The essentials
- Licensing authorityIndiana Plumbing Commission, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA) — official site
- Statewide?Yes — Indiana licenses at the state level
- Experience requiredJourneyman: at least four years in an approved apprenticeship program, or current licensure in another state documenting four years of experience in the plumbing trade. Plumbing Contractor: four years in an apprenticeship program, licensure as a plumber in another state, or four years in the plumbing business.
- ExamPROV (provexam.com). Candidates register directly with PROV after PLA approval and may take the examination up to seven times within a two-year period.
- Renewal & CEJourneyman, plumbing contractor and plumbing corporation licenses expire December 31 of every odd-numbered year; apprentice licenses expire October 1 of every even-numbered year. Renewal is handled online at MyLicense.IN.gov. The Indiana Plumbing Commission does not impose a state continuing education requirement for plumbing license renewal.
- Bond / insuranceNot published in a form we could verify — confirm with the board
- ReciprocityNone we could confirm
License classes in Indiana
Indiana issues the following classes. Getting the class right matters — several states have residential-only or limited-scope licenses that will not cover commercial or multifamily work:
- Plumbing Apprentice — entry level; must be at least 17 and enrolled in an approved program
- Journeyman Plumber — individual license to perform plumbing work
- Plumbing Contractor — business-level license required to contract and pull plumbing permits
- Plumbing Corporation — entity-level license for corporations, partnerships and associations engaged in plumbing contracting
Experience and training
Journeyman: at least four years in an approved apprenticeship program, or current licensure in another state documenting four years of experience in the plumbing trade. Plumbing Contractor: four years in an apprenticeship program, licensure as a plumber in another state, or four years in the plumbing business.
One thing worth knowing regardless of state: the hours only count if they were logged properly at the time. Several boards require you to register as an apprentice before the clock starts, and hours worked while unregistered are simply gone. If you are early in the trade, get the registration paperwork right now rather than reconstructing it four years later.
The exam
PROV (provexam.com). Candidates register directly with PROV after PLA approval and may take the examination up to seven times within a two-year period.
Renewal and continuing education
Journeyman, plumbing contractor and plumbing corporation licenses expire December 31 of every odd-numbered year; apprentice licenses expire October 1 of every even-numbered year. Renewal is handled online at MyLicense.IN.gov. The Indiana Plumbing Commission does not impose a state continuing education requirement for plumbing license renewal.
Letting a license lapse is more expensive than it looks. Some states allow a short grace period with a penalty fee; others treat a lapsed license as forfeited and make you retest from scratch. Put the renewal date in your calendar with a 90-day warning, not a 7-day one.
Insurance and bonding
We could not verify a published state bond or insurance minimum for Indiana. That does not mean you should work uninsured — local permit offices, general contractors and property managers routinely require a certificate regardless of what the state demands.
Separately from whatever the state requires: Pipe Well requires every plumber on the network to carry current general liability insurance and to upload the certificate before the first appointment is sent.
Working across state lines
We could not confirm any published reciprocity agreement for Indiana. That does not always mean there is none — several states evaluate out-of-state licenses case by case, or let you sit for the exam on the strength of a license held elsewhere. If you are relocating, call the board and ask specifically about endorsement or credential review rather than assuming you start over.
What plumbers actually get wrong here
The state license and the permission to actually work are two different things in Indiana. The PLA journeyman license lets you perform plumbing; the Plumbing Contractor license is what lets you contract — and then nearly every Indiana city and county requires its own separate contractor registration and surety bond before it will issue a permit, with amounts and forms that differ from town to town (Lafayette, West Lafayette, Mishawaka and Indianapolis all set different rules). Budget time for those local registrations, because they are usually the schedule bottleneck, not the state license. Indiana requires no state continuing education, which makes it easy to forget renewal entirely — and note the mismatched cycles: journeymen, contractors and corporations renew December 31 of odd years while apprentices renew October 1 of even years. Out-of-state licensees can use their existing license to document the four years of experience rather than repeating an Indiana apprenticeship, but the PROV exam is still required.
Once you are licensed: getting the work
A license gets you legal. It does not get you a full schedule. The usual next step is buying leads — $40 to $85 for a contact that three or four other shops bought at the same moment, which at a realistic 10–20% close rate works out to somewhere between $300 and $1,000 for every job you actually book, plus the unpaid hours spent chasing the ones that go nowhere.
Pipe Well works the other way round. We book appointments, not leads, and we handle everything up to the moment you knock on the door: the advertising, the phone call, qualifying the job, getting the address and access details, and agreeing a date and time window with the homeowner. What reaches your phone is a scheduled appointment — name, address, time window and what is wrong. You reply YES and it is yours.
What it costs
Nothing to join. No subscription, no per-lead charge. You do the job, you set your own price, and you collect payment from the customer directly. Then Pipe Well is paid 50% of the job after your documented materials come off the top:
(amount collected − documented materials) × 50%
| Collected | Materials | Net | Pipe Well | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400 | $40 | $360 | $180 | $220 |
| $1,200 | $520 | $680 | $340 | $860 |
| $2,800 | $800 | $2,000 | $1,000 | $1,800 |
| $8,500 | $3,200 | $5,300 | $2,650 | $5,850 |
Due within 48 hours of the customer paying you. If they never pay, you owe nothing. And look honestly at that last row — on a big repipe our share is a large number. If your book is already full of $8,500 jobs you are better off filling that capacity yourself. We are worth most to a shop with open capacity it cannot currently fill.
Apply free → Run your own numbersQuestions plumbers ask about licensing in Indiana
Do you need a license to do plumbing work in Indiana?
Yes. Indiana Plumbing Commission, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA) is the licensing authority for Indiana. The state license and the permission to actually work are two different things in Indiana. The PLA journeyman license lets you perform plumbing; the Plumbing Contractor license is what lets you contract — and then nearly every Indiana city and county requires its own separate contractor registration and surety bond before it will issue a permit, with amounts and forms that differ from town to town (Lafayette, West Lafayette, Mishawaka and Indianapolis all set different rules). Budget time for those local registrations, because they are usually the schedule bottleneck, not the state license. Indiana requires no state continuing education, which makes it easy to forget renewal entirely — and note the mismatched cycles: journeymen, contractors and corporations renew December 31 of odd years while apprentices renew October 1 of even years. Out-of-state licensees can use their existing license to document the four years of experience rather than repeating an Indiana apprenticeship, but the PROV exam is still required.
Who issues the plumbing license in Indiana?
Indiana Plumbing Commission, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA). The official site is https://www.in.gov/pla/professions/plumbing-home/plumbing-licensing-information/.
What license classes exist in Indiana?
Plumbing Apprentice — entry level; must be at least 17 and enrolled in an approved program. Journeyman Plumber — individual license to perform plumbing work. Plumbing Contractor — business-level license required to contract and pull plumbing permits. Plumbing Corporation — entity-level license for corporations, partnerships and associations engaged in plumbing contracting.
How many hours of experience do you need for a Indiana plumbing license?
Journeyman: at least four years in an approved apprenticeship program, or current licensure in another state documenting four years of experience in the plumbing trade. Plumbing Contractor: four years in an apprenticeship program, licensure as a plumber in another state, or four years in the plumbing business.
Who administers the Indiana plumbing exam?
PROV (provexam.com). Candidates register directly with PROV after PLA approval and may take the examination up to seven times within a two-year period.
How often does a Indiana plumbing license renew?
Journeyman, plumbing contractor and plumbing corporation licenses expire December 31 of every odd-numbered year; apprentice licenses expire October 1 of every even-numbered year. Renewal is handled online at MyLicense.IN.gov. The Indiana Plumbing Commission does not impose a state continuing education requirement for plumbing license renewal.
Can I get booked plumbing appointments in Indiana once I am licensed?
Yes. Pipe Well Plumbing books customer appointments in Indiana and texts them to licensed plumbers whose service radius covers the address. Joining is free — no subscription and no per-lead fee. Pipe Well is paid 50% of the job after your documented material costs are deducted, and only after the customer has paid you.
Booked appointments in Indiana
Set your ZIP and a service radius of at least 30 miles and we will match appointments inside it. Free to join.
Join Free → Plumbing jobs in IndianaPlumbing license requirements in other states
Compiled from Indiana Plumbing Commission, Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA) published materials, last reviewed July 2026. Where a figure could not be verified against a primary source we have said so rather than estimate it. Spotted something out of date? Email info@pipewellplumbing.com and we will correct it.