Florida Plumber License Reciprocity & Transfer

What it takes to transfer a plumbing license you already hold in another state into Florida. This page covers license transfer only — not how to get licensed from scratch.

Transferring an existing license into Florida

Florida's board sets the route, so it is the same for every origin state we have verified below.

Pathway: Endorsement of an out-of-state license
Fees: $350
Minimum years licensed: 10
Exam: Not required
Processing time: Processing time not published by the board

Fees are the state fees recorded for this route; see each origin's full requirements for the breakdown.

Source: Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Construction Industry Licensing Board (DBPR CILB)

By origin state

From California → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open question for California licenses

CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is scoped to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing applicants only — Plumbing is not listed. Whether Plumbing applicants face this same requirement, a different one, or none is not stated in the document and is not assumed here.

From Ohio → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open questions for Ohio licenses

Ohio's Plumbing contractor license and Florida's Certified Plumbing Contractor are both state contractor licenses, so Ohio's is plausibly 'similar' — but Ohio's license covers commercial work only, while Florida's is not limited to commercial work. Whether that satisfies Option C is CILB's determination.
CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is scoped to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing applicants only — Plumbing is not listed. Whether Plumbing applicants face this requirement is not stated in the document and is not assumed here.

From Texas → Florida

Full requirements

Certification by Endorsement — 10-Year Licensure History (Option C) — Reciprocity Not Available for This Classification

Open questions for Texas licenses

Option C requires the out-of-state license type to be 'the same or similar as the license type being applied for,' and Florida's Certified Plumbing Contractor is a contractor license. A Texas Master Plumber is the closer match — it is the license that, as a Responsible Master Plumber, lets a person contract for and offer plumbing to the public — so it is plausibly 'similar.' A Texas Journeyman Plumber cannot contract or offer plumbing to the public on its own, and has not been shown to meet the 'same or similar' condition. CILB makes the determination; the two are not treated as equally eligible here.
CILB 10's 2-hour Florida Building Code course requirement is explicitly scoped in the document to General, Building, Residential, and Roofing Contractor applicants only — Plumbing is not listed. Whether Plumbing applicants face this requirement is not stated in the document.

Not yet researched

We haven't published sourced requirements for transferring a plumbing license into Florida from: New York. Rather than guess, we leave these out until we can cite the board directly — check with the Florida board in the meantime.