Arizona plumbing license requirements and insurance

To work for yourself as a plumber in Arizona, you need the R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential) license. Arizona has 3 plumbing license types, and which one you need depends on the work you take on. The state sets no minimum liability insurance, and workers' comp is required as soon as you regularly employ one worker.

Who it applies to

1Who needs a plumbing license in Arizona? What is this?

R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential): a business that does plumbing on houses, townhouses, condos and anything inside residential property lines, including the connection to water and sewer service

License	Who needs it	What it covers
R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)	A business that does plumbing on houses, townhouses, condos and anything inside residential property lines, including the connection to water and sewer service	Install and repair water and gas piping, fire sprinkler water systems, and sewage treatment systems on residential property
C-37 Plumbing (commercial)	A business that does plumbing on anything that is not residential, such as shops, offices, restaurants and public buildings	Install, alter and repair all plumbing inside the property lines, not on public easements or rights of way
CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)	A business that wants one license for both houses and commercial buildings	Everything the R-37 and the C-37 allow
Handyman exemption (no license)	Anyone doing a job where the whole contract price, labor and materials, is under $1,000 and no building permit is needed	Casual or minor work only. The moment a permit is needed the exemption is gone, whatever the price

License

Who needs it

What it covers

R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)

A business that does plumbing on houses, townhouses, condos and anything inside residential property lines, including the connection to water and sewer service

Install and repair water and gas piping, fire sprinkler water systems, and sewage treatment systems on residential property

C-37 Plumbing (commercial)

A business that does plumbing on anything that is not residential, such as shops, offices, restaurants and public buildings

Install, alter and repair all plumbing inside the property lines, not on public easements or rights of way

CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)

A business that wants one license for both houses and commercial buildings

Everything the R-37 and the C-37 allow

Handyman exemption (no license)

Anyone doing a job where the whole contract price, labor and materials, is under $1,000 and no building permit is needed

Casual or minor work only. The moment a permit is needed the exemption is gone, whatever the price

Who runs it

2Who issues plumber licenses in Arizona? What is this?

Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) issues plumbing licenses in Arizona.

See how this compares in every state: How to check a contractor's license, state by state

Name	Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC)
Website	roc.az.gov
Look up a license	azroc.my.site.com
The law	Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) Title 32, Chapter 10
The rulebook	Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) Title 4, Chapter 9

Taken from the linked page, not separately checked

·2 official pages

Getting licensed

3How to become a plumber in Arizona What is this?

Arizona has 3 licenses that matter to a plumber: R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential), C-37 Plumbing (commercial), CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial). Each is below, with what you need before you apply.

License	Experience required	Training required	Exam
R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)	Four years of hands-on or management experience in the trade, at least two of them within the last ten years. Up to two years of technical training at an accredited college can count toward the four	None required before applying, apart from the training that counts as experience	Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE), each taken within two years before you apply
C-37 Plumbing (commercial)	Same as R-37. Four years, two within the last ten, up to two years of schooling can count	—	Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE)
CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)	Same four-year rule	—	Yes, same exams

License

Experience required

Training required

Exam

R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)

Four years of hands-on or management experience in the trade, at least two of them within the last ten years. Up to two years of technical training at an accredited college can count toward the four

None required before applying, apart from the training that counts as experience

Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE), each taken within two years before you apply

C-37 Plumbing (commercial)

Same as R-37. Four years, two within the last ten, up to two years of schooling can count

—

Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE)

CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)

Same four-year rule

—

Yes, same exams

What it costs

4How much does a plumbing license cost in Arizona? What is this?

The government fees on this page add up to about $720 in Arizona. Add insurance, tools, and a vehicle to get the real number.

License	Application	First license	Renewal	Law and rules exam	Trade exam (paid to PSI)	Late renewal penalty	Recovery fund fee	Recovery fund fee, first license	Recovery fund fee, renewal
R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)	$80	$270	$270	$61	$66	$50	—	$370	$270
C-37 Plumbing (commercial)	$100	$480	$480	—	—	—	$0	—	—
CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)	$100	$380	$380	—	—	—	Same as residential, because a dual license covers residential work	—	—

Added up

Government fees, added up	$720
Plus the two exam fees	$127

Does not include the bond premium, insurance premiums, fingerprinting, tools, a vehicle, or city permits and business licenses

Our estimate

Insurance

5How much plumbing insurance do you need in Arizona? What is this?

Arizona sets no minimum liability insurance for this license. Customers and general contractors usually ask for $1,000,000 anyway. Workers' comp is required as soon as you regularly employ one worker.

Minimum liability insurance	None required by the state
Type of policy	None required by the state to hold the license
Who this applies to	Nobody has to carry liability insurance to hold the license. A.R.S. 32-1122 asks for experience, an exam where required, and a bond. It also asks you to confirm you follow Arizona's workers' comp laws, and to give the policy number or proof of self-insurance if you must carry workers' comp. Customers, builders, and cities will still ask to see a liability policy
Who must be named on the certificate	Not applicable
Workers' comp required?	Yes, as soon as you regularly employ one worker
Who can opt out	A sole proprietor with no employees does not need a policy for themselves and can sign a waiver form with the insurer that says they are not an employee. Once you hire anyone, coverage is required for that person

Checked by a person against the official page

·4 official pages

Money checks

6Does Arizona check your credit for a plumber license? What is this?

Arizona does not check your credit for this license.

Credit score you need	None. Arizona does not set a minimum credit score
If your score is lower	Not needed. Arizona does not ask for a credit score or a credit report. You post a license bond. Residential and dual licenses also pay into the Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund, or post an extra $200,000 bond or cash deposit instead

Checked by a person against the official page

·2 official pages

Bonds

7Does a plumber need a bond in Arizona? What is this?

Arizona requires a bond. A bond is a promise, backed by an insurance company, that customers can be paid if you do not finish the job.

Does the state require a bond?

Yes

Bond, residential R-37

Your license type and the work you expect in a year	Bond you must post
Specialty license, under $375,000	$4,250
Specialty license, $375,000 or more	$7,500
General license, under $750,000	$9,000
General license, $750,000 or more	$15,000

Pick the row that matches your license and the work you expect. R-37 is a specialty license, so the first two rows apply. The amount is fixed

Bond, commercial C-37

Work you expect in a year	Bond you must post
Up to $150,000	$2,500
$150,001 to $500,000	$7,000
$500,001 to $1,000,000	$17,500
$1,000,001 to $5,000,000	$25,000
$5,000,001 to $10,000,000	$37,500
Over $10,000,000	$50,000

Pick the row that matches the work you expect in a year. C-37 is a specialty license, so these rows apply. The amount is fixed; the registrar does not adjust it

Bond, dual CR-37

One bond that adds the residential amount and the commercial amount together

Instead of a bond

Instead of a bond you can put cash with the state treasurer. You get it back two years after the license ends

Recovery fund fee

Residential and dual licensees also pay into the Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund.
The payment is capped at $600 per two-year period.
A homeowner can get up to $30,000 per claim from the fund if a licensed residential contractor does bad work and does not fix it.
Only owner-occupants, their LLCs, living trusts, HOAs and tenants can claim

A bond is a promise, backed by an insurance company, that customers can be paid if you do not finish the job or do it badly. Cities may ask for a separate bond before you pull permits

Checked by a person against the official page

·6 official pages

Showing your number

8Where must an Arizona plumber show the license number? What is this?

In Arizona: write your number as ROC followed by the digits. It must appear on every written bid and estimate, on all published ads, and on your letterhead and any paper you send customers. It must also appear on broadcast, internet, and billboard ads, and in a visible spot at every job site. An online ad can instead link to a page that shows your name and license number.

The rule	Write your number as ROC followed by the digits. It must appear on every written bid and estimate, on all published ads, and on your letterhead and any paper you send customers. It must also appear on broadcast, internet, and billboard ads, and in a visible spot at every job site. An online ad can instead link to a page that shows your name and license number
If you forget	The registrar can discipline you. A customer cannot use a missing number to cancel a contract or refuse to award one
On your vehicles	The statute does not mention vehicles

Checked by a person against the official page·azleg.gov

Tax

9Does a plumber charge sales tax on labor in Arizona? What is this?

Whether Arizona taxes your labor, your materials, or neither.

See how this compares in every state: Can you charge sales tax on labor? The rule in 25 states

What this tax is	Arizona calls its sales tax transaction privilege tax (TPT). It is a tax on the seller, so the rules say who pays, not just how much
Repairs and replacements on existing buildings	No tax on your invoice. Fixing a leak, clearing a drain, replacing a faucet, a water heater or bathroom fixtures all count as maintenance, repair, replacement or alteration (MRRA). You pay tax when you buy the materials and charge the customer no tax on labor or materials
Alteration limit, homes	A job that changes an existing home still counts as MRRA if the contract price is 25 percent or less of the home's full cash value on the county assessor's notice. Above that it is taxed as new construction
Alteration limit, businesses	A commercial alteration counts as MRRA if the contract is $750,000 or less, touches 40 percent or less of the floor area, and adds no more than 10 percent to it
New buildings and large alterations	Taxed as prime contracting. You charge tax on the whole job, but the tax is figured on 65 percent of the price, because 35 percent is treated as labor. You buy materials tax-free with a Form 5000 exemption certificate
Jobs that are part repair, part new work	If a repair job includes construction work worth more than 15 percent of the contract, the whole contract is taxed
Transaction privilege tax license	If all your work is MRRA for property owners, you do not need a TPT license. If you do any new construction you must register and file
If you hold a TPT license	Suppose you hold a TPT license, buy materials tax-free with Form 5000, and then use them on a repair job. You then owe an amount equal to the retail tax on those materials, reported for the job's location
When you are the subcontractor	If a taxable prime contractor hires you for new construction, get a copy of its registered Form 5009L so you can buy materials tax-free for that job
Tax rate	5.6 percent state, plus county and city rates. The state example uses 7.8 percent for Gilbert in Maricopa County

Checked by a person against the official page

·3 official pages

Getting paid

10Getting paid: lien and notice deadlines for an Arizona plumber What is this?

If you are not paid in Arizona, a lien on the property is your backstop, but only if your notice goes out on time: within 20 days of your first day supplying labor or materials to the job (start on March 1 means notice by March 21). Send it late and your lien only covers work done in the 20 days before the notice and after it.

The order things have to happen in, counted in days

Day 0
Your first day on the job
The clock starts here.
Day 20
Send your notice
Within 20 days of your first day supplying labor or materials to the job (start on March 1 means notice by March 21). Send it late and your lien only covers work done in the 20 days before the notice and after it
Day 120
File your lien
Record the lien within 120 days after the whole project is complete (project finished June 1 means record by September 29). If the owner records a notice of completion, you have only 60 days from that recording

Each day count is counted from the day the rule beside it names, which is not always the same day. Read the sentence under each one.

Who has to send a notice	Everyone who supplies labor or materials and wants lien rights, including a contractor hired directly by the owner. It goes to the owner, the general contractor and the construction lender if there is one. It is called a preliminary twenty-day notice
Send your notice by	Within 20 days of your first day supplying labor or materials to the job (start on March 1 means notice by March 21). Send it late and your lien only covers work done in the 20 days before the notice and after it
File your lien by	Record the lien within 120 days after the whole project is complete (project finished June 1 means record by September 29). If the owner records a notice of completion, you have only 60 days from that recording
Homes the owner lives in	No lien is allowed on a home the owner lived in before the work started unless you have a written contract directly with that owner-occupant. A subcontractor on an occupied house has no lien. The owner cannot sign this protection away

Checked by a person against the official page

·3 official pages

Keeping it

11How do you renew a plumbing license in Arizona? What is this?

The R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential) renews every two years. You can choose to renew each year instead at half the two-year fee. No training hours are required.

License	Renewal	Training hours each year
R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)	Every two years. You can choose to renew each year instead at half the two-year fee	—
C-37 Plumbing (commercial)	Every two years, or each year at half the fee	—
CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)	Every two years, or each year at half the fee	—

License

Renewal

Training hours each year

R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential)

Every two years. You can choose to renew each year instead at half the two-year fee

—

C-37 Plumbing (commercial)

Every two years, or each year at half the fee

—

CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)

Every two years, or each year at half the fee

—

Renewal fees are in what the license costs. The official page for each license is linked under how you get it.

Watch out

12What catches people out in Arizona What is this?

The things people get wrong or do not expect about Arizona, in a few sentences.

The license belongs to your business and names a qualifying party, the person with four years of trade experience who passed the exams. If that person leaves, you have 15 days to tell the Registrar and 60 days to name a replacement. Miss the 60 days and the license is suspended by law until you do.
Casual or minor work under $1,000, labor and materials included, needs no license as long as no building permit is required. Above $1,000, or on any job that needs a permit, the exemption ends and you need a contractor license. For plumbing in homes that is the R-37.
The state does not ask for liability insurance to issue the license. It asks for a bond and, for residential work, a payment into the Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund, which can pay a homeowner up to $30,000 if you do bad work and do not fix it.
Fixing a leak, clearing a drain, or swapping a water heater is not taxed on your invoice. You pay sales tax at the supply house and charge the customer no tax. Only new construction and big alterations are taxed on your bill, and then on 65 percent of the price.
To keep lien rights you must send a preliminary notice within 20 days of your first day on the job, even when the homeowner hired you directly. Miss it and the lien only covers work done in the 20 days before you finally send it.
You can only lien a home the owner lives in if you have a written contract directly with that owner. If a builder hired you on an occupied house, the lien is not available to you.

Checked by a person against the official page

·8 official pages

13Where these numbers come from

The labels under each table are explained on how to read a page.