Massachusetts · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
Massachusetts licenses plumbing through the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, and it licenses at two levels. Individuals hold apprentice, journeyman or master licenses on separate plumbing and gas fitting ladders. Corporations, LLCs and partnerships with plumbing employees must separately hold a business license. A master plumber needs 1,700 hours as a journeyman plus the 110 hour Tier Five.
State-level license
Yes
Public lookup
Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-11. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Massachusetts licenses plumbing at state level through the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. The board sits in the Division of Occupational Licensure, which is part of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation inside the Executive Office of Economic Development. Its office is at One Federal Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02110-2012, and its phone number is 617-701-8798. The board is created by M.G.L. chapter 13, sections 36 to 38. Its licensing powers sit in M.G.L. chapter 142, sections 1 to 22, together with chapter 112, sections 61 to 65E. Its regulations are 248 CMR, and the board links the whole set from one page: 248 CMR 3.00 on the general conduct of plumbing and gas fitting work, 248 CMR 4.00 and 5.00 on fuel gas, 248 CMR 10.00, the Uniform State Plumbing Code effective December 8, 2023, and 248 CMR 11.00 on education and experience standards for licensure. Section 3 of chapter 142 states the rule in one line: no person shall engage in the business as a master plumber or gas fitter or work as a journeyman plumber or apprentice without being lawfully registered or licensed by the examiners. It also settles the geography question. Licensed master plumbers and journeymen may perform gas fitting work throughout the commonwealth, and that supersedes local ordinances, and they may handle house drainage and sewer connections without an additional local license, while remaining subject to local permitting and bonding rules. Section 6 adds that licenses issued by the examiners are valid throughout the commonwealth but are not assignable or transferable.
Sourcesmass.gov 1mass.gov 2mass.gov 3malegislature.gov 4malegislature.gov 5
Massachusetts is one of the states that licenses at two levels, and a contractor who only holds the personal card is not compliant. You need the individual license by grade and, if you operate through an entity, a separate business license. The individual side is apprentice, journeyman and master, on parallel plumbing and gas fitting ladders, plus liquefied petroleum installer credentials. The business side is written into both statute and regulation. Section 3B of chapter 142 lets a person licensed as a master plumber or master gas fitter apply to the examiners for a certificate of a plumbing corporation, a gas fitting corporation, a plumbing partnership or a gas fitting partnership, on payment of a fee and a biennial renewal fee. It requires that officers in corporations and all partners in partnerships meet the licensure requirements, and it deems a gas company under chapter 164 to be a gas fitting corporation. 248 CMR 3.03(1)(a) puts it more bluntly: all corporations, LLCs, partnerships or other such entities that have plumbing or gas fitting employees are required to maintain a business license. The regulation then sets who the applicant must be. For a corporation the applicant must be a master plumber or master gas fitter who is a listed officer. For an LLC, under 3.03(1)(c)(4)(b), the applicant must be a master licensee who is a listed manager. Under 3.03(1)(c)(5), all partners in a general partnership, limited partnership or LLP shall possess current master plumber or master gas fitter licenses. The application itself is attested under the pains and penalties of perjury by a master licensee who is a principal of the entity.
The board's application hub lists ten credentials across three families. Plumbing: apprentice plumber, journeyman plumber, master plumber, and the plumbing business license. Gas fitting: apprentice gasfitter, journeyman gas fitter, master gas fitter, and the gas fitting business license. Liquefied petroleum: liquefied petroleum installer and limited liquefied petroleum installer. The plumbing and gas fitting ladders are separate, which is the structural difference from Maryland, where the plumbing license carries the gas authority with it. In Massachusetts the fees, the continuing education hours and the examinations all differ between the two, so a shop that does both has to hold both. Section 3 of chapter 142 gives the plumbing license a reach that surprises people. Licensed master plumbers and journeymen may perform gas fitting work anywhere in the commonwealth notwithstanding local ordinances, and may make house drainage and sewer connections without an additional local license. The board's own policy statements then carve the practical edges, for example on limited LP installers connecting propane tanks, on the adjustment and replacement of gas controls, and on venting of flue gases. The scope of the work itself is set by 248 CMR 10.00, the Uniform State Plumbing Code, which took effect on December 8, 2023 and replaced the earlier edition. 248 CMR 3.00 governs the conduct of the work and of the licensee. A contractor who wants to know what is and is not inside the license reads those two together, along with the board's published policy statements on specific installations.
Sourcesmass.gov 1mass.gov 2malegislature.gov 3mass.gov 4mass.gov 5
The Massachusetts apprentice license is not a formality. It is a registration you must hold before you start, and it carries the whole hour count that later buys the journeyman license. Section 3A of chapter 142 requires that every apprentice, before starting the apprenticeship, file an application with the examiners accompanied by the appropriate fee. It restricts who may employ you: a person may be employed as an apprentice plumber by a master plumber only, and must work under the direct supervision of a master plumber, a journeyman plumber, a master gas fitter or a journeyman gas fitter. The supervision cap is the number that shapes a Massachusetts crew. Section 3A states that not more than one apprentice may work under the direct supervision of a master plumber, a master gas fitter, a journeyman plumber or a journeyman gas fitter. One to one. That is far tighter than Maine's three trainees per licensed plumber and it directly limits how fast a Massachusetts shop can grow labor. 248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)1 sets the field requirement at no less than 6,800 clock hours as a licensed apprentice working as an employee under the direct supervision of a master or journeyman plumber. 248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)2.b sets the classroom requirement at 550 clock hours of plumbing and gasfitting theory over a period of no less than four years, with no more than 165 hours of education credited for licensure purposes in any calendar year. 248 CMR 11.06(2)(b) organizes that theory into five tiers of 110 hours each. The apprentice application fee is $14 and the board directs approved applicants to register for tier classes at an authorized Massachusetts school.
The journeyman plumber license is the first level that can work without an apprentice card, and the route to it is fixed in 248 CMR 11.00 rather than left to the board's discretion. The field requirement is no less than 6,800 clock hours as a licensed apprentice under the direct supervision of a master or journeyman plumber, under 248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)1. The classroom requirement is the tier program: 550 clock hours of plumbing and gasfitting theory spread over no less than four years, with an annual cap of 165 credited education hours, under 248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)2.b and 248 CMR 11.06(2)(b). Tiers one through four are the journeyman path. Tier five is held back for the master license, which is covered in the next section. The regulation also runs the two tracks in parallel rather than in sequence. 248 CMR 11.02(1)(b)3.a describes students completing 165 education hours annually alongside 1,700 work hours, so the four year minimum is the schooling clock and the 6,800 hours accumulate against it. Each tier ends in its own examination that must be passed before advancing. When the hours and the tiers are done, the board wants three documents with the online application: an education verification form signed by an official at your school, a statement of experience form signed by your supervising master plumber, a notarized CORI criminal record form, and a two inch by two inch passport style photograph. The application fee is $31 and the license fee is $52, paid at the test center after the examination is passed.
The master plumber license is what lets you engage in the business as a master plumber under section 3 of chapter 142, and it is also the credential that anchors a business license, so it is the one a contractor actually needs. The requirement is short and specific. Under 248 CMR 11.02(2)(a)1, the applicant must have no less than one year of practical experience totaling a minimum of 1,700 clock hours as the holder of a Commonwealth of Massachusetts journeyman plumber license. Under 248 CMR 11.02(2)(a)2, the applicant must furnish documentation of having completed the 110 hour Tier Five of the plumber educational program. That is the structural point most summaries get wrong. Tier five is not part of the journeyman requirement. It is the master requirement, taken after you already hold the journeyman license, on top of the 1,700 hours worked under it. The application pack is the same shape as the journeyman one but the experience form is different. The board asks for a statement of experience and education verification form carrying your journeyman plumber license number, signed by school officials and by your instructor, a notarized CORI form, and a two inch by two inch passport style photograph. Applications go in online through eLIPSE and the board states plainly that applications mailed to the board will be returned. An incomplete application is held open for 180 days and then treated as abandoned. The master plumber application fee is $31, non-refundable and paid at submission, and the license fee of $78 is paid at the test center after passing.
If you trade through a corporation, an LLC or a partnership, the entity needs its own license and the board will check the paperwork behind it. The board's guidance is that any business operating as a plumbing company in Massachusetts must obtain a business license from the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. 248 CMR 3.03(1)(a) states the same requirement for all corporations, LLCs, partnerships or other such entities that have plumbing or gas fitting employees. Four things go with the application. A signed, stamped copy of your business's organizing documents as filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, matched to your structure. Those organizing documents must list a licensed master plumber as an officer, a manager or a partner, depending on the entity type. Each master plumber listed as an officer, manager or partner must complete and pass a CORI check. A business formed outside Massachusetts needs a certificate from the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The fee is $225 for the business license, and the renewal is also $225 for a corporation or partnership. Two continuity rules in 248 CMR 3.03(1)(e) matter more than the fee. If the licensee of record withdraws, the business may continue only so long as a new application for a business license is filed by a licensed master plumber or gas fitter within 60 days of the withdrawal. And if the license of the licensee of record is suspended or revoked, the business may not operate. Your entire company license rides on one person's individual standing, which is a real succession risk worth planning for. Applications go through eLIPSE, by phone, in person at One Federal Street, or by mail.
PSI Exams notifies approved applicants, schedules and conducts the Massachusetts examinations. The board's licensure candidate information sets out the format and it is the same two part shape for every license. Journeyman plumber and master plumber: Part I written is 80 questions in 160 minutes, and Part II practical is 40 questions in 160 minutes. The passing score is 70. Journeyman gas fitter and master gas fitter: Part I written is 60 questions in 120 minutes, and Part II practical is 20 questions in 80 minutes, with a passing score of 70. LP gas installer: Part I written is 50 questions in 100 minutes, and Part II practical is 15 questions in 60 minutes, with a passing score of 70. The retake rules split by level. For master licenses, the board states there are no limitations on the number of times a candidate may take the examination. For the other licenses, candidates who fail have 12 months from the application approval date to successfully retake the examination, and after six attempts must petition the board in writing before being approved for further attempts. 248 CMR 11.02(1)(b) carries the same six attempt limit for the apprentice route. The examination fee is $80 for every license the board lists: journeyman plumber, master plumber, journeyman gas fitter, master gas fitter and LP gas installer. It is paid to PSI by credit card, company check, cashier's check or money order. The license fee is paid at the test center once you pass, not at application.
Massachusetts sets these fees administratively rather than in the statute. Section 5 of chapter 142 says the fee for a first license, for any biennial renewal and for any examination shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under chapter 7, section 3B. The current published amounts are on the board's own pages. Application fees: apprentice plumber $14, journeyman plumber $31, master plumber $31. The plumbing business license is $225. Examination fees, paid to PSI: $80 for journeyman plumber, master plumber, journeyman gas fitter, master gas fitter and LP gas installer. Initial license fees, paid at the test center after passing: journeyman plumber $52, master plumber $78, journeyman gas fitter $52, master gas fitter $97, LP gas installer $52. Biennial renewal fees: plumber apprentice $40, plumber journeyman $52, plumber master $78, gas fitter apprentice $40, gas fitter journeyman $52, gas fitter master $97, LP installer $66, limited LP installer $52, and corporation or partnership $225. The late fee for renewing after May 1 is $57. A working Massachusetts plumbing company therefore carries at least two recurring line items, the master's $78 and the entity's $225 every two years, before any gas fitting credentials are added. Active military members, spouses and veterans may qualify for fee reductions under the Valor Act, which the board notes on each application page.
Sourcesmalegislature.gov 1mass.gov 2mass.gov 3mass.gov 4mass.gov 5mass.gov 6mass.gov 7
Massachusetts renews everyone at once rather than on individual anniversaries, which makes the calendar easy to miss if you came from a rolling renewal state. Section 6 of chapter 142 says licenses shall be issued for two years and may be renewed every two years on or before May first. The board fixes the window: licenses become eligible for renewal on February 1 of every even-numbered year, with a May 1 application deadline. Renewing after May 1 costs an extra $57. Continuing education is a renewal condition and the hours differ by trade. The board states that journeyman and master plumbers must complete 12 hours of approved continuing education courses, and that journeyman and master gas fitters and LP installers must complete six hours. 248 CMR 11.04(2)(a)1 carries the 12 clock hour figure for plumbers and 248 CMR 11.04(2)(a)2 carries the six clock hour figure for gas fitters and LP installers. Section 6A of chapter 142 is the statutory hook, requiring a licensed plumber or gas fitter to complete a course of continuing education as determined by the examiners. A shop holding both plumbing and gas fitting licenses is therefore carrying 18 hours per person per cycle, not 12. Renewals must be submitted online through eLIPSE. The board states that applications mailed to the board will be returned, and that incomplete applications are held open for 180 days before being considered abandoned. The board publishes lists of approved theory schools and approved continuing education providers, and a separate provider application for organizations that want to offer courses.
Sourcesmalegislature.gov 1mass.gov 2mass.gov 3malegislature.gov 4mass.gov 5
Massachusetts does not put a dollar figure on plumbing insurance in the licensing statute. It puts the requirement at the permit desk instead, and the effect is the same: without cover you do not work. Section 21A of chapter 142 is the operative rule. No licensed plumber or gas fitter, acting as a self-employed contractor, shall be issued a permit unless the licensee has a current liability insurance policy including completed operations coverage, issued by an insurance company licensed to do business within the commonwealth, or other type of indemnity against liability providing substantially equivalent coverage, or a bond. Read the three limbs: a policy, an equivalent indemnity, or a bond. Note also the phrase completed operations coverage, which is a specific endorsement and not a default on every general liability policy. The statute states no minimum limit and no bond amount, so the numbers come from the permit issuer and from your customers rather than from the board. There is one alternative in the same section. The inspector may accept the property owner's signature on the uniform application instead of requiring the insurance, which is the homeowner route and not a contractor route. Workers compensation runs alongside it. 248 CMR 3.05(1)(b)(10)(D) allows a permit to be denied where the applicant failed to provide evidence of workers compensation insurance if required by M.G.L. chapter 152, section 25C(6). In practice, Boston asks for both: a current certificate of liability insurance and a Massachusetts state workers compensation affidavit with every plumbing permit application.
Massachusetts does not publish a list of reciprocal states, and its own policy statement says why. Unless Massachusetts has a reciprocity agreement with the relevant jurisdiction, all applicants will be required to pass the relevant examination for the license being sought. The policy names no jurisdiction as holding such an agreement. What it does offer is a substantially equivalent license route, which shortens the education and experience proof but not the examination. For an applicant licensed elsewhere in the United States, the license must have been active for at least three years before the application, the requirements behind it must be substantially equivalent to the requirements in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the license must be current, in good standing and free of pending disciplinary action. For an applicant licensed outside the United States the same three year rule applies and the documentation must be translated into English. The policy then makes a helpful presumption. An applicant holding a valid license or certification in a jurisdiction that has adopted plumbing and gas fitting codes is deemed to have substantially equivalent education and work experience. There is one exception a gas contractor should read twice. An applicant whose license does not allow unrestricted gas fitting work, or whose license is not based on NFPA 54 or the International Fuel Gas Code, must complete Tier 3 of the Massachusetts gas fitting curriculum before becoming eligible for examination. That is a classroom obligation on top of the exam, and it catches plumbers arriving from states with narrower gas authority.
The penalty numbers in chapter 142 are old and low, and that is worth knowing precisely rather than assuming they are large. Section 16 covers work or employment without the required registration or license. A person who engages in these trades without being lawfully registered or licensed, or who otherwise violates the provisions of the chapter, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars. The section reaches master plumbers, master gas fitters, journeymen, apprentices and liquefied petroleum gas installers. The same section fines a city or town that fails to comply with the chapter fifty dollars to the commonwealth for each month during which such neglect continues. Section 22 covers the fixture and installation provisions in sections 17, 18 and 19, with a fine of not more than fifty dollars, and puts enforcement on inspectors of plumbing or other proper authorities. The real exposure is not the fine. It is the license. 248 CMR 3.06 lists the grounds for discipline, and the first is any violation of or failure to comply with any of the laws or regulations of the commonwealth relating to the practice of plumbing or gas fitting, including chapter 142, chapter 112 sections 61 to 65A, and 248 CMR 3.00 through 11.00. A conviction, or an admission to sufficient facts, or a plea of nolo contendere to a crime in any jurisdiction is separately listed as grounds. Section 6 of chapter 142 lets the examiners suspend or revoke a license on violation of any statute, ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation relative to plumbing or gas fitting. And under 248 CMR 3.03(1)(e)(2)(b), if the licensee of record loses the license, the business may not operate.
Sourcesmalegislature.gov 1malegislature.gov 2mass.gov 3malegislature.gov 4
The state license travels, but the permit and one piece of local paperwork do not. Section 6 of chapter 142 requires a master plumber or gas fitter to register their business details with the local inspector of buildings if that inspector has such control, otherwise with the board of health. The fee is set by the board of health of each town, but in no event shall any such fee be greater than twenty dollars. The examiners also forward to each town the names and addresses of all licensees in that town. So in every Massachusetts municipality where you intend to work, expect a local registration step capped at $20, separate from your state license. Boston runs plumbing permits through the Inspectional Services Department at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, 5th Floor. The city states that the permit applicant must be the contractor performing the work, and that homeowners cannot apply directly and must hire a licensed contractor. The document pack is a front and back copy of your valid, non-expired trade license with the name matching the application, a current certificate of liability insurance, and a Massachusetts state workers compensation affidavit. The fee is a $20 application fee plus $5 for each fixture, paid up front, and applications go through the online Inspectional Services portal even when filed in person. Worcester, the second largest city, runs gas and plumbing permits through its Department of Inspectional Services at 25 Meade Street, where the Building and Zoning Division issues permits for new construction, repairs, additions, alterations, demolition and changes of use.
Sourcesmalegislature.gov 1boston.gov 2worcesterma.gov 3malegislature.gov 4
Massachusetts has a display rule and an advertising rule, and both are enforceable against the license rather than by fine, which makes them easy to underrate. Section 3 of chapter 142 requires master plumbers and gas fitters to display their license conspicuously at their place of business at all times. Any advertisement or sign must include the person's designation and license number. Journeymen and apprentices must exhibit their license or certificate whenever an inspector requests it. 248 CMR 3.06(2)(e) turns the advertising half into a disciplinary ground. The board may act against a licensee for any sign, listing or advertisement authorized by the licensee which does not contain his or her designation and license number. 248 CMR 3.03(2)(a)(2) repeats the carry rule for apprentices: the apprentice license shall be exhibited whenever required by an inspector. Two details matter for a contractor writing copy. First, the requirement is a designation plus a number, not just a number. Designation means the grade, so master plumber or journeyman plumber, and the number that goes with it. A bare number does not satisfy it. Second, the rule reaches a listing as well as an advertisement, so a directory entry counts. Massachusetts does not go as far as Maryland on vehicles. There is no state rule setting fixed wording on both sides of a van or a minimum letter height. What it does instead is put the grade in front of the number everywhere you hold yourself out, which is a wording rule rather than a signage rule.
Plumbers and gas fitters are on the eLIPSE platform, not the older ePLACE portal, and that distinction sends people to the wrong search box. The state's check a license page lists which boards sit on which system. Architects, cosmetology and barbering, home inspectors, real estate and sheet metal workers are on eLIPSE, and so are plumbers and gas fitters. Electricians, professional engineers and land surveyors, private occupational schools and veterinary medicine are on ePLACE. The eLIPSE license search is the one that returns plumbing records. The search accepts the license number of an individual or business license, or the first and last name of the licensee, the type of license held, or the name or address of the business. That last option is the one that matters here. Because Massachusetts licenses entities as well as people, a customer or a general contractor can look up the plumbing business license by company name and address, which is not possible in Maine or Maryland, where only the individual is on file. The board also runs a formal verification service for licensees who need their license, certificate or examination confirmed to another jurisdiction or to a third party, which is the route to use when a general contractor wants something more than a screen print. Two practical steps follow. Keep the entity name on the business license identical to the name on your signs, your invoices and your vehicle lettering, so a search on the advertised name finds the record. And make sure the master named on the business license is the one whose designation and number appear in your advertising.
Sourcesmass.gov 1occupationallicensing.mass.gov 2mass.gov 3malegislature.gov 4mass.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Massachusetts, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, in the Division of Occupational Licensure, licenses plumbers statewide under M.G.L. chapter 142 and 248 CMR. Section 3 states that no person shall engage in the business as a master plumber or gas fitter or work as a journeyman plumber or apprentice without being lawfully registered or licensed by the examiners.
Both, separately. Individuals are licensed as apprentice, journeyman or master on parallel plumbing and gas fitting ladders. Entities are licensed too: 248 CMR 3.03(1)(a) requires all corporations, LLCs, partnerships or other such entities with plumbing or gas fitting employees to maintain a business license, and chapter 142 section 3B provides the corporation and partnership certificates.
248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)1 requires no less than 6,800 clock hours as a licensed apprentice under the direct supervision of a master or journeyman plumber. 248 CMR 11.02(1)(a)2.b adds 550 clock hours of plumbing and gasfitting theory over no less than four years, with no more than 165 education hours credited in a calendar year.
Two things under 248 CMR 11.02(2)(a): no less than one year of practical experience totaling a minimum of 1,700 clock hours as the holder of a Massachusetts journeyman plumber license, and documentation of having completed the 110 hour Tier Five of the plumber educational program. Tier Five is a master requirement, not a journeyman one.
One. Chapter 142 section 3A states that not more than one apprentice may work under the direct supervision of a master plumber, a master gas fitter, a journeyman plumber or a journeyman gas fitter. The same section requires the apprentice to file an application with the examiners before starting the apprenticeship.
PSI conducts it in two parts. For journeyman and master plumber, Part I written is 80 questions in 160 minutes and Part II practical is 40 questions in 160 minutes. The passing score is 70. Gas fitter exams are 60 and 20 questions, and LP gas installer exams are 50 and 15 questions, all at 70.
Master plumber: a $31 application fee, an $80 PSI examination fee and a $78 license fee paid at the test center. Journeyman plumber: $31, $80 and $52. Apprentice: a $14 application fee. The plumbing business license is $225. Biennial renewals are $78 master, $52 journeyman, $40 apprentice and $225 for a corporation or partnership.
On a fixed statewide cycle rather than an anniversary. Licenses become eligible for renewal on February 1 of every even-numbered year with a May 1 deadline, and chapter 142 section 6 provides for two year licenses renewable every two years on or before May first. Renewing after May 1 adds a $57 late fee.
Journeyman and master plumbers must complete 12 hours of approved continuing education per renewal cycle under 248 CMR 11.04(2)(a)1. Journeyman and master gas fitters and LP installers must complete six hours under 248 CMR 11.04(2)(a)2. A person holding both plumbing and gas fitting licenses carries both requirements.
Chapter 142 section 21A blocks a permit rather than the license. No licensed plumber or gas fitter acting as a self-employed contractor shall be issued a permit unless the licensee has a current liability insurance policy including completed operations coverage from an insurer licensed in the commonwealth, or an equivalent indemnity, or a bond. The statute sets no dollar minimum.
The board's policy states that unless Massachusetts has a reciprocity agreement with the relevant jurisdiction, all applicants will be required to pass the relevant examination, and it names no jurisdiction as holding one. A substantially equivalent license held and active for at least three years can satisfy the education and experience requirements, but not the examination.
Yes, with your grade attached. Chapter 142 section 3 requires any advertisement or sign to include the person's designation and license number, and requires a master to display the license conspicuously at the place of business at all times. 248 CMR 3.06(2)(e) makes a sign, listing or advertisement lacking the designation and number a disciplinary ground.
We can review the local market, your current search visibility, and paid-search fit before recommending any marketing work.