Massachusetts contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in Massachusetts, one page for each trade. The license, the least insurance you must carry, whether the state asks for a bond, when you charge sales tax, and the deadlines that protect your right to be paid.
Plumbing in Massachusetts
- License you need
- Apprentice PlumberRenews every two years
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimumcustomers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required
- Massachusetts licenses the apprentice too. You cannot start learning on the job until the board has issued you an apprentice license, and the clock on your 6,800 hours starts then.
- There is no dollar figure for liability insurance in the plumbing law. A self-employed plumber still cannot get a permit without a policy that includes completed operations cover.
HVAC in Massachusetts
- License you need
- Refrigeration ApprenticeRenews tied to your birthday
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimumcustomers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required
- Massachusetts has no HVAC license. The state licenses the refrigeration side and the duct side as two trades, so one shop may need people licensed by two different boards.
- The refrigeration journeyman license asks for the EPA Section 608 Universal card up front. You get the federal card first and the state license second.
Electrical in Massachusetts
- License you need
- Journeyman Electrician, Certificate BRenews every three years
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimumcustomers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required
- The renewal cycle is three years, and every electrical license in the state runs out on July 31 of the same year, whatever day you were licensed.
- Journeyman takes 8,000 hours over at least four years plus 600 classroom hours. Master takes one more year as a journeyman and 150 more classroom hours.
Across states
Can you charge sales tax on labor? The rule in 25 states. Which states tax the work itself, which tax only the parts, and how a repair differs from a new install.