46.05 Plumbing and Related Water Supply Services · SOC 47-2152
⚠⚠ A paid-apprenticeship trade: BLS describes 4 to 5 years of apprenticeship with about 2,000 paid hours a year, on a high school diploma. ⚠⚠⚠ Florida pays well below the national figure ($52,910 median against $63,800), and the gap widens to $34,810 at the 90th percentile. Florida's journeyman licence is issued locally but recognised in every county and city, and the contractor licence is the step that changes income.
| Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters (47-2152) | |
|---|---|
| Entry-level education (BLS) | high school diploma |
| Training (BLS) | ⚠⚠ apprenticeship — “a 4- or 5-year apprenticeship” with “2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training, as well as some technical instruction, each year” |
| Median, 2025 | $63,800 |
| Jobs | 510,600 |
| Outlook 2025–35 | +7% (+34,500) |
| Openings a year | about 42,000 |
| Self-employed | 8% |
⚠⚠ The normal route into plumbing is a job, not a classroom. An apprentice is hired, paid, and learns on site under a licensed plumber, with evening or block classes alongside. A school certificate can come first and shorten the start, but the licences that matter are earned with hours in the trade.
⚠ BLS gives two sources of demand: “new construction and … the need to maintain and repair plumbing systems in existing residences and other buildings,” and for sprinklerfitters, “building codes in all states that require the use of fire suppression systems.” BLS does not mention automation or AI for this occupation. The hazards it names are cuts, burns from hot pipes and soldering, and falls from ladders.
| Percentile | Florida | United States | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th | $38,940 | $44,150 | −$5,210 |
| 25th | $47,220 | $50,190 | −$2,970 |
| Median | $52,910 | $63,800 | −$10,890 |
| ⚠ 75th | $62,820 | $85,110 | ⚠ −$22,290 |
| ⚠⚠ 90th | $73,610 | $108,420 | ⚠⚠ −$34,810 |
⚠⚠ The national figures describe a trade where experienced plumbers reach six figures. In Florida’s wage data the 90th percentile is $73,610. These figures cover employees only, so a Florida plumber who becomes a licensed contractor and runs a business is not measured here. That is the step that changes income, and it is licensed by the state (below). ⚠ When comparing job offers, ask about the pay scale for journeymen, not just for apprentices.
| Level | Who issues it | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Journeyman plumber | ⚠ counties and municipalities (s. 489.1455, F.S.) | a proctored journeyman examination, a registered and state-approved apprenticeship or at least 12,000 hours of on-the-job training, and coursework approved by the Florida Building Commission |
| Certified plumbing contractor | the state (DBPR, Construction Industry Licensing Board) — valid in any Florida jurisdiction | an examination; to sit it, for example four years of experience learned through an apprenticeship, “at least 1 year of active experience shall be as a foreman” (s. 489.111) |
| Registered plumbing contractor | the state, on the strength of a local competency licence | “may contract only in such jurisdictions” (s. 489.105) |
⚠⚠⚠ The journeyman licence is local, but Florida makes it portable. Under s. 489.1455, “counties and municipalities must recognize a person as a journeyman in the plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical, or HVAC trades if the person was issued a journeyman license in such trade by a county or municipality in the state.” ⚠ That section names plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical and HVAC. It does not name electrical, so check whether a journeyman licence moves with you if you work in more than one trade.
⚠ 12,000 hours is six years at the 2,000 hours a year BLS describes for an apprentice. The registered-apprenticeship route counts instead, which is one practical reason to choose a registered programme over an informal helper job.
⚠⚠ A plumbing contractor’s licence is broad. Florida’s definition covers water supply, sanitary drainage, septic tanks, swimming-pool piping, irrigation, solar water heating, medical gas, fire sprinklers and fuel-oil piping (s. 489.105).
1. The school certificate first. Florida’s clock-hour plumbing programme is built from four occupational completion points named after jobs — each a place to stop, be hired and come back:
| Course | Completion point | Hours | Public carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| BCV0508 Helper, Plumber, Pipefitter | A | 360 | 10 |
| BCV0540 Residential Plumber | B | 240 | 11 |
| BCV0562 Commercial Plumber | C | 240 | 11 |
| BCV0592 Plumber | D | 120 | 8 |
That is 960 hours through completion point D. ⚠ The plumbing programme is at about ten public institutions; the equivalent electrician helper course (BCV0603) is at 26. A student outside the larger metro areas may find the plumbing certificate is not offered nearby, and should look at the apprenticeship route instead.
2. The registered apprenticeship. Several state colleges run the classroom half of plumbing apprenticeships as a numbered sequence, BCA0450–BCA0457 Plumbing Apprenticeship I–VIII, at Daytona State, the College of the Florida Keys, Indian River, Miami Dade, Santa Fe and South Florida State, while the apprentice works for a sponsoring employer. Fire sprinkler fitters have their own sequence (BCA0470 onward) at Hillsborough, Miami Dade and Seminole State. ⚠ The hours per course vary a great deal between colleges (from about 33 to 99 hours for the same number), so ask how many classroom hours your programme actually includes.
⚠ Ask any apprenticeship programme whether it is registered with the state. The journeyman provision above counts a “registered and state-approved apprenticeship program”; an informal helper job counts only through the 12,000 hours.
| Programme (CIP) | Credentials a year | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing Technology (46.0503) | 144 at 21 institutions | Orange Technical West 25, Fort Myers Technical 19, Sheridan Technical 13, Hillsborough 12, Daytona State 12, Pinellas Technical 12, Miami Lakes 11, Suncoast Technical 11, Erwin Technical 11 … |
| Pipefitting and Sprinkler Fitting (46.0502) | 45 at 5 | Lively Technical 17, Seminole State 17, Hillsborough 7, Miami Dade 2, Orange Technical South 2 |
⚠⚠ About 189 credentials a year at 22 institutions, against roughly 42,000 openings a year nationally. School certificates are a small part of how Florida produces plumbers. Most learn through apprenticeships and on-the-job training, which IPEDS does not count.
There is no single required programme for this path. These are the fields students actually arrive from — each is a place in the catalog you can browse.
A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that awarded a credential in the field in 2023; it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different from the course-based list further down.
Programs worth knowing about if you are considering this career — ⚠ they do not lead to it. Each row says what it is and is not.
Careers filed under the same broad field in the federal classification (CONSTRUCTION TRADES) — often they share early coursework, and each row says which group it is filed in. ⚠ Worth reading BEFORE you commit: switching between neighbours is cheap early and expensive late.
See every career in CONSTRUCTION TRADES →
Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on. A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.
17 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is how many of the 16 listed courses each one carries — it shows where the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.
Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before committing to a route.
Last updated 23 September 2026.