Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Idaho's official board.
This is a trade where the NATIONAL credential outranks the state one in practical value. CET and QEI are recognised across the country, are required or accepted by many state programmes, and survive a move; a state licence does not. If you are early in the trade in Idaho, get into NEIEP or an equivalent apprenticeship and work toward CET first, the state licence, where required, follows from it more easily than the reverse.
| Requirements | IDAHO IS ONE OF ABOUT TEN STATES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE STATEWIDE ELEVATOR MECHANIC LICENSURE. Roughly 35 states do; Idaho is among those that do not, the others commonly identified are Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THE WORK IS UNREGULATED. Elevators and conveyances are still subject to installation permits, periodic inspection and acceptance testing under the adopted code, and municipalities may impose their own requirements. What is absent is a personal state licence for the mechanic. THE CERTIFICATIONS THAT TRAVEL. Three national credentials do most of the work in this trade. CET, Certified Elevator Technician, issued by the National Association of Elevator Contractors, is the mechanic's credential, and a number of states either require it or accept it in place of their own examination. QEI, Qualified Elevator Inspector, from the QEI Training Fund or NAESA, is the inspector's credential and a separate track. CAT covers accessibility and private residence lifts, which is its own licence category in several states. NEIEP, the industry's joint apprenticeship programme, is the usual route to CET. THE CODE IS ASME A17.1, the Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators. State examinations are built on it, and it is what an inspector applies. SO IN IDAHO THE CERTIFICATION IS THE CREDENTIAL. With no state card to hold, an elevator mechanic's standing rests on CET, on completion of a NEIEP or equivalent apprenticeship, and on the employer's own qualification, and those are precisely what a licensing state would ask for if the mechanic later moves. |
| Reciprocity | Not applicable: there is no state licence to reciprocate. The national certifications, CET, QEI, CAT, are what carry across state lines, and they are recognised or required by many of the states that do license. |
| Renewal | No state licence to renew. NAEC and NAESA certifications renew on their own cycles with continuing education; track those independently. Conveyance inspection certificates are per unit and renewed by the building owner, not the mechanic. |
| Notes | This is a trade where the NATIONAL credential outranks the state one in practical value. CET and QEI are recognised across the country, are required or accepted by many state programmes, and survive a move; a state licence does not. If you are early in the trade in Idaho, get into NEIEP or an equivalent apprenticeship and work toward CET first, the state licence, where required, follows from it more easily than the reverse. |
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Sources: www.naec.org, www.naec.org, www.nysenate.gov, www.businessexpress.ny.gov. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
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