Your truck, your invoice and your flyer all owe the RMP license number.

Every Responsible Master Plumber in Texas has a license number that is supposed to follow the company everywhere it asks for work: on the truck, on the paper the customer signs, and on the flyer stuck in a screen door. Most shops get the truck right and miss one of the other two. The board treats all three as separate violations, and the rule puts the owner on the hook right next to the RMP.

Who the rule actually lands on

22 TAC 367.10 opens each of its three subsections the same way: both the RMP of record and the owner of the plumbing company shall make sure the information is displayed. If you own the shop and you are not the RMP, you cannot hand this off as the master's problem. If you are the RMP and you do not own the shop, you cannot say the owner ordered the trucks.

The RMP duties rule says it again. Under 22 TAC 367.5(c)(4), part of the RMP's general supervision is making sure every service vehicle displays what 367.10 requires.

The truck

Under 367.10(a), every service vehicle owned or operated by the company, or otherwise used to do plumbing work for it, has to show two things on both sides:

• The company name.
• The RMP's license number, preceded by the letters M, MPL or RMP.

The letters and numbers go on the body of the vehicle, in a contrasting color, at least two inches tall. Three details trip people up:

• Both sides. A number on the tailgate only does not meet it.
• Vehicles used for the company count. A hand driving his own pickup to service calls for your shop is driving a service vehicle under this rule.
• The RMP changes, the number changes. When a new master becomes RMP of record, every truck still carrying the old number is out of compliance the day the change takes effect.

The paper the customer signs

This is the one most shops miss, because the estimate template got built years ago and nobody has looked at it since. Texas Occupations Code 1301.302 requires a written proposal, invoice or contract for plumbing work to include the name and license number of the RMP and the board's name, mailing address and phone number. The person who did the work also has to give the customer an invoice or completed contract when the job is done, even if nothing was charged.

The rule tightens it. 22 TAC 367.10(b) requires the first page of every written or electronic proposal, invoice or contract to show, in at least twelve point type:

• The RMP's first and last name.
• The RMP's license number.
• The phrase "regulated by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners".
• The board's mailing address, phone number and website, tsbpe.texas.gov.

And 367.10(b)(5) defines those documents broadly: written estimates, service invoices, billing invoices, receipts, and any written or electronic document that defines the services and cost for the customer. If your field software texts a quote to a homeowner, that quote is covered. If the board's line sits on page two in small print, it does not meet the rule.

Advertising

Under 367.10(c), every advertisement designed to solicit plumbing business has to state the RMP's license number, whatever the media. The rule names business cards, flyers, referral coupons and other handouts. A truck wrap, a yard sign on a job, a website and a paid social post all solicit work, and none of them appear on the exemption list.

The exemptions are narrow:

• National or interstate television, and franchisor internet ads for franchisees, if they say local license numbers are available on request.
• Ads with no visual part, such as radio or a phone call, if the caller states the company complies with state licensing and gives the number on request.
• Promotional items of nominal value like caps, T shirts and uniforms.
• Signs on or next to the company's permanent business location.
• Third party listings the company has no editorial control over and does not help spread.

Notice what is not on that list. A Facebook page you run, a Google Business Profile you edit and a website you paid for are all under your control. Put the number on them.

What it costs when it is missing

The board's penalty guidelines in 22 TAC 367.17(k) list each of these as its own Class B violation. Missing the RMP information or board contact information on a proposal, estimate, invoice or contract, failing to display the number or company name on both sides of a service vehicle, and failing to state the number in an ad each carry a standard penalty of $1,000. Failing to provide an invoice or completed contract at all is listed at $2,000.

The statute sets the ceiling. Occupations Code 1301.702 caps a penalty at $5,000 per violation, and each day a violation continues or occurs is a separate violation. A fleet of unmarked trucks is not one problem.

The takeaway

Do a ten minute audit this week. Walk every truck and check both sides. Open your estimate template, your invoice template and whatever your software sends by text or email, and look at page one for the RMP's name, the number, the "regulated by" phrase and the board's address, phone and website in twelve point type. Then pull up your website, your social pages and your business cards. If the RMP of record has changed since any of those were made, start there.

All field notes