Apprentice with an endorsement? You owe the six hours.
A plain apprentice registration carries no continuing education requirement. Add an endorsement and the same six hours every master and journeyman takes apply to you. It is the most missed requirement in the Texas plumbing trade, and it is usually missed by the shop, not the apprentice.
The endorsement that lets him run billable work is the same endorsement that starts his CE clock.
Which apprentices owe it
TSBPE lists apprentice registration with endorsement or endorsements among the credentials that must complete 6 hours of approved CPE before renewal. A registered apprentice with no endorsement owes nothing.
The registrations an apprentice can hold are the ones that make an apprentice useful on his own:
- Drain Cleaner Restricted Registration
- Drain Cleaner Registration
- Residential Utilities Installer Registration
That is the whole trap in one sentence. A shop puts an apprentice through one of these so he can run a drain machine or set utilities and start earning his keep. The endorsement pays for itself in a month. Nobody at the shop connects it to an annual CE requirement, and twelve months later the renewal is short.
Why this lands on the company
An apprentice is early in his career and usually is not tracking a board requirement he did not know came with the card. The shop pushed the endorsement, the shop benefits from it, and the shop is the one that loses a working hand if the registration lapses.
If you run a crew, pull your roster and count how many registered apprentices hold a drain cleaner or residential utilities installer endorsement. Whatever that number is, that is how many people owe six hours this year that you may not have budgeted for.
It is the same six hours
Nobody gets a thinner class for being early in their career. An apprentice sits through the same health protection, water conservation, energy conservation, code, law and safety hours as a master plumber, which is exactly right. The apprentice running the drain machine is the one physically closest to a cross connection.
It is also the cheapest professional development a shop will ever buy for somebody who is going to sit for a tradesman or journeyman license in a few years. The material he learns in his CE is material he sees again on the exam.
Do not take our word for it
Look at the registration itself. An apprentice can see his own endorsements in his TSBPE account, and the board publishes which credentials carry the CPE requirement. Both are linked below. If an apprentice has no endorsement, he owes nothing, and we will tell him so rather than sell him a class.
Three ways to take it
Online, on your clock
Six hour long segments you start and stop whenever you want. Truck, couch, lunch break.
A workbook in the mail
Paper, a pen, and the kitchen table. Nothing to log into and nothing to lose.
Live class in DFW
Seven in the morning, out the door by two. Ask your questions out loud and get a straight answer.
$115
Class dates
Questions on this one
Do plumber's apprentices need continuing education in Texas?
Only if the apprentice holds an endorsement. A plain apprentice registration with no endorsement has no CPE requirement. With an endorsement, it is 6 hours before renewal, the same as a master or journeyman.
Which apprentice endorsements trigger the CE requirement?
The registrations an apprentice can hold are Drain Cleaner Restricted, Drain Cleaner, and Residential Utilities Installer. Holding an endorsement is what brings the 6 hour requirement with it.
Does the company have to pay for an apprentice's CE?
That is between you and your crew, and shops handle it both ways. What is not optional is the hours getting done. Most shops that pushed the endorsement end up covering the class.
Do apprentices count toward a shop class minimum?
Yes. Our on site minimum is twelve licensees and endorsed apprentices count toward it.
Is apprentice CE cheaper?
No. It is the same six hours and the same price. An apprentice running a drain machine is closer to a cross connection than most people on the job.
Apprentice CE, when it opens
One email the day registration opens. A renewal reminder if you want one. Nothing else.
Already registered? Sign in to your course. Running a shop? Open your crew dashboard.