Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Mississippi's official board.
Check the job value before anything else. Under $10,000 residential or under $50,000 commercial, the state board is not the right place to start, the city or county is. Above those lines, the state license is mandatory and the examinations are open book, which materially changes how to prepare.
| Requirements | MISSISSIPPI LICENSES BY THE VALUE OF THE JOB, NOT BY THE TRADE OF THE WORKER, and the two thresholds are the whole framework. RESIDENTIAL. If you are performing residential plumbing work of LESS THAN $10,000, a STATE license is NOT required, but you must contact the local building official or permit office about their requirements, which may well include a local license. COMMERCIAL. If you are performing work OVER $50,000 on a commercial job, you need a COMMERCIAL CONTRACTOR'S LICENCE from the board. Below that amount, the requirement falls to the city or county where the job is located. SO THERE IS NO STATE JOURNEYMAN PLUMBER CARD. Mississippi regulates the contracting entity above a dollar threshold; an individual plumber working as an employee is not separately licensed by the state. EXAMINATIONS. All applicants take a MISSISSIPPI LAW AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT examination, plus a TRADE examination where the classification requires one. All examinations are administered by PSI and are OPEN BOOK. The board publishes its classifications list and its commercial laws and rules in full, and a fact sheet on the residential licensing law changes made by HB 1163. |
| Reciprocity | The Mississippi State Board of Contractors is named in Georgia's and North Carolina's published electrical reciprocity arrangements, so a Mississippi contractor license has recognition in the southeast. For applicants coming into Mississippi, apply through the board's license application process and check the classifications list for the trade examination requirement. |
| Renewal | Contractor licenses renew with the State Board of Contractors on its published cycle; the board's forms page carries the current renewal application and fee. |
| Notes | Check the job value before anything else. Under $10,000 residential or under $50,000 commercial, the state board is not the right place to start, the city or county is. Above those lines, the state license is mandatory and the examinations are open book, which materially changes how to prepare. |
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Sources: www.msboc.us, www.msboc.us, www.msboc.us, www.msboc.us. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
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