sets out the arrangements. For Montana and Oregon, the out-of-state license must show completion of apprenticeship, 8,000 work hours, active status, and proof of licensure by examination. For Washington, the license must show either 8,000 or 16,000 work hours, active status, and proof of examination.
There is a residency condition that surprises people. When reciprocating from Washington or Montana, the applicant must be a resident of the state in which he or she holds the license at the time of application. Move to Idaho first and the route closes.
The underlying agreements confirm the level. The Idaho and Oregon agreement recognises the qualifications of journeyman plumbers without further examination, requiring a current, active journeyman plumber license or certificate in good standing from either state, and four years or 7,700 hours in the plumbing trade under the direct supervision of a licensed journeyman plumber plus completion of four years of plumbing apprenticeship vocational education with a minimum of 576 classroom hours. Fees and other application requirements of the receiving state still apply.
The Montana agreement states that persons holding a journeyman plumber's certificate of competency in one signatory state may obtain a reciprocal certificate in another, that no written examination shall be required for the reciprocal certificate, and that applicants must meet the experience requirements of the state of application and be residents of the state where they hold the original certificate.
Note what is absent. These are journeyman agreements. A contractor certificate still requires the Idaho contractor examination and the $2,000 compliance bond.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1dopl.idaho.gov 2dopl.idaho.gov 3
Advertising: the license number goes in the ad, or it is a penalty
Idaho writes its advertising duty into the civil penalty rule itself, which makes it unusually easy to cite and unusually easy to breach.
IDAPA 24.39.20.300.09 is headed Advertising. It makes both of the following a penalty offense: advertising to engage in the business, trade, practice or work of a plumbing contractor as defined in Idaho Code 54-2611 without holding a current and valid plumbing contractor certificate of competency issued by the division, and advertising without including the contractor certificate of competency number in the advertisement.
The second limb is the one that catches licensed contractors. Holding the certificate is not enough. The number has to appear in the advertisement.
The rule then defines the reach, and it is wide. Advertising includes, but is not limited to: newspaper, telephone directory, community flier ads or notices; telephone, television, radio, internet, or door-to-door solicitations.
Internet is named, so a website, a listing profile and a paid search ad are all inside the rule. Door-to-door solicitation is named, so storm-chasing and canvassing are inside it too.
The penalty sits at the top of the same section. IDAPA 24.39.20.300 states that the acts described subject the violator to a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars for each separate count or offense. Each advertisement is capable of being a separate count.
Idaho does not specify a letter height, a prefix or a vehicle lettering requirement in this rule, and none appears elsewhere in IDAPA 24.39.20. The duty is to include the certificate number, not to render it at a stated size.
The practical instruction is short. Put your plumbing contractor certificate number on the website, on every directory listing, in every print and broadcast ad, and on anything a canvasser hands over.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2
Displaying and carrying the certificate
Separate from advertising, Idaho Code 54-2618 sets who posts a certificate and who carries one.
The section is headed Certificate to Be Displayed and Certificates of Competency and Registration Carried or in Vicinity of Work Site, and it splits along the grades.
All holders of valid certificates in the contractor and specialty contractor classifications shall display a sign or card, upon a form prescribed and furnished by the division of occupational and professional licenses, for public view in their place of business. Note the form is the division's, not one you design. If you have not got it, ask the division rather than printing your own.
Journeymen and specialty journeymen must keep the certificate of competency on their person or in the vicinity during working hours. Apprentices and specialty apprentices must have evidence of registration available the same way.
The supervision requirement runs alongside it. IDAPA 24.39.20.300.05 makes it a civil penalty offense to work as an apprentice or specialty apprentice without the required journeyman supervision, or to employ an apprentice without providing the required journeyman supervision. The rule also makes it an offense to knowingly employ a person who does not hold an active certificate of competency or registration as required by Idaho Code 54-2611.
Both of those sit under the same $1,000 per count civil penalty ceiling as the advertising rule.
For a contractor running crews, this converts into three habits. The division's sign goes up at the office. Every journeyman carries the card, or keeps it on the truck at the site. Every apprentice is registered, is supervised, and can produce the registration. An inspector can check all three in a few minutes.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1adminrules.idaho.gov 2
Penalties: civil penalties, and a criminal charge behind them
Idaho runs two penalty tracks for plumbing, and they stack rather than substitute.
The civil track is IDAPA 24.39.20.300, which subjects the violator to a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars for each separate count or offense. Ten categories are listed. Failure to comply with any provision of chapter 26, title 54 or any board rule. Performance of plumbing without an active certificate of competency or registration, except as allowed by Idaho Code 54-2602. Performance outside the scope of a specialty certificate. Knowing employment of a person without an active certificate or registration. Working as an apprentice without required journeyman supervision, or employing one without providing it. Failure to obtain a required permit, pay applicable fees, properly post a permit, or request an inspection. Failure to make corrections in the time allotted. Misrepresentation of permit or inspection fees to the customer. The advertising offenses. Failure to comply with any lawful order of the board or division administrator.
Two of those deserve attention because they target licensed contractors rather than unlicensed operators: misrepresenting permit or inspection fees to a customer, and failing to make corrections in the time allotted.
The criminal track is Idaho Code 54-2628, headed Violation, Misdemeanor. It reaches any person, or a firm, copartnership, association or corporation acting through a member, representative or agent, who engages in the business, trade, practice or work of plumbing without a certificate of competency or without registration, or performs work without a permit. The penalty is a fine of between ten dollars and three hundred dollars, imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding thirty days, or both, and each violation constitutes a separate offense.
The fine is small; the separate-offense language and the misdemeanor record are the real exposure.
Sourcesadminrules.idaho.gov 1legislature.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Who is exempt, and why it matters when you bid
Idaho Code 54-2602 lists the exceptions to the plumbing chapter, and knowing them tells you which jobs you are competing for and which you are not.
Homeowners are first. A person who does plumbing work in a single or duplex family dwelling that they own or are purchasing is excepted, provided the applicable standards are followed. IDAPA 24.39.20.500.01.b confirms that such homeowners must still secure a plumbing permit by applying to the division under Idaho Code 54-2620.
Farm buildings on agricultural land that house farm equipment or products are excepted where they are outside city limits and not connected to public systems. Logging, mining and construction camps are excepted where installations conform to the recommendations of the department of environmental quality. Industrial piping systems in processing plants outside city limits are excepted unless connected to public water or sewer.
Employer maintenance is excepted: work on systems at premises where employers regularly employ maintenance or construction plumbers. So is the excavating or utility contractor who generally engages in the business of installing, altering or repairing sewers.
Residential or business water treatment installations are excepted if inspected by division agents. Modular building work performed in-state for out-of-state installation is excepted. Licensed mobile home installers connecting manufactured home utilities to on-site facilities are excepted. Licensed HVAC and electrical tradespeople are excepted for specific water heater and heating system components. Tax-exempt charitable nonprofits performing residential installations with volunteer labor are excepted.
Two of these matter commercially. The sewer and utility contractor exception explains why underground sewer work is often bid by firms without plumbing certificates. The employer maintenance exception explains why large facilities keep in-house crews rather than contracting the routine work out.
None of these exceptions waive the permit requirements in Idaho Code 54-2620 and 54-2622.
Sourceslegislature.idaho.gov 1adminrules.idaho.gov 2legislature.idaho.gov 3
Boise, Meridian and who actually issues your plumbing permit
Idaho splits permitting between the state and the larger cities, and which one you deal with depends on the address.
DOPL issues plumbing permits and performs inspections across the jurisdictions it covers. Its permits page publishes both a contractor plumbing permit application and a homeowner plumbing permit application, and its refund policy refers to permits purchased out of DOPL jurisdiction, which are not eligible for refund unless there has been a recent city annexation. That sentence is the clearest statement that some areas are inside DOPL jurisdiction and others are not.
Boise is one of the areas that runs its own. The City of Boise states that homeowners can use its online permitting and licensing system to pull trade permits for plumbing, electrical and mechanical, and its building pages carry a residential plumbing permit type.
Boise is equally clear about who may do the work. If you are not doing all of the work yourself, including plumbing, the person performing the work must be a State of Idaho registered and licensed contractor in that trade. The city does not issue its own plumbing competency license; it checks the state one.
Meridian, the state's second largest city, also runs its own. Its Building Services division states that it is responsible for all activities associated with structural, fire, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits within the City of Meridian.
The practical rule for a contractor working the Treasure Valley is to check jurisdiction before pricing, because the permit fee schedule differs. DOPL's own schedule prices a new one or two family dwelling permit at $130 up to 1,500 square feet rising to $325 for 3,501 to 4,500, while a city sets its own. Pulling the wrong one wastes the fee and the annexation caveat on DOPL's refund policy shows this happens often enough to need a rule.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1adminrules.idaho.gov 2cityofboise.org 3meridiancity.org 4
How a customer verifies an Idaho plumbing certificate
The board runs a public search, and it is linked from the State Plumbing Board's own page as Search for a License.
The search runs on the division's online services system at edopl.idaho.gov. Because DOPL licenses many professions through one system, the same search covers plumbing contractors, journeymen, specialty holders and registered apprentices.
What a customer should read off the result is more than a name. The classification decides scope: a specialty journeyman is limited to the appliance or water pump specialty, and an appliance specialty holder may only disconnect, cap, remove and reinstall listed equipment within sixty inches of its original location in one and two family residences. A journeyman works under the direction of a contractor. Only a contractor certificate holder can hold out as a plumbing contractor.
Status matters as much as classification, because certificates run three years and a lapsed certificate can sit unrenewed for up to two before revival requires retesting.
For a contractor, the number is a marketing asset that Idaho already obliges you to publish. IDAPA 24.39.20.300.09 requires the contractor certificate of competency number in every advertisement, across newspaper, telephone directory, fliers, telephone, television, radio, internet and door-to-door solicitation. Since it has to be on the website anyway, put it where a customer can copy it into the search rather than in small print at the foot of the page.
On site, the same information is verifiable without a computer. Idaho Code 54-2618 requires journeymen to carry the certificate on their person or in the vicinity during working hours, apprentices to have registration evidence available, and contractors to display the division's prescribed sign or card for public view at the place of business.
Sourcesdopl.idaho.gov 1edopl.idaho.gov 2adminrules.idaho.gov 3legislature.idaho.gov 4legislature.idaho.gov 5