North Dakota · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
North Dakota licenses plumbers through the State Plumbing Board in Bismarck, which licenses the individual as master, journeyman or apprentice under Century Code chapter 43-18. The contracting business is licensed separately by the Secretary of State once a job exceeds four thousand dollars. A journeyman needs four years and 7,600 hours; a firm installing plumbing needs a master in charge.
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
The North Dakota State Plumbing Board licenses plumbers. Its office is at 1110 College Drive Suite 210, Bismarck, ND 58501, and its phone number is 701-328-9977. The board was created by the 1941 legislative assembly under North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-18. Two later chapters sit beside it: chapter 43-18.1 from 1973 covers water conditioning contractors and installers, and chapter 43-18.2 from 1987 covers sewer and water installers. The board's own rules are in Title 62 of the North Dakota Administrative Code, and plumber licensure specifically is article 62-02, chapter 62-02-01. Section 43-18-11 sets the boundary that catches most contractors by surprise. No person, firm, corporation or limited liability company may engage in the business of a master plumber, journeyman plumber or plumber's apprentice in any location of this state having a public system of waterworks or sewerage unless registered and licensed by the board. Outside those locations the state license requirement does not reach. A homeowner may work on premises the homeowner owns and actually occupies as a residence, and a person employed in full-time maintenance work may do plumbing repair where employed, unless a local ordinance forbids it. Section 43-18-11.1 also exempts employees of household appliance dealers when the plumbing work is incidental to installing the appliance and could be done by an apprentice. The board also employs inspectors, who must themselves be registered plumbers under section 43-18-06.
Sourcesndplumbingboard.gov 1ndplumbingboard.gov 2ndlegis.gov 3
North Dakota licenses the individual, not the company. Section 43-18-01 defines three classes. A master plumber is skilled in planning, supervision and the practical installation, alteration and repair of plumbing, and is familiar with the laws and rules governing it. A journeyman plumber is any person other than a master plumber whose principal occupation is the practical installation, alteration and repair of plumbing. A plumber's apprentice is learning and assisting under the immediate and personal supervision of a master or journeyman plumber. The rule that ties a business to a person is section 43-18-10. No person, firm, corporation or limited liability company may engage in the business of installing plumbing, or install plumbing in connection with dealing in and selling plumbing materials and supplies, in any location with a public system of waterworks or sewerage unless a registered and licensed master plumber who is responsible for the proper installation is in charge of the work at all times. There is one carve out written into the same section. In cities of less than one thousand population and in all rural areas, a licensed journeyman plumber may engage in the business of installing plumbing. Licenses are numbered consecutively, are not transferable, and no person may work under a license issued to another person. One person may hold both a master and a journeyman license, and a master may be granted the journeyman license without paying the journeyman fee.
An apprentice must register with the board within thirty days after beginning apprenticeship, under section 43-18-21. The board's own guidance is blunt about what happens if you miss that window: hours worked after the thirty days without being registered will not be counted toward the apprenticeship, and working unregistered violates state law. A person in a school work program need not register. Rule 62-02-01-01.1 sets the term. An applicant must have reached eighteen years of age. The apprentice serves four years of not less than one thousand nine hundred hours per year, with a total of not less than seven thousand six hundred hours. Supervision is limited by the same rule. Not more than five apprentices may work under the immediate and personal supervision of a single master or journeyman plumber on any installation, alteration or repair project, and it is the employer's duty not to let an apprentice work outside that supervision. Apprentices who have three years and five thousand seven hundred hours may work during their fourth year without direct supervision. The board's answer to the same question adds that fourth and fifth year apprentices may work by themselves. School counts. A graduate of a plumbing course at an accredited school of at least nine months and one thousand twenty hours receives credit against the term based on grade average: two hours of credit per course hour for an A average, one and three quarter hours for a B, one and one half for a C, and one hour for a D.
The normal route to a journeyman license is four years of apprenticeship under a licensed master plumber. The board states the hour figure alongside it: four years and seven thousand six hundred hours of experience as an apprentice plumber working under a licensed master plumber. Rule 62-02-01-01 opens a second door for people who worked where no state license was required. An applicant with five years of experience, counted as one thousand nine hundred hours per year and a total of nine thousand five hundred hours, who furnishes four affidavits verifying those years, may apply for a journeyman examination screening test. The screening test is not the license exam. It is an oral and written test given by the board plus a plumbing inspection report, signed by a state plumbing inspector, on an installation the applicant built, used to decide whether the applicant may sit for the journeyman examination. Applicants claiming practical experience from states that do not require licensure must complete the previous practical experience verification section signed by the master plumber, and attach written letters from present and previous employers stating dates of employment, hours worked and the extent of the work. Those letters must be signed by the master plumber and notarized by a notary public or a judge. Out of state journeymen who want to work where a North Dakota journeyman license is required apply for the examination and license, with proof of the other state's license vouched for on the board's application form.
Sourcesndlegis.gov 1ndplumbingboard.gov 2ndplumbingboard.gov 3
Rule 62-02-01-01 sets two conditions for a master plumber application. The applicant must be twenty one years of age, and must have had two years, counted as three thousand four hundred hours, of experience as a journeyman plumber licensed by North Dakota or by another state that has a state licensing law. Proof of an out of state journeyman license is vouched for as the board's application form provides. The board's own restatement of the requirement is the same two years and three thousand four hundred hours as a licensed journeyman. There is a shelf life on the paperwork. All applications expire and are canceled six months after the date of approval if the applicant does not appear for examination within that six month period. A master license matters beyond the individual. Under section 43-18-10 a firm cannot be in the plumbing installation business in any location with a public waterworks or sewerage system unless a licensed master plumber responsible for proper installation is in charge of the work at all times, so in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot the master license is the license the business is effectively built on. A master plumber who employs a registered apprentice must report to the board any changes in the apprentice's continued employment, under rule 62-02-01-01.1. A master may also hold a journeyman license without paying a second fee, under section 43-18-13.
Master, journeyman, sewer and water contractor, sewer and water installer, water conditioning contractor and water conditioning installer examinations are given every other month. You must hold a current North Dakota license or have submitted an application to be eligible to sit. The master plumber exam has four parts. Part one is closed book and contains one hundred multiple choice questions. Parts two, three and four are open book: forty completion questions, a water pipe sizing completion, and a drain, waste and vent completion with fixture units. Five hours are allowed. The journeyman exam has five parts. Parts one and two are closed book, one hundred multiple choice questions plus a drain, waste and vent pipe sizing completion. Parts three, four and five are open book and mirror the master open book sections. Five hours are allowed. Passing grades are set in rule 62-02-01-03: eighty percent for master, seventy percent for journeyman. Fail either and rule 62-02-01-04 and the board's exam page both impose a six month wait before you may write it again. An apprentice who fails the journeyman exam must rewrite it at the end of the six month period or work under the direct supervision of a licensed master or journeyman. You bring the 2018 North Dakota Plumbing Code and a calculator. Cell phones may not be used during the exam.
Sourcesndplumbingboard.gov 1ndlegis.gov 2ndplumbingboard.gov 3
The application fee is fifty dollars, set in rule 62-02-01-01. The examination fee is fifty dollars and entitles the applicant to one examination only for each fee paid, under rule 62-02-01-02. The board's exam fee page confirms both plumbing exams: master exam fifty dollars, journeyman exam fifty dollars. It also shows that the sewer and water contractor, sewer and water installer, water conditioning contractor and water conditioning installer exams carry no fee. License fees in rule 62-02-01-01 are one hundred dollars for the journeyman license and two hundred dollars for the master license. The board's published renewal fees match: master plumber two hundred dollars, journeyman plumber one hundred dollars. Apprentice renewals climb by year: twenty dollars for the first year, thirty for the second, forty for the third, fifty for the fourth and seventy five for the fifth. The late renewal fee is fifty dollars under rule 62-02-01-07. Sewer and water renewals are one hundred dollars for a contractor, twenty five dollars for an installer, twenty five dollars for an apprentice over three thousand four hundred hours and nothing for an apprentice under that. Water conditioning renewals are forty dollars for a contractor, twenty dollars for an installer and nothing for an apprentice. Statute caps what the board may charge. Section 43-18-13 limits the examination fee to two hundred dollars for a master certificate and license and one hundred dollars for a journeyman. Paying online adds a 2.5 percent transaction fee.
Sourcesndlegis.gov 1ndplumbingboard.gov 2ndplumbingboard.gov 3ndlegis.gov 4ndplumbingboard.gov 5
A North Dakota plumbing certificate and license is valid for one year only and expires on December 31 of the year it was issued, under section 43-18-17. The certificate must be renewed on application made within thirty days after expiration. Rule 62-02-01-07 sets the outer limit: no certificate and license need be renewed by the board later than one year after its expiration, and the board may require a holder whose license has been expired for a year or more to sit a new examination. Continuing education is a condition of renewal, not an optional extra. Section 43-18-17.1 requires each applicant for renewal of a master or journeyman license to complete a minimum of two credit hours and not more than four credit hours within a two year period of continuing education relating to the plumbing trade. The board restates it the same way and adds the price: the continuing education session fee for master and journeyman plumbers is forty dollars, payable before the session, and the board's correspondence course fee is also forty dollars. Apprentice plumbers are not required to attend but may attend a session free. Failing to furnish certification of completed continuing education is a listed ground for revocation under section 43-18-18, alongside failure to report work under section 43-18-17.2. Renewal can be done on paper or through the board's online account, which links to an existing record by the email address the board has on file.
Sourcesndlegis.gov 1ndlegis.gov 2ndplumbingboard.gov 3ndplumbingboard.gov 4
The plumbing board licenses the person. The North Dakota Secretary of State licenses the business. Under section 43-07-02 a person may not engage in the business nor act in the capacity of a contractor in this state when the cost, value or price per job exceeds four thousand dollars, and may not maintain any claim, action, suit or proceeding in any court of this state related to that contracting business, without first holding a contractor license. The Secretary of State states the same threshold plainly. Section 43-07-07 sets four classes. A class A license carries no limitation on the value of a single contract project. Class B is capped at five hundred thousand dollars for a single project, class C at three hundred thousand dollars, and class D at one hundred thousand dollars. Initial fees are four hundred fifty dollars for class A, three hundred for class B, two hundred twenty five for class C and one hundred for class D. Renewal fees are ninety, sixty, forty five and thirty dollars in the same order. The contractor year runs March 2 through March 1, and renewal is due on or before March 1. Miss it and the license is not in good standing and the contractor is deemed unlicensed; there is then until June 1 to renew by paying a fifty dollar penalty fee plus the renewal fee. After June 1 the license is expired. A nonprofit building or rehabilitating a single family dwelling to give away or sell below appraised value pays no fee.
Sourcesndlegis.gov 1sos.nd.gov 2
The plumbing board's statute and rules set no insurance minimum and no bond for a master or journeyman plumbing license. The money requirements sit on the contractor license instead. Section 43-07-04 requires an applicant to file a copy of a certificate of liability insurance with the application, and to submit a statement from North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance that coverage satisfactory to WSI has been secured. The Secretary of State adds the mechanics: the liability insurance must be in the same name as the contractor license, and the North Dakota Secretary of State at 600 E Boulevard Ave, Dept 108, Bismarck, ND 58505 must be listed as the certificate holder. Renewal under section 43-07-10 requires a current certificate of insurance naming the registrar as certificate holder plus a certification that payroll taxes, WSI premiums and unemployment insurance premiums due have been submitted. Letting liability coverage lapse is one of the listed grounds under section 43-07-04 for the registrar to classify a license as not in good standing. Two primary sources disagree about a bond, and the disagreement is worth naming. The City of Fargo tells consumers that business registration and contractor licensing require the contractor to carry minimal liability insurance and a surety bond. The Century Code says otherwise: section 43-07-11, headed Contractor's bond, was repealed by the 1995 legislature, and the Secretary of State's own contractor page lists liability insurance and WSI without a surety bond. Read the statute and the Secretary of State page as controlling.
Section 43-18-13.1 gives the board discretion. It may register, without examination and on payment of the required fee, nonresident applicants registered under the laws of other states whose requirements the board determines are substantially equivalent, in those instances when the other state grants similar privileges to North Dakota licensees. The board's own answer names the states. North Dakota has written agreements with South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. The paperwork matters more than people expect. The application must be accompanied by a Certificate of Endorsement from the state where you are licensed, not just a copy of your current license. If you hold an apprentice, journeyman or master license in a state outside those three, you are not shut out, but you are on the ordinary application track. You must meet the requirements of North Dakota Administrative Code chapter 62-02-01, and you must verify the other license by a state endorsed letter stating the type of license held, the issue date, whether the license was obtained through examination and whether it is current. Rule 62-02-01-01 also lets out of state journeymen and masters apply for the North Dakota examination and license with their out of state license vouched for on the board's form. Sewer and water has a parallel path under section 43-18.2-05: an out of state applicant may take the examination on showing by affidavit experience in the state where licensed that is the same as North Dakota requires.
Sourcesndplumbingboard.gov 1ndlegis.gov 2ndlegis.gov 3ndplumbingboard.gov 4
Section 43-18-23 makes it unlawful for any person to work, for compensation, as a master plumber, journeyman plumber or plumber's apprentice without being registered and licensed in that classification. Section 43-18-24 attaches the penalty. Violating the state plumbing code, or section 43-18-10, 43-18-11, 43-18-11.4, 43-18-17.2 or 43-18-23, or working under another person's license in violation of section 43-18-13, is a class B misdemeanor. Section 12.1-32-01 sets what a class B misdemeanor means in North Dakota: a maximum of thirty days imprisonment, a fine of one thousand five hundred dollars, or both. For an organization rather than an individual, section 12.1-32-01.1 sets a maximum fine of twenty thousand dollars for a class B misdemeanor. Criminal exposure is not the end of it. Section 43-18-25 gives plumbing inspectors the civil remedy of injunction to restrain violations, and gives any person claiming injury in person or property because of a violation a civil action for damages. The board can also revoke. Section 43-18-18 lists incompetency, error or fraud in obtaining the certificate, permitting the use of your certificate in violation of the chapter, and failure to furnish continuing education certification. Revocation follows a public hearing with at least ten days notice under section 43-18-19, and a revoked licensee may not apply again for one year under section 43-18-20. Contracting without the Secretary of State license is separate and heavier: section 43-07-02 makes it a class A misdemeanor and allows a civil penalty of up to three times the license fee, which must be assessed and collected before a license is issued.
North Dakota wrote its plumbing advertising rule into statute, and it is short enough to quote the substance of. Under section 43-18-11.3, where a plumbing license is required under section 43-18-11 or by local ordinance, no person offering plumbing contracting services may advertise as a plumbing contractor, master plumber or journeyman plumber unless the person employs a licensed journeyman plumber or the person is a licensed master plumber. Then the sentence that catches marketing departments: any advertisement must contain the appropriate license number. The statute exempts only advertising purchased or contracted for before July 1, 1989. That means the license number belongs on the website, the truck wrap, the service van, the printed estimate, the direct mail piece and the paid search ad, because the statute draws no distinction between media. The penalty escalates by conviction. A first conviction is a class B misdemeanor, but with a ceiling written into this section: no fine in excess of one hundred dollars and no term of imprisonment may be imposed. A second or subsequent conviction is a class A misdemeanor. For a second conviction, no fine in excess of one thousand dollars and no imprisonment may be imposed. For a third or subsequent conviction, a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars or imprisonment not to exceed thirty days, or both, may be imposed. The practical read for a contractor: the money is small and the record is not, and the wording you use about yourself has to match the grade you actually hold.
Sourcesndlegis.gov
Section 43-18-16 says a plumber licensed by the board may work at plumbing anywhere in the state, except in cities that have adopted ordinances requiring a municipal license or registration in addition to the state license. Fargo is one of those cities. The City of Fargo tells consumers directly that home roofers, plumbers and heating and air conditioning contractors must be licensed through the City of Fargo, and that those licenses can be verified through the City Auditor's Office at 701.241.1300. The city's occupational license table lists a Master Plumber license at one hundred twenty five dollars per year, expiring December 31, applied for through the City of Fargo Licensing Portal. Fargo's plumbing permit page adds a field rule: a licensed contractor must be used to bring the sewer and water from the street to within five feet of the building, and all work must comply with the North Dakota State Plumbing Code. Inspections are requested at 701.241.1560. Bismarck runs permits and licenses through its eTRAKiT portal. Its plumbing permit instructions say contractors licensed with the State of North Dakota can register to pay by invoice by contacting the Building Inspections Division at 221 N 5th St or 701-355-1465, and Bismarck lists plumbing among the work requiring a permit. Bismarck also publishes a public license search inside eTRAKiT. Section 43-18-22 closes the loop between the two levels: the local authority that issues plumbing permits must report willful violations and any incompetence by a licensed plumber to the state board.
Sourcesndlegis.gov 1fargond.gov 2fargond.gov 3fargond.gov 4bismarcknd.gov 5bismarcknd.gov 6
There are three public records a customer or a procurement officer can pull, and a contractor should assume all three get checked. The board publishes a license lookup at its licensing section, described as a way to look up and review current license holders approved and certified by the North Dakota State Plumbing Board, with the office at 701-328-9977 for anything further. Section 43-18-14 backs that with a statutory duty: the board keeps a register of names and addresses of everyone issued a master certificate and license and a second register for journeymen, and the registers must be open to the public for inspection. The Secretary of State runs the contractor side, with a contractor search at firststop.sos.nd.gov. Section 43-07-13 requires the registrar to keep a complete indexed record of all applications, licenses, certificates for the current contractor year, revocations and expirations, open to public inspection during office hours. Bismarck publishes a license search in its eTRAKiT system, and Fargo directs verification of its own city licenses to the City Auditor's Office. Public bidding uses the same records as a gate. Section 43-07-12 requires all bids and proposals for a public contract project to enclose a copy of the current contractor license or certificate inside the bid bond envelope, requires the license class to match the value of the project, and requires that a contractor hold the license at least ten days before the date set for receiving bids. A bid submitted without it may not be read and must be returned.
Sourcesndplumbingboard.gov 1ndlegis.gov 2firststop.sos.nd.gov 3ndlegis.gov 4trakitapi.bismarcknd.gov 5fargond.gov 6
Three adjacent credentials sit with the same board, and a plumbing contractor bidding site work or treatment equipment should know where the lines fall. Chapter 43-18.2 covers sewer and water. Section 43-18.2-03 says no person, firm, corporation or limited liability company, except plumbers holding valid licenses under chapter 43-18, may engage in the business of sewer and water contractor or sewer and water installer unless licensed by the board, and that license allows the plumbing necessary for sewer and water installation. A sewer and water installer needs two years of experience as a building sewer and water installer apprentice in the state; a contractor needs one year of experience as an installer. Passing grades are eighty percent for the contractor and seventy percent for the installer. Examination fees under section 43-18.2-08 are one hundred dollars for the contractor and twenty five dollars for the installer, with reexamination at fifty and ten dollars, and no more often than every three months. Chapter 43-18.1 covers water conditioning contractors and installers on the same pattern, again excepting plumbers licensed under chapter 43-18, with registration and licensure fees of forty dollars for a contractor and twenty dollars for an installer. The board also publishes a public list of Certified Backflow Prevention Assembly Testers organized by the cities they serve, which is both a compliance record and a referral list.
Sourcesndplumbingboard.gov 1ndplumbingboard.gov 2ndplumbingboard.gov 3ndlegis.gov 4
These are common details other guides publish about North Dakota, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. The North Dakota State Plumbing Board licenses master plumbers, journeyman plumbers and plumber's apprentices under North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-18 and the rules at North Dakota Administrative Code chapter 62-02-01. The board is at 1110 College Drive Suite 210, Bismarck, ND 58501.
The person. The plumbing board licenses individuals by grade. The contracting business is licensed separately by the North Dakota Secretary of State as a contractor, and section 43-18-10 requires a firm installing plumbing to have a licensed master plumber in charge of the work at all times.
Section 43-18-11 applies it in any location of the state having a public system of waterworks or sewerage. Homeowners working on premises they own and actually occupy as a residence, and full-time maintenance employees doing repair where they work, are excepted unless a local ordinance says otherwise.
Four years and seven thousand six hundred hours as an apprentice under a licensed master plumber. Rule 62-02-01-01.1 states the term as four years at not less than one thousand nine hundred hours per year, totaling not less than seven thousand six hundred hours.
Rule 62-02-01-01 requires the applicant to be twenty one years of age and to have two years, counted as three thousand four hundred hours, of experience as a journeyman plumber licensed by North Dakota or another state with a licensing law. Applications expire six months after approval if you do not appear.
Rule 62-02-01-03 sets eighty percent for master and seventy percent for journeyman. Rule 62-02-01-04 and the board's exam page both impose a six month wait before you may take the examination again after a failure.
The application fee is fifty dollars and the examination fee is fifty dollars per examination. The journeyman license fee is one hundred dollars and the master license fee is two hundred dollars. Renewals are one hundred and two hundred dollars, and the late renewal fee is fifty dollars.
December 31 of the year it was issued. Section 43-18-17 makes the license valid for one year only, and renewal must be applied for within thirty days after expiration. Rule 62-02-01-07 lets the board require a new examination once a license has been expired for a year or more.
Section 43-18-17.1 requires master and journeyman plumbers to complete a minimum of two and not more than four credit hours of plumbing continuing education within a two year period. The board's session fee and its correspondence course fee are each forty dollars. Apprentices may attend free.
The board states it has written agreements with South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana. The application must include a Certificate of Endorsement from the state where you are licensed, not just a copy of the license. Section 43-18-13.1 is the statutory authority for registration without examination.
Yes. Section 43-18-11.3 says any advertisement must contain the appropriate license number, and it bars advertising as a plumbing contractor, master plumber or journeyman plumber unless you are a licensed master plumber or employ a licensed journeyman. A first conviction carries a fine capped at one hundred dollars and no jail.
If the cost, value or price per job exceeds four thousand dollars, yes. Section 43-07-02 requires a Secretary of State contractor license, and without one you cannot maintain a court action related to your contracting business. Classes A through D are priced from four hundred fifty dollars down to one hundred dollars.
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