I never really looked into the licensing process here before. I just did and found out how crazy it is.
To get your license in the town I live in you have to be employed five years as a Journeyman plumber. Then you have to take a written and a practical test. Their is no definition for Journeyman plumber, nor is their any separate test, license, application or anything to become a Journeyman plumber. It seems they use the term for simply being employed by a plumber. That part isn't so bad.
My town has reciprocity licensing with a few other towns. Now the bad part, they have reciprocity with five of 64 towns in the county. If you want to work in the other towns you need a separate license from each town (some have reciprocity in other towns, others don't). Some require six or seven years of experiance to apply. Then you need to take your written and practical test in each of those towns. Each town has different code amendments which you need to know. If you want to be licensed to work anywhere in the county you need a total of about 20 plumbing licenses. That's 20 written exams, 20 practicals, and about $100 a license per year. Some towns require separate insurance policies to work in that town as well.
Want to work in the next county over? Pay your exam fee, take the tests, pay $100 a year and you're licensed to work in the entire county. Basically it's a cash grab by the local governments that has been allowed to go on by a corrupt county legislature and a corrupt building department. The building department just had a huge percentage of it's employees fired when they uncovered the corruption. They were selling permits, COs, and licenses, if you didn't pay it was difficult to obtain one. If you paid you could have a legal two family in your two bedroom house. I know the state is considering making a uniform code but I don't know how much better they would handle it.
To get your license in the town I live in you have to be employed five years as a Journeyman plumber. Then you have to take a written and a practical test. Their is no definition for Journeyman plumber, nor is their any separate test, license, application or anything to become a Journeyman plumber. It seems they use the term for simply being employed by a plumber. That part isn't so bad.
My town has reciprocity licensing with a few other towns. Now the bad part, they have reciprocity with five of 64 towns in the county. If you want to work in the other towns you need a separate license from each town (some have reciprocity in other towns, others don't). Some require six or seven years of experiance to apply. Then you need to take your written and practical test in each of those towns. Each town has different code amendments which you need to know. If you want to be licensed to work anywhere in the county you need a total of about 20 plumbing licenses. That's 20 written exams, 20 practicals, and about $100 a license per year. Some towns require separate insurance policies to work in that town as well.
Want to work in the next county over? Pay your exam fee, take the tests, pay $100 a year and you're licensed to work in the entire county. Basically it's a cash grab by the local governments that has been allowed to go on by a corrupt county legislature and a corrupt building department. The building department just had a huge percentage of it's employees fired when they uncovered the corruption. They were selling permits, COs, and licenses, if you didn't pay it was difficult to obtain one. If you paid you could have a legal two family in your two bedroom house. I know the state is considering making a uniform code but I don't know how much better they would handle it.