Montana · plumber licensing · verified July 2026
Montana plumber license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, Montana licenses plumbers statewide through the Board of Plumbers in the Department of Labor & Industry. A journeyman license requires 5 years and 7,500 aggregate hours of plumbing experience (or completion of a registered apprenticeship) plus written and practical exams administered by IAPMO; a master license requires 4 years as a licensed journeyman with 3 of those years supervisory or under a master plumber. Licenses renew annually on September 1 with 4 hours of code-related continuing education per year.
Do you need a license to work as a plumber in Montana?
Montana licenses plumbers statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
Fees from the board's official journeyman application form: $100 application + $170 license fee ($270 total); reciprocity applicants pay a $300 reciprocity fee in addition to the application fee; temporary work permit is $100 additional. Reciprocity with OR/ID/ND/SD applies to JOURNEYMAN licensure only (must have passed that state's written and practical exams; no master reciprocity). The application form references the 2012 UPC while the current exam page references the 2021 UPC, so the form may slightly lag current practice. FY2026 renewal fee was 100% abated per the board site. Montana's Board licenses individuals (journeyman/master); general construction-contractor registration with DLI is a separate, non-trade credential.
What licenses does Montana issue?
The Montana Board of Plumbers (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) issues the credentials below for this trade. Boards often list further classes for specialties and business licenses; these are the ones this page covers.
Hours are what each class asks for on its own terms. Where a senior class shows fewer than a journeyman, the board is counting time served after the earlier license rather than from the start; the prerequisite column says which.
| License | On-the-job hours | Classroom hours | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentice Plumber (registered apprentice) | not published | not published | No |
| Journeyman Plumber | 7,500 | not published | Yes |
| Master Plumber | not published | not published | Yes |
Source: Montana Board of Plumbers (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) (boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov). Verified July 2026.
Journeyman Plumber: 5 years and 7,500 aggregate hours in the field of plumbing, or completion of a registered apprenticeship program
How many hours do you need in Montana?
Montana requires 7,500 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Plumber license. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 3.8 years of full-time work.
What exam does Montana require?
Montana Journeyman Plumber Examination (written + practical, based on the Uniform Plumbing Code; 70% minimum on each part). Administered by IAPMO (scheduled after Board approval/admission letter).
Montana Master Plumber Examination (70% minimum). Administered by IAPMO.
Source: examination page (boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov). Verified July 2026.
How much does a Montana plumber license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Plumber license in Montana costs $270 in board fees, before any training. That is the application fee and the initial license fee charged once. No board publishes this total, so it is added up here from the schedule it does publish. An exam is required and its fee is not in that figure, because no amount for it appears in the board material this page is built from. Check the board's current fee schedule before budgeting.
- Application fee$100
- Initial license fee$170
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 1 year, licenses expire annually on September 1
Continuing education: 4 hours annually, code-related, with prior Board approval (ARM 24.180.2102); new licensees are exempt during their first renewal cycle
How does the apprenticeship route work?
Completion of an apprenticeship program meeting the standards of the Montana Apprenticeship and Training Bureau or the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Apprenticeship substitutes for the 5-year/7,500-hour experience requirement for the journeyman license.
Which states does Montana have license reciprocity with?
Montana appears in 4 published reciprocal licensing agreements for this trade, covering Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota. Boards write these as agreements between two states rather than as a one-way list, and some publish the list while their counterpart does not, so this counts every agreement naming Montana from either side. Recognition is never automatic: the board you apply to decides, and most require the original license to have been earned by examination and to be in good standing.
How does Montana compare to neighboring states?
Requirements stop at the state line, which matters if you live near one or expect to move. Here is what the neighboring states ask of the same trade.
| State | Journeyman hours | Licensing model |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | 7,500 | Statewide |
| Idaho | 8,000 | Statewide |
| North Dakota | 7,600 | Statewide |
| South Dakota | not published | Statewide |
| Wyoming | 8,000 | City or county |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does Montana compare nationally?
21 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 4,000 to 12,000 hours. Montana's 7,500 hours is what 2 of them ask, making it the standard rather than an outlier; 5 states ask less and 14 ask more. The full comparison is on the hours by state table.
Sources and verification
Every fact on this page traces to one of these
- Montana Board of Plumbers - home/renewal
- Plumber Journeyman license information
- Plumber Master license information
- Exam information (IAPMO)
- Board of Plumbers Journeyman Application (official form)
Last verified July 2026. Found an error? Report it and it will be corrected and logged on the corrections page.
Other states with published requirements for this trade: Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico.
Price the whole path with the license cost estimator, or weigh earning against paying for school with the apprenticeship comparison. Back to plumbers overview.
Licensing requirements change between our verification sweeps. This page is informational only, so confirm current requirements with Montana Board of Plumbers (Department of Labor & Industry, Business Standards Division) before making decisions. Not legal advice.