I am considering taking a trade class to work towards an electrician’s license, which in my state I believe is relatively simple to do. I also would like to get a plumber’s license, which is damn near impossible in my state (Indiana). You have to work for a licensed plumber for five years to take the test.
I have plumbed as a side to remodeling for 12 years or so, on jobs where I am allowed to because of their nature. I know the code well. Apprentice positions here typically pay close to minimum wage, and the system is locked in imho to provide cheap labor to plumbing contractors and prevent general remodeling folks from stepping on their toes. Granted license holders have a lot of invested effort and lost income in what they have. It just doesn’t seem like a fair system to me.
What states don’t have work requirements for a plumber’s license, only take a test and get licensed? I don’t like our system.
remodeler
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Here in WA there's a stiff work requirement for both a plumber's and electrician's license (HVAC too as well as a few others). Something on the order of 6000-8000 hours experience, supervised by a licensed journeyman, sworn and sealed, etc. etc. It's going to stop me from ever holding either license. I'm a good enough electrician to put in branch circuits and a good enough plumber to run water and DWV, the stuff typical to my remodels (and stuff I enjoy doing).
Sure is annoying when all I need is to move on pipe a few feet or put in a new plug. Bottom line is I can't do those things here, and it's probably actually a good thing--I should be subbing it out, concentrating on selling jobs, managing the business, making sure we don't botch something and get sued. I really have no business playing with a torch and pulling wire. So it goes...
MO has no state wide licensing or code requirements.
In the more populated areas each city or county adopts there own.
This is what one of the suburban cities requires for electrical, mechanical or plumbing.
D. To be properly licensed, a person must hold, at the time of contracting and at the time of the performance of the work, a valid master, or journeyman, trade license, from the City of Kansas City, Missouri; Independence, Missouri; or a Block & Associates Test Certificate with a minimum score of seventy-five (75).