Plumbing License Wyoming: No State License, Two City Ladders, and a Full-Time Master Rule (2026)

Wyoming does not issue a state plumbing license. There is no state plumbing board, no state journeyman plumber card, and no state master plumber card. If you searched for one and landed on a page telling you to apply to the "Wyoming State Board of Plumbers," that agency does not exist. We checked, and that claim is sitting on page one of Google right now.

What Wyoming has instead is a set of city licensing boards that do the whole job themselves, and two of them, Casper and Cheyenne, run full apprentice-to-master ladders with their own exams, their own fee schedules, and their own insurance minimums. This guide walks both of them using the cities' own published regulations, then covers the rule that decides whether your company can hold a plumbing contractor license at all.

That last rule is the one worth reading twice. Both cities require a plumbing contractor to employ a licensed master, full-time, and Cheyenne goes further than almost any jurisdiction in the country in spelling out what that employment has to look like.

Who Actually Regulates Plumbing in Wyoming

Wyoming splits its trades in an unusual way.

Electrical is licensed statewide. The Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, inside the State Fire Marshal's Office at 320 West 25th Street in Cheyenne, issues apprentice, journeyman, master, low voltage, limited technician, and electrical contractor licenses under W.S. 35-9-120 through 35-9-130. That is a genuine statewide ladder.

Plumbing is not. No equivalent state chapter exists for plumbers. The state's licensing portal has no plumbing category. The authority sits entirely with cities and counties.

This catches people out because the two trades look symmetrical from the outside and are not. A plumber and an electrician working the same subdivision in Wyoming answer to completely different levels of government.

What the state does supply is a code baseline. The State of Wyoming adopted the 2024 International Codes on June 28, 2024, including the 2024 International Building Code, the 2024 International Mechanical Code, and the 2024 International Fuel Gas Code. So there is a statewide code framework within state jurisdiction, with no statewide plumbing licensing ladder attached to it. Municipalities adopt their own code editions through their own ordinances, which is why you have to check locally rather than assume the state edition applies to your job.

Casper: A Complete Ladder, Published in Plain Language

The City of Casper Community Development Department, Building Inspection Division, issues the plumbing credentials. Casper's published classifications are unusually readable, and the city states each one in terms of what it authorizes.

Apprentice Plumber. Casper's page states that an apprentice license "shall be issued to the plumbing contractor in the name of the applicant and shall be valid only for the term of their employment with that contractor." Read that carefully. The apprentice card in Casper is not portable. It belongs to the contractor, is written in the apprentice's name, and dies when the job does.

Journeyman Plumber. Authorizes plumbing work "that may be required of a journeyman plumber as an employee of a plumbing contractor." To qualify you show either a certificate of completion from a federally recognized plumbing apprenticeship training program, or the equivalent of four years of experience in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop. You also provide proof of successful testing for the category.

Master Plumber. Authorizes the work of a master plumber. You show the apprenticeship completion certificate or four years of experience in a Casper licensed shop, and five years of experience as a journeyman or master plumber in a City of Casper licensed shop.

That is the detail most guides miss and it is a real constraint. Casper's master requirement is not simply "nine years somewhere." Both halves are written against work performed in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop. An experienced plumber moving to Casper from out of state does not walk in at master level on out-of-state hours.

Plumbing Contractor. Authorizes the business "to conduct, carry on or engage in the business of any plumbing work, including the installation of steam or water boilers." And then the sentence that matters most: "Every applicant shall possess or provide proof of employment of a full-time licensed master plumber."

Casper also issues several adjacent licenses that plumbing companies routinely need:

• Gas Utility Contractor and Gas Utility Installer cover gas piping from the building out and gas appliance installation, expressly excluding water heaters and boilers. The contractor must possess or prove employment of a full-time licensed gas utility installer or master plumber.
• Utility Contractor and Utility Installer cover sewer and water lines from the building out. The installer needs a minimum of one year in the utility trade. Casper offers an in-house exam for this classification in addition to the ICC options.
• Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor requires a minimum of one year of experience in the sanitary sewer cleaning trade.
• Water Conditioning Contractor requires a minimum of one year in the water conditioning trade.

Casper exams

Casper names the exact ICC exams rather than making you guess:

• Master Plumber — International Code Council G27-N or equivalent
• Journeyman Plumber — International Code Council G27-N, G28-N, or equivalent
• Utility Installer — ICC G27-N, G28-N, or equivalent, or the City of Casper in-house exam

Casper fees

• Plumbing Contractor — new $300.00 · renewal $150.00
• Master Plumber — new $75.00 · renewal $37.50
• Journeyman Plumber — new $25.00 · renewal $15.00
• Apprentice Plumber — new $3.00 · renewal $3.00
• Gas Utility Contractor — new $150.00 · renewal $75.00
• Gas Utility Installer — new $25.00 · renewal $15.00
• Utility Contractor — new $150.00 · renewal $75.00
• Utility Installer — new $25.00 · renewal $15.00
• Sanitary Sewer Cleaning Contractor — new $150.00 · renewal $75.00
• Water Conditioning Contractor — new $150.00 · renewal $75.00

Casper flags which categories require proof of insurance (the contractor classes) and which require proof of testing or certification (master, journeyman, utility installer).

Casper insurance minimums

• Public liability, personal injury or death of one person from one incident — $250,000.00
• Personal injury or death of all persons from one incident — $500,000.00
• Property damage from one incident — $250,000.00

These figures come from the City of Casper Community Development Department's published plumbing, mechanical and individual contractor licensing page. City fees, exam designations and insurance minimums are set by the city and change. Verify current amounts with the Building Inspection Division at (307) 235-8254 before you apply.

Cheyenne: A Contractor Licensing Board With Its Own Rulebook

Cheyenne runs the most formalized local licensing system in Wyoming. The City of Cheyenne Contractor Licensing Regulations, revision dated March 10, 2026, run 42 pages and cover everything from handyman classes to fire pump technicians.

Plumbing sits in the Class C subcontractor family:

• 18.9 Plumbing (C1) — a tested Class C license
• 18.17 Sewer and water main (C2) — a non-tested Class C license
• 18.15 Gas and solid fuel appliance installation (C2) — non-tested
• 18.4.4 Limited Electrical, Plumbing, refrigeration, or HVAC (C1) — a tested limited electrical class for trade companies doing their own equipment wiring

On the individual side Cheyenne licenses a Qualified Supervisor or Master, a Journeyman, and an Apprentice, and adds a class most states do not have:

12.1.11 Residential Plumbing/Mechanical Journeyman. Two years with four thousand hours documented experience in the trade as a licensed apprentice, plus satisfactory results on the applicable journeyman examination. Cheyenne then attaches a tighter supervision rule to it: "Ratios for this license shall be no more than a one-to-one, journeyman to apprentice."

That is a genuinely useful credential. It is a half-length journeyman card scoped to residential work, and it exists in Cheyenne and not at any state level in Wyoming, because there is no state level.

Cheyenne experience requirements

• Master level craft employee (12.1.8) — four years with 8,000 documented hours as an apprentice, or certified equivalent training, and three years with 6,000 documented hours as a journeyman, plus satisfactory examination results
• Journeyman level craft employee (12.1.9) — four years with 8,000 documented hours in the trade as a licensed apprentice, or certified equivalent training, plus satisfactory examination results
• Residential Plumbing/Mechanical Journeyman (12.1.11) — two years with 4,000 documented hours as a licensed apprentice, plus the applicable journeyman exam
• Class C qualified supervisor (12.1.4) — three years with 6,000 hours comprehensive experience and/or education, plus exam

Cheyenne's apprentice supervision steps down by year: first year 100 percent supervision, second year 75 percent, third year 50 percent, fourth year 25 percent. And the ratio cap is written per trade: "No more than three (3) plumbing or mechanical apprentices are permitted to work under the direct supervision of a properly licensed journeyman or master."

Section 3.2.2 adds a requirement that trips up applicants with long but informal work histories: all dates and hours "shall be documented and verified by third party verification," and "Applicants who do not provide the required third-party verification described above will not be considered by the board for licensure."

Cheyenne exams

Section 3.5.1 does not name a single vendor. It says the Board maintains a listing of examinations administered by the International Code Council (ICC), the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET), the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agency (NASCLA), "or other testing agencies approved by the Board," and that no license issues until proof of a current published exam is submitted and approved. Applicants pay the testing agency directly.

Cheyenne fees

• Contractor Class C1, tested — application $50.00 · initial $200.00 · renewal $75.00
• Contractor Class C2, non-tested — application $50.00 · initial $200.00 · renewal $50.00
• Qualified Supervisor or Master — application $50.00 · initial $50.00 · renewal $25.00
• Journeyman — application $50.00 · initial $30.00 · renewal $15.00
• Apprentice — application $10.00 · initial $10.00 · renewal $5.00

Application fees are non-refundable and are charged in addition to the license fee. Upgrading a license earns no credit for fees already paid. Section 3.7 adds an investigation fee for anyone caught working unlicensed, equal to the license fee, "whether a license and/or permit is subsequently obtained."

Cheyenne insurance

Commercial general liability minimums for a Class C subcontractor are $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 total aggregate. The City of Cheyenne must be named as certificate holder, and a licensee has ten working days to notify the Building Official after learning of cancellation or non-renewal. A Wyoming workers compensation letter of good standing is required before issuance. The regulations state no surety or license bond requirement.

Cheyenne renewals, and the trap in them

Cheyenne licenses "expire annually, one year from the date of issuance." There is no common calendar renewal date, which means every license in your company can sit on a different anniversary.

More importantly, there is no grace period. Section 4.2 states that if a renewal has not been received before expiration, "the license expires, and the licensee will not be eligible for renewal status and an application for a new license must be submitted." And Section 4.2.1 escalates it: if the expiration date is more than 30 days past, the licensee "shall be required to provide proof of successful completion of a current published examination."

Read together, those two sentences mean a Cheyenne plumbing license that sits 31 days past its anniversary costs you the exam again. The city sends a notice roughly 60 days out, but Section 4.2 puts the duty on the licensee "whether or not a renewal form has been received."

No continuing education requirement appears anywhere in the Cheyenne regulations.

The City of Cheyenne Contractor Licensing Regulations are revised periodically; the edition described here is marked Rev 03/10/2026. Fees, insurance minimums and classifications are set by the Contractor Licensing Board and change. Verify with the Cheyenne Building Division before applying.

Other Wyoming Jurisdictions

Casper and Cheyenne are the two with fully published ladders, but they are not the only cities that license. The City of Laramie's contractor licensing page states that trade contractors including mechanical, plumbing, gas service, water and sewer, refrigeration and fire protection must hold a valid City of Laramie contractor license, and that individuals performing that work, including masters, journeymen and apprentices, must be licensed with the city. Gillette also requires contractors working inside city limits to hold a city-issued license.

If you are working in Rock Springs, Sheridan, Jackson, Evanston, Riverton, Cody or anywhere else in the state, assume nothing and call the building department. In a state with no plumbing board, the phone call to the city is the research.

The Rule That Decides Whether Your Company Can Hold a License

Everything above is about individuals. This section is about the business, and it is where most Wyoming plumbing companies actually get stuck.

Casper states it in one sentence. A Plumbing Contractor applicant "shall possess or provide proof of employment of a full-time licensed master plumber." Either you are the master, or you employ one full-time. There is no third option.

Cheyenne writes the same requirement at far greater length, and the language is worth quoting because very few jurisdictions in the country are this explicit.

Section 13.0, in full:

"An entity may be issued a contractor license under these regulations only if the entity always employs, in an active full-time capacity, a qualified supervisor or master. The qualified supervisor or master shall hold the license of the class corresponding to the class and specialty of the contractor's license, or greater subject to the Building Official's approval."

Section 13.1 caps how many companies one person can carry:

"A qualified supervisor or master shall represent no more than one contractor."

The only exception is common ownership. If one or more business entities are wholly owned by the same individuals, those individuals may represent all of them, and Cheyenne defines "individual" for that purpose as "any natural person or a limited liability company having identical members." Violate the one-company rule and each of the qualified supervisor's licenses goes to inactive status until the violation is abated.

Section 13.2 adds a physical presence duty. The qualified supervisor "shall oversee and be responsible for all work performed by a contractor," must be at the job site within 24 hours of notice from the Building Official, and must be on site "at any time the Building Official deems necessary."

And Section 13.3 is the sentence that separates a real qualifier arrangement from a paper one:

"A contractor license shall be valid, subject to the time periods set forth in this subsection, only if the qualified supervisor or master named in the application is employed by the Licensee in an active, full-time capacity and the employment is the qualified supervisors' or masters' principal employment."

Not merely employed. Not merely full-time. Principal employment. Cheyenne is one of the few jurisdictions anywhere that writes the standard that high.

Section 14.0 closes the loop from the other direction: "No person shall employ any individual in the capacity of a qualified supervisor, master, journeyman, or apprentice who is not properly licensed in accordance with the provisions of these regulations."

What Happens When Your Master Leaves

Every licensed company should know this number before it needs it. Cheyenne's Section 13.3.1 sets the clock:

• 3 working days to notify the Building Official in writing that you have lost your qualified supervisor or master
• 30 calendar days to register a replacement
• A possible additional 30 days, at the Building Official's discretion, "for extreme extenuating circumstances, totaling sixty (60) days"

Miss the 30 days without an extension and the contractor's license is "subject to suspension or revocation." And during any relief period, the regulations state that companies "shall not be allowed to apply for new permits for projects without having first met with the Board and gained approved licensure or provided the equivalent qualified supervisor replacement."

That last clause is the real cost. Your license may still technically exist while you scramble, but you cannot pull new permits. For a plumbing company with crews on payroll, a 30-day permit freeze is not an administrative inconvenience, it is a shutdown.

Failing to give the written notice within three working days is itself grounds for disciplinary action under Section 11.0, separately from losing the qualifier.

How Much Does It Cost to Get Licensed in Wyoming?

The government side is inexpensive by national standards. A Casper master plumber card is $75.00 new, a Casper plumbing contractor license is $300.00 new and $150.00 to renew, and a Cheyenne Class C1 license is $50.00 application plus $200.00 initial. Add ICC exam fees paid directly to the testing agency, general liability insurance at the minimums above, and workers compensation.

The expensive part is not the fees. It is the ladder. Casper's master plumber route wants four years of apprenticeship or equivalent plus five years as a journeyman or master, both measured in Casper licensed shops. Cheyenne's master wants 8,000 apprentice hours plus 6,000 journeyman hours. Either way you are looking at the better part of a decade before you personally hold the credential your company needs.

For companies that need a licensed master now rather than in seven years, the cost of bringing in a qualifying agent depends entirely on the situation: which cities you need covered, the scope and risk of the work, how many licenses have to be held, and how fast you need to be operating. There is no single number that would be right for more than a handful of companies, so we scope it case by case. You can walk through your specifics on our consultation packages page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Wyoming have a state plumbing license? No. There is no Wyoming state plumbing license, no state plumbing board, and no statewide journeyman or master plumber credential. Plumbing licensing in Wyoming is municipal. If a website tells you to apply to a "Wyoming State Board of Plumbers," that agency does not exist.

Which Wyoming cities license plumbers? Casper and Cheyenne run the most complete published ladders, covering apprentice, journeyman, master and contractor. Laramie and Gillette also license trade contractors and individuals. Other municipalities vary, so contact the building department in every city where you intend to work.

How long does it take to become a master plumber in Wyoming? It depends on the city, because there is no state standard. Casper requires four years of apprenticeship or equivalent experience in a Casper licensed shop plus five years as a journeyman or master in a Casper licensed shop. Cheyenne requires 8,000 hours as an apprentice plus 6,000 hours as a journeyman. Both are multi-year climbs.

Can I open a plumbing company in Wyoming without a master plumber license? The company can be formed, but it cannot hold a plumbing contractor license in Casper or Cheyenne without a licensed master. Casper requires "proof of employment of a full-time licensed master plumber." Cheyenne requires a qualified supervisor or master employed "in an active full-time capacity" whose employment is that person's "principal employment." If you do not hold the credential yourself, employing a qualifier as a full-time W-2 master is the legitimate route. See how to hire a qualifying agent.

Can one master plumber cover two companies in Cheyenne? No, unless the companies are wholly owned by the same individuals. Section 13.1 states a qualified supervisor or master "shall represent no more than one contractor," and violating it places each of that person's licenses into inactive status until the violation is abated.

What happens if my qualified supervisor quits? In Cheyenne you have three working days to notify the Building Official in writing and 30 calendar days to register a replacement, extendable by up to another 30 days for extreme extenuating circumstances. You generally cannot pull new permits during that window without meeting with the Board.

Does my out-of-state plumbing experience count in Wyoming? It depends on the city, and Casper's master route is written specifically against experience "in a City of Casper licensed plumbing shop," which limits how far out-of-state time carries. Ask the building department directly before you assume your history transfers.

Is there a statewide plumbing code in Wyoming? The State of Wyoming adopted the 2024 International Codes on June 28, 2024 for state jurisdiction, including the 2024 International Building Code, International Mechanical Code and International Fuel Gas Code. Municipalities adopt their own editions by ordinance, so confirm the edition enforced by the city where the work is.

Bottom Line

Wyoming's plumbing licensing story is short at the state level and long at the city level. There is no state plumbing license and no state plumbing board. Casper and Cheyenne each run a complete ladder with their own exams and fees, and both refuse to issue a plumbing contractor license to a company that does not employ a licensed master full-time.

Cheyenne says it most plainly: the qualified supervisor must be employed "in an active, full-time capacity" and that employment must be their "principal employment." That is not a signature on an application. That is a job.

If you are ready to run a Wyoming plumbing company before you personally hold a master credential, The Licensing Company places licensed masters as full-time W-2 qualifying agents so your business can hold its license and operate legally, structured to satisfy the one-company and principal-employment rules the cities actually enforce. Start with what a qualifying agent is, see how to hire one, compare states on our states overview, or read the national picture in how to get a plumbing contractor license.

Working the mechanical side too? Wyoming handles it differently again, and there is a state credential most HVAC companies do not know they need. That is covered in HVAC license Wyoming. For the electrical trade, which is the one thing Wyoming does license statewide, see electrician license Wyoming. Two neighbors handle the no-state-license problem in very different ways: compare plumbing license South Dakota and plumbing license Montana.

This guide covers the Wyoming plumbing licensing process and the municipal systems that run it. It is not exam preparation. Fees, classifications, insurance minimums and code editions are set by each city and change. Verify current requirements directly with the building department in the jurisdiction where you intend to work.

Last reviewed September 2026.