Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Tennessee's official board.
Tennessee requires a fire protection sprinkler system contractor to hold a certificate of registration from the State Fire Marshal's Office and to employ a licensed Responsible Managing Employee, who must be a Tennessee registered professional engineer or architect or hold NICET Level III certification as a fire protection engineering technician. The State Fire Marshal's page also tells applicants to call the Board for Licensing Contractors at (615) 741-8307 to determine whether other licenses are needed.
| Requirements | The State Fire Marshal's Office states that to install fire protection systems "You must have a certification of registration, issued by the Tennessee State Fire Marshal's Office, Permits and Licenses Unit, as a Fire Sprinkler Systems Contractor with a licensed Responsible Managing Employee," and adds that Tennessee law does not differentiate between residential and commercial fire sprinkler systems. Rule 0780-02-07-.05 requires an application for a Responsible Managing Employee license to include either proof of registration in Tennessee as a professional engineer or architect, or a copy of NICET's letter notifying the applicant of successful completion of the examination for certification of level III for fire protection engineering technician. Rule 0780-02-07-.08 requires that all fire protection sprinkler systems be installed under the supervision of a licensed responsible managing employee, that new installation be performed by a contractor registered by the Department or by its licensed RME on staff, and that a contractor's material and test certificate be posted at the riser and distributed to the site, the installer, the local authority having jurisdiction and the Department within ten days. The same rule allows simple maintenance such as replacing a sprinkler head to be performed by the owner or by full-time persons employed by the owner. Rule 0780-02-07-.04 requires the contractor to maintain a specific business location and to report ownership or officer changes within fourteen days. Rule 0780-02-07-.07 sets fees: certificate application $100.00, certificate issuance $500.00, certificate renewal $200.00; license application $25.00, license issuance $200.00, license renewal $75.00; duplicate certificate or license $75.00. |
| Reciprocity | Depends on which of Tennessee's two credentials is in view. For the Board for Licensing Contractors CMC-A business licence classification (T.C.A. title 62 chapter 6), the Board publishes a trade examination waiver, which it labels reciprocity: on the current 'Trade Exam Waiver (Reciprocity) with Tennessee' form the CMC-A classification is matched against Ohio and South Carolina. The applicant's licence must be active rather than inactive or expired, free of disciplinary action, and verified directly by the other state's licensing board on a standard verification form, and the Tennessee Business and Law examination is still required regardless of the waiver, the waiver covers only the trade-knowledge examination. For the State Fire Marshal's Office Certificate of Registration as a Fire Protection Sprinkler System Contractor (T.C.A. § 62-32-101 et seq., Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0780-02-07), the position could not be established: the tn.gov licensing and sprinklers pages that were readable contain no reciprocity language, but the Secretary of State's rules publisher returned HTTP 403 on every attempt to retrieve the text of chapter 0780-02-07, so the rule itself was not read and no absence is asserted for that registration. |
| Renewal | Rule 0780-02-07-.07 sets renewal fees of $200.00 for the contractor certificate and $75.00 for the RME license, and provides that a renewal application accompanied by the required fee is deemed timely filed if received before or on the expiration date. The rule chapter does not state a term length on the pages checked, and Chapter 0780-02-07 contains no continuing education provision. |
| Notes | Tennessee requires a fire protection sprinkler system contractor to hold a certificate of registration from the State Fire Marshal's Office and to employ a licensed Responsible Managing Employee, who must be a Tennessee registered professional engineer or architect or hold NICET Level III certification as a fire protection engineering technician. The State Fire Marshal's page also tells applicants to call the Board for Licensing Contractors at (615) 741-8307 to determine whether other licenses are needed. |
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Sources: www.tn.gov, www.tn.gov, publications.tnsosfiles.com, www.tn.gov. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
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