Kentucky’s master heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor license is issued by the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, through its Division of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, under KRS 198B.650 to 198B.689. The examination is the Department’s own in-person, open-book examination, passed at at least seventy (70) percent. The PassProfessor Kentucky Master HVAC Contractor program prepares candidates for that examination and the Kentucky duties that surround it.
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What this credential certifies
A master heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor is an HVAC contractor licensed by the Department to advertise and practice heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contracting in the Commonwealth. The statute gives the master two entitlements that define the tier: the valid master licensee is entitled to practice HVAC contracting, including obtaining any necessary permits, and is primarily responsible for the HVAC work performed. The regulation states the same responsibility in operational terms: the master shall supervise and be primarily responsible for all HVAC work performed by the employees and subcontractors of the licensee or of the company the licensee represents. Kentucky’s system has exactly three tiers — master HVAC contractor, journeyman HVAC mechanic, and apprentice HVAC mechanic, the last holding a certificate rather than a license — and no restricted, limited, or specialty HVAC license class appears in the current statute or regulation.
The practice the license covers is the installation, maintenance, altering, remodeling, or repair of heating systems, ventilation systems, hydronic systems, burner service, or cooling systems. It does not include cleaning of duct work, except that a cut access point or hole must be repaired and resealed before the cleaning service concludes. Beneath the master, a journeyman performs HVAC work under a master’s supervision, direction, and responsibility, and personally observes each assigned apprentice. A firm may engage in HVAC contracting only where the person in responsible charge is a master and an employee or subcontractor of the firm, and a master shall not represent more than one firm unless domiciled in the Commonwealth with at least twenty-five percent ownership in each. The former licensing board for this trade was repealed in 2017; the Department itself administers the system.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Kentucky Master HVAC Contractor: the master examination for the master heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor license |
| Regulator | Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (DHBC), Division of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning; KRS 198B.650 to 198B.689; 815 KAR 8:010 |
| Examination administrator | The Department itself — examinations are developed, administered, and scored by the Department or its designee; there is no outside testing vendor for this examination |
| Examination format | Regional in-person examinations, scheduled by the Department; open book for both the master and journeyman examinations |
| Passing standard | At least seventy (70) percent on the examination |
| Master references, complete as printed | National Fuel Gas Code (NFPA 54), 2009 edition, and International Mechanical Code, 2015 edition |
| Content outline | None published — no content-outline weights are published for this examination, and none are stated here |
| Credential term | Annual renewal, on or before the last day of the licensee’s birth month; six hours of continuing education in the twelve months before renewal |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction |
The Kentucky delta: the Department’s own examination, and lists that split
Two facts separate Kentucky from the pattern candidates expect elsewhere. The first is who examines. The HVAC examinations are developed, administered, and scored by the Department or its designee. Candidates register with the Department’s main office on Form HVAC-4, with the fee payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer and a passport-sized colour photograph taken within the past six months. The examinations are regional and in person, held in locations set by the Department as close to the applicant as possible, given at least two times during each calendar year, with notice of time and place at least one week before the date. Results are mailed through the United States Postal Service. There is no testing-vendor account, scheduling portal, or score report for this examination, and material that routes a Kentucky candidate through one — including material from an older era of Kentucky testing — describes a different system.
The second fact is that the reference lists split by examination, and the split is exact. For the master examination, the Department’s sheet lists two references, complete: the National Fuel Gas Code (NFPA 54), 2009 edition, and the International Mechanical Code, 2015 edition. No residential code volume is listed for the master examination. For the journeyman examination, the sheet lists the National Fuel Gas Code, 2009 edition, and the International Residential Code, 2015 edition — and no mechanical code volume is listed for the journeyman examination. The two lists share the fuel gas book and divide the code books between them. This program is built to the master list exactly as printed, and treats the journeyman list only as the boundary that proves the split is deliberate.
The examination’s tested content is set by regulation in two parts, with no separate business and law sitting: codes, standards, and current technological and industry recommended practices for the proper installation, maintenance, repair, remodeling, or alteration of all types of HVAC systems, and law and regulation relating to HVAC business, embedded in the one examination. No published outline divides that content into weighted areas, and this page states no question count and no time limit: none is published in the statute, the regulation, the registration form, or the Department’s sheet. The Department’s own guidance on preparation is short: there are no study guides, and both examinations are open book examinations. Open book, in Kentucky, means the listed references are the preparation — organised by the candidate’s own work before the sitting and known well enough to use under in-person conditions.
Tested and field codes: where they agree and where they do not
The mechanical layer agrees across the desk and the field: the master examination keys to the International Mechanical Code, 2015 edition, and Kentucky’s adopted list likewise rests on the 2015 cycle, printing the 2015 International Mechanical Code itself. Field work is made in conformity with the Uniform State Building Code in its Kentucky-amended form. The fuel gas layer does not agree, and the disagreement is the sharpest edition trap here: the examination requires NFPA 54, 2009 edition, while the adopted list prints NFPA 54, 2012 edition, for the field. This program keys every fuel gas item to the 2009 edition for examination purposes and flags the field position wherever the two could pull an answer apart.
The route, in order
Eligibility has three elements beyond the examination. The applicant must be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of the United States or a resident alien authorised to do work in the United States, and must satisfy one of three experience routes, each of two years: as a journeyman HVAC mechanic under a master’s direction and supervision; practising HVAC contracting as a master, or its equivalent, in Kentucky or another jurisdiction, on verifiable documentation; or as a licensed mechanical engineer, on verifiable documentation. The journeyman route is one of three doors, not the only door. A year of experience consists minimally of 1,500 hours of HVAC work in a continuous twelve-month period, proved by the forms the regulation lists — a W-2 form, a supervising master’s affidavit, a copy of a current out-of-state license where that state requires licensure, verifiable documentation where it does not, or a DD Form 214. Teaching and curriculum substitutions exist and are capped, and qualifying military training and experience of not less than two years, if equivalent, shall be accepted.
The examination step is a registration, not a pre-approval: no separate eligibility determination before registering is published, and experience proof is filed with the license application. The candidate registers on Form HVAC-4 with the examination fee — $150 for the master examination, payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer and non-refundable. A passing score is valid for three years, and a journeyman applicant may apply passage of the master examination to the journeyman requirement. An applicant who fails may request to retake; no waiting period or attempt cap is stated in the rule. If an applicant fails to complete the examination within one year from the first notice, the examination application is void. Licensure follows on Form HVAC 1, with experience proof, proof of passing, a recent passport-sized photograph, and proof of insurance. The initial license fee is $250 for a twelve-month license, prorated for a term of not less than seven or more than eighteen months because the initial license expires on the final day of the applicant’s birth month. An initial application remains pending for up to one year and is then voided. Insurance is a condition of practice: general liability of not less than $500,000 and property damage of not less than $300,000, with an approved carrier — and no license is valid without it.
Staying licensed: annual renewal, education, and the grace structure
Every Kentucky HVAC license is renewed annually, on or before the last day of the licensee’s birth month, on Form DHBC L-1 with the renewal fee — $250 for a master — proof of the annual education, and, for a master, proof of insurance. Continuing education is at least six hours of approved education in the twelve months before renewal, in courses relating to business, job safety, codes relating to HVAC, or subject matter directly relating to the trade. No more than two hours of safety count, one hour of class is fifty minutes, and excess hours may be carried forward into the two successive educational years, limited to twelve hours in total. A licensee whose initial license was issued within twelve months of renewal owes no education for that first renewal, and a person holding two licenses complies for one.
The calendar after a missed renewal is precise. Failure to renew causes the license to expire. A sixty-day grace period follows, during which the licensee may continue to practice and may restore on payment of the renewal fee plus the restoration fee — $125 for a master. A license not restored before the grace period ends immediately terminates. Reinstatement after termination requires the renewal fee plus a reinstatement fee of $250 for each twelve-month period, or fraction, following termination, not to exceed $750 for a master — and no examination is required if reinstatement is sought within three years from termination; beyond that window, all initial-applicant requirements apply. Inactive status costs $20, is exempt from annual renewal and the insurance duty, and is not valid for practice; reactivation costs $20 plus the annual renewal fee, with the annual education hours completed in the twelve months before reactivation. Two standing duties complete the picture: the license number shall appear in all advertising and on all vehicles used for the work, and when a company’s master dies the company shall notify the Department within ten days, after which an interim period of up to 180 continuous calendar days runs before a replacement master must be in place.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the master list, exactly as printed. The Kentucky Master HVAC Contractor program in the PassProfessor catalog is composed against the master examination’s two listed references — NFPA 54, 2009 edition, and the International Mechanical Code, 2015 edition — with the embedded law element keyed to KRS 198B.650 to 198B.689 and the licensing and education regulations. No residential code material is imported, because the master list does not carry it; no outline weights are claimed, because none are published; and no vendor route is described, because the Department examines its own candidates.
The Department’s format, taken seriously. Because the sitting is in person and open book, with no published count or clock to pace against, preparation emphasises command of the two references themselves and the Kentucky responsibility structure the master carries after passing. Every item is written from scratch against primary sources.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. Completing this program confers no license and no examination registration; candidates register with the Department, and the Department alone licenses. The companion guide to this page, the Kentucky Master HVAC Contractor Exam Guide at /kentucky-master-hvac-contractor-exam-guide/, works through the tiers, the gates, and the renewal structure in full depth.
Tell me when enrollment opens. This program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write when it is ready — only about this program.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues the Kentucky Master HVAC Contractor license?
The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, through its Division of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, under KRS 198B.650 to 198B.689 and 815 KAR 8:010. The former licensing board for this trade was repealed in 2017; the Department administers the system.
Who administers the examination?
The Department itself. The examinations are developed, administered, and scored by the Department or its designee, and candidates register with the Department’s main office on Form HVAC-4. There is no outside testing vendor for this examination.
What score passes the master examination?
The regulation states the standard as a score of at least seventy (70) percent on the examination.
Which books govern the master examination?
Two, complete as printed on the Department’s sheet: the National Fuel Gas Code (NFPA 54), 2009 edition, and the International Mechanical Code, 2015 edition. The journeyman examination carries a different list — NFPA 54, 2009 edition, with the International Residential Code, 2015 edition — and the two lists must not be merged.
Is there a published outline, question count, or time limit?
No. No content-outline weights, question count, or duration for this examination is published in the current statute, regulation, registration form, or Department sheet, and this page states none.
How does a candidate register, and what does the examination cost?
On Form HVAC-4, filed with the Department’s main office with a passport-sized colour photograph taken within the past six months. The examination fee is $150 for the master examination, payable to the Kentucky State Treasurer and non-refundable. Sittings are regional and in person, given at least twice in each calendar year, and results are mailed.
What experience does the master license require?
Two years by any one of three routes: as a journeyman under a master’s direction and supervision; practising HVAC contracting as a master or its equivalent, on verifiable documentation; or as a licensed mechanical engineer, on verifiable documentation. A year of experience is at minimum 1,500 hours in a continuous twelve-month period.
How much continuing education does renewal require?
At least six hours of approved education in the twelve months before renewal, with no more than two of those hours in safety, and limited carry-forward into the two following educational years.
When does enrollment open?
The program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address on this page and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.