New Hampshire · plumber licensing · verified July 2026
New Hampshire plumber license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, New Hampshire licenses plumbers statewide under RSA 153:27-38 through the Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board within the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC), with apprentice, journeyman and master plumber tiers. A journeyman license requires a U.S. DOL apprenticeship completion certificate, or a minimum of 600 hours of educational training plus 8,000 working hours of on-the-job experience, plus an exam; a master must hold a NH journeyman license for at least 6 months and pass a comprehensive exam at 75%. All licenses run 2 years ($88 apprentice / $198 journeyman / $330 master) with 3 hours of code-update education per year.
Do you need a license to work as a plumber in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire licenses plumbers statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
Former plumbers chapter RSA 329-A is repealed; plumbing licensure now sits in RSA 153:27-38 (Mechanical Licensing) under OPLC. Out-of-state journeymen may qualify to sit the exam via prior licensure (Mec 305.01(b)(4)); no formal state-to-state plumbing reciprocity agreements were found on official pages (the board's Connecticut S-1/S-2 standing order concerns fuel gas technicians, not plumbers). Licensees renewing 365+ days after expiration are treated as new applicants and must retest.
What licenses does New Hampshire issue?
The Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board, NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) 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 (registration license) | not published | not published | No |
| Journeyman Plumber | 8,000 | 600 | Yes |
| Master Plumber | not published | not published | Yes |
Source: Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board, NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) (gc.nh.gov). Verified July 2026.
Journeyman Plumber: US DOL apprenticeship completion, OR 8,000 OJT hours + 600 education hours, OR prior out-of-state journeyman licensure
How many hours do you need in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Plumber license, plus 600 classroom hours. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 4 years of full-time work.
What exam does New Hampshire require?
NH Plumbing Examination (journeyman pass mark 70%; master pass mark 75%). Administered by OPLC-approved testing organizations (schedule directly before applying; NH Gasfitters is a listed approved administrator).
How much does a New Hampshire plumber license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Plumber license in New Hampshire costs $198 in board fees, before any training. That is the initial license fee charged once, with renewal charged separately below. 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.
- Initial license fee$198
- Renewal fee (recurring)$88
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 2 years
Continuing education: 3 hours of code update per year (6 hours per 2-year renewal cycle) for all licensees except apprentice/trainee registrations
Source: renewal requirements (oplc.nh.gov). Verified July 2026.
How does the apprenticeship route work?
A U.S. Department of Labor apprenticeship completion certificate is a stand-alone qualification path for the journeyman license (Mec 305.01(b)(1)), substituting for the 600 education hours + 8,000 OJT hours route.
Which states does New Hampshire have license reciprocity with?
No published agreement for this trade names New Hampshire. That is not the same as a closed door: states without a published list usually take out-of-state applicants through an endorsement or equivalency review instead, decided case by case on the requirements set out above.
How does New Hampshire 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 |
|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Maine | 4,000 | Statewide |
| Massachusetts | 6,800 | Statewide |
| Vermont | 12,000 | Statewide |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does New Hampshire compare nationally?
21 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 4,000 to 12,000 hours. New Hampshire's 8,000 hours is what 9 of them ask, making it the standard rather than an outlier; 9 states ask less and 3 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
- NH Administrative Rules Mec 300 (license requirements)
- NH Administrative Rules Plc 1000 / Table 1002.25 (fee schedule)
- RSA 153:29 - Examinations; Licenses (license classes)
- OPLC - Mechanical Safety and Licensing Education & Certification Requirements
- OPLC - Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board Laws and Rules
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: New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio.
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 Mechanical Safety and Licensing Board, NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) before making decisions. Not legal advice.