01
At a glance
| Certified Plumbing Contractor | 8,000 hours on the job |
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| The exam fee | $335 |
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| Registered apprenticeships | 19, with starting rates of $7.00 to $25.28 an hour |
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02
Requirements and steps
We use the licensing authority's published requirements throughout this page. If the licensing authority doesn't publish a requirement, we don't guess.
1Figure out which license you need
If you're starting out, the license you want is the worker one, and in Florida that comes from a city or a county rather than from the state. Start from where you will actually be working, because it can change across a city line. The state's own classes below belong to the business, and you may want one of those later if you run the contracting business yourself.
2Choose the license class you're working toward
Each license class below has its own experience requirements, fees and exam rules. Start with the class you're working toward: everything below depends on it. We use the licensing authority's official license names, so you'll see the same terms on its forms.
3Build the required experience
The experience requirements for each license are quoted below exactly as the licensing authority publishes them. The licensing authority decides whether your experience qualifies, so keep your own record from day one and make sure your employer can verify your hours.
4Take the exam
If your license requires an exam, the exam name and its fee are listed under that license class. The licensing authority and the testing company are often different organizations, so the exam fee is often paid to the testing company. That's why the exam fee may appear in the candidate bulletin instead of the fee schedule.
5Apply, pay, and keep it current
Each license class below lists the fees the licensing authority publishes for it. Renewal varies by class too, so check the renewal period and fee for the class you are working toward rather than for the trade as a whole.
03
If you want to do the work
One of Florida's license is held by the worker. Each is a separate license with its own experience requirements, fees and exam rules. The ones a city issues hold in that city and nowhere else in the state.
Not published for any class here: classroom hours. Florida does not publish a reciprocity list for these licenses.
Journeyman Plumber Certificate of Competency13
Held by the worker · issued by Hillsborough County
$150 to apply.13 $70 for the license itself.13
Worth knowingThat $150 is two county charges added together: $50 to start the application and $100 when it is accepted. The $70 registration fee is separate and shows below.
Worth knowing$70 is the county's one-time registration fee, charged once you are through. With the $150 application, the certificate costs $220.
Journeyman Plumber Certificate of Competency
Has completed a registered and state-approved apprenticeship program as defined in s. 446.021(6) or has at least 12,000 hours of on-the-job training in his or her specific trade.13
The body that issues this class of license13Hillsborough County Development Services Where that body publishes this class of license13https://hcfl.gov/businesses/hillsgovhub/contractor-licensing/journeyman-electrician-or-plumber-certificate-of-competency Hillsborough County doesn't list job hours, an exam name, who runs it, an exam fee or renewal terms.
04
Apprenticeship and hours
One license here publishes an hours figure. The hours here are on-the-job hours, not classroom hours. A board can require thousands of one and none of the other.
- 8,000Certified Plumbing Contractor6
Certified Plumbing Contractor
Has a total of at least 4 years of active experience as a worker who has learned the trade by serving an apprenticeship as a skilled worker who is able to command the rate of a mechanic in the particular trade or as a foreman who is in charge of a group of workers and usually is responsible to a superintendent or a contractor or his or her equivalent; provided, however, that at least 1 year of active experience shall be as a foreman.6
05
What it pays
In a registered apprenticeship
The state's registry lists 19 plumber apprenticeships for this trade, with published starting rates of $7.00 to $25.28 an hour.
These rates come directly from Florida's apprenticeship registry. All 19 programs, and what each pays →
Across the whole trade
Among the plumbers on a payroll in Florida, half earn more than $25.44 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $52,910.5
- $18.72The bottom tenth earn this or less5
- $35.39The top tenth earn this or more5
These figures cover every experience level, from first-year apprentices to workers with decades on the job, so this is not what an apprentice earns. The survey counts 29,260 of these jobs. Self-employed workers are not included in the survey.5
The yearly figure assumes 2,080 paid hours, which is full time with no long gaps. Actual earnings can be lower where work is interrupted or seasonal.
Figures from the federal wage survey for May 2025, read 2026-08-16. The survey’s state file is a spreadsheet in a zip, not a web page.
06
If you want to run a plumbing business
These credentials apply if you plan to take work in your own name. Each is issued to the business itself rather than to any one person.
Certified Plumbing Contractor3
Held by the business · issued by the state
8,000 hours on the job.6 $200 for the license itself.9 $335 to take the exam.9 Professional Testing, Inc. administers the exam.8 You renew this every two years, for $200, with 14 hours of approved continuing education.10
Worth knowing8,000 hours is four years at the 2,000 hours the statute counts as a year. At least one of those years has to be as a foreman, so hours alone will not qualify you, and college credit can stand in for part of it.
Worth knowing$200 is the initial fee for a full two-year cycle. Apply in the second year of a cycle and you pay $100, because you are buying half of one.
Worth knowingThat $335 is one payment covering the application and both tests. There is no separate application fee to add to it.
The body that issues this class of license1Construction Industry Licensing Board Where that body publishes this class of license3https://www.myfloridalicense.com/intentions2.asp?chBoard=true&SID=&boardid=06&professionid=0604 The state doesn't list an application fee.
Registered Plumbing Contractor11
Held by the business · issued by the state
This class requires no exam. $100 to apply.9 $200 for the license itself.9 You renew this every two years, for $200, with 14 hours of approved continuing education.10
Worth knowing$200 is the initial fee for a full two-year cycle. Apply in the second year of a cycle and you pay $100, because you are buying half of one.
Registered Plumbing Contractor
Except as provided in paragraph (2)(b), to be initially registered, the applicant must submit the required fee and file evidence of successful compliance with the local examination and licensing requirements, if any, in the area for which registration is desired.12
The body that issues this class of license1Construction Industry Licensing Board Where that body publishes this class of license11https://www.myfloridalicense.com/intentions2.asp?chBoard=true&SID=&boardid=06&professionid=0617 The state doesn't list job hours.
07
The examination
Professional Testing, Inc. administers every exam listed on this page. The exam provider sets the exam content, publishes the study material and sets retake fees. Use the official exam names below when you look for study material, application instructions or retake information. The Registered Plumbing Contractor does not require an exam. Exam fees are listed with each class above.
- Certified Plumbing Contractor
- Certification Examination for Plumbing Contractors7
08
The licensing office, and how to reach it
Two different offices issue the licenses on this page, so check the class you are after for the office to contact.
The licensing authority doesn't list who certifies the worker or where that sits.
09
Bringing a license in, and taking one out
Florida does not publish a list of the states whose plumber licenses it recognizes. Moving to Florida? Contact Construction Industry Licensing Board and ask whether your current license will be recognized. Leaving? Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.
10
Questions people ask
Do you need a license to be a plumber in Florida?
Florida does not license individual plumbers. Cities and counties do. You still need a license; there is just no single statewide one, so the rules that apply are the ones where you will be working, and they change across a city line. Florida licenses plumber contractors as well. Taking work in your own name, rather than working for somebody who holds that license, needs a second and different one.
How long does it take to become a licensed plumber in Florida?
Not as a number for a person: the on-the-job hours here belong to contractor licenses. No license a person holds on this page publishes an hours figure. Several states on these pages state the requirement in years instead, and turning years into hours needs a working week nobody publishes. So this page prints what was published. The experience wording with each class is where the answer is.
How much does a plumber make in Florida?
The middle half of the plumbers on a payroll in Florida earn between $22.70 and $30.20 an hour, and half of all of them earn more than $25.44. These are straight-time figures, before any overtime, at every experience level, counted by the federal wage survey in May 2025. Self-employed workers are not included in them.5
Do plumbers make 100k a year?
The top tenth of plumbers on a payroll in Florida earn above $35.39 an hour, which over a 2,080-hour year comes to more than $73,610. Those are straight-time figures: overtime pay is outside them, and so are self-employed workers. The federal wage survey counts what the top tenth earn above, not how many reach any figure past it. So at these rates, at most one in ten reach $100,000 on straight time.5
How much does a plumber license cost in Florida?
The licensing authority publishes these: $100 to apply for Registered Plumbing Contractor, $150 to apply for Journeyman Plumber Certificate of Competency, $200 to be issued Certified Plumbing Contractor, $200 to be issued Registered Plumbing Contractor and $70 to be issued Journeyman Plumber Certificate of Competency. Each is per class, not per trade. None of them is the exam: where a vendor administers the exam, that fee is the vendor's and lives in its own bulletin.
Can I use a plumber license from another state in Florida?
Not as a published rule: Florida publishes no list of the states it recognizes. Bringing a license in and taking one out are two separate agreements, signed and published separately. Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work and ask what it will recognize.
How long does it take to become a plumber?
There is no national answer. Any page that gives you one is averaging states whose requirements differ by thousands of hours. Licensing is set state by state, and in some states city by city, so the honest version of this question has a place in it. What is the same everywhere is the shape: you learn on the job, the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, and the clock starts the day the work does.
Can you become a plumber with no experience?
Yes, and that is the ordinary way in. These trades are learned at work rather than before it, which is why boards mostly require time on the job. What you cannot skip is the paperwork: the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, so the question to ask an employer is who signs, not whether they will train you.
Is 30 too late to become a plumber?
No. Boards set a minimum age, not a maximum. No board on these pages sets an upper limit, and where age shows up at all it is a floor. The real question at 30 is money: an apprenticeship pays you while you learn and school charges you while you learn. That difference usually decides it.
How hard is the plumber licensing exam?
None of the boards on these pages publishes a pass rate. The useful question is who administers the exam: that organization sells the reference material for it and sets what a retake costs.