Texas contractor exam FAQ

Texas splits licensing by trade. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) licenses electricians, electrical contractors and air conditioning and refrigeration contractors. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (TSBPE) licenses plumbers. Texas has no state general contractor license.

No. Texas licenses trades rather than general contractors, and the residential construction commission that registered home builders was abolished in 2009. Cities such as San Antonio and Dallas run their own contractor registration and sometimes ask for an ICC exam.

8,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas Master Electrician. TDLR lets you apply and test at 7,000 hours and issues the license once you reach 8,000.

12,000 hours of on-the-job training under a Texas Master Electrician and at least 2 years holding a journeyman license. Time as a journeyman industrial electrician does not count toward the 2 years.

Class B covers cooling systems of 25 tons and under and heating systems of 1.5 million BTU per hour and under. Class A has no size limit. Both need 48 months of practical experience in the last 72 months and a $115 TDLR application fee.

Hold a Texas journeyman plumber license for 2 years, or for 1 year plus a Department of Labor approved training program. TSBPE cut the requirement from 4 years on September 1, 2025. The master exam is written only and costs $128.50 at Pearson VUE.

PSI runs the TDLR electrician, air conditioning and code enforcement exams. Pearson VUE runs the TSBPE plumbing written exams, and the plumbing practicals are held at TSBPE centers in Austin and Waco. ICC runs the San Antonio city exams.

The 2026 NEC. Texas adopted it on July 28, 2026, and PSI exams have been written to it since September 1, 2026.

The electrical and air conditioning exams are open book. The plumbing written exams and the code enforcement officer exam are closed book, with no references allowed in the room.

A soft-bound NEC, highlighted, underlined and noted before the exam, with only the publisher's permanent index tabs. PSI does not allow homemade or other tabs, spiral or loose-leaf copies, the NEC Handbook, or marking the book during the exam.

$78 for journeyman and master, which both have a knowledge portion and a calculations portion, $61 for journeyman lineman and $64 for the other electrician exams. The passing score is 70 percent on each portion.

Most candidates do well with six to eight weeks at about 90 minutes a day: getting fast in the code book, working the calculations, and sitting timed practice exams in the last two weeks.

Mostly time. Candidates who look up every answer from scratch run out of minutes. Knowing roughly where each topic lives in the NEC is what gets people through a 240-minute journeyman exam.

Highlighting saves the hours it takes to mark up a code book yourself. For a Texas electrical exam, check that any tabs are the publisher's permanent index tabs, since PSI does not allow other tabs in the room.

Rent if you only need the references for the exam and want to spend less. Buy if you want to keep them for the job or might test for another license later.

Orders are processed, shipped and supported by our fulfillment center, 1 Exam Prep. Buy now opens secure checkout there with the item already in the cart.

Online courses and practice exams arrive by email after purchase, so you can start the same day. Books ship from the fulfillment center; shipping options are shown at checkout.

The all-inclusive option for a Texas electrical license: exam prep, the reference books, help with the TDLR application and the business setup, in one order.

No. TDLR or TSBPE approves your application, then PSI or Pearson VUE schedules the exam. A package gets you ready for the test itself.

Yes. Call (877) 775-9400 or email sales@1examprep.com and say which license you are going for.