Delaware Plumbing Apprenticeship: Programs, Hours, and How to Register

Getting Into a Delaware Plumbing Apprenticeship

Starting a plumbing career in Delaware means registering an apprenticeship through the Delaware Department of Labor's Office of Apprenticeship and Training — not through the Division of Professional Regulation. DPR handles master plumber licenses. DOL handles apprenticeships. Confusing these two agencies is the first mistake people make.

To register, you need three things: you must be at least 18 years old, hold a high school diploma or GED, and have a sponsoring contractor who agrees to train you. The sponsor can be a union shop, a non-union contractor, or an independent master plumber — as long as they hold an active Delaware master plumber license and are willing to document your hours.

Hours and Classroom Requirements

The registered apprenticeship requires a combined 8,000 to 10,000 hours of supervised on-the-job training over four to five years. That breaks down to roughly 2,000 OJT hours per year. In addition, you must complete at least 144 hours of Related Technical Instruction (RTI) per academic year — evening classes that cover plumbing theory, code, and safety alongside your fieldwork.

RTI is delivered through three approved adult education programs:

• New Castle County Adult Education — serves the northern part of the state
• Polytech Adult Education — covers central Delaware (Kent County area)
• Sussex Tech Adult Division — serves southern Delaware

Tuition runs approximately $400 to $850 per year, and you should budget around $750 total for textbooks across the program. These costs vary slightly between schools.

Union vs. Non-Union Programs

UA Local 74 operates the primary union-track plumbing apprenticeship in Delaware, covering New Castle and Kent counties. Union apprenticeships follow a structured curriculum with set wage progression, benefits from day one, and guaranteed placement with signatory contractors. The tradeoff is less flexibility in choosing your employer and work assignments.

PHCC (Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association) and ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) Delaware sponsor open-shop apprenticeships for non-union contractors. These programs offer more employer flexibility but may require you to be more proactive about tracking your own hours and securing RTI enrollment.

Both paths produce the same DOL credential — a Journeyperson Certificate — and both satisfy the Board's requirements for the master plumber exam.

What Happens When You Finish

Once your sponsor confirms that you have completed all required OJT and RTI hours, the DOL issues your Journeyperson Certificate. This certificate proves you finished a registered apprenticeship, but it is not a DPR license. You still cannot pull permits or run a plumbing business on your own.

The journeyperson certificate starts the clock on your next milestone: you need at least two more years of work experience under a licensed master plumber before you can apply for the master plumber license through DPR's DELPROS portal.

That two-year timer only begins after the certificate is issued. Experience you accumulated during the apprenticeship itself does not count toward the post-certificate requirement.

Tracking Hours Matters More Than You Think

The single biggest headache in the apprenticeship is documentation. If your sponsor changes employers, goes out of business, or simply forgets to log your hours, you can end up stuck trying to prove experience you legitimately have.

Keep your own records from the beginning: pay stubs, W-2s, a log of OJT hours by week, and copies of every RTI enrollment confirmation. If you ever need to reconstruct your experience history for the master plumber application, these records become your safety net.

The Delaware Plumber License Guide includes an apprenticeship hour log designed to track OJT and RTI side by side, so nothing slips through the cracks when it comes time to apply for your master license.

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