A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. To work as an apprentice in Louisiana, you need an apprentice registration from the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA). Louisiana has 18 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 1,299 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $680 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $15.00 to $18.60 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$22.00 an hour
About $880 a week at 40 hours.
From 771 recent starting wages in 13 programs, and 596 people who finished recently in 11 programs. The 2 figures come from different groups of apprentices, not the same people followed from start to finish.
How to get in
Pick 2 or 3 programs near you
Use the list below. Search each program's name with its city to find it.
Each program takes applications in its own way. Ask each program how and when it takes applications.
PHCCLA takes applications all year. Each application period runs from the 11th of one month to the 10th of the next, and your enrollment starts in the month after the period ends.
Get your apprentice registration once a plumbing company hires you
To do plumbing work in Louisiana, you must register with SPBLA as an apprentice, work for a company with a master plumber and do all your work under the direct supervision of a licensed journeyman or master. If you're in an approved apprenticeship program, you register as an indentured apprentice and need fewer hours before your licensing exams. Mail your application with a $20 check or money order, or bring it to the SPBLA office for same-day processing, and renew your registration every year by December 31.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 3 sponsors train more than one trade, so their count includes apprentices in their other trades.A count of 0 means the federal data recorded no apprentices in training, and it doesn't always mean the program has closed.
Programs inside prisons
FCI Pollock, a federal prison, runs 1 of the 18 programs. This program trains people who are incarcerated. You can't apply to this program from outside, and the wage figures don't include it.
FCI PollockPollock0 apprentices
How one program works: PHCCLA
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
PHCCLA
1
Get a job with a PHCCLA member
Your employer must be a regular or affiliate member of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of Louisiana (PHCCLA), and you must be on its payroll. If your employer isn't a member yet, it can join PHCCLA before you apply.
2
Apply through your employer
Complete PHCCLA's enrollment application and essential skills test, and your employer sends its enrollment form and the sponsor-employer agreement with your application. PHCCLA doesn't accept an incomplete application.
3
Register as an indentured apprentice
Once PHCCLA approves your application, it registers your apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor and sends you and your employer the New Apprentice Packet to sign. Use the proof of enrollment in the packet to register with the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA) as an indentured apprentice, and keep that registration current for the whole program.
4
Work and complete your classes
You log your hours on the job in the U.S. Department of Labor's Timesheet app, and your employer sends your logs to PHCCLA every month. To graduate, you must pass the last course, Plumbing 401, with at least 70% and have all your hours on the job recorded.
Tuition for each 6-month enrollment period at PHCCLA
$900
Tuition for the apprenticeship at the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of Louisiana (PHCCLA) is $1,800 a year, billed as $900 for each 6-month enrollment period, and it includes your textbook. PHCCLA sends the bill to your employer, and tuition is due at least 7 days before each enrollment period starts.
At ABC New Orleans/Bayou, the second-largest sponsor on the list, you must work for a member company to become a registered apprentice. Its count includes the other trades it trains. ABC New Orleans/Bayou offers plumbing apprenticeship training, but its plumbing classes aren't held at its St. Rose campus.
The Apprenticeship Division at Louisiana Works oversees registered apprenticeship programs in Louisiana. You apply to each program, and the program sends your apprenticeship agreement to the Apprenticeship Division for approval.
To join the PHCCLA apprenticeship, you must work for a PHCCLA member company. PHCCLA is listed as LAPHCC, the third-largest program on the list. If you don't have a plumbing job yet, fill out PHCCLA's Apprenticeship Interest Form with where in Louisiana you can work, and PHCCLA sends you a list of employers to contact.
To apply to PHCCLA, you must be at least 16 years old and pass its essential skills test with a score of at least 70%. A high school diploma or GED is recommended, but PHCCLA doesn't require one.
If you have no experience, the PHCCLA apprenticeship takes 3.5 years. You complete 7,000 hours on the job and 576 classroom hours, and you always work under the supervision of a journey worker. If your employer verifies your plumbing experience, you can get credit for up to 3,500 hours, so the program takes less time.
You take your PHCCLA classes online through PHCC Academy or in person in Shreveport. Online, you work through each course at your own pace and need at least 70% on every assignment. In Shreveport, classes meet for a full week 4 times a year, and you must attend the whole week.
Note: If you leave your job, you have 3 weeks to start work with another PHCCLA member without losing your place in the current enrollment period.
To work as a plumber in Louisiana, you need your own license from the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA), starting with the $20 apprentice registration. To qualify for the journeyman plumber license, you need 7,000 hours as an indentured apprentice (an apprentice in an approved apprenticeship program) or 8,000 hours without a program, and you must pass the journeyman exam. A new state law moves plumbing licensing from SPBLA to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC).
U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the programs, the apprentice counts, the 2 median wages and the range of starting wages
PHCCLA plumbing apprenticeship site and apprenticeship pages: the member employer rule, the interest form, the requirements, the essential skills test, the 3.5-year program, the hours, the credit for experience, the classes, the tuition, the application, the agreement, the timesheet logs, graduation and the application periods
State Plumbing Board of Louisiana home and licenses pages: the apprentice registration, its $20 fee and yearly renewal, the indentured and unindentured paths, the journeyman plumber license hours and the move of plumbing licensing to LSLBC, fully in effect on January 1, 2027
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