Kentucky · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
Kentucky licenses plumbers statewide through the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, Division of Plumbing, in Frankfort. It licenses people, not companies: only Master Plumber and Journeyman Plumber exist. A company works through a master plumber in responsible charge. Expect an 80 percent master exam, $250,000 general liability, and six continuing education hours a year.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-11. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Kentucky licenses plumbers at state level, through one agency, for the whole Commonwealth. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction runs the Division of Plumbing from 500 Mero Street in Frankfort, reachable on (502) 573-0397 and at plumbing@ky.gov, with the Licensing Branch on (502) 573-2002. The department sits under the Public Protection Cabinet. KRS 318.015(1) states that the chapter applies and is in full force and effect in all counties of the Commonwealth, and subsection (2) puts the state plumbing code in force for all public buildings regardless of location. Subsection (3) carves out farmsteads, defined in KRS 318.010(8) as a farm dwelling and related farm buildings on ten acres or more outside a municipality's corporate limits. So there is no city plumbing license to chase in Kentucky and no county grade to add. The authority to license comes from KRS Chapter 318 and the rules live in 815 KAR 20:030, which the department promulgated under KRS 198B.040(10), 318.040, 318.050, 318.054(3) and 318.130. One more point of scope matters to a contractor bidding hospital work. KRS 318.010(4)(e) writes medical gas piping into the statutory definition of plumbing, so medical gas sits inside the plumbing license rather than beside it.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov 1apps.legislature.ky.gov 2dhbc.ky.gov 3dhbc.ky.gov 4
Kentucky issues exactly two plumbing licenses. The department's own licensee search lists only Journeyman Plumber and Master Plumber under the Division of Plumbing. KRS 318.010(3) defines a master plumber as a person who assumes responsible charge, supervision or direction of journeyman plumbers, plumbers' apprentices and other persons in the construction, installation or alteration of plumbing, or who engages in, offers to engage in, or advertises or otherwise represents that he is permitted or qualified to engage in the design, planning, superintending, contracting for, or responsible charge of plumbing. That last clause is the contracting license. KRS 318.010(2) defines a journeyman plumber as a person who does the construction, installation, alteration, maintenance, repair, remodeling, removal and replacement of plumbing under the supervision, direction and responsibility of a master plumber. KRS 318.030(1) then makes it plain: no person shall engage in plumbing or work at the trade of plumbing unless holding a valid and effective active master plumber's license or journeyman plumber's license issued by the department. Three groups sit outside. KRS 318.010(7) and 318.020(1) allow an apprentice, a person learning the trade under the personal supervision of a licensed master or journeyman. KRS 318.020(2) exempts a maintenance man. KRS 318.020(3) exempts employees of a water company, water district or sanitation district working on mains and appurtenances.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov 1dhbc.ky.gov 2
This is the structural point that separates Kentucky from states with a contractor registry. There is no Kentucky plumbing contractor license, no company license number and no state business registration inside Chapter 318. KRS 318.110 sets out the arrangement instead: a company or individual principal may engage in the business of plumbing within any county of the Commonwealth if a person connected with that company in responsible charge of the plumbing work is a licensed master plumber. The master carries a reporting duty. Any master plumber in responsible charge of plumbing work for a company must notify the department at any time he or she commences or severs the connection with that company. So the license moves with the person, and the company's right to work moves with the license. KRS 318.120 closes the other side: no person or corporation who assumes responsible charge and direction of other persons in the installation of plumbing may employ or engage anyone not licensed under the chapter to perform and install plumbing, with apprentices the stated exception. 815 KAR 20:030 Section 5 adds the succession rule. If the master plumber representing a company dies, the company notifies the department within ten days, and KRS 318.054(5) grants an interim period of up to 180 continuous calendar days to keep using that license while bonding and insurance stay in force.
815 KAR 20:030 Section 2(1) lists four qualifying routes to a master plumber license, and only one of them is the ordinary ladder. The first route is holding a valid journeyman plumber's license for a minimum of two years within the past five years immediately preceding application, and being actively employed in plumbing under the supervision of a licensed master plumber for a minimum of two years. The second route is holding an engineer license in Kentucky and being sufficiently experienced in mechanical engineering, which the department judges on the number and complexity of the applicant's past mechanical engineering projects. The third route is holding a valid plumbing license issued by another state for a minimum of two years within the past five years immediately preceding application. The fourth route covers a plumber from a state that does not issue plumbing licenses at all: practice in a capacity equivalent to a master plumber for a minimum of four consecutive years immediately preceding application. The third and fourth routes carry a condition that trips people up. Section 2(2)(b) requires an applicant qualifying on out of state experience to also submit proof of successfully completing the journeyman plumber examination. KRS 318.040(1) adds the baseline: at least eighteen years of age, of good moral character, and a United States citizen or a resident alien authorized to work in the United States.
815 KAR 20:030 Section 3(1) gives two ways to qualify for the journeyman plumber license. The first is at least two consecutive years of experience as an apprentice plumber. The second is completing a department approved course that includes content on the practice of plumbing or the Kentucky State Plumbing Code, plus at least one year of experience as an apprentice plumber. The approved course halves the time on the tools, which is the practical reason to take one. Kentucky does not issue an apprentice license or card, so the apprentice years are documented rather than licensed. KRS 318.010(7) defines an apprentice as a person in the process of learning the plumbing trade who assists and is under the personal supervision of a licensed master or licensed journeyman plumber, and KRS 318.020(1) confirms that nothing in the chapter prohibits employing an apprentice to assist a journeyman plumber. Section 3(2) then sets out the application: Form PLB-2, Application for License as a Journeyman Plumber, proof of passing the Kentucky journeyman plumber examination with a minimum of seventy-five percent on each portion, and a license fee of sixty dollars. The initial journeyman license fee may be prorated for not less than seven months or more than eighteen months, and the license expires on the final day of the applicant's birth month.
The State Plumbing Examining Committee designs the examination requirements under 815 KAR 20:030 Section 1(2)(a), and the department runs the sittings. Regular examinations for master and journeyman applicants are conducted yearly during February, May, August and November, with special examinations at other times as the department directs. Notice of time and place goes out at least one week before the date. Every examination includes written questions on the basic principles of plumbing, KRS Chapter 318, 815 KAR Chapter 2 and 815 KAR Chapter 20, plus a drawing exercise in which the candidate inserts the proper pipe size on a prepared drawing showing stacks, wastes, vents and connected fixtures. Proper sizing of main stacks counts for more than other piping, and deductions apply for both oversized and undersized piping. The journeyman examination adds a practical section in which the candidate demonstrates the ability to install plumbing properly, for example by making connections of various plumbing materials. The candidate supplies the materials, and the department gives at least one week's notice of what to bring. The master examination is required to be more complex than the journeyman one. Pass marks differ: eighty percent on each portion for master, seventy-five percent on each portion for journeyman. A passing score stays valid for three years. A journeyman candidate who passes some portions may retake only the portion failed, but pays the full examination fee for any retake.
Kentucky publishes its plumbing fees in the regulation itself rather than a separate schedule, so the numbers are checkable. Examination fees under 815 KAR 20:030 Section 1(1)(a)2 are $150 for a master plumber and fifty dollars for a journeyman plumber, both non-refundable, submitted with Form PLB-3 and a passport-sized color photograph taken within the past six months. License fees are $250 for a master plumber under Section 2(2)(a)3 and sixty dollars for a journeyman plumber under Section 3(2)(c). Renewal under Section 4(1)(a) repeats those figures: $250 for a master plumber and sixty dollars for a journeyman plumber, payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer. Inactive status costs an initial inactive fee of $125 for a master and thirty dollars for a journeyman, and reactivation costs $125 for a master and thirty dollars for a journeyman on top of meeting all renewal requirements. Late fees come from the statute rather than the regulation. KRS 318.054(4) sets a revival fee of five dollars for a master plumber and three dollars for a journeyman plumber where the licensee renews after expiration. If renewal and revival fees are not paid within 180 days after expiration, the license is automatically cancelled by operation of law for nonpayment, and reinstatement then costs all delinquent renewal fees plus a revival fee of ten dollars for a master and six dollars for a journeyman.
KRS 318.030(2)(a) sets the figure. No person, firm or corporation may engage in plumbing or work at the trade of plumbing unless it maintains general liability insurance in an amount not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) and submits proof of compliance with the workers' compensation and unemployment insurance laws of the Commonwealth. Read the delivery mechanism in subsection (b): proof of that insurance goes to the department before issuance or renewal of the active master plumber license. The state does not license the company, so it attaches the company's insurance obligation to the master's card. Subsection (c) makes it a live condition rather than a filing formality. No license is valid without the insurance required, and insurance carriers must notify the department on cancellation of any required licensee's coverage. A lapse therefore reaches Frankfort without the contractor reporting it. Subsection (d) exempts employees of a person, firm or corporation engaged in plumbing, so a journeyman working for a licensed shop does not carry a personal policy. 815 KAR 20:030 Section 4(1)(c) repeats the requirement at renewal time, listing proof of insurance as required by KRS 318.030 among the items a master plumber submits with Form DHBC L-1. Kentucky sets no bond requirement for plumbing in Chapter 318.
Kentucky ties the plumbing license to the licensee's birth month, which catches contractors who plan renewals around a fiscal year. KRS 318.054(1) states that the initial license for a master or journeyman plumber expires on the last day of the licensee's birth month in the following year, and that renewed licenses expire on the last day of the licensee's birth month each year after issuance. The department may reduce the fee pro rata for initial licenses issued for less than twelve months, and 815 KAR 20:030 sets that proration band at not less than seven months and not more than eighteen months. KRS 318.054(3) requires the department to send each licensed master and journeyman plumber a renewal notice to the last known address no later than thirty days before expiration, and requires the master plumber renewal fee to exceed the journeyman fee. Renewal under 815 KAR 20:030 Section 4(1) means four things together: the fee, proof of continuing education under 815 KAR 2:010, proof of insurance under KRS 318.030 for a master plumber, and a completed Form DHBC L-1. Inactive status is available but narrow. Section 4(2)(b) bars an inactive master plumber from securing a plumbing permit, advertising, representing himself as a qualified master plumber, or otherwise engaging in the work of a master plumber. An inactive journeyman may not represent himself as a qualified journeyman.
815 KAR 2:010 carries the continuing education rules for every trade the department licenses, plumbing included. Section 2(1) sets the default at proof of at least six hours of approved continuing education before license renewal, and plumbers are not among the exceptions listed in Section 2(2), which raise the figure for building inspectors, electrical inspectors, elevator mechanics and others. Section 2(6) fixes the subject matter: each master plumber's and journeyman plumber's continuing education courses must relate to business, job safety, the Kentucky State Plumbing Code, or subject matter directly related to the plumbing trade. Hours must be earned in the twelve months before renewal, but Section 1(3) lets a licensee who accumulates more than the required annual hours carry the excess forward into the two successive educational years, capped at a total of twelve carried hours. Section 1(4) waives the requirement for a first renewal where the initial license was issued within twelve months of renewal. Section 1(5) caps safety practices and procedures at two hours per twelve month period. One classroom hour equals fifty minutes of instruction under Section 1(8), and an instructor or panelist earns one credit hour for each fifty minutes of actual instruction time, but only for the first delivery of a given course. Section 1(10) requires a corporation, business or partnership holding a license to designate an authorized agent to complete the annual hours.
Sourcesapps.legislature.ky.gov
Kentucky writes its reciprocity as a three part test, not as a roster of partner states. KRS 318.040(6) says the department may issue a license to any person who holds a valid license in another state if that state has a statewide plumbing code, the other state's examination is at least equal to that of Kentucky, and the other state agrees to reciprocate with Kentucky. Note the word may. Every element is a departmental judgment, and the condition that the other state agrees to reciprocate means the answer can change without the rule changing. The practical path for most out of state plumbers runs through 815 KAR 20:030 Section 2 instead, which treats an out of state license as an experience qualification rather than a swap. Section 2(1)(c) accepts a valid plumbing license issued by another state held for a minimum of two years within the past five years. Section 2(1)(d) accepts four consecutive years of practice in a capacity equivalent to a master plumber in a state that does not license plumbers. Either way, Section 2(2)(b) then requires proof of successfully completing the journeyman plumber examination. So an incoming master plumber should plan on sitting a Kentucky examination, and should treat the KRS 318.040(6) route as something to ask the Division of Plumbing about by name rather than assume.
815 KAR 20:050 Section 2(1) restricts plumbing permits to a licensed master plumber or to a homeowner working on a home the homeowner occupies or built for personal residential use. That single rule is why the master license is the operating license for a Kentucky plumbing business. Section 1(1) lists the work that needs a permit: a new plumbing installation, an existing installation where a fixture, soil or waste opening or conductor is moved or relocated, a new or replacement house sewer, a new or replacement water service, adding a backflow prevention device to an existing water service, and a new or replacement water heater. A new permit is also required when a master plumber takes over an installation originally permitted to another master plumber or homeowner, or assumes responsibility to correct and test someone else's installation. No permit is needed to repair leaks, cocks or valves, or to clean out waste or sewer pipes. Section 4 prices it. For residential one and two family units the base fee is fifty dollars plus fourteen dollars per plumbing fixture, appliance or opening, per domestic water heater, and per separately metered water and sewer service. For other buildings the base is fifty dollars plus twenty dollars per item, with conductor openings added to the list. A single new or replacement water heater in one building costs fifty dollars flat. Five inspections are included, and each additional inspection costs fifty dollars unless the permit itself exceeds $250.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov
The penalty statute is short and the numbers are low, which is worth understanding precisely rather than dismissing. KRS 318.990 provides that any person who violates any provision of Chapter 318, any regulation adopted under it, or any provision of the State Plumbing Code shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), or imprisoned for not more than ninety days, or both, for each offense. The sentence that gives it teeth follows: each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. A job run without a license or without a permit therefore accrues a fresh offense every day it stands. Three separate provisions can each be the violation. KRS 318.030(1) makes engaging in plumbing without an active license a violation on its own. KRS 318.120 makes it a violation for a person or corporation in responsible charge to employ or engage an unlicensed person to perform and install plumbing, with apprentices excepted. KRS 318.100 makes it a violation to advertise as or claim to be a licensed master or journeyman plumber without holding that license. License consequences run alongside the fine. KRS 318.064 covers revocation or suspension of a license and KRS 318.066 covers the hearing and appeal that follow.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov
Kentucky's advertising rule is a status rule, not a disclosure rule, and a contractor moving in from another state should read it that way. KRS 318.100 says that no person shall advertise as or claim to be a licensed master or licensed journeyman plumber within the Commonwealth of Kentucky unless that person holds a master or journeyman plumber license from the department. That is the whole statute. Kentucky sets no letter height for truck lettering, no prefix in front of the number, and no requirement in Chapter 318 or the Kentucky State Plumbing Law, Regulations and Code Book to print a license number on vehicles, in advertisements, on written estimates or on a website. The claim is what is regulated. Two related limits do bite. KRS 318.010(3) writes advertising into the definition of a master plumber, so a person who advertises or otherwise represents that he is permitted or qualified to contract for or take responsible charge of plumbing is acting as a master plumber, and needs the license to do it. 815 KAR 20:030 Section 4(2)(b)1 bars an inactive master plumber from advertising at all, alongside the bar on securing a permit. A lapsed or inactive card plus a live website is therefore a violation under KRS 318.990, billed per day. Putting the master license number on estimates and the site is still the sensible practice, because customers can check it.
Kentucky's two largest cities do not add a plumbing license, and in both the plumbing inspector works for Frankfort. Louisville Metro's Division of Construction Review publishes its contractor license types, and the list runs Building Type A and B, HVAC, Manufactured Fireplace, Range Hood, Mechanical Refrigeration, Fire Detection, Fire Suppression, Moving, Sign, Wrecking Type A and B, and Wrecking Supervisor. Plumbing is not among them. Construction Review's own inspections page lists the inspections that division performs as building, electrical and HVAC or mechanical. The department's Jefferson County contact sheet fills the gap, naming a roster of plumbing inspectors by zip code area, each with a ky.gov address and a 502-782 office number, plus a named plumbing plan approval contact. Lexington splits the work differently but ends in the same place. The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department reviews plumbing plans for public building construction and renovation, then forwards them to the Division of Plumbing in Frankfort for approval and transmittal to other agencies with jurisdiction. Its published submission sheet states that after approval, plans are hand delivered to the State Plumbing Inspectors. Plan review fees go to the health department: a base fee of $100 for new plans and, for plumbing only plan review, $100 for new construction and $75 for renovation. Projects with five or fewer fixture openings in existing buildings may be approved locally by the plumbing inspector between 8:00 and 9:30 AM, and licensed plumbers may obtain their permits at the same time.
Sourceslouisvilleky.gov 1louisvilleky.gov 2louisvilleky.gov 3dhbc.ky.gov 4dhbc.ky.gov 5lexingtonhealthdepartment.org 6lexingtonky.gov 7lfchd.org 8
Kentucky runs one public lookup for the whole Commonwealth, and it covers plumbing directly. The Licensee Search at dhbc.ky.gov lets anyone search by professional trade name, license type, licensee name, license number or status. Choosing Division of Plumbing in the trade list narrows the license type options to Journeyman Plumber and Master Plumber, which is also the cleanest confirmation that Kentucky has only those two plumbing credentials. The page notes that license number, issue date and expiration date appear once the license is active, so a record without those fields is telling the searcher something. Two checks are worth running together. Confirm the master plumber's license is active rather than inactive, because 815 KAR 20:030 Section 4(2)(b) bars an inactive master from pulling a permit or advertising. Then confirm the name on the license matches the person in responsible charge of the work, because KRS 318.110 ties the company's right to do plumbing business to that specific person, and requires the master to notify the department when the connection starts or ends. For local government work, KRS 318.140(3) allows a local government to collect occupational license fees from persons, firms or corporations engaged in the plumbing business, so a Kentucky plumbing company may hold a local occupational account in addition to the state license.
Sourcesdhbc.ky.gov 1dhbc.ky.gov 2apps.legislature.ky.gov 3dhbc.ky.gov 4
These are common details other guides publish about Kentucky, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, Division of Plumbing licenses plumbers for the whole Commonwealth. KRS 318.015(1) says the chapter applies in all counties. There is no separate city or county plumbing license to add on top.
The individual only. The department's licensee search lists exactly two plumbing license types, Journeyman Plumber and Master Plumber. KRS 318.110 lets a company engage in the plumbing business in any county if a person connected with it in responsible charge of the plumbing work is a licensed master plumber. There is no state plumbing contractor license.
815 KAR 20:030 Section 2(1) gives four routes: two years of journeyman licensure within the past five plus two years employed under a licensed master; a Kentucky engineer license with sufficient mechanical engineering experience; a valid out of state plumbing license held two years within the past five; or four consecutive years of master level practice in a state that does not license. You also pass the Kentucky master exam at eighty percent on each portion.
Written questions on the basic principles of plumbing, KRS Chapter 318, 815 KAR Chapter 2 and 815 KAR Chapter 20, plus pipe sizing on a prepared drawing where main stack sizing counts heaviest and both oversizing and undersizing lose points. The journeyman exam adds a practical section where you bring your own materials and make connections. Regular sittings run in February, May, August and November.
815 KAR 20:030 sets a $150 master exam fee and a fifty dollar journeyman exam fee, both non-refundable. The license fee is $250 for a master and sixty dollars for a journeyman, and renewal repeats those figures. Inactive status costs $125 for a master and thirty dollars for a journeyman, and reactivation costs the same.
KRS 318.030(2)(a) requires general liability insurance of not less than $250,000, plus proof of compliance with the Commonwealth's workers' compensation and unemployment insurance laws. Proof goes in before the active master plumber license issues or renews, no license is valid without it, and the carrier must notify the department if coverage is cancelled. Employees of a licensed firm are exempt from carrying it themselves.
On the last day of your birth month. KRS 318.054(1) sets initial expiration at the last day of the licensee's birth month in the following year, and renewed licenses expire the last day of that birth month each year. The department mails a renewal notice at least thirty days before expiration.
Six hours a year. 815 KAR 2:010 Section 2(1) sets the default at six approved hours before renewal, and plumbers are not in the raised categories. Courses must relate to business, job safety, the Kentucky State Plumbing Code, or the plumbing trade. Excess hours carry forward two years up to twelve hours, and safety topics are capped at two hours per twelve month period.
Kentucky writes a test rather than a list. KRS 318.040(6) allows the department to license someone who holds a valid license in another state if that state has a statewide plumbing code, its examination is at least equal to Kentucky's, and it agrees to reciprocate. Most out of state applicants instead qualify on experience under 815 KAR 20:030 Section 2 and then sit the Kentucky journeyman examination.
Only a licensed master plumber, or a homeowner working on a home they occupy or built for their own residential use, under 815 KAR 20:050 Section 2(1). An inactive master plumber may not secure a permit at all. The base permit fee is fifty dollars plus fourteen dollars per fixture in one and two family units, or fifty dollars plus twenty dollars per fixture in other buildings.
No. KRS 318.100 only bars advertising as or claiming to be a licensed master or journeyman plumber without holding that license. Chapter 318 and the state plumbing code book set no letter height, no prefix and no requirement to print a number on vehicles, advertisements, estimates or a website. Advertising while your master license is inactive is barred outright.
KRS 318.990 sets a fine of not less than ten dollars and not more than one hundred dollars, or up to ninety days imprisonment, or both, for each offense, and each day the violation continues is a separate offense. Employing an unlicensed person to install plumbing is its own violation under KRS 318.120, and the department can also revoke or suspend the license under KRS 318.064.
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