Training Period

The term of the plumbing apprenticeship consists of five years of not less than 8,000 hours in which a minimum of 500 hours is spent in paid-related classroom instruction and 260 hours of unpaid-related instruction with a minimum 80 percent attendance required. Classes are offered every other week for eight semesters.

The craft requires mechanical understanding and an eye for detail. Plumbers should have an ability to work well and quickly with their hands when installing systems. While the craft is less physically demanding than in years past, plumbers must still have the physical strength and endurance to handle heavy pipes, appliances, equipment and plumbing fixtures in an efficient manner.

The skills used by plumbers are mental as well as physical. Plumbers must be able to read and understand the plumbing code book, manuals and blueprints. They must have the basic math skills necessary to design properly sized plumbing systems, to compute grades and elevations, and to perform other plumbing layout and design functions.

Plumbers are licensed because their work affects public health and safety. They must be able to understand the physics and chemistry necessary to enable them to protect the quality of the drinking water and public health.

Successful plumbers must continue to train, even after completion of their apprenticeship, to polish rusty skills and keep pace with new technologies.

State law requires licensed journeymen and master plumbers to take a minimum of six hours of approved continuing education each year, in order to renew their license the following year.