Texas Contractor License Fees
The 21 verified whole-dollar state licensing fees charged by TDLR (electrical, air conditioning) and the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (plumbing) — each read on the official program page on 2026-10-02. Building permit fees are local in Texas and are not on this page. Three official amounts carrying cents are published as statement text because the fee table stores whole dollars.
01 State fees vs local permit fees
- State licensing fees — listed below, one row per official TDLR/TSBPE program page. There is no general contractor license fee because there is no general contractor license. S-TX-GOV-GUIDE
- Local permit fees — the city issues the building or trade permit, sets the fee schedule and inspects; no local amount is published here (Houston publishes a city fee schedule; Austin runs its own) — LOCAL_AUTHORITY_REQUIRED. S-TX-TSBPE-LAW
- Two statewide fee BARS — a city may register a state electrical licensee but "may not charge a fee to do so" (§1305.201); a plumbing permit-holder owes no municipal registration or administrative fee (§1301.551(g)). Building permit fees remain chargeable. S-TX-TDLR-ELEC-COMPLIANCE
02 Electrical (TDLR)
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical Contractor license — annual renewal (non-refundable) Standard on-time renewal. The often-seen '$165 renewal' figure is the expired-tier fee below, not this one (CONFLICT check §Q). | $110 | renewal | S-TX-TDLR-ELEC-RENEW |
| Electrical Contractor license — renewal when expired 90 days or less Verbatim expired-license ladder on the TDLR renew page. | $165 | renewal | S-TX-TDLR-ELEC-RENEW |
| Electrical Contractor license — renewal when expired 91 days to 18 months The same $220 applies to 18–36 months expired, by mail with a Request to Executive Director. Expired 36+ months: NOT renewable — re-apply as a new applicant. | $220 | renewal | S-TX-TDLR-ELEC-RENEW |
| Master Electrician license — application (non-refundable, by mail) Individual license application; exam fee is NOT VERIFIED (PSI Bulletin) — no exam number published. | $45 | application | S-TX-TDLR-MASTER-ELEC |
| Electrical Contractor license — application (non-refundable) Submitted with the Electrical Contractor or Electrical Sign Contractor License Application. | $110 | application | S-TX-TDLR-ELEC-APPLY |
03 Air conditioning and refrigeration (TDLR)
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor license — application License valid 1 year from date of issue; applicant must be at least 18; exam requirements within 1 year of filing. | $115 | application | S-TX-TDLR-ACR-APPLY |
| Air Conditioning and Refrigeration license — class upgrade or added endorsement change fee Class B→A or add-endorsement: $25 change fee PLUS a new exam ($74 for the upgrade) and, for an upgrade, the higher insurance tier. | $25 | miscellaneous | S-TX-TDLR-ACR-RENEW |
| Air Conditioning and Refrigeration licensing exam — class upgrade / new endorsement (PSI) The ONLY exam fee published on a TDLR page: the upgrade/add-endorsement exam (renew page). The INITIAL ACR exam fee lives in the Candidate Information Bulletin — NOT VERIFIED, withheld (research §S.2). | $74 | application | S-TX-TDLR-ACR-RENEW |
| Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor license — annual renewal Late renewal is charged as 1-1/2× (expired ≤90 days) or 2× (>90 days–<18 months; 18 months–3 years with executive-director approval) — official multipliers, dollar products not published. | $65 | renewal | S-TX-TDLR-ACR-RENEW |
04 Plumbing (TSBPE)
| Fee | Amount | Kind | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Plumber — exam processing fee (payable to TSBPE) The $128.50 exam fee itself is payable to Pearson VUE on the day of the exam — published as text in REQ-TX-EXAM-PLUMB-001 (the fee table stores whole dollars). | $25 | application | S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER |
| Master Plumber — initial license (certificate of licensure and pocket card) Paid after passing the exam. This is the same charge as the page's '$75 fee to obtain your certificate of licensure' sentence — checked, counted once (research §Q). | $75 | license | S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER |
| Master Plumber — annual renewal Holders of both journeyman and master pay only the master renewal fee. | $75 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER |
| Master Plumber — late renewal when expired more than 90 days The <90-days late fee is $37.50 — published as text (whole-dollar fee table). Nothing may be renewed after 2 years expired (reinstatement instead). | $75 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER |
| Journeyman Plumber — exam fee Exam application submitted with documentation and Employer Certification Form(s). | $40 | application | S-TX-TSBPE-JOURNEYMAN |
| Journeyman Plumber — initial license Paid after passing the exam to obtain the certificate of licensure and pocket card. | $40 | license | S-TX-TSBPE-JOURNEYMAN |
| Journeyman Plumber — annual renewal Only the master renewal is paid when both journeyman and master licenses are held. | $40 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-JOURNEYMAN |
| Journeyman Plumber — late renewal when expired less than 90 days | $20 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-JOURNEYMAN |
| Journeyman Plumber — late renewal when expired more than 90 days | $40 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-JOURNEYMAN |
| Plumber's Apprentice — registration application Registration, not a license; must be registered before experience hours start counting. | $15 | application | S-TX-TSBPE-APPRENTICE |
| Plumber's Apprentice — annual renewal | $15 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-APPRENTICE |
| Plumber's Apprentice — late renewal when expired more than 90 days The <90-days late fee is $7.50 — published as text (whole-dollar fee table). | $15 | renewal | S-TX-TSBPE-APPRENTICE |
05 Official amounts carrying cents (statement text)
The fee table stores whole US dollars, so three verified amounts with cents are published as official statement text instead of rows — each traceable to its requirement:
Traced to their requirement rows: S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER S-TX-TSBPE-LAW S-TX-TSBPE-APPRENTICE
06 Withheld on purpose — never guessed
- Initial electrician exam fee — published only in the PSI Candidate Information Bulletin, which was not retrievable during research.
- Initial ACR exam fee — same Bulletin dependency; only the $74 class-upgrade/new-endorsement exam appears on a TDLR page, so only that one is shown above.
- Tradesman Plumber-Limited fees — the fee page for that license type was not read this phase.
- Solar retailer/salesperson registration fees — program in effect since 2026-09-01; fee schedule not captured this phase.
- ACR late-renewal dollar amounts — the official multipliers (1-1/2× / 2× / 2× + executive approval) are published; the products are not, because TDLR publishes multipliers, not totals.
07 Documented conflict
Occ. Code §1301.401(a): 'A license, registration, or endorsement under this chapter is valid for one year. Except as provided by Subsection (d), on payment of the required fee, a license, registration, or endorsement may be renewed annually.'
Plumbing License Law (PlainView), September 1, 2025 — Occ. Code Ch. 1301'When you are issued your license for the first time, you will be assigned a random expiration date anywhere from 6-18 months from the date you passed your licensure exam…' — while 'Licenses renew annually.'
License Types | Texas State Board of Plumbing ExaminersRESOLVED by the same chapter: §1301.401(b) provides 'The board by rule may adopt a system under which licenses, endorsements, and registrations expire on various dates during the year.' The statute expressly authorizes the varied-expiration system the agency implements, so both statements hold: the renewal CYCLE is annual (published fact), while the FIRST renewal may land 6–18 months after the exam pass date (published as a note, never as a shorter cycle). Both sources are displayed; no fact row carries a '6–18 month cycle'.
Analysis notes
Detected 2026-10-02 while seeding RENEW-TX-PLUMBER: read alone, side A and side B disagree on the length of the first license term; §1301.401(b) resolves it without discarding either source. Hierarchy: statute > agency paraphrase, with the agency page's wording preserved verbatim here.
Every other official pairing was checked the same day and found consistent — electrical $110 application vs $110 renewal (different fee types; the widely-circulated "$165 renewal" is the expired tier on TDLR's own table), ACR amounts across apply/renew pages, and the TSBPE master $75 sentences (one charge, counted once).
08 Sources
Source S-TX-TSBPE-MASTER — Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE)
Master Plumber | Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — tsbpe.texas.gov master-plumber + journeyman pages (fees/eligibility, read 2026-10-02); §1301.3581 from the law PDF
https://tsbpe.texas.gov/license-types/master-plumber/
Retrieved 2026-10-02 · last verified 2026-10-02
Read verbatim 2026-10-02 (HTTP 200). Exam eligibility: journeyman in Texas or another state held ≥2 years, or ≥1 year + DOL Office of Apprenticeship approved training, or master elsewhere with prior journeyman history (both variants). Scope: 'A Master Plumber may install, change, repair, service, or renovate plumbing under the supervision of a Responsible Master Plumber.' Fees block: Exam Processing Fee (TSBPE) $25; Exam Fee (Pearson VUE, day of exam) $128.50; Initial License Fee $75; Renewal Fee $75; Late Renewal Fee expired <90 days $37.50; >90 days $75. $75 also described as the post-exam certificate of licensure/pocket card fee — SAME charge as the initial license fee (checked, not double-counted — research §Q).