About the Maryland Journeyman Plumber license
Maryland licenses plumbers through the Maryland State Board of Plumbing. The Journeyman Plumber license authorizes you to perform plumbing work, generally under the responsibility of a master plumber. You earn it by meeting the experience-and-education requirement — documented on-the-job hours plus approved instruction, or completion of an approved apprenticeship — and passing the trade exam.
Your exam is built on the International Plumbing Code (IPC) — as of the current PSI candidate bulletin, the listed exam reference is the 2018 IPC and 2018 International Fuel Gas Code, which is not necessarily the newest edition Maryland has since adopted for construction, so confirm the exact reference edition on the bulletin before you buy a code book. The two model codes — the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) published by IAPMO and the International Plumbing Code (IPC) published by the ICC — agree on the physics but differ in tables, fixture-unit values, and some sizing methods, so always work from the one your state adopted.
Know these scope facts cold: the license is held by the individual; most work requires a permit and inspection (rough-in/top-out and final); you must work within the classification you hold; and unlicensed or out-of-scope plumbing work is a violation that can cost you the license and carry penalties. Plumbing protects public health — the exam constantly returns to the two core purposes of the code: deliver safe potable water and remove waste without contaminating that water.
How Maryland licensing works
- Experience: to sit for the Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter exam you need 4 years (7,500 hours) as a licensed Apprentice Plumber under the direction and control of a licensed Maryland master plumber (up to 1,500 of those hours may come from approved school study). The Master license requires an additional 2 years (3,750 hours) working as a licensed journeyman under a master.
- Backflow course: every applicant — Journey or Master — must also complete a non-expired, approved 32-hour Backflow Prevention Device Testing course before applying to test; it is a hard prerequisite, not optional continuing education.
- Application: apply through PSI (the Board's contracted testing vendor) with certification of your hours, signed by the supervising master plumber, and proof of your backflow course before you're approved to schedule the exam.
- Exam vendor and format: PSI. As of the current candidate bulletin, the Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter exam is 100 questions, 240 minutes, open book, with a 70 percent passing score — always confirm the current cut score, question count, and time limit on the candidate information bulletin, since these are periodically revised. Maryland's plumber exams do not include a separate business-and-law section.
- Renewal: Maryland Journey and Master plumber licenses run on a 2-year cycle. Unlike many states, Maryland currently has no continuing-education requirement to renew a standard Journey or Master plumber license — CE only applies to the separate plumbing-inspector ID card (8 hours/year). Confirm this hasn't changed before you skip CE.
What the exam actually tests: per the current PSI Journey Plumber/Gas Fitter content outline (100 items total) — Gas Appliances and Piping 40 · Drain, Waste, and Vent Systems 13 · Backflow Prevention 10 · Water Supply Systems 8 · Plumbing Fundamentals and Safety 8 · Plumbing Mathematics 7 · Materials, Uses, and Specifications 6 · Traps, Interceptors, and Backwater Valves 4 · Plumbing Fixtures, Fixture Fittings, and Plumbing Appliances 4. Gas piping alone is 40 percent of the exam — weight your study time accordingly and don't shortchange Section 9. Verify this breakdown against the current bulletin before you test, since content outlines are periodically revised.
This is the opening of the full study guide. The complete guide continues into code navigation, worked calculations and solved exam questions.
