Ohio licenses its Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Contractor through the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740. The license is issued to an individual, covers commercial work only, and requires two examinations: a trade examination of 100 scored questions taken open book in four hours at a 70 percent standard on each part, and a separate Ohio Business & Law examination. The PassProfessor Ohio HVAC Contractor program prepares candidates for the trade examination and the Ohio layers around it.
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What this credential certifies
The Ohio HVAC Contractor license is one of only five license types defined in Chapter 4740 — HVAC, refrigeration, electrical, plumbing, and hydronics. Chapter 4740 provides no journeyman, technician, apprentice, or master license class for this trade. “Tradesperson” in Ohio is an employment status — a person employed by a contractor, without responsibility for means, method, or manner of the work — not a license. Any preparation material that describes an Ohio master or journeyman HVAC license is describing a credential Ohio does not issue, and candidates should treat that as a warning about the material itself.
The license is a commercial credential. In Chapter 4740, a “construction project” is a project involving a building or structure subject to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3781 and its rules, but not an industrialized unit or a residential building as defined in section 3781.06. The Board’s own application form describes the licenses as issued to the five contractor types who perform commercial work.
Ohio also runs a qualifier model that candidates from other states often miss. Licenses issue in the name of the individual, who must request assignment of the license to a contracting company with whom they are employed; an unassigned license is placed in inactive status, and a license may be assigned to no more than one contracting company at a time. The assigning individual must be actively engaged in business as that contractor type and readily available for consultation; work under an assigned license is deemed conducted under that individual’s personal supervision, and violations are deemed committed by that individual.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Ohio HVAC Contractor (commercial): the HVAC trade examination, with the separate Ohio Business & Law examination stated as structure only |
| Regulator | Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB), within the Department of Commerce |
| Governing law | Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740; rules at Ohio Administrative Code Chapters 4101:16-1, 4101:16-2, and 4101:16-3 |
| Trade examination | 100 scored questions, 4 hours, open book, administered by PSI; 10 pretest items, not scored, in addition |
| Passing standard | 70 percent on each part — an applicant who attains seventy per cent on each part is deemed to have passed |
| Tested references | Exactly three: Ohio Mechanical Code, 2024; International Fuel Gas Code, 2021; Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 22nd Edition |
| Licensee | An individual; the license is assigned to one contracting company at a time |
| Scope | Commercial work only |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board |
Two examinations, stated as structure
Every applicant for an Ohio contractor commercial license must take the Ohio Contractor’s Business and Law examination in addition to the required trade-specific examination: the examination consists of two parts, one trade-specific and one business and law. This program builds the trade examination. The Business and Law examination is stated here as structure only: 50 scored questions in 2 hours, with 5 pretest items that are not scored, open book, and its sole reference — the Contractor’s Guide to Business, Law, and Project Management – Ohio, 4th Edition (NASCLA) — is provided in the testing center, with no highlighting or notes permitted in that book during the exam.
What the trade examination covers
The 100 scored questions divide as follows: Warm Air Heating and Air Distribution carries 25 questions, the largest single block. Equipment and Appliances carries 20. Ventilation and Exhaust Systems carries 15. General Knowledge and Requirements, Air Conditioning, Piping Systems, and Testing and Inspection carry 10 each. Half the examination sits in warm air heating, air distribution, and equipment; a plan that spreads its hours evenly across all seven areas misreads the blueprint.
The scope behind those headings is the work of one qualified to install, maintain, repair, fabricate, alter, or extend central air conditioning, heating, and ventilating, including ductwork within a complete system and all appurtenances, apparatus, piping, vessels, ducts, and insulation used in connection with that work. A related limit matters in the field and in the sitting: a Chapter 4740 contractor may install, service, and maintain related or interfaced control wiring for equipment and devices related to their specific license where the control wiring is less than twenty-five volts.
The tested references — and the Ohio code layers beneath them
The HVAC reference list contains exactly three items: the Ohio Mechanical Code, 2024; the International Fuel Gas Code, 2021; and Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 22nd Edition. It contains no National Electrical Code title, no ACCA manual of any letter, and no business book. The reference-list rule is strict for code material: for code questions, examinations are based only on the edition of the code book listed; except for code books, answers may be based on later editions.
Two Ohio distinctions sit underneath that short list, and both are traps for candidates who prepare from generic material.
First, the Ohio Mechanical Code itself. The 2024 Ohio Mechanical Code is the 2021 International Mechanical Code with Ohio amendments, effective March 1, 2024 — except Chapter 11, Refrigeration, which Amendments Group 105 replaced with the 2024 International Mechanical Code Chapter 11, effective October 15, 2025. The PSI reference list names only the book title, “Ohio Mechanical Code, 2024,” so that Chapter 11 replacement is invisible in the exam reference list. It is nonetheless part of the code as currently amended: refrigeration material keys to the Ohio Mechanical Code as currently amended, not to a 2024 printing alone, and any older source that states Ohio Mechanical Code Chapter 11 as the 2021 chapter is stale.
Second, the fuel gas split inside the same bulletin. The HVAC list keys the International Fuel Gas Code, 2021. The Ohio Plumbing Contractor list in the same PSI bulletin keys the International Fuel Gas Code, 2024. Both are current bulletin text; there is no single bulletin-wide fuel gas edition, and a candidate who prepares HVAC fuel gas material from the 2024 edition because a plumbing page said so has studied the wrong layer. Fuel gas in Ohio commercial work is applied through Ohio Building Code section 101.4.1 — the fuel gas code applies from the point of delivery — and there is no Ohio-amended fuel gas code book and no fuel-gas chapter in the Ohio Mechanical Code.
Who may sit: the eligibility routes
The standard pathway requires an applicant to be at least 18 years of age, a United States citizen or a legal alien producing valid documentation of legal residency, and a tradesperson in the type of licensed trade for not less than five years immediately prior to the date the application is filed. The insurance prerequisite and the character bars in the next sections apply on every route.
Alternative pathways are stated in the statute and rules, and the companion guide works through them in full: a currently registered engineer in Ohio with three years of business experience in the construction industry in the trade; other experience acceptable to the specialty section, including five years as an Ohio government inspector in the trade and five years immediately prior as full-time owner, partner, or employee of a licensed commercial contracting company in the trade; and, effective September 30, 2025 under House Bill 96, out-of-state licensee and uniformed-services pathways. Inventory worker, counter salesperson, manufacturer representative, purchasing agent, secretary, clerk, bookkeeper, and unrelated general-contractor experience do not count toward any route.
The application is written, on the section’s prescribed form, notarized, and filed with the board secretary. On approval of qualifications the applicant is approved pending successful criminal background checks. No applicant may be approved for licensure if convicted of a crime of moral turpitude or a disqualifying offense. Approval to take the examination is effective for one year following receipt of a completed criminal records check, and proof of a passing score on all parts must be submitted no later than twelve months after passing.
Insurance: the prerequisite that runs with the license
The applicant and licensee shall maintain contractor’s liability insurance of at least $500,000, in the individual’s name including completed-operations coverage, or in the business entity’s name if the license is assigned to it. Failure to maintain insurance throughout the license year, unless properly inactive, is a disciplinary offense. No surety bond for the contractor license appears in Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4740 or Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4101:16 as retrieved — candidates should not budget a contractor bond for this license on the strength of generic checklists.
Fees, in their separate layers
Ohio’s fees print in two layers. The examination-vendor layer is PSI’s: $69 per registration, whether first attempt or repeat, nonrefundable and nontransferable. The bulletin states no combined price for the two examinations, and none is printed here.
The board layer is the fee schedule at Ohio Administrative Code 4101:16-2-09(A), effective May 13, 2022: application for examination, $25; issuance of any license, $25; annual renewal, $60 per license; triennial renewal, $180 per license; a late fee of not more than $120 per license not timely renewed; and a penalty fee of $30 per license for a check or other draft returned unpaid. All fees under that rule are nonrefundable.
Retakes, renewal, and continuing education
A candidate who fails an examination portion must wait 60 days before retesting, and may retake the failed part only, on payment of the appropriate fee to the testing agency. PSI states a retest limit of up to 5 times in a year. Rescheduling without forfeiting the fee requires cancellation notice 2 days before the scheduled date — voicemail is not acceptable — and a no-show, late arrival, late cancellation, or lack of proper identification forfeits the fee.
All licenses a contractor holds expire annually on the same date, the original license’s expiration date. Renewal without reexamination requires an application not more than 90 days before expiration, the renewal fee, proof of continuing education compliance, and showings on citizenship or residency, insurance, and character. Failure to meet the renewal requirements brings automatic suspension without board action; a suspended license may be reactivated on application within one calendar year from expiration, with the renewal fee plus the late fee, insurance certification, and continuing education in the section’s time frame. Inactive status is available on written request: an inactive license must still be renewed each year, its holder does not engage in specialty contracting, and reactivation requires cumulative continuing education for the inactive period capped at 30 hours total, a $60 reactivation fee, and certification of $500,000 insurance.
Continuing education is 10 hours per year — ten classroom hours each year to be eligible to renew, a classroom hour being at least 50 minutes of instruction, taken in any course approved by any specialty section, with no carryover. The 8-hour figure that circulates for Ohio belongs only to compliant-contractor-program members, who after one year of demonstrated compliance receive a two-hour reduction and may renew triennially. Eight hours is not the standard Ohio requirement.
Where a written reciprocity agreement exists, an individual licensed in another state may be authorized a license without examination if the section determines the other state’s requirements are substantially equal and that state extends similar reciprocity to Ohio licensees. No HVAC reciprocity state list is verified in the sources behind this page, and none is printed here. This program covers the Ohio state trade examination; federal technician certification for refrigerant handling is a separate credential and a separate PassProfessor program, and nothing in the sources behind this page conditions this license on it.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
The trade examination, weighted the way the blueprint weights it. The program is built around the seven outline areas at their published weights — warm air heating and air distribution first, equipment and appliances second — with the three-book reference list as its boundary. Material is written from scratch against the Ohio sources.
The Ohio layers, kept separate. Tested references, the adopted Ohio Mechanical Code layer with its October 15, 2025 refrigeration chapter, and the fuel gas point-of-delivery application are taught as distinct layers, including the two traps this page names: the Chapter 11 replacement that the PSI list does not show, and the 2021 fuel gas edition that the HVAC list keys while the plumbing list in the same bulletin keys 2024.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board or PSI. Completing this program confers no license and no exemption; OCILB alone licenses. The companion guide for this program is the Ohio HVAC Contractor exam guide at /ohio-hvac-contractor-exam-guide/, which works through the route, the outline, and the code layers in full.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Ohio HVAC Contractor program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.
Frequently asked questions
Does Ohio issue a journeyman or master HVAC license?
No. Chapter 4740 defines five contractor license types only. Tradesperson is an employment status, not a license class.
How many examinations must an Ohio HVAC Contractor applicant pass?
Two: the trade-specific examination and the Ohio Business & Law examination, at 70 percent on each part.
What does the trade examination look like?
100 scored questions in 4 hours, open book, administered by PSI, with 10 additional pretest items that are not scored. The largest blocks are Warm Air Heating and Air Distribution at 25 questions and Equipment and Appliances at 20.
Which books does the HVAC examination key?
Exactly three: the Ohio Mechanical Code, 2024; the International Fuel Gas Code, 2021; and Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 22nd Edition. The plumbing list in the same bulletin keys a different fuel gas edition; the HVAC list keys 2021.
Is the Ohio Mechanical Code the 2024 International Mechanical Code?
No. It is the 2021 International Mechanical Code with Ohio amendments, effective March 1, 2024 — except Chapter 11, Refrigeration, replaced with the 2024 International Mechanical Code Chapter 11 effective October 15, 2025. That replacement does not appear in the PSI reference list, which names only the book title.
What does the examination cost?
PSI charges $69 per registration, first attempt or repeat, nonrefundable and nontransferable. Board fees are separate instruments: $25 for the examination application and $25 for issuance of a license, under the rule schedule effective May 13, 2022.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with OCILB?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. OCILB alone licenses HVAC contractors in Ohio.
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.