Plumber License: Texas → Florida

A step-by-step breakdown of what it takes for a licensed plumber in Texas to become licensed in Florida, based on Florida's current certification by endorsement — 10-year licensure history (option c) — reciprocity not available for this classification rules.

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

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

Updated September 30, 2026

Portability Score

55/100

Moderate Effort

PermitBridge's own estimate, based on the exam, fee, and processing-time factors below — not an official government rating.

Exam: Not required
Processing: Processing time not published by the board
Fee: $350
Extra Hours: None

Step-by-Step Process

1
Florida's Reciprocity form (DBPR CILB 32, limited to Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina) does not offer Plumbing as a license category at all — confirmed directly from the form's own category checklist, which covers only General/Building/Residential Contractor. Reciprocity is not available to plumbing contractors in Florida regardless of home state.
2
The applicable route instead is DBPR CILB 10, Certification by Endorsement (Section 489.115(3), Florida Statutes), which does list Plumbing as a selectable category.
3
Within CILB 10, the NASCLA-based Option A does not apply to this classification — the form explicitly restricts it to 'General, Building, and Residential license' only. The applicable route for a Texas Master or Journeyman Plumber is Option C: hold a valid, current out-of-state license for at least 10 years, active now or within the last 2 years.
4
needs_review: 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.
5
needs_review: 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.
6
Submit electronic fingerprints, a FICO-derived credit report, and proof of satisfaction of any liens, judgments, or bankruptcy.
7
Pay the $350 Endorsement application fee to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
8
Await processing — DBPR does not publish a guaranteed timeline; budget for several weeks to a few months.

Note: Confirmed directly from DBPR CILB 32 (Reciprocity, Ref-17723) and CILB 10 (Endorsement, Ref-17718), current versions incorporated in Rule 61-35.010, F.A.C. (effective 2026-06-28) — the same two documents sourced for the shipped california-florida HVAC and contractor pairs, re-read here specifically for the Plumbing category and the Texas direction. CILB 32's own category checklist offers only General/Building/Residential Contractor for its reciprocal states (Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina) — no Plumbing option exists on that form at all, so Reciprocity is structurally unavailable to plumbing contractors in Florida, not just unavailable to Texas specifically. The current CILB 10 directs reciprocity applicants to CILB 32 ('For those applicants seeking licensure via reciprocity, please complete form CILB 32'), and lists Plumbing as a selectable category; its $350 fee is not category-specific. needs_review: whether the 2-hour Florida Building Code course applies to Plumbing applicants is genuinely unconfirmed — the current CILB 10 scopes that requirement to General/Building/Residential/Roofing only. CORRECTION HISTORY (check the rule's effective date before editing this claim again): (a) Original claim on the california-florida pairs: CILB 32 lists Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina. (b) 2026-09-20: changed to Louisiana-only after an antiword extraction of a CILB 32 .doc found zero occurrences of 'Mississippi' or 'North Carolina'; this record was drafted in that state (Louisiana-only, $354 fee, older CILB 10 refId 13115). That extraction apparently used an older copy of the form; which version it read was not recorded. (c) 2026-09-29: re-verified before this record shipped, against the forms incorporated by reference in Rule 61-35.010, F.A.C. (latest effective date 2026-06-28; CILB 32 = Ref-17723, CILB 10 = Ref-17718), downloaded from flrules.org and extracted with antiword. The current CILB 32 names Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina ('Louisiana or Mississippi' block and 'North Carolina' block, each General/Building/Residential only), restoring claim (a); the current CILB 10 fee is $350, not $354; and Plumbing is confirmed as a selectable category on the current CILB 10. This record's conclusion (no Plumbing reciprocity route in Florida for any home state) is unaffected by any of these changes. needs_review (added 2026-09-30): Journeyman vs. Master under Option C's 'same or similar' license-type condition. Texas issues only individual licenses (TSBPE Administrative Rules, March 2026, §365.1); only a Master Plumber serving as a Responsible Master Plumber may advertise, contract for, or offer plumbing to the public (§365.1(b), §367.9). That makes a Texas Master license the plausible 'similar' match for Florida's contractor-level certification, while a Journeyman license — which authorizes performing plumbing but not contracting — is not established as meeting the condition. Not resolved from CILB's own materials; CILB decides case by case.

Plumber Transfers From Texas to Other States

State	Pathway	Exam?	Score	Link
California	Full New Application Required — No Reciprocity or Exam Waiver Available for C-36	Yes	15	View
New York	Universal License Recognition (Endorsement)	Yes	50	View
Ohio	Universal License Recognition (Endorsement)	Yes	50	View

Frequently Asked Questions About This Transfer

Can I transfer my plumber license from Texas to Florida?+

Yes, via certification by endorsement — 10-year licensure history (option c) — reciprocity not available for this classification. No additional trade exam is required in most cases. The licensing board does not publish a processing time.

How much does it cost to transfer a plumber license to Florida?+

Budget approximately $350 for the Florida application fee alone. Exam fees, if required, and any additional continuing-education hours are typically separate costs charged by third-party providers.

Can a master plumber license transfer to any state?+

No. Master plumber classifications and hour requirements differ enough between states that most receiving states require verification of experience hours and, frequently, a local trade or business/law exam even for master-level applicants.