Nebraska · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
Nebraska does not license plumbers at state level. Sections 18-1901 to 18-1920 seat plumbing boards in cities and villages, and section 18-1917 requires a master plumber licensed by the city or village nearest the job anywhere in the state. Every plumbing contractor must also register with the Nebraska Department of Labor.
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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.
There is no Nebraska state plumbing board and no state plumber examination. What Nebraska has instead is sections 18-1901 to 18-1920 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes, which put the licensing power in cities and villages. Section 18-1901 creates the plumbing board and sizes it by class of city. A city of the metropolitan class gets an eight member board: a licensed architect, a mechanical engineer, two journeymen plumbers, two master plumbers, a public member, and the chief health officer as a non voting member. A city of the primary class gets a five member board built around the Director of Building and Safety, a registered mechanical engineer, the chief plumbing inspector, a master plumber and a journeyman plumber. Cities of the first and second class and villages get a board of at least four members: the chief health officer, the plumbing inspector, a journeyman plumber and a master plumber. In each case the statute requires that the plumbing inspector and the journeymen and master plumbers on the board be licensed plumbers. Omaha is the metropolitan class city. Lincoln is the primary class city. Those two boards, not a state agency, set the examinations, issue the licenses and hold the records that a Nebraska plumbing contractor lives on.
Nebraska has no state license, but it does have a statewide licensing mandate, and it catches work far outside any city limit. Section 18-1917 states that any person, partnership, limited liability company, corporation or other legal entity who installs or repairs any sanitary plumbing within the state shall be a duly qualified master plumber licensed by the city or village nearest the construction site. The same section continues: the employees of the master plumbers who perform the actual installation or repair of sanitary plumbing shall also be licensed as journeymen plumbers by the city or village nearest the construction site. Read that against section 18-1916, which requires a permit from the city or village nearest the construction site for sanitary plumbing installed or repaired in any building except a single family dwelling or a farm or ranch structure. Together they mean a rural commercial job in an unincorporated part of Nebraska still needs a master plumber license and journeyman licenses from whichever city or village is closest, plus that city's permit. Section 18-1919 carves out one group. Nothing in sections 18-1915 to 18-1919 requires a license for an employee working for a single employer as part of that employer's full time staff who does not hold himself or herself out to the public for hire, while acting within the scope of that employment.
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Section 18-1904 requires the plumbing board to fix stated times and places of meeting, not less than once each year, with extra meetings on the written call of the chairperson. It also forces a meeting within four weeks when a license applicant, a licensee or another board member asks for one in writing, which is the route a contractor uses when a licensing decision stalls. The same section directs the board to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations for the examination of all persons who want a license to work at the construction or repairing of plumbing within the city or village, and within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of a metropolitan class city. Section 18-1906 gives the board the power and duty to adopt rules for the sanitary construction, alteration and inspection of plumbing and sewerage connections and drains, prescribing the kind and size of materials and the manner in which the work is done. Those rules have to be approved by ordinance by the mayor and council, or by the village board. In cities of the metropolitan class the plumbing board may grant a variance from the ordinances and rules on materials or methods without council approval, and that variance applies only to a single building and does not become part of the board's rules.
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Section 18-1907 tells any person who wants to do plumbing in a city or village that has established a plumbing board to apply in writing to that board for examination, with the examination held at the board's next meeting or an adjourned meeting. The board examines the applicant on practical knowledge of plumbing, house drainage, ventilation and sanitation, and the statute requires that the examination be practical as well as theoretical. If the applicant shows competence, the board has its chairperson and secretary execute and deliver a license authorizing plumbing work in that city or village, and also within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of a metropolitan class city. Section 18-1909 sets the term. All original and renewal plumbing licenses are good for one year or two years from the date of issuance, as the plumbing board determines. The same section lets the board revoke or suspend a license after a hearing on sufficient written, sworn charges showing the holder is incompetent or guilty of a willful breach of the board's rules or of the laws or ordinances, with written notice to the holder. Section 18-1908 governs renewal. Renewals are granted without reexamination on written application showing the licensee's purposes and condition remain unchanged and that other applicable city rules are met, unless an affidavit shows the applicant is no longer competent.
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Section 18-1911 is the ceiling. The amount of the fees for original and renewal licenses shall be as established by the city council or village board of trustees based on the amounts actually necessary to administer the licensing program, but not to exceed twenty-five dollars per license. All license fees go to the city or village treasurer, distributed under Article VII, section 5 of the Nebraska Constitution. Two things follow for a contractor. First, no Nebraska city can charge a large plumbing license fee under this chapter, which is why Omaha and Lincoln bill most of their real money through examination fees, permit fees and separate contractor registration rather than through the license itself. Second, the statute ties the fee to administrative cost, so a city cannot use plumber licensing as a revenue source. Lincoln prices its plumbing trade registrations above that figure for the contractor grades, at $250 for a Plumbing Master Contractor, and at or below it for the trade grades, at $75 for a Plumbing Master, $50 for a Plumbing Journeyman and $25 for a Plumbing Apprentice. Section 18-1918 handles permits separately. The city or village with jurisdiction over the construction or repair is entitled to permit fees according to its own ordinance, with no statutory cap on those.
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Section 18-1910 states that it is unlawful for any person to do any plumbing in any city or village, or within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of a metropolitan class city, that has established a plumbing board unless the person holds a proper license. It extends to connections made to water mains that run from inside to beyond the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of a metropolitan class city, where the person must comply with that city's plumbing codes and hold its license. Employees of the water utility acting within the scope of their employment are excluded. Section 18-1914 sets the penalty. Any person violating sections 18-1901 to 18-1913 or any lawful ordinance or rules authorized by those sections is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars nor less than fifty dollars for each and every violation. It then adds the part that hurts a working contractor most. If the person holds a plumber's license, he or she shall forfeit it, the license becomes void, and the person is not entitled to another plumber's license for one year after the plumbing board declares the forfeiture. Section 18-1918 sets a separate misdemeanor and the same fifty to five hundred dollar fine range for installing or repairing sanitary plumbing in any building except a single family dwelling without the required permit.
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Omaha is the metropolitan class city, and its plumbing code, published by the Planning Department for the Omaha Plumbing Board, runs the widest set of trade licenses in the state. The classes are master plumber, journeyman plumber, apprentice plumber, sewer layer, water conditioning contractor, water conditioning installer and lawn sprinkler contractor. Section 49-222(a) requires a master plumber applicant to have four years of experience in the installation of plumbing systems while holding a journeyman plumber's license issued by the City, or an equivalent credential from a comparable jurisdiction. Section 49-232 routes the journeyman through a four year apprenticeship program or its equivalent. Section 49-262(a) requires a water conditioning contractor to have not less than four years of practical experience in the installation and sizing of water conditioning appliances, and section 49-262(b) requires a water conditioning installer to have one year plus 100 hours of organized, related instruction in technical subjects covering installation, repair and sizing. Section 49-271 requires a lawn sprinkler contractor to have four years of experience in the installation and design of lawn sprinkler systems at a minimum of 1,400 hours annually. Section 49-241 keeps apprentices supervised, except that an apprentice in the final year of apprenticeship may work alone on service and repair work.
Omaha prices its examinations by class. Section 49-223 sets the master plumber examination fee at $75.00. Section 49-234 sets the journeyman plumber examination fee at $50.00. Section 49-253 sets the sewer layer examination fee at $25.00, section 49-263 sets the water conditioning examination fee at $25.00, and section 49-272 sets the lawn sprinkler contractor examination fee at $30.00, with a $25.00 license fee under section 49-274. Section 49-236 requires a journeyman identification badge at $10.00 that must be worn at all times while performing plumbing work, which is a display rule enforced on the body rather than on the truck. Section 49-243 renews an apprentice registration at $15.00 annually. The money that matters to a contractor sits in two other sections. Section 49-210 requires a bond filed with the city in the sum of $10,000.00 with sufficient sureties, covering carelessness or negligence, and it applies to master plumbers, water conditioning contractors and lawn sprinkler contractors alike. Section 49-301 requires a certificate of insurance providing combined coverage for bodily injury and property damage in a minimum amount of $1,000,000 alongside that $10,000.00 bond. A master plumber who takes a street excavation permit posts an additional surety bond of $20,000 under section 49-302.
Sourcesplanning.cityofomaha.org
Section 49-211 expires Omaha plumbing licenses on December 31. Section 49-212 gives a renewal window that runs to March 31, so a licensee who misses the turn of the year still has a defined path back rather than a reexamination. Apprentice registrations expire on the same December 31 date under section 49-249. Continuing education is a condition of renewal under section 49-215, and Omaha sets the hours by class: master plumber 8 hours, journeyman plumber 8 hours, sewer layer 4 hours, water conditioning contractor and installer 4 hours, and lawn sprinkler contractor 4 hours. That is double the annual continuing education a Montana plumber owes, and it is set by a city rather than a state. The Omaha Plumbing Board publishes its approved providers and instructors, its approved apprentice program, its license examination dates and its board approved materials through the Planning Department, along with separate form sets for apprentice plumbers, journeyman and master plumbers, sprinkler contractors, sewer layers and water conditioners. Permits run through licensed holders only. Section 49-300 restricts securing a plumbing permit to licensed plumbers, which is the practical enforcement point, because an unlicensed company simply cannot open the permit that the work requires.
Lincoln is the primary class city and runs plumbing as a trade registration under Chapter 24 of the Lincoln Municipal Code. Building and Safety registers three plumbing grades plus a contractor grade, three gas fitter grades and two water conditioning grades. The published annual registration fees are $250 for a Plumbing Master Contractor, $75 for a Plumbing Master, $50 for a Plumbing Journeyman and $25 for a Plumbing Apprentice. Gas fitter runs $50 for Master, $25 for Journeyman and $15 for Apprentice. Water conditioning runs $50 for Contractor and $20 for Installer. The split between Plumbing Master and Plumbing Master Contractor is the one that decides how a business operates in Lincoln, because the contractor grade is the one priced like a company credential. Apprentices may apply at any time. Everyone else has to pass the required examination before applying, and Lincoln states that plainly for new Plumbing Journeyman, Plumbing Master Contractor, Gas Fitter Journeyman, Gas Fitter Master, Water Conditioning Installer and Water Conditioning Contractor applicants. Applications go through the city's online form and renewals run through the Citizen Access permit portal. Contractors also file a certificate of liability insurance with an endorsement page verifying the City of Lincoln is covered as an additional insured.
Lincoln requires a journeyman plumber applicant to have at least four years of practical experience in the design, layout, construction or installation of plumbing equipment, and it publishes the substitutions. Four years holding a Lincoln apprentice license satisfies it. A two year plumbing course counts as one year. A four year engineering degree counts as two years. Registration as a Nebraska Mechanical Engineer counts as three years. Military service and extension courses earn variable credit. For the Master Plumbing Contractor, Lincoln accepts one of three routes: holding a valid plumbing journeyman's license for at least one year, an engineering degree plus two years of experience in planning and installation, or status as a Nebraska registered Mechanical Engineer. Examination filing fees are published by trade: $208 for Plumbing Master, $183 for Plumbing Journeyman, $50 for Gas Fitter Master, $50 for Gas Fitter Journeyman, $30 for Water Conditioning Contractor and $30 for Water Conditioning Installer. The application and filing fee must be submitted by 4 p.m. Central at least two weeks before the exam date. Renewal runs from March 1 to May 31. Miss May 31 and you are no longer licensed to perform certain plumbing work in Lincoln, and failing to renew within 60 days revokes the license and forces retesting. Continuing education is 10 hours for a Master Plumber Contractor or Master Plumber and 6 hours for a Journeyman Plumber.
Nebraska does not license plumbing contractors at state level, but it does register them. Section 48-2104 states that before performing any construction work in Nebraska, a contractor shall be registered with the Department of Labor, and that a contractor doing business under more than one name needs a registration number for each name. The exemptions are narrow: a person working on his or her own property, or a person who earns less than five thousand dollars annually for construction services. Section 48-2103 defines contractor broadly enough to include every plumbing business and every plumbing subcontractor, naming sewers, water and gas mains, disposal plants, water wells and pipelines among the covered work, and including any person providing or arranging labor for that work. Section 48-2105 requires the application to carry proof of workers' compensation insurance coverage along with entity and ownership details. Section 48-2107 caps the application or renewal fee at not more than forty dollars, and the Nebraska Department of Labor states the annual fee moves to $40.00 effective August 1, 2026. Section 48-2110 revokes registration when workers' compensation coverage lapses, effective at the time of cancellation unless a new certificate arrives first. Section 48-2114 sets the penalty for working unregistered at not more than five hundred dollars for a first violation and not more than five thousand dollars for a second or subsequent violation.
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Four state level requirements reach a plumbing contractor in Nebraska even though the plumbing license does not. Section 71-1569 requires every bathtub and shower installed after August 30, 1987 in a building with more than one dwelling unit to have a pressure balancing or thermostatic mixing scald prevention device, designed and installed to prevent sudden unanticipated temperature changes and to keep delivered water from exceeding one hundred fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. Modular housing units, manufactured homes and recreational vehicles are excluded. Section 71-1570 makes plumbing fixture inspectors employed by political subdivisions inspect for it, and section 71-1571 makes installing four or more non compliant showers or bathtubs in a single building a Class V misdemeanor. Section 18-1920 confirms that nothing in the municipal plumbing sections exempts anyone from those three. Backflow testing is a separate credential. Lincoln's cross connection control program states that assemblies must be tested on installation and each year after, by a Registered Grade 6 Water Operator on the Lincoln Water System list, and cites Nebraska Health and Human Services Title 179 alongside Lincoln Title 24 and Title 17. Water wells and pump installation run through the Water Well Standards and Contractors' Licensing Program. Onsite wastewater work runs through the Department of Water, Energy and Environment, which certifies Master Installer, Journeyman Installer, Soil Evaluator, Inspector, Master Pumper and Journeyman Pumper under Title 124.
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The display rules are local, specific, and easy to lose a citation over. Omaha section 49-208 requires that all trucks used by the master plumber carry the name of the license holder or firm name, in letters not less than two inches high, on both sides of the truck. That applies to water conditioning contractors and lawn sprinkler contractors as well. Omaha section 49-209 requires every licensed master plumber to post and display the license in a conspicuous place in the place of business. Omaha section 49-236 requires the journeyman identification badge, priced at $10.00, to be worn at all times while performing plumbing work. On the state side, the restriction on what you may claim comes from section 18-1917, which reserves installing or repairing sanitary plumbing anywhere in Nebraska to a duly qualified master plumber licensed by the nearest city or village and requires the employees who do the work to be licensed journeymen from that same city or village. Section 18-1910 makes doing plumbing without a proper license unlawful in any city or village with a plumbing board and inside a metropolitan city's extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction. Section 18-1919 defines the only group that may work without a license, a full time employee of a single employer who does not hold himself or herself out to the public for hire, which is the statutory line between an in house maintenance crew and a plumbing business.
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Start with the one statewide search. Section 48-2117 requires the Department of Labor, working with the Department of Revenue, to create a database of registered contractors, to make it accessible on the department website, and to show for each contractor whether it carries workers' compensation insurance, is self insured, or is a sole proprietor with no employees carrying no coverage. A contractor that fails to comply with the Contractor Registration Act is removed from the database. That search runs at dol.nebraska.gov/conreg/Search and it verifies registration and workers' compensation status, not the plumbing license. For the plumbing license itself, verification is city by city. Lincoln publishes a downloadable list of plumbing trade professionals through Building and Safety, which lets a customer confirm the grade and the registration before signing. Omaha's records sit with the Omaha Plumbing Board through the Planning Department, which also publishes examination dates and approved providers. For adjacent credentials, the Water Well Standards and Contractors' Licensing Program publishes an active licensee lookup for water well drillers and pump installers. Ask a Nebraska plumbing contractor for three things: the state contractor registration number, the master plumber license from the city or village nearest the job under section 18-1917, and the journeyman licenses of the people who will be on site.
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These are common details other guides publish about Nebraska, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Nebraska has no state plumbing board and no state plumber examination. Sections 18-1901 to 18-1920 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes put licensing in the hands of city and village plumbing boards, including Omaha and Lincoln.
Section 18-1917 says anyone installing or repairing sanitary plumbing within the state must be a master plumber licensed by the city or village nearest the construction site, and the employees doing the work must be licensed journeymen by that same city or village.
Section 18-1909 says original and renewal licenses are good for one year or two years from the date of issuance, as the plumbing board determines. Omaha expires licenses on December 31 and Lincoln renews between March 1 and May 31.
Section 18-1911 caps original and renewal license fees at twenty-five dollars per license, set by the city council or village board based on the amounts actually necessary to administer the licensing program.
Section 49-222(a) requires four years of experience installing plumbing systems while holding a City journeyman license for a master plumber. The master examination fee is $75.00, the bond is $10,000.00 and insurance is a minimum of $1,000,000.
Section 49-215 requires 8 hours for a master plumber, 8 hours for a journeyman plumber, 4 hours for a sewer layer, 4 hours for water conditioning contractors and installers, and 4 hours for a lawn sprinkler contractor.
Lincoln publishes annual fees of $250 for a Plumbing Master Contractor, $75 for a Plumbing Master, $50 for a Plumbing Journeyman and $25 for a Plumbing Apprentice, with separate gas fitter and water conditioning grades.
At least four years of practical experience in the design, layout, construction or installation of plumbing equipment. A two year plumbing course counts as one year and a four year engineering degree counts as two years.
Yes. Section 48-2104 requires registration with the Department of Labor before performing any construction work in Nebraska. Section 48-2107 caps the fee at forty dollars and the department states the annual fee is $40.00 effective August 1, 2026.
Section 18-1914 sets a misdemeanor fine of not less than fifty dollars and not more than five hundred dollars per violation, and a licensee forfeits the license and cannot get another for one year after forfeiture is declared.
Omaha section 49-208 requires the name of the license holder or firm name in letters not less than two inches high on both sides of every truck used by the master plumber. Section 49-209 requires the license posted conspicuously at the place of business.
Search the Department of Labor contractor registration database at dol.nebraska.gov/conreg/Search, which section 48-2117 requires to show workers' compensation status, then confirm the city plumbing license with Omaha's Plumbing Board or Lincoln Building and Safety.
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