Wyoming · Plumbing licensing · official-source guide
Wyoming issues no state plumbing license. Title 33 of the Wyoming Statutes, where every licensed occupation is created, has no plumbing chapter and no plumber board. Licensing sits with cities under W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xiii). Cheyenne licenses through its Contractor Licensing Board and Casper through Community Development, each with its own classes, exams, fees and insurance minimums.
State-level license
No — see local details
Public lookup
Not published
Verified against agency sources on 2026-09-12. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Wyoming issues no state plumbing license of any grade. The place to confirm that is Title 33 of the Wyoming Statutes, Professions and Occupations, which is where every Wyoming licensed occupation lives. Its chapter list runs from abstractors and accountants through architects, barbers, cosmetology, dentists, nurses, pharmacy, surveyors and engineers, veterinarians, geologists, respiratory care practitioners, athletic trainers, midwives, dietetics and acupuncture. Chapter 42 covers water well drilling contractors and water well pump installation contractors. There is no plumbing chapter, no plumber licensing board, and the word plumber does not appear anywhere in the title. Title 35, Public Health and Safety, is the other place a trade license could hide, because chapter 9 carries the fire protection and electrical safety provisions at W.S. 35-9-101 through 35-9-130. Those sections license electricians and define apprentice electrician, journeyman and master electrician and register them with the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety. They create no plumbing equivalent. The only appearance of the word plumbing in Title 35 is inside the definition of a mobile home, where the term is said to include the plumbing, heating and electrical systems. So a plumber working in Wyoming is not unlicensed in the legal sense by holding no state card. There is no state card to hold. The license that matters is issued by the city or town where the work is happening, and the requirements change at the city limit.
Wyoming hands trade licensing to municipalities in two statutes. W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xiii) gives every city and town the power to license, tax and regulate any business whatsoever conducted or trafficked in within the limits of the city or town for the purpose of raising revenue, with any license taxes imposed uniform with respect to the class of business. W.S. 15-1-119(a) lets any city or town adopt by reference all or part of any national fire prevention, building, plumbing and electrical codes, and the Wyoming public works standard specifications. Subsection (d) adds a detail that matters when a code edition changes: adoption by reference adopts the code as then enacted, and any subsequent additions or amendments are not effective until adopted by ordinance. Put those two together and the practical picture is a patchwork. Each Wyoming municipality decides for itself whether to license plumbers, which classifications to create, what experience to demand, which examination to accept, what insurance to require and what to charge. A license issued by Cheyenne is a Cheyenne license. Casper runs its own scheme and issues its own cards. Neither is portable by operation of state law, and there is no state agency with authority to override either. A plumbing company working across Wyoming carries a stack of municipal licenses rather than one state credential, and it needs to check the ordinance of every jurisdiction it bids into.
Sourceswyoleg.gov
Cheyenne is the largest city in Wyoming and it runs the most structured plumbing licensing in the state through its Contractor Licensing Board. The Building Permitting and Licensing Division provides plan review and inspection for building, plumbing, mechanical and electrical construction, and the city applies the 2024 International Codes. The structure to understand before applying is that a plumbing company registers twice. It holds a company license, and it holds an individual Qualified Supervisor license for the person who actually carries the qualification. The board's rules and regulations name the plumbing class C1 and describe its scope as the installation, demolition, repair or alteration of plumbing and pipe fitting systems, equipment and materials, excluding fire sprinklers. The C1 license is a tested class. A plumbing contractor that needs to do electrical work on equipment it services must also obtain a Limited Electrical license rather than treating it as incidental. Section 13.0 of the rules states that an entity may be issued a contractor license only if the entity always employs, in an active full-time capacity, a qualified supervisor or master. Section 13.1 blocks the obvious workaround: a qualified supervisor may not represent more than one contractor, with limited exceptions for wholly-owned entities. That is the sentence that stops a licensed master from renting his qualification to several companies at once.
Sourcescheyennecity.org 1cheyennecity.org 2cheyennecity.org 3
Cheyenne counts experience in documented hours rather than calendar time alone. For the master level the board's rules require four years with eight thousand documented hours of experience as an apprentice plus three years with six thousand documented hours of experience as a journeyman. For the journeyman level the requirement is four years with eight thousand documented hours in the trade as a licensed apprentice. There is a shorter route for residential work only: a residential plumbing journeyman needs two years with four thousand documented hours in the trade as a licensed apprentice. Apprentices work under a supervision ratio that steps down by year, at 100 percent direct supervision in the first year, 75 percent in the second, 50 percent in the third and 25 percent in the fourth. Examination is required across the board. The rules state that all applicants are required to successfully complete an examination as prescribed by Section 3.5, and the examinations are administered by the International Code Council, NICET or another board-approved agency rather than written by the city. Section 3.3.2 lets the board grant reciprocity with other states, and the board reserves the right to evaluate Wyoming reciprocal licenses case by case, which is as close as Wyoming gets to a portable plumbing credential.
Sourcescheyennecity.org
The Cheyenne fee schedule separates an application fee from the license itself, and prices the company license far above the individual ones. For a Class C1 contractor license the application fee is $50.00, the initial license is $200.00 and renewal is $75.00. For the building trade licenses the qualified supervisor or master pays a $50.00 application, $50.00 initial and $25.00 renewal. A journeyman pays a $50.00 application, $30.00 initial and $15.00 renewal. An apprentice pays $10.00, $10.00 and $5.00. Insurance is set by class. Section 3.4.1 requires Class C contractors to carry commercial general liability with minimum limits of $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 total aggregate, and Wyoming workers compensation coverage where state law requires it. The board's published rules set no bond requirement for a plumbing license. Licenses expire annually one year from issuance and must be renewed before expiry. Section 4.2.1 adds a hard consequence for letting one lapse: once the license has been expired beyond 30 days the licensee is required to provide proof of successful completion of a current published examination, meaning a late renewal turns into a retest. Working without a license is priced under Section 3.7 as an investigation fee equal to the license fee, charged whether or not a license or permit is subsequently obtained, and Section 9.6 makes hiring or subcontracting to unlicensed subcontractors grounds for revocation. Permits are priced separately from the license. Cheyenne's published permit fee schedule is valuation based rather than fixture based, running from $23.50 at the lowest tier up to $993.75 at a $100,000 valuation, with formulas above that.
Casper, the second largest city in Wyoming, runs its licensing out of the Community Development Department under the Chief Building Official, and its classification list is granular. A Plumbing Contractor license authorizes the holder to conduct, carry on or engage in the business of any plumbing work, including the installation of steam or water boilers, and every applicant must possess or provide proof of employment of a full-time licensed master plumber. A Master Plumber license authorizes the plumbing work required of a master plumber. A Journeyman Plumber license authorizes the plumbing work required of a journeyman as an employee of a plumbing contractor. An Apprentice Plumber license is issued to the plumbing contractor in the name of the applicant and is valid only for the term of that employment, so the card follows the job. Around those sit classifications a plumbing company routinely needs: Gas Utility Contractor and Gas Utility Installer for gas piping from the building out and gas appliances other than water heaters and boilers, Utility Contractor and Utility Installer for repairing or installing sewer and water lines from the building out, Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor for cleaning sanitary sewers, drain lines, sludge pits and sand traps, and Water Conditioning Contractor for installing water conditioning and softening systems. Casper has adopted the 2024 International Codes, including the 2024 International Plumbing Code and the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code, with amendments in Title 15 of its municipal code.
Casper requires notarised experience affidavits with every application and will reject and return an incomplete one. For a Master Plumber license the applicant must show a certificate of completion of a plumbing apprenticeship training program recognized by the federal government, or the equivalent of four years of experience in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop plus five years of experience as a journeyman or master plumber in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop. For a Journeyman Plumber license the applicant must show a certificate of completion of a plumbing apprenticeship training program recognized by the federal government, or the equivalent of four years of experience in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop. A Utility Installer or Water Conditioning Contractor needs a minimum of one year of experience in that trade, and a Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor needs one year. Testing is named by examination number rather than left open. The approved test for Master Plumber is International Code Council G27-N or equivalent, and for Journeyman Plumber it is ICC G27-N, G28-N or equivalent, with the same pair accepted for Utility Installer alongside an in-house Casper exam. The fee table prices a Mechanical or Plumbing Contractor license at $300.00 new and $150.00 renewal, a Master at $75.00 and $37.50, a Journeyman at $25.00 and $15.00, and an Apprentice at $3.00 both ways. Gas Utility Contractor, Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor, Utility Contractor and Water Conditioning Contractor are each $150.00 new and $75.00 renewal, and Gas Utility Installer and Utility Installer are $25.00 and $15.00.
Sourcescasperwy.gov
Casper publishes its insurance minimums as three separate limits rather than one combined number, and they apply to the contractor classifications, not to the individual master, journeyman or apprentice cards. Every individual applying for a contractor license must show proof of current public liability and personal injury cover of $250,000.00 for injury or death of one person from one incident, $500,000.00 for injury or death of all persons from one incident, and $250,000.00 for property damage from one incident. The fee table marks which classifications carry the insurance condition and which carry the testing condition, and the two sets are not the same: the contractor classes require proof of insurance while the master, journeyman and utility installer classes require proof of testing. Casper also runs a reciprocal contractor license, and its scope is narrow in a way worth reading carefully. It grants the right to conduct business in the electrical, plumbing, mechanical or general contracting categories to a holder of an equivalent license in another Wyoming jurisdiction, not another state. The applicant supplies proof of current Wyoming licensure in good standing plus proof of having successfully completed testing comparable to what the Community Development Department requires. That is the closest thing Wyoming has to a statewide plumbing credential, and it runs city to city by each city's own choice rather than by any state rule.
Sourcescasperwy.gov 1casperwy.gov 2
Wyoming has no plumber license but it does license the person who puts a pump in a water well, and a plumbing company that works on rural properties runs into it. W.S. 33-42-101 creates the Water Well Drilling Contractors and Water Well Pump Installation Contractors Act, and W.S. 33-42-102(a)(iv) defines a water well pump installation contractor as any person who is in the business of installing pumping equipment in water wells for compensation or otherwise. Section 33-42-103(f) makes it unlawful for any person to construct, alter or rehabilitate a water well or install pumping equipment in a water well without a license unless the activity is exempt. Section 33-42-103(c) says the drilling license and the pump installation license are separate and distinct activities with requirements specific to each. To get one, W.S. 33-42-108(a) requires the applicant to be at least 18, to demonstrate professional competence by passing an examination prescribed by the board, to pay the required fees, and to provide written documentation of financial responsibility including proof of general liability insurance. Section 33-42-110(b) requires the examination at least twice a year, and 33-42-110(c) says it tests general knowledge of well construction or pump installation procedures and Wyoming laws, rules, regulations and local ordinances. Section 33-42-114 offers reciprocity: where another state offers it and the board finds its standards equal or greater, the board may waive the examination except for a test on Wyoming statutes and rules. The board sits inside the State Engineer's Office, whose water well construction page carries the licensing links.
Sourceswyoleg.gov 1seo.wyo.gov 2
Wyoming regulates onsite wastewater through the Department of Environmental Quality rather than through a plumber license, and who issues the approval depends on the county. DEQ requires a permit to construct or a notice of coverage for a small wastewater facility treating less than 2,000 gallons of domestic sewage per day. DEQ itself issues those permits in Campbell County for commercial systems only, and in Carbon, Niobrara, Platte and Weston counties. Other jurisdictions run their own permitting, so the approval for a septic replacement in one county comes from the state and in the next county from the local authority. The DEQ process is sequential and a plumbing company should build it into the schedule: review the Small Wastewater Facility General Permit, complete the conventional septic system application, submit one hard copy and one electronic copy to the appropriate district engineer, receive authorization before construction begins, and submit a certificate of completion once the system is installed. Starting the excavation before the authorization lands is the mistake that costs time. Nothing in the DEQ small wastewater process is an installer license. It is a permit on the system, held against the property, and it sits alongside whatever municipal plumbing license the installer already needs to carry inside city limits.
Sourcesdeq.wyoming.gov
Three statewide obligations attach to a plumbing business even though no state plumbing license exists. The first is workers compensation. W.S. 27-14-108(a)(ii)(D) deems all workers employed in Construction, sector 23 of the North American Industry Classification System, to be in extrahazardous employment, which brings a plumbing company's employees inside mandatory coverage under the Wyoming Worker's Compensation Act. Cheyenne's contractor licensing rules require proof of that coverage where state law demands it. The second is sales tax treatment. W.S. 39-15-303(b)(i) makes any contractor who furnishes tangible personal property under contract or in the development of real property the consumer or user of that property for Wyoming sales tax purposes, so the tax is paid on materials rather than collected from the customer as a resale. The third catches out-of-state firms. W.S. 39-15-303(b)(iii) requires each nonresident prime contractor to file with the Department of Revenue a surety bond or legal security equal to three percent of the payments due under the contract, plus any increased rate in effect, conditioned on payment of all sales taxes. Section 39-15-303(b)(iv) requires any nonresident prime contractor, and any resident prime contractor who hires a nonresident subcontractor, to register the project with the Department of Revenue within 15 days of the start, and to post either the bond or a cash deposit of not less than four percent of total contract payments. Failing to register on time carries a penalty assessment of one percent of total payments due. Section 39-15-303(b)(ii) makes a prime contractor withhold three percent of payments to a nonresident subcontractor until that subcontractor produces a department certificate.
Wyoming imposes no statewide requirement to print a plumbing license number on an advertisement, because there is no state number to print. The rules that bite are municipal, and Cheyenne writes them broadly. The Contractor Licensing Board rules define advertising in Section 2(a) to include providing building or construction estimates to any person, and any representation that a person, firm or entity is authorized or licensed to perform work. That definition matters because it pulls a written estimate inside the advertising rules, so quoting a job you are not licensed for in Cheyenne is an advertising problem as well as a licensing one. Section 3.8.1 requires licensees to have a current license card in their possession, signed by the chairperson of the Contractor Licensing Board, while performing work, and Section 8.13 obliges the licensee to present the license card when the Building Official asks. The one state-level advertising bar in Wyoming that touches this trade sits in the water well act. W.S. 33-42-103(a) makes it unlawful for any person to use in connection with his name, or to advertise, any title or description tending to convey the impression that he is a licensed water well drilling contractor or water well pump installation contractor unless he has been licensed. Section 33-42-103(d) adds a display duty on site: a copy of the license of the licensee overseeing the job and assuming liability shall be conspicuously posted at the water well drilling or pump installation site.
There is no statewide plumbing license lookup in Wyoming, because there is no statewide plumbing license, and a customer who searches for one will not find it. Verification runs through the city that issued the card. In Cheyenne the check is whether the company holds a current Class C1 contractor license and whether the individual named as its qualified supervisor is currently licensed, since Section 13.0 of the board's rules requires the entity to employ a qualified supervisor or master in an active full-time capacity at all times, and Section 13.1 bars that person from covering more than one contractor. In Casper the check is whether the plumbing contractor license is current and whether the company employs the full-time licensed master plumber that the contractor classification requires. A customer can also ask to see the card itself: Cheyenne's Section 3.8.1 requires the licensee to carry a current license card signed by the board chairperson while working. One related state search does exist and is worth knowing for rural work. The Wyoming Water Well Contractors Licensing Board publishes a public contractor search, linked from the State Engineer's Office water well construction page, where a property owner can confirm that whoever is setting a well pump holds the license W.S. 33-42-103(f) requires.
Sourcescheyennecity.org 1casperwy.gov 2wwcbcontractorsearch.wyo.gov 3seo.wyo.gov 4wyoleg.gov 5
These are common details other guides publish about Wyoming, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. Title 33 of the Wyoming Statutes, Professions and Occupations, is where Wyoming's licensed occupations are created, and it has no plumbing chapter and no plumber licensing board. Title 35 chapter 9 licenses electricians through the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety and creates no plumbing equivalent. Plumbing licensing in Wyoming happens at city level under W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xiii).
Individual cities and towns. W.S. 15-1-103(a)(xiii) lets any city or town license, tax and regulate any business conducted within its limits, and W.S. 15-1-119(a) lets it adopt national plumbing codes by reference. Cheyenne licenses through its Contractor Licensing Board and Casper through its Community Development Department. Requirements, classifications, fees and insurance minimums differ between them.
The Contractor Licensing Board rules price the Class C1 plumbing contractor license at a $50.00 application fee, $200.00 initial license and $75.00 renewal. The individual licenses are cheaper: a qualified supervisor or master pays $50.00 application, $50.00 initial and $25.00 renewal, a journeyman pays $50.00, $30.00 and $15.00, and an apprentice pays $10.00, $10.00 and $5.00.
Four years with eight thousand documented hours of experience as an apprentice, plus three years with six thousand documented hours as a journeyman. The journeyman level takes four years with eight thousand documented hours in the trade as a licensed apprentice. A residential plumbing journeyman, limited to residential work, needs two years with four thousand documented hours.
Casper's published fee table sets a Mechanical or Plumbing Contractor license at $300.00 new and $150.00 renewal, a Master at $75.00 and $37.50, a Journeyman at $25.00 and $15.00, and an Apprentice at $3.00 either way. Gas Utility Contractor, Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor, Utility Contractor and Water Conditioning Contractor are each $150.00 new and $75.00 renewal.
It varies by city. Cheyenne's Section 3.4.1 requires Class C contractors to carry commercial general liability with minimum limits of $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 total aggregate. Casper requires $250,000.00 for injury or death of one person from one incident, $500,000.00 for injury or death of all persons from one incident, and $250,000.00 for property damage from one incident.
There is no state exam. Cheyenne's rules require an examination prescribed by Section 3.5, administered by the International Code Council, NICET or another board-approved agency. Casper names the exams by number: ICC G27-N or equivalent for Master Plumber, and ICC G27-N or G28-N or equivalent for Journeyman Plumber, with an in-house Casper exam also offered for the Utility Installer classification.
Only where a city chooses to accept one. Casper issues a reciprocal contractor license for the electrical, plumbing, mechanical and general contracting categories to a holder of an equivalent license in another Wyoming jurisdiction, on proof the license is in good standing and proof of comparable testing. Cheyenne's Section 3.3.2 lets its board grant reciprocity and evaluate Wyoming reciprocal licenses case by case.
Only for specific work. W.S. 33-42-103(f) makes it unlawful to construct, alter or rehabilitate a water well or install pumping equipment in a water well without a license from the Water Well Drilling Contractors and Water Well Pump Installation Contractors board. W.S. 33-42-108(a) requires the applicant to be 18 or older, pass a board examination, pay the fees and document financial responsibility including proof of general liability insurance.
The Department of Environmental Quality requires a permit to construct or a notice of coverage for a small wastewater facility treating less than 2,000 gallons of domestic sewage a day. DEQ issues those in Campbell County for commercial systems only and in Carbon, Niobrara, Platte and Weston counties. Other jurisdictions permit locally. Authorization must be in hand before construction, and a certificate of completion follows installation.
W.S. 39-15-303(b)(iii) requires a nonresident prime contractor to file with the Department of Revenue a surety bond or legal security equal to three percent of payments due under the contract, conditioned on payment of Wyoming sales taxes. Section 39-15-303(b)(iv) requires project registration within 15 days of the start, and either that bond or a cash deposit of not less than four percent, with a one percent penalty for registering late.
Through the city, since there is no state lookup. In Cheyenne, confirm the company holds a current Class C1 contractor license and that its named qualified supervisor is licensed, because Section 13.0 requires a full-time qualified supervisor at all times. In Casper, confirm the plumbing contractor license is current and that a full-time licensed master plumber is employed. The licensee must carry a current signed license card while working.
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