Plumbing License Kansas: No State License, But a State Law Every City Must Follow (2026)

Kansas issues no statewide plumbing license. Instead, a single statute, K.S.A. 12-1508 through 12-1510, sets the exam, the score, the experience ladder and the portability rules that every Kansas city and county licensing plumbers must follow.

At a glance

• No state plumbing license or board. Licensing happens city by city and county by county, K.S.A. 12-1508.
• Every licensing jurisdiction must require a 75% passing score, K.S.A. 12-1509(a)(2), and may not add extra exam questions.
• A certificate earned on a designated ICC, IAPMO or Prometric exam is valid statewide without re-testing, K.S.A. 12-1509(b).
• A certificate earned on a local, non-designated exam is locked to that one jurisdiction, K.S.A. 12-1510.
• Wichita/Sedgwick County, Topeka and Johnson County each run their own fees, calendars and company-license rules on top of that state floor.

New to licensing in Kansas? Start with the Kansas contractor license requirements, and for every other state see how to get a contractor license in each state.

Search "plumbing license Kansas" and most results repeat the same half-true line: Kansas has no state plumbing license, so requirements vary city by city with no connection between them. The first half is accurate. The second half is not, and getting it wrong costs Kansas plumbers real money and real time when they try to work in a second city.

Kansas does not issue a statewide plumbing license. No state board, no state card, no state application. But Kansas does have a statewide plumbing licensing statute, and it binds every county and city that licenses plumbers. It sets the passing score, the minimum experience and the continuing-education floor.

It names the only exams that count toward statewide portability, and it makes a competency certificate earned in one Kansas jurisdiction valid in every other one, provided it was earned the right way.

The Kansas Attorney General went further in Opinion 1999-42. Responding to a dispute over the City of Parsons, the opinion concluded that a city cannot use its home rule power to pile an additional requirement, such as an apprenticeship period, on top of a certificate of competency the statute already makes sufficient for licensure. The reasoning: Kansas's reciprocity scheme is uniform across every city, and a local add-on would recreate the exact problem the Legislature wrote the statute to end, a tradesman forced to requalify in every town where he wants to work.

What K.S.A. 12-1508 designates

K.S.A. 12-1508 does one job. It names the standard examinations for plumbing contractors and master and journeyman plumbers as those promulgated or administered by the International Code Council (ICC), the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), or Prometric, named in the statute as a subsidiary of Educational Testing Services as of July 1, 2008. The section dates to 1986 and was last amended by L. 2008, ch. 34, § 1.

This is why Wichita, Topeka and Johnson County all accept ICC, IAPMO and Prometric results and nothing else for a statewide-portable credential. Not three cities coincidentally agreeing. One statute naming the list for all of them.

The statutory ladder: two years, four years, and a 930-hour cap

K.S.A. 12-1509(e) and (f) set experience minimums that every Kansas licensing jurisdiction must verify before issuing a certificate.

Journeyman plumber, 12-1509(e). The jurisdiction must verify documented proof of a minimum of two years field experience. The statute's definition is more generous than most people assume, field experience means working under the direct supervision of a person holding a valid journeyman or master certificate, or attending trade-related schooling. Classroom time counts, but no more than one year may come from schooling, and that year requires a minimum of 930 program hours, documented by a certificate of completion.

That 930-hour figure rarely shows up on competitor pages. It is the number that decides whether a trade-school program actually buys an applicant a full year of credit or leaves them short.

Master plumber, 12-1509(f). The jurisdiction must verify documented proof of either a valid journeyman certificate held for a minimum of two years or a minimum of four years of field experience.

The "or" is the whole point. Kansas does not require a journeyman certificate as a prerequisite to master, four documented years of field experience reaches master on its own. Journeyman-plus-two is the shortcut, not the only gate. If the distinction between the two credentials is new, journeyman vs master plumber lays it out.

The 75% score is state law, not a local quirk

K.S.A. 12-1509(a)(2) requires every county commission or city governing body to adopt rules prescribing a minimum score of 75% for passage of examinations. Generic guides often report the 75% as a widely shared local policy. It is a statutory mandate, and no Kansas city can move it up or down.

Two more constraints sit in the same subsection. Cities cannot add exam content, a jurisdiction conducting a designated examination may not ask further questions beyond what the exam itself covers. And K.S.A. 12-1509(d) grandfathers at 70%, anyone certified or licensed before July 1, 1989 on a designated exam at a minimum of 70% cannot be forced to re-test to renew.

Portability inside Kansas, the provision most pages miss entirely

This is the most commercially valuable part of the statute, and the part most consistently left out of generic write-ups that simply say Kansas plumbing licenses do not transfer.

K.S.A. 12-1509(b): a certificate of competency, earned by someone who has met the (e) and (f) experience requirements and passed a designated 12-1508 examination, is valid proof of competency for licensure, without additional examination, in any county or city of the state that licenses plumbers. The jurisdiction must issue a license on presentation once the experience is documented. K.S.A. 12-1509(c) adds that such licenses are valid in any other county or city requiring examination and licensure of plumbers.

Pass a designated exam once, document the experience once, and every licensing jurisdiction in Kansas owes the applicant a certificate. There is no re-test to cross a county line, as long as the original license was earned the statutory way.

The statute builds in the proof mechanism: new licenses issued on a designated exam must carry a distinctive notation identifying the testing agency and the specific test by name, and licenses renewed on completed continuing education must carry a notation verifying it. That notation is what the next counter clerk reads. Without it, a plumber loses the argument on the spot.

This portability runs between Kansas jurisdictions only. It says nothing about carrying a Kansas license into another state, and claims of broad out-of-state reciprocity should be checked against the receiving state's own board, not assumed.

The 12-1510 trap: the license that does not travel

K.S.A. 12-1510 gives cities an escape hatch, and it is the easiest way for a Kansas plumber to end up holding a credential worth less than they paid for it.

Under 12-1510(a), a city or county may use examinations other than those designated by 12-1508, but only for licensing plumbers to practice within the jurisdiction of that city or county. The closing sentence is the trap: except when a reciprocal agreement exists between the political subdivisions involved, a license granted on an exam other than those designated by K.S.A. 12-1508 does not authorize practice outside the jurisdiction that issued it.

So Kansas effectively has two classes of plumbing license: one earned on a designated ICC, IAPMO or Prometric exam at 75% or better, portable statewide by statute, and one earned on some other local exam, stuck in that one jurisdiction absent a reciprocal agreement between subdivisions.

Before sitting any Kansas plumbing exam, confirm in writing that it is a designated 12-1508 exam. The fee is usually the same either way. The credential is not.

12-1510 also confirms what cities can still do on their own authority: adopt and enforce their own plumbing codes and standards, and conduct inspections and set reasonable fees for them. Codes and inspections stay local. Statewide competency does not.

Continuing education, and the provider rule

K.S.A. 12-1509(a)(4) requires every licensing jurisdiction to mandate at least 12 hours biennially or six hours annually of continuing education approved by the local governing body, of which at least six hours biennially or three annually must be code education. Hours must relate to construction, maintenance and code-update training, and providers may include the local governing body, a nationally recognized trade association, a community college, a technical school, or another approved provider.

Then a sentence written to stop a specific abuse: neither a county commission nor a city governing body may restrict the number of continuing-education providers. A Kansas city may approve providers one by one. It may not cap how many exist. For the national picture, see our state-by-state continuing education guide.

Medical gas piping: the licensing rule inside the licensing rule

K.S.A. 12-1509(g) is a separate regime bolted onto the plumbing statute, and it rarely appears outside the statute itself.

No one may install, improve, repair, maintain or inspect a medical gas piping system in a Kansas county or city unless licensed under 12-1508 et seq. and certified under the relevant professional qualifications standard of ASSE Series 6000. Installers must obtain a permit from the jurisdiction. All inspections must be performed by a third-party agency certified under the applicable ASSE Series 6000 inspector standard. And all inspection and certification documentation must reach the county or city before occupancy, until an occupancy permit issues.

"Medical gas piping" means piping used solely to transport gases for medical purposes at a health care facility or provider's place of business. The subsection does not apply where local building codes already require a nationally recognized code-organization inspector before occupancy, nor to limited maintenance or minor repair of a previously installed hospital system performed by hospital maintenance staff.

Bidding healthcare work in Kansas means the plumbing license is the entry ticket, not the qualification itself.

Three jurisdictions, three different programs built on the same floor

The state statute sets the floor. Each jurisdiction issues its own card, sets its own fee and runs its own calendar, and those differ sharply.

Notes on the table:

• Topeka also charges $50 for trade-board exam-packet review before testing and $20 for a retest, under City Ordinance #119330.
• Johnson County's $225 figure applies again at renewal, per license type, on top of the $100 application.
• All three jurisdictions set continuing-education hours separately; see each subsection below.

Wichita and Sedgwick County, Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department (MABCD)

MABCD requires journeyman and master trade certificates for electrical, mechanical and plumbing work across Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita.

Journeyman plumbing: one year of field experience and one year of plumbing trade school, or two years of field experience, documented on company letterhead with a detailed description of work performed, plus 75% or better on ICC K9R Plumbing with Gas, ICC 560 Journeyman Plumber with Gas, or an IAPMO exam.

Master plumbing: a journeyman certificate and two years of field experience as a journeyman, or four years of field experience, plus 75% or better on ICC K9F Master Plumber with Gas, ICC 557 Master Plumber with Gas, or an IAPMO exam.

Certificates run a two-year cycle, and renewal costs the same $35 as a new certificate. Twelve CEUs are due by expiration, split six trade-specific and six general across the cycle. MABCD publishes a late-CEU penalty ladder that appears nowhere else: additional hours on top of the required twelve, 1.5 hours for expiry April 1 to June 30, 3 hours July 1 to August 31, 4.5 hours September 1 to December 31, and after the expiration year the matter goes to the Section Chief.

MABCD no longer sponsors its own examinations. Testing runs through Block, Experior, Prometric, ICC or IAPMO, and the department does not accept state reciprocity, only its approved exam list.

The separate MABCD business license requires a certificate of insurance with a minimum of $300,000 in general liability naming MABCD as certificate holder, proof of the required examination, a certificate of good standing, and a letter on company letterhead from the owner or an officer stating that the qualified person is authorized to bind the company in contracts.

City of Topeka, Development Services Division

All trades must be licensed and pull permits to work in Topeka, and the city licenses apprentices, journeymen and masters individually.

Master and journeyman applicants need 75% or better from Block, NIA-Block, Experior, Thomson-Prometric or Prometric, plus a notarized time-in-trade form, on the Standard Master Plumbing with Gas or Standard Journeyman Plumbing with Gas exam. Sitting the exam through the city means a packet plus a $50 non-refundable payment for trade-board review, with the sponsor-signed application then forwarded to Prometric. First-time license issuance by the city is free. A retest costs $20 to Development Services, under City Ordinance #119330, effective November 9, 2009, on top of Prometric's own fee.

Apprentices must be licensed and may never be left at a worksite alone. Topeka's published supervision ratios: electrical 1-1, mechanical 1-2, plumbing 1-1.

Renewal is due by December 14 each year, running from the processing date to December 14, with no proration and no refunds. A trade contractor's designated master or journeyman owes six CE hours a year, three of them in trade. A lapsed insurance certificate triggers a $30 reinstatement fee after a 30-day grace period, and returned mail on a notice or renewal adds a $10 fee.

Johnson County, Contractor Licensing

Johnson County licenses by class, and plumbing is its own category. Class DP entitles the holder to perform only plumbing services. The general classes do not reach it, Class A, B and C each exclude HVAC, plumbing, electrical and fire protection work from their own scope.

Every license runs through a Qualifying Individual (QI), defined by the county as working at least 30 hours a week for the licensed company. Proof of education for Class DP is ICC exam results at 75% or higher on an exam approved by the Contractor License Review Board, naming ICC and Prometric, or a Bachelor of Science or higher in Architecture, Construction Science or relevant Engineering from an ABET- or ACCE-accredited program, with a transcript.

Fees: $100 application (new licenses only), $225 new license per license type, $225 renewal per license type, $75 late fee applied February 1, $25 name change, $25 verification.

The license ends December 31 no matter when the applicant applies, with no proration, and new applications cannot be submitted online; they are walked in or mailed with exact payment.

All fees, scores and deadlines above are set by the jurisdiction or testing vendor and are subject to change. Verify current figures with the issuing office or vendor before relying on them.

The company license is a different animal from your card

A journeyman or master certificate belongs to the person who earned it. It licenses an individual to do the work. It does not let a company contract, bid or pull permits on its own.

For that, the company needs its own license, the MABCD business license, the Topeka trade contractor license, or the Johnson County Class DP, and each one is issued on the strength of a qualified individual attached to the company. Topeka calls that role the Qualifying Party for its contractor licenses and requires a Master Verification Form for trade contractors. Johnson County calls the role the Qualifying Individual, defined by its 30-hour weekly threshold. MABCD calls them the "qualified person" and wants an owner's letter confirming they can bind the company in contracts.

Different words, one structure: if that person leaves, the company's authority to pull permits can leave with them. See contractor license vs business license and the contractor qualifier contingency plan.

Kansas jurisdictions are unusually explicit about the employment relationship behind that structure. Johnson County's Class A, B and C scopes authorize self-performed work by "the licensed company or the company's full-time employees," and its Qualifying Individual must work at least 30 hours a week for the company it qualifies. A name-only arrangement, where the licensed individual has no real role in the business, does not hold up well against language written this specifically.

A qualifying agent is the person who makes that structure work lawfully: a licensed professional who QUALIFIES a company, either as an owner or as a genuine full-time W-2 employee who actually supervises the work the license covers. That is why every qualifier The Licensing Company places is a full-time employee of the company holding the license, never a name attached for a fee with no real role behind it. For the national picture, see can a qualifying agent be a 1099 contractor, or go straight to hiring a qualifying agent if a Kansas company's qualifier has left or is about to.

Frequently asked questions

Does Kansas have a state plumbing license? No. Kansas issues no statewide plumbing license and has no state plumbing board. It does have a statewide plumbing licensing statute, K.S.A. 12-1508 through 12-1510, governing how every licensing city and county in Kansas must run its program.

How many years does it take to become a master plumber in Kansas? Either two years holding a valid journeyman certificate or four years of documented field experience, K.S.A. 12-1509(f). Journeyman itself takes two years of field experience, of which at most one year may be trade-related schooling, counted at a minimum of 930 program hours, K.S.A. 12-1509(e).

Is a Wichita plumbing license good in Topeka? If it was issued on a designated K.S.A. 12-1508 exam, ICC, IAPMO or Prometric, yes. 12-1509(b) and (c) make that certificate valid for licensure without additional examination in any Kansas county or city that licenses plumbers, and require the jurisdiction to issue on presentation. Issued on some other local exam instead, K.S.A. 12-1510 says it does not authorize practice outside the issuing jurisdiction absent a reciprocal agreement. Check that the card carries the statutory notation naming the testing agency and the specific test.

What score do I need to pass a Kansas plumbing exam? 75%. K.S.A. 12-1509(a)(2) requires every Kansas licensing jurisdiction to prescribe that minimum, and a jurisdiction cannot ask exam questions beyond what the designated exam covers.

How much does a Kansas plumbing license cost? It depends entirely on the jurisdiction, because the state charges nothing. Sedgwick County/Wichita charges $35 per trade certificate, new or renewal. Johnson County charges $100 application plus $225 for a new license and $225 to renew, per license type, while Topeka's first trade license is free, with $50 for trade-board review and $20 for a retest. Add the vendor's exam fee, insurance and any local business license on top, and verify all figures with the issuing office, since they change.

Do I need continuing education? Yes, in any Kansas jurisdiction that licenses you. K.S.A. 12-1509(a)(4) requires at least 12 hours biennially or six annually, at least half code education. Local programs sequence it differently: Sedgwick County runs three trade plus three general per year on a two-year cycle; Topeka requires six hours a year with three in trade.

Does a Kansas plumbing license work in another state? No. The statewide portability in K.S.A. 12-1509(b) and (c) runs between Kansas counties and cities only. It says nothing about any other state, and a Kansas credential carried across a state line should be checked against that state's own board rather than assumed valid.

Where this leaves you

Kansas is not the deregulated free-for-all its search results describe. It wrote a tight statutory floor, handed administration to cities and counties, and then, through Attorney General Opinion 1999-42, told those cities they could not pile more requirements on top of it.

Three things follow. Sit a designated ICC, IAPMO or Prometric exam and nothing else, so the resulting license travels statewide. Document field experience carefully, because every jurisdiction must verify it, and 930 hours is the number that decides whether a school year counts in full. And treat the company license as a separate problem from the personal card, the two run on different rules entirely.

If the company license is the bottleneck, that is the problem we solve, call 615-219-2110, or see what a qualifying agent is and how to hire one. Also useful: Missouri's plumbing landscape, the national how to get a plumbing contractor license, the Kansas business-license side in general contractor license Kansas, and the parallel framework in electrician license Kansas.

Sources

• K.S.A. 12-1508, Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, retrieved 2026-10-01
• K.S.A. 12-1509, Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, retrieved 2026-10-01
• K.S.A. 12-1510, Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, retrieved 2026-10-01
• Kansas Attorney General Opinion 1999-42, Washburn University School of Law Library, retrieved 2026-10-01
• MABCD, Master & Journeyman Trade Certificates, Sedgwick County, retrieved 2026-10-01
• MABCD, Contractor Licensing, Sedgwick County, retrieved 2026-10-01
• City of Topeka, Contractor Information, Development Services Division, retrieved 2026-10-01
• Johnson County, New License & License Types, Johnson County Contractor Licensing, retrieved 2026-10-01

Last reviewed October 2026. Fees, scores and deadlines are set by statute, local jurisdiction or testing vendor and change without notice. Verify current figures with the issuing office before relying on them.

Still working out which jurisdiction's rules apply, or who can stand behind a Kansas plumbing company's permits? Call 615-219-2110, or start with hiring a qualifying agent.