New Mexico · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
New Mexico licenses plumbing through the Construction Industries Division of the Regulation and Licensing Department, at state level and by classification code. MM-1 is Plumbing and MM-98 is Mechanical. The division licenses both the individual, as a journeyman or qualifying party, and the contracting company, which cannot hold a license without a qualifying party attached. Expect a $10,000 surety bond.
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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.
New Mexico licenses plumbing at state level, through one agency, with no separate county board in the mix. The Construction Industries Division sits inside the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department and runs the licensing under the Construction Industries Licensing Act, NMSA 1978 Chapter 60 Article 13. The division keeps three offices: Santa Fe on (505) 476-4700, Albuquerque on (505) 222-9800, and Las Cruces on (575) 524-6320. Plumbing sits in the division's mechanical and plumbing bureau. Two rules carry most of the answers a contractor needs. 14.6.6 NMAC sets the classification codes and the scope of each one, effective March 10, 2022. 14.6.3 NMAC sets what a contractor license applicant must prove, and 14.6.4 NMAC sets journeyman certification. New Mexico licenses at two levels and both matter. The individual earns a journeyman certificate of competence, or a qualifying party certificate. The company holds the contractor license, and it holds it only because a qualifying party is attached to it. Section 60-13-14(A) requires an applicant to employ a qualifying party who is qualified for the classification applied for. So a plumbing company in New Mexico is licensed in a classification code, and a person inside it carries the credential that makes that code valid. Applications and exam registration run through PSI, the division's licensing designee, which the division links from its own apply page.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1rld.nm.gov 2rld.nm.gov 3rld.nm.gov 4rld.nm.gov 5rld.nm.gov 6
New Mexico does not issue a license called plumbing contractor. It issues a classification code. Under 14.6.6.11 NMAC the plumbing code is MM-1, titled Plumbing. Its scope is to install, alter, repair, service, and maintain plumbing, plumbing fixtures, and piping, and it reaches hot water heating systems up to 30 p.s.i. or 400,000 b.t.u. per hour, fuel piping, solar thermal systems, sprinkler systems, pools, spas, and septic systems. The neighbouring codes matter because plumbing crews cross into them. MM-2 is Natural Gas Fitting and covers natural gas piping and fittings and listed gas appliances, and it excludes LP gas systems. MM-3 is HVAC. MM-4 is Heating, Cooling and Process Piping, and it reaches hydronic systems, boilers, heat exchangers and fire protection sprinkler piping. MM-98 is Mechanical, and the rule defines it as licensure in individual classifications MM-1 through MM-4, plus MS-3, MS-6, MS-12 and MS-14. So MM-98 is the wide code. The mechanical specialty codes are narrower and are the ones a plumbing shop often adds: MS-3 Septic Tanks and Sewer, MS-6 Lawn Sprinklers, MS-12 Fire Protection Sprinkler Systems, MS-14 Dry Chemical Fire Protection. Pick the code by the work you actually sell. A shop doing service plumbing and water heaters needs MM-1. A shop that also sets septic systems needs MS-3 or MM-98.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov
The person on the truck needs a journeyman certificate of competence. 14.6.4 NMAC sets them. The plumbing one is JP, journeyman plumber, and the rule lists it as able to work under an MM-1, MS-3, MS-6 or MM-98 license. Experience for JP is two years, and the applicant must provide proof of work experience within the 10 years immediately prior to application. That is shorter than the four years the same rule requires for EE-98J, EL-1J, MS-12J and MS-14J. Accredited training counts, at one half year of experience per year of training, and it cannot exceed half the total experience requirement. The passing exam score is seventy-five percent or higher. The other J codes a plumbing contractor runs into are JPF journeyman pipe fitter, JG journeyman natural gas fitter, JPG journeyman plumber and natural gas fitter, JW journeyman welder which requires ASME Section 9 certification, and JMG journeyman medical gas installer which requires medical gas certification under 14.9.5 NMAC. One rule catches people out. Under 14.6.4.8.A(4) a journeyman may engage in the trade authorized by the certificate only when employed by a licensed entity. The certificate is not a licence to contract on your own. To contract, you need the company license and a qualifying party behind it.
The qualifying party certificate is the credential that opens a contractor license in a classification. Under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(a) no applicant for a qualifying party certificate is eligible to take a qualifying examination until providing satisfactory work experience, as to four years within the 10 years immediately prior to application. Accredited training substitutes at one half year per year of training and cannot exceed half the total. Certificates go only to individuals 18 or older, grant authority only in the classification named on the certificate, and are not transferable. Two limits shape how a plumbing company is structured. Under 14.6.3.8.E(3) no individual may qualify more than one licensed entity, other than a joint venture, unless there is at least thirty percent common ownership among the qualified entities. Under 14.6.3.8.E(2) a qualifying party cannot take outside employment that conflicts with supervising the licensee's work. Certificates also go stale. A new qualifying party certificate that does not qualify a valid license within 12 months of the exam score being reported expires automatically, and a qualifying party who does not qualify a valid license for any consecutive two year period loses eligibility. If the qualifying party leaves, both the licensee and the qualifying party must notify the division in writing within 30 days. Losing your qualifying party is how a New Mexico plumbing company loses its license without doing anything wrong on a job.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1rld.nm.gov 2
New Mexico uses a written examination administered by PSI on the division's behalf, and the division registers candidates through PSI's New Mexico contractor portal. A qualifying party candidate takes the trade examination for each classification applied for plus the Contractor's Business and Law examination. The passing exam score is seventy-five percent or higher, under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(c) for qualifying parties and the identical standard in 14.6.4 NMAC for journeyman certification. Retakes are allowed but rationed. Under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(d) an applicant who fails to appear or fails to reach seventy-five percent may take another regularly scheduled exam provided the applicant reapplies, pays the fee, and does not repeat the exam more than twice in any 30 day period. The same 30 day limit appears in the journeyman rule. Cheating carries a hard consequence. Under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(e) if the division or its designee determines that an applicant has cheated, the exam is deemed invalid, all fees are forfeited, any license or certificate issued on the basis of that exam is automatically and immediately voided, and the applicant is not eligible to take any exam administered by the division for one year. The division publishes an exam review process as well, with a review fee after a first failure and a higher special review fee after two failures.
This is one place where two primary New Mexico sources do not agree, so both are reported here rather than one being picked. 14.5.5 NMAC, the division's fee rule as published by the State Records Center and Archives, sets a non-refundable application fee of $30.00, license fees of $100.00 per year or $200.00 for two years for MM-98 and the other 98 series classifications, and $50.00 per year or $100.00 for two years for other classifications, with $30.00 for an additional classification application, $25.00 for an exam review after a first failure and $40.00 for a special exam review after two failures. Journeyman and boiler operator fees in 14.5.5.9 are listed at $25.00 for the exam and $25.00 per year for renewal. The license fee schedule published by PSI, the division's designee and the site the division links from its own apply page, shows different numbers: a $30 non-refundable application fee plus a $6 certificate fee, $300 per classification for MM98 and the other 98 series codes, $150 per classification for other single classifications, a $300 cap on multiple classifications within a category, and a $75 application and certificate fee per journeyman classification. The division's own apply page states a $36 application fee for the qualifying party application, $36 for the work experience affidavit review, and $36 for the license application. Confirm the current figure with the division before writing the check.
Sourcessrca.nm.gov 1public.psiexams.com 2rld.nm.gov 3public.psiexams.com 4
New Mexico requires a bond and it is not small. Under 14.6.3.8.C(1) upon initial licensure and as a condition of renewal each applicant shall furnish to the division a bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) underwritten by a corporate surety authorized to transact business in New Mexico. Under 14.6.3.8.C(2) the effective date of the bond must cover the entire period of licensure for the initial application and each renewal cycle, and maintaining the bond for the entire period of licensure is a condition of licensure. A lapse in the bond is a lapse in the license, not a paperwork problem to fix later. What the rule does not do is set a general liability insurance minimum. 14.6.3 NMAC states no dollar figure for commercial general liability and no dollar figure for property damage cover. Workers compensation appears in 14.6.3.8.K(1)(c) as a condition tied to the validity of the license rather than as a stated coverage amount. Practically, that means the state floor for a New Mexico plumbing contractor is the surety bond, and the liability limits you carry are set by your customers, your general contractors and your own exposure rather than by the division. General contractors on commercial work in New Mexico routinely ask for more than the state does, so do not treat the absence of a state minimum as an absence of a requirement.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov
Section 60-13-18(B) of the Construction Industries Licensing Act provides that licenses shall expire two years after the issuance date and are renewable upon application and payment of the fee. So the New Mexico contractor license runs on a two year clock, not an annual one, which is why the fee rule quotes both a one year and a two year figure. The division or its designee mails a renewal application form to every licensee at least 30 days prior to expiration, to the current address of record, under 14.6.3.8.I(1). Keep that address current, because the rule puts the mailing duty on the division and the filing duty on you. The filing date is the postmark date, or the date of hand delivery, under 14.6.3.8.I(2). The signatures of all current qualifying parties on each license must appear on the renewal form under 14.6.3.8.I(3). If a renewal application is not timely received, or is received and rejected for failure to comply with renewal requirements, the license is suspended and subject to cancellation under 14.6.3.8.I(4). The PSI fee schedule adds late penalties of $1 per day for one to thirty days late and a penalty equivalent to one year's fee for thirty to ninety days late. Military service members and veterans are not charged a fee for the first three years, and a license issued under that provision is valid for three years, under 14.6.3.8.H(4).
New Mexico splits continuing education by credential, and the split surprises people. The division's continuing education page states that for the mechanical and plumbing classifications a minimum of 16 hours is required per renewal cycle, of which 8 hours are specific to code change or update and 8 hours may be other industry related approved course work, on a three year renewal cycle. The page names who this binds: journeyman plumber, pipefitter, gas fitter, sheetmetal worker, sprinkler fitter, refrigeration technician and the fire protection classifications. 14.6.4 NMAC carries the same requirement, with a minimum of eight hours covering current codes for the applicable classifications. The division's same page states that there are no continuing education requirements for contractors in the general building bureau. So the hours attach to the person holding the journeyman certificate of competence, on a three year cycle, while the company license runs on its own two year renewal. Two calendars, two sets of paperwork. Plan the code update hours around the adoption of a new plumbing code rather than around the month your certificate happens to expire, because the eight code hours are the half that gets scarce when everyone renews at once. Proof of the course work goes in with the renewal application.
New Mexico reciprocity is narrower than most contractors expect, and the division says so plainly. On the Construction Industries Division's own page the division states that the only journeyman classification reciprocated in New Mexico is EE-98J, residential and commercial electrical with 8,000 hours of experience, and that the reciprocal journeyman application carries a fee of $75 to PSI. There is no plumbing journeyman equivalent on that list. A JP journeyman plumber coming from another state applies as a new candidate, proves the two years of experience within the prior ten years, and sits the New Mexico exam. On the contractor side the statute leaves the door open rather than naming states. Section 60-13-14(C) provides that the division, with the consent of the commission, may enter into a reciprocal licensing agreement with any state having equivalent licensing requirements. That is authority to make agreements, not a published list of them, and the division's licensing pages do not name a plumbing partner state. So plan a New Mexico entry as a fresh qualifying party application: four years of experience within the prior ten, the trade exam for MM-1 or whichever code you need, the Contractor's Business and Law exam, and the $10,000 bond. Out of state experience still counts as experience. It just does not replace the exam.
The division publishes the penalty on its own unlicensed violations page, and it is graded by the value of the work. Under Section 60-13-52(A) of the Construction Industries Licensing Act, where the contracting work is valued at $5,000 or less the contractor may be sentenced to the county jail for 90 days or to the payment of a fine of $300 to $500, or both. Where the work is valued over $5,000 the contractor may be sentenced to the county jail for 6 months or to the payment of a fine of 10% of the dollar value of the contracting work, or both. The division states that criminal charges of unlicensed contracting can be filed in Magistrate or Metro Court, that the division may stop construction projects and file charges, and that a person convicted cannot become licensed for one year following conviction. The money side is worse than the fine. Section 60-13-30(A) bars a contractor from bringing or maintaining any action in any court for the collection of compensation without alleging and proving that the contractor was a duly licensed contractor, and 60-13-30(B) removes mechanic's lien rights. Section 60-13-14(D) also lets the director assess fees of up to 10% of contract value where someone previously worked without proper licensing. New Mexico's handyman exemption does not help a plumber: 14.6.2 NMAC and 60-13-3(D)(14) cap it at $7,200 compensation a year and expressly exclude plumbing and gas fitting work.
New Mexico's display duty is specific and it is narrower than the rules in states that police vehicle lettering. Section 60-13-19(A) requires a licensee to clearly indicate his contractor's license number on all written bids and when applying for a building permit. Section 60-13-19(B) attaches a penalty of $150 for failing to do it. That is a per failure administrative exposure sitting on a document you produce many times a week. Build the license number into the estimate template and the proposal footer, not into a note someone has to remember. The statute and the licensing rules reviewed here do not set a matching requirement to print the number on service vehicles, on a website, or in a paid advertisement, so New Mexico leaves those to your own judgement. Two things still constrain how you describe yourself. The classification is the claim: MM-1 authorizes plumbing work, and advertising work outside the code on your license is advertising work you cannot lawfully contract. And the handyman route is closed to anyone advertising plumbing, because 60-13-3(D)(14)(b) conditions that exemption on the individual not advertising or maintaining a sign, card or other device indicating to the public that he is qualified to engage in the business of contracting. Put the number on every bid, and keep the wording inside your classification.
In New Mexico the permit and the license are linked, and the division says so in capital letters in its own residential permit guide: to request a building permit it is critical that the applicant be validly licensed with the appropriate license classification that covers the work. The guide also confirms that separate plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits are required rather than being folded into one building permit. The division runs online permit applications for electrical, elevator, mechanical and plumbing permits through its own portal. The homeowner route exists but it is deliberately hard for plumbing. The residential permit guide requires a homeowner to sign an instruction to obtain a homeowner permit and a notarized homeowner's responsibilities form, bars a homeowner's permit where a GB-2 or GB-98 contractor is acting as general contractor, and states that a homeowner may not perform electrical, plumbing or mechanical work unless the homeowner applies for and passes the required division exam. That last line is the one that protects licensed plumbers. An untested homeowner cannot lawfully permit their own plumbing work in New Mexico. For a contractor, the practical consequence is that the permit counter is a licence check. A suspended license, a lapsed bond or a departed qualifying party shows up as a refused permit before it shows up as a letter.
Albuquerque does not run a separate city plumbing license. The city's Building Safety FAQ sends licensing questions straight back to the state: for information related to how to go about obtaining a contractor's license, please visit the State of New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. What Albuquerque does run is its own permit counter through the Building Safety Division at Plaza del Sol, on (505) 924-3320, with applications online through ABQ-PLAN or in person. The city's permits page sets out a homeowner testing route, and the bar is the same seventy-five percent the state uses: homeowners may obtain plumbing and mechanical permits by passing a written exam at 75% or higher, get four hours to complete each exam, get two attempts, and are allowed only one passing exam a year. The page also flags work that can only be completed by a licensed contractor, including water heater installation. Separately, Albuquerque requires a city business license for businesses operating inside the municipal limits, applied for and paid per outlet, branch, location or place of business, and applicants must supply a current dated copy of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department registration certificate showing the physical business address. Las Cruces is where the division's southern office sits, on (575) 524-6320, and state licensure carries there the same way it carries in Albuquerque.
The division points the public to one place. Its Verify a License page says to verify a license with the Construction Industries Division using the PSI contractor search at public.psiexams.com/search.jsp, and that search is the tool a homeowner, a general contractor or an insurer will actually use before signing with you. Assume it gets run. That has three consequences for how you present the business. First, the name on the license and the name you advertise under should match, because a search that returns nothing reads as unlicensed even when it is really a trading name mismatch. Second, the classification code is visible, so a customer can see whether you hold MM-1, MM-98 or only a specialty code, and a mismatch between the code and the work you are quoting is visible to anyone who looks. Third, status is visible, which means a suspended license from a missed renewal or a lapsed bond is public while you are still quoting. The division also publishes disciplinary actions and citations on its enforcement actions page, and it takes public requests for investigation of unlicensed activity through an online portal. Put your license number and classification on your website and your estimates, and the search confirms you instead of raising a question.
Sourcesrld.nm.gov 1public.psiexams.com 2rld.nm.gov 3rld.nm.gov 4rld.nm.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about New Mexico, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The Construction Industries Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department licenses plumbing under the Construction Industries Licensing Act, NMSA 1978 Chapter 60 Article 13. There is no separate county plumbing board layered on top of it.
Both, in two connected steps. The individual earns a journeyman certificate of competence or a qualifying party certificate. The company holds the contractor license, and section 60-13-14(A) requires the applicant to employ a qualifying party qualified in the classification applied for.
MM-1, titled Plumbing, under 14.6.6.11 NMAC. MM-98 Mechanical is the wider code and the rule defines it as licensure in MM-1 through MM-4 plus MS-3, MS-6, MS-12 and MS-14.
Two years for the JP classification under 14.6.4 NMAC, with proof of work experience within the 10 years immediately prior to application. Accredited training counts at half a year per year of training and cannot exceed half the requirement.
Four years within the 10 years immediately prior to application, under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(a). Accredited training substitutes at one half year per year of training and cannot exceed half of the total work experience requirement.
Seventy-five percent or higher, for both the qualifying party exam under 14.6.3.8.G(2)(c) and journeyman certification under 14.6.4 NMAC. You cannot repeat the same exam more than twice in any 30 day period.
A bond in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) from a corporate surety authorized to transact business in New Mexico, under 14.6.3.8.C(1). It must cover the entire period of licensure at initial application and at every renewal.
14.6.3 NMAC sets no general liability dollar figure. Workers compensation appears in 14.6.3.8.K(1)(c) as a condition of license validity. The bond is the stated financial requirement, so your liability limits come from customers and contracts instead.
Section 60-13-18(B) provides that licenses expire two years after the issuance date and are renewable on application and payment of the fee. Journeyman certificates run on their own three year continuing education cycle.
A minimum of 16 hours per three year renewal cycle for the mechanical and plumbing classifications, with 8 hours specific to code change or update and 8 hours of other industry related approved course work, per the division's continuing education page.
The division states that the only journeyman classification reciprocated in New Mexico is EE-98J electrical. Section 60-13-14(C) permits reciprocal agreements with states having equivalent requirements, but no plumbing partner state is named on the division's licensing pages.
Section 60-13-19(A) requires the contractor license number on all written bids and when applying for a building permit, and 60-13-19(B) sets a $150 penalty for omitting it. Put it in the estimate template so it cannot be forgotten.
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