HVAC licensing in Tennessee

There is no Tennessee HVAC worker card to bring — Tennessee licenses the CONTRACTING party through the Board for Licensing Contractors, in the CMC family: CMC (full mechanical), CMC-A, and CMC-C, the HVAC-specific class covering heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, gas piping and geothermal. The company credential travels unusually well, every leg confirmed in the partner's own documents:

South Carolina's waiver list accepts CMC/Mechanical and CMC-C into its AC and Refrigeration classifications; Mississippi grants Tennessee the broadest terms on its list — all exams waived, mechanical included; and Tennessee rides Ohio's reciprocity fleet. One constant: the Tennessee BUSINESS AND LAW exam is never waived for anyone, in either direction.

Nothing pending for you as an employed worker. Company-side interim work while a Board application processes was not established.

Contractor-level, threshold-triggered: a license is required before CONTRACTING — bidding or negotiating a price — on any project of $25,000 or more. Every classification takes the PSI-administered Tennessee Business and Law exam; a limited residential license (projects under $125,000, sized by financial statement) offers a lighter entry. Your personal floor is EPA 608.

No apprentice card at state level — hours build on a licensed contractor's crew. EPA 608 is the credential to carry.

Real and unresearched: below the $25,000 threshold, and for permitting generally, city and county rules apply — that local layer is exactly what this state's earlier draft was picking up on. Call the jurisdiction before assuming small work is clear.

The line is project value: $25,000 and up, the contracting business holds the CMC-family license — and CMC-C is the class built for HVAC work. A traveling tech employed by that business needs nothing personal; a tech who bids the work directly becomes the contractor at the same threshold.