South Carolina licenses its Residential Specialty Contractor — HVAC under Title 40, Chapter 59 through the Residential Builders Commission. The licensee is an individual installer or repairer, licensed by examination: an 80-question open-book technical examination in 240 minutes, and a Residential Business and Law examination, for specialty undertakings exceeding $500, on equipment limited to five tons cooling and 175,000 BTU/HR heating per unit. The PassProfessor South Carolina Residential Specialty Contractor — HVAC program prepares candidates for that technical examination and the residential layers around it.
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A license held by a person, for houses
Chapter 59 is South Carolina’s residential regime, and its unit of licensure is the individual. The Residential Builders Commission, within the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, is the exclusive licensing and registration entity for persons engaged solely in residential building or residential specialty contracting. The Residential Specialty Contractor — HVAC is the licensure-by-examination specialty for heating and air conditioning installers and repairers under Title 40, Chapter 59, Article 1, with its scope regulation at S.C. Code Regs. 106-1(c); the fee table names the license line the Residential Specialty Heating and Air License (RBH). There is no entity, no qualifying party, and no financial group anywhere in this credential — those belong to a different South Carolina chapter, and the last section of this page draws that line in full.
A residential specialty contractor is an independent contractor, not regulated by Chapter 11, who contracts with a licensed residential builder, a general contractor, or an individual property owner for work requiring special skills in the specialized trades, for undertakings exceeding $500. That $500 threshold is this license’s own figure: it is not the commercial threshold, not the residential builder threshold, and not the bond trigger that appears later in the route. Of the statutory specialty areas, plumbers, electricians, and heating and air conditioning installers and repairers must be issued specialty contractor licenses after passing a required examination; the other listed trades receive registrations. A specialty contractor may not perform work outside its scope, including by hiring or subcontracting others to do it, and is not authorized to construct additions without supervision by a residential builder or other appropriately licensed person or entity. A registration or specialty certificate may cover no more than three classifications.
The HVAC scope itself is capped, and the cap is part of the license’s identity. The Commission’s regulatory scope covers installation, replacement, alteration, or repair of air conditioning equipment and systems limited to five tons cooling and 175,000 BTU/HR heating per unit, including package equipment and heating and cooling systems, together with ventilation and duct work, controls and control piping, insulation, liquid fuel piping and tanks — except those used for liquid propane gas — water and gas piping, and air handling systems, including gas-fired furnaces, space heaters, and factory-assembled single-package and split-type direct-expansion equipment including heat pumps; the full scope text is set out in the companion guide. Work above the cap is not this license’s work, however it is contracted. Specialty contractors remain subject to county and municipal business license ordinances — but if the specialty contractor has passed a Commission-approved examination in their area, no additional local examination may be required.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | South Carolina Residential Specialty Contractor — HVAC: the Residential HVAC technical examination, with the Residential Business and Law examination as the second required examination |
| Regulator | Residential Builders Commission (RBC), within the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR), under S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 59, Article 1 and S.C. Code Regs. Chapter 106 |
| Licensee | An individual, licensed by examination; the fee-table line is the Residential Specialty Heating and Air License (RBH) |
| Specialty threshold | Undertakings exceeding $500 |
| Equipment cap | Five tons cooling and 175,000 BTU/HR heating per unit |
| Examination vendor | PSI, under the Candidate Information Bulletin updated November 1, 2026; the candidate applies to the state first |
| Technical examination | 80 questions, 240 minutes, open book; 52 correct to pass (65 percent), with the bulletin’s “may change” caveat stated on this page |
| Business and Law examination | Business Management and Law for Residential Builders: 50 questions, 120 minutes; 34 correct to pass (68 percent), with the same caveat |
| Tested codes | International Mechanical Code, International Residential Code, and International Fuel Gas Code on the dual-edition window stated on this page |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the South Carolina Residential Builders Commission |
Applying first, then sitting twice
The residential route starts with the state, not the vendor. A residential candidate must apply to the Commission first; the Commission’s eligibility letter is valid for 1 year and allows 3 examination attempts in 12 months. A residential applicant who fails the examination 3 times must wait 12 months from the last attempt before re-examination. The packet behind that letter includes a credit report for all applicants, a listing of outstanding judgments for the past 5 years, and the documentation set out in full in the companion guide.
Experience is the other gate. Licensure by examination requires passing the PSI examination and 1 year of verifiable experience under the supervision of a licensed individual in the trade applied for, shown under the builder, electrician, or general contractor who signs the experience affidavit. Experience is verified through the supervisor, not merely asserted by the candidate.
Both examinations are expressly open book, under the same reference rules as the commercial bulletin: highlighting, underlining, and indexing allowed, permanent tabs only, no loose papers, with 1 to 10 unscored pretest items, approximately 10 percent, that count against time. Scored and pretest counts are never merged into one presented total here.
The technical examination is 80 questions in 240 minutes, with a published scope of residential HVAC work including A/C and heat pump equipment, LP and natural gas including piping, fuel oil appliances and piping, ductwork, and other associated trades. Its passing standard is published as 52 correct to pass, 65 percent, of 80. The second required examination, Business Management and Law for Residential Builders, is 50 questions in 120 minutes, passing at 34 correct, 68 percent. Both figures carry the caveat the bulletin itself appends to its passing-score lines: this passing score may change as examination performance is evaluated. The figures on this page are the values in the bulletin updated November 1, 2026, and they are printed with that caveat attached, as the bulletin prints them. The Business and Law examination is stated in this package as structure: its reference is the NASCLA Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management — South Carolina Residential Builders, in its 8th Edition or 9th Edition, with the bulletin noting that effective October 9, 2026 the exam is based on the 8th or 9th edition, and effective April 9, 2027 the exam will only be based on the 9th edition.
What the technical examination covers
Ducts dominate the sitting at 14 of 80 questions. Heating and Cooling Principles, Load Calculations, and A/C and Heat Pump Equipment carry 6 each; Furnaces and Heaters, Fuel Gas, and Piping carry 5 each; Refrigerants, Controls, and LP Gas carry 4 each; Insulation, Hangers and Supports, Chimneys, Flues and Vents, Combustion Air, and Ventilation and Exhausts carry 3 each; Safety and Fuel Oil carry 2 each; and Testing, Adjusting and Balancing and Sound, Vibration and Seismic Control carry 1 each. Fuel oil has its own named place in this sitting, in a way candidates arriving from commercial air conditioning material will not expect.
References and the edition window
The tested references are Manual J (ACCA), cited by ISBN 1892765012 as printed in the bulletin, with no edition statement — this package supplies no edition for it, because the bulletin states none; the International Mechanical Code, the International Residential Code, and the International Fuel Gas Code on the window below; the ACCA Ductulator; 29 CFR 1926 OSHA, latest edition or PSI Selections; Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, 19th or 20th edition; HVAC Duct Construction Standards, Metal and Flexible, 3rd Edition, 2005 (SMACNA); and Residential Oil Burners, 3rd Edition, 2007. No National Electrical Code title, and no Manual D, Manual N, or Manual S, appears on the Residential HVAC reference list. The Modern Refrigeration editions on this list — 19th or 20th — are this examination’s own; the commercial South Carolina lists state different editions for different examinations, and neither list corrects the other.
The edition window is identical in form to the commercial one and is stated here on its own terms. Beginning November 1, 2026, either the 2024 code with South Carolina modifications (or the 2024 South Carolina code) or the 2021 equivalent may be used; after July 1, 2027, only the 2024 editions may be used. It is a window, not a settled single edition, and a provision that differs between the 2021 and 2024 editions is edition-dependent throughout it.
The enforcement layer is separate from that window, and the dates must not be merged. The 2021 South Carolina codes, with the 2020 NEC, are in force through December 31, 2026; the 2024 South Carolina codes, with the 2023 NEC with modifications, were adopted August 26, 2025 with a local-jurisdiction implementation date of January 1, 2027. Between January 1 and July 1, 2027, the field code is the 2024 family while one permitted examination edition remains 2021.
Fees, the bond, and the firm certificate
The vendor layer is a single fee line: PSI charges $78 for the Residential HVAC examination. The bulletin prints no “both portions” price for the HVAC examination, and this page constructs none. No separate Residential Business and Law fee line for this candidate is stated in the sources behind this page, and no such fee is printed here. The board layer is the Commission’s fee table for the Residential Specialty Heating and Air License (RBH): application $100; license $220; renewal $220; renewal late fee $50; reinstatement $480. A firm certificate of authorization, where required, is a separate layer at a $100 fee and $100 renewal.
The bond is not a fee and sits in its own layer. A licensed residential specialty contractor must obtain an executed surety bond when the cost of an undertaking for an individual property owner exceeds $5,000, in an amount approved by the Commission, with the signed original furnished to the Commission; the Commission’s regulation fixes the amount as not less than $10,000. Two nearby $15,000 bond figures — the residential builder bond and the firm certificate bond — belong to other instruments and must never be substituted for this one; the companion guide separates all three.
Firm practice runs through a residential business certificate of authorization, with exceptions for an individual practicing in their own name and for a firm’s sole resident licensee holding at least 51 percent ownership. The individual license itself may not be held by the firm — Chapter 59 licenses the person, and the certificate authorizes the firm’s practice around that person.
Renewal, stated for this license only
Residential HVAC licenses renew June 30 every odd year — 2025, 2027, 2029, and so on — under the Commission’s HVAC Contractor Instructions, on a completed renewal application with proof of financial responsibility or bond and payment of fees. A license inactive for more than 3 years may not be renewed; the holder must file a fresh application and pass the examination, and lapse mechanics run on the same scale. Renewal cycles across the Commission’s license types are not uniform, and this cycle is stated for the Residential HVAC license only. On continuing education, the verified position is permissive authority only: the Commission may require it as a condition of renewal, but only as imposed by regulation, and no requirement for specialty licensees appears in S.C. Code Regs. Chapter 106 as retrieved. No hours figure is stated in either direction.
Waiver routes exist for the technical portion only — including the Commission’s waiver agreements with Alabama, North Carolina, and Mississippi — and in every waiver case the South Carolina Business Management and Law examination is still required. The full waiver routes are stated in the companion guide.
The line between this license and the commercial one
This specialty license is the Chapter 59 credential for persons engaged solely in residential specialty contracting, and the two South Carolina HVAC credentials must never be merged: a mechanical contractor licensed under Chapter 11 is exempt from the Chapter 59 specialty provisions when contracting in its Chapter 11 classification. The commercial credential is an entity license keyed to a $10,000 threshold with no per-unit cap in its Air Conditioning text; this specialty license is an individual license keyed to a $500 threshold and capped at five tons and 175,000 BTU/HR per unit. Material written for one must not set a candidate’s expectations for the other. The companion guide at /south-carolina-residential-specialty-contractor-hvac-exam-guide/ works through this license’s route, outline, and layers in full.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
The residential sitting as published. Ducts first, at their 14-question weight, then the outline’s breadth — written from scratch against the South Carolina residential sources.
The capped scope. The five-ton and 175,000 BTU/HR per-unit limit, the $500 specialty threshold, and the bond trigger are taught as the distinct figures they are, inside the dual-edition window with its editions pinned. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the South Carolina Residential Builders Commission, LLR, or PSI; completing this program confers no license and no exemption.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The South Carolina Residential Specialty Contractor — HVAC program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address to be notified when it is ready.
Frequently asked questions
When is this license required?
For specialty undertakings exceeding $500, contracting with a licensed residential builder, a general contractor, or an individual property owner. Heating and air conditioning is one of the three specialty areas licensed by examination; the others are plumbing and electrical work.
What score passes?
The technical examination passes at 52 correct of 80 — 65 percent — and the Residential Business and Law examination at 34 correct of 50 — 68 percent — in the bulletin updated November 1, 2026. The bulletin appends to those lines that the passing score may change as examination performance is evaluated, and this page prints the figures with that caveat attached.
Do I apply to PSI or to the state first?
To the state first. The Commission’s eligibility letter is valid for 1 year and allows 3 attempts in 12 months; an applicant who fails 3 times must wait 12 months from the last attempt before re-examination.
What do the fees look like?
PSI charges $78 for the Residential HVAC examination, as a single fee line. Commission fees for this license are $100 application, $220 license, $220 renewal, a $50 renewal late fee, and $480 reinstatement. No separate Business and Law examination fee for this candidate is printed here, because none is in the sources behind this page.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Residential Builders Commission?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider; the Commission alone licenses residential specialty contractors.
When does enrollment open?
The program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address on this page to be notified.