STATE LICENSE
RequiredColorado State Plumbing Board — DORA Divi…
The State Plumbing Board — the oldest of Colorado's construction boards, created in 1917 — licenses Residential, Journeyworker and Master plumbers, registers plumbing apprentices, and registers the contracting company. A plumbing contractor must be, or employ full-time, a master plumber who is in charge of supervising all plumbing work, who may be responsible for one contractor at a time, and who must notify the board within fifteen days of leaving.
Two changes from HB24-1344 reshaped the trade. Effective July 1, 2025 the statute renamed journeyman plumbers journeyworker plumbers throughout, and added C.R.S. 12-155-125, which requires a plumbing contractor to display both its own Colorado registration number and the registration number of its attached master plumber on its vehicles, billing materials, bid sheets and website. Separately, C.R.S. 12-155-112(1)(a) moves plumbing licenses from a two-year to a three-year cycle beginning with the license cycle that starts March 1, 2027.
The state sets the license floor; the county or city permit office controls filing, inspections, and local rules wherever the job site sits.
Plumbing sits between the electrical and the unlicensed trades. C.R.S. 12-155-121(1) expressly permits any city, town, county or city and county to license plumbing contractors, and subsection (2) draws the only limit: a local agency shall not adopt rules or provide for licenses that would preclude a valid state licensee from practicing the trade. In practice the big jurisdictions layer rather than duplicate — Denver issues a Plumbing A license on a two-year cycle at $160, Aurora explicitly does not issue its own plumbing contractor license and instead requires the Colorado master's and contractor's license on file, Fort Collins takes a Master Plumber registration with no city exam, and Pikes Peak Regional Building Department lets a state master plumber registered in the jurisdiction pull permits without a separate license. Permits and inspections run through the local building department where one meets the board's minimum standards, and through a state plumbing inspector everywhere else.
The local offices section below names the exact permit desk for every Colorado county on file.
Each row names the issuing authority, cost, timeline, citation, and status behind the requirement — verified against the official source.
Published fees from the issuing authorities, as of September 2026. Local permit fees vary by project and jurisdiction — the basis is stated where a flat number does not exist.
Licenses currently expire the final day of February in odd-numbered years. Beginning with the cycle that starts March 1, 2027, C.R.S. 12-155-112(1)(a) directs the board to issue and renew plumbing licenses for three years.
Eight hours of continuing education are owed for every twelve months since the last renewal or reinstatement, measured March 1 through the end of February by licensure year, not calendar year.
A license expired two or more years reinstates only on verification of an active out-of-state license with a year of practice, a passing state exam, or another board-approved demonstration of competency (C.R.S. 12-155-112(2)(b)).
A practical sequence for a new plumbing contractor in Colorado. Actual agency processing times are noted in the ledger above.
Each item names the issuing authority, cycle, and citation.
Statutory consequences with their citations — not estimates, not “commonly cited” guesses.
Engaging in or working at the business, trade or calling of a residential, journeyworker or master plumber, or a plumbing apprentice, without an active license, permit or registration is a criminal offense — and so is doing water conditioning contractor, installer or principal work unregistered.
The program director may cite a licensee, registrant or applicant for conduct under C.R.S. 12-155-113, with a ten-working-day window to request a stipulated settlement and a right to an administrative hearing.
A master plumber who fails to notify the board within fifteen days of terminating as the master for a contractor risks suspension or revocation of the master license — and the contractor loses the credential that lets it operate.
Inside city limits, the city office listed here issues the permit; the county office serves unincorporated areas. Every office links to its official page.
Every fact in this file was checked against these official sources on September 2026.
Pending verification: Exact dollar amounts for the plumber license, contractor registration and apprentice registration — Colorado sets these administratively under C.R.S. 12-20-105 and quotes them inside the DPO Online Services application · The PSI examination fee, which is published in the candidate handbook issued after application approval rather than on the board's website · Whether the board has adopted the new International Plumbing Code, Fuel Gas Code and Residential Code editions proposed at the June 24, 2026 rulemaking hearing on Rule 1.2
General information, not legal advice. Always confirm requirements, deadlines, and forms with the issuing authority before filing or contracting.
Store licenses, permits, policies, and renewal dates in one place.