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.
- License you need
- R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential) Renew Every two years. You can choose to renew each year instead at half the two-year fee
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimum customers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required as soon as you hire anyone
- Credit score
- None. Arizona does not set a minimum credit score or take a 14-hour course
- To protect your pay, send 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
1 What stands out in Arizona for a plumber 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.
2 Who issues plumber licenses in Arizona? What is this?
Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) issues plumbing licenses in Arizona.
| Name | Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) |
|---|---|
| Website | https://roc.az.gov/ |
| Look up a license | https://azroc.my.site.com/AZRoc/s/contractor-search |
| The law | Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) Title 32, Chapter 10 |
| The rulebook | Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) Title 4, Chapter 9 |
·2 official pages
3 Arizona plumber license requirements and fees What is this?
Arizona has 4 license types that matter to a plumber. The R-37 Plumbing, Including Solar (residential) needs 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.
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
| What you can work on | Install and repair water and gas piping, fire sprinkler water systems, and sewage treatment systems on residential property | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience required | 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 | ||||||||||||||||
| Training required | None required before applying, apart from the training that counts as experience | ||||||||||||||||
| Exam | Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE), each taken within two years before you apply | ||||||||||||||||
| Fees |
| ||||||||||||||||
| Renewal | Every two years. You can choose to renew each year instead at half the two-year fee | ||||||||||||||||
| Training hours each year | 0 |
C-37 Plumbing (commercial)
A business that does plumbing on anything that is not residential, such as shops, offices, restaurants and public buildings
| What you can work on | Install, alter and repair all plumbing inside the property lines, not on public easements or rights of way | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience required | Same as R-37. Four years, two within the last ten, up to two years of schooling can count | ||||||||
| Exam | Yes, a trade exam run by PSI plus the Arizona Statutes and Rules Exam (SRE) | ||||||||
| Fees |
| ||||||||
| Renewal | Every two years, or each year at half the fee |
CR-37 Plumbing (dual, residential and commercial)
A business that wants one license for both houses and commercial buildings
| What you can work on | Everything the R-37 and the C-37 allow | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience required | Same four-year rule | ||||||||
| Exam | Yes, same exams | ||||||||
| Fees |
| ||||||||
| Renewal | Every two years, or each year at half the fee |
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
| What you can work on | Casual or minor work only. The moment a permit is needed the exemption is gone, whatever the price |
|---|
4 How much insurance does a plumber 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 |
|
| 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 |
5 Does 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 |
|
·2 official pages
6 Does 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 |
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 |
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 |
|
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
7 Where 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 |
|
|---|---|
| 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 |
8 Does 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: Sales tax on labor for plumbers and HVAC contractors by state
| 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 |
|
| 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 |
|
| 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 |
9 Getting 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.
| Who has to send a 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 |
|
10 How much does it cost to become a plumber 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.
| 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
11Where these numbers come from
The labels under each table are explained on how to read a page.
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01122.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01121.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01127-01.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01132-01.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/42/05075.htm
- cottonwoodaz.gov/DocumentCenter/View/165/Contracting-FAQ---TPN-15-1-PDF
- azleg.gov/ars/33/00992-01.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/33/01002.htm
- roc.az.gov/license-classifications
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01126.htm
- law.cornell.edu/regulations/arizona/Ariz-Admin-Code-SS-R4-9-103
- law.cornell.edu/regulations/arizona/Ariz-Admin-Code-SS-R4-9-130
- roc.az.gov/applying-for-a-license
- law.cornell.edu/regulations/arizona/Ariz-Admin-Code-SS-R4-9-102
- azleg.gov/ars/23/00902.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/23/00961.htm
- azica.gov/workers-compensation-employer-frequently-asked-questions
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01152.htm
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01132.htm
- roc.az.gov/bond-information
- law.cornell.edu/regulations/arizona/Ariz-Admin-Code-SS-R4-9-112
- azleg.gov/ars/32/01124.htm
- azdor.gov/transaction-privilege-tax/contracting-guidelines/mrra-contracting
- azleg.gov/ars/33/00993.htm