01
Requirements and steps
We use the state's published licensing requirements throughout this page. If the state doesn't publish a requirement, we don't guess.
1Figure out which license you need
There are two different licensing paths here: one for people working as plumbers, and one for the contracting business. If you're starting your career, focus on the worker license first. You may need the one for the business later, if you decide to run the contracting business yourself.
2Choose the license class you're working toward
Each license class below has its own fees and exam rules. Start with the class you're working toward: everything below depends on it. We use the state'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 state 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 state 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.
02
If you want to do the work
One of Tennessee's license is held by the worker. Each is a separate license with its own fees and exam rules.
Not published for any class here: job hours, classroom hours, an application fee or states that recognize it.
Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP)2
Held by the worker · issued by the state
$75 for the license itself.9 $53 to take the exam.7 Prov administers the exam.2 You renew this every two years, for $50. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.13
Worth knowingProv charges $53 and you pay Prov, not the board. The board replaced its testing vendor in July 2026 and its own forms still print the old $57.
Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP)
One year of plumbing experience, proved either by a copy of a local plumbing licence or by a notarised verification listing the experience. Applications are subject to experience verification.12
03
Apprenticeship and hours
Nothing on this page counts your time in hours. Where a board states the requirement in years instead, the years are in its own wording with each class, and turning them into hours would need a working week no board here publishes.
04
What it pays
Among the plumbers on a payroll in Tennessee, half earn more than $28.17 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $58,600.4
- $18.52The bottom tenth earn this or less4
- $39.43The top tenth earn this or more4
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 9,270 of these jobs. Self-employed workers are not included in the survey.4
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.
05
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.
Mechanical Contracting (CMC)5
Held by the business · issued by the state
$250 for the license itself.9 $53 to take the exam.7 Prov administers the exam.8 You renew this every two years, for $200. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.10
Worth knowingProv charges $53 and you pay Prov, not the board. The board replaced its testing vendor in July 2026 and its own forms still print the old $57. Getting approved to take it costs a separate $50 to the board first.
Mechanical Contracting (CMC)
Experience adequate to the classification requested, judged by the Board rather than counted: it may consider previous employment, volunteer work, internships, education and training, proved by letters of recommendation, certificates, diplomas or employment verification, at its sole discretion. The Board states that it prefers three years, and it weighs experience alongside an established plant, the necessary equipment and a financial statement. This classification additionally requires Board pre-approval before the trade examination may be scheduled.6
Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A)5
Held by the business · issued by the state
$250 for the license itself.9 $53 to take the exam.7 Prov administers the exam.8 You renew this every two years, for $200. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.10
Worth knowingProv charges $53 and you pay Prov, not the board. The board replaced its testing vendor in July 2026 and its own forms still print the old $57. Getting approved to take it costs a separate $50 to the board first.
Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A)
Experience adequate to the classification requested, judged by the Board rather than counted: it may consider previous employment, volunteer work, internships, education and training, proved by letters of recommendation, certificates, diplomas or employment verification, at its sole discretion. The Board states that it prefers three years, and it weighs experience alongside an established plant, the necessary equipment and a financial statement. This classification additionally requires Board pre-approval before the trade examination may be scheduled.6
06
The examination
Prov 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. Exam fees are listed with each class above.
- Mechanical Contracting (CMC)
- CMC – Full Mechanical Contractor7
- Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A)
- CMC-A – Plumbing Contractor7
- Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP)
- LLP – Limited Licensed Plumber7
07
The licensing office, and how to reach it
The Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors issues all worker and contractor credentials covered on this page.
08
Bringing a license in, and taking one out
Tennessee publishes a list of the states whose licenses it recognizes, class by class, and the lists are below. It does not publish the other direction: whether another state recognizes a license from Tennessee is that state's decision. Moving to Tennessee? Contact Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors and ask whether your current license will be recognized. Leaving? Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.
Mechanical Contracting (CMC): Tennessee accepts a license toward it from Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia11
Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A): Tennessee accepts a license toward it from Ohio and South Carolina11
09
Questions people ask
Do you need a license to be a plumber in Tennessee?
Tennessee licenses individual plumbers. You need a state license in your own name to do this work here, whoever you work for. Tennessee 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 plumber in TN?
Not as a number: Tennessee doesn't publish an hours figure for any license on this page. 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 money do plumbers make in Tennessee?
The middle half of the plumbers on a payroll in Tennessee earn between $22.72 and $35.32 an hour, and half of all of them earn more than $28.17. 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.4
Do plumbers make 100k a year?
The top tenth of plumbers on a payroll in Tennessee earn above $39.43 an hour, which over a 2,080-hour year comes to more than $82,020. 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.4
How much does a plumber license cost in Tennessee?
The state publishes these: $250 to be issued Mechanical Contracting (CMC), $250 to be issued Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A) and $75 to be issued Limited Licensed Plumber (LLP). 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 Tennessee?
Yes, for some. Tennessee recognizes a license toward Mechanical Contracting (CMC) from Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia and Mechanical Contracting: Plumbing and Gas Piping (CMC-A) from Ohio and South Carolina. This is the inbound direction only, and it says nothing about taking a license from here somewhere else. The conditions attached, such as how long you have held yours, are published by the state rather than in the list.
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.