Washington HVAC Experience Affidavit and Supervised Hour Log Requirements

The most common reason 06A and 06B exam applications get delayed in Washington isn't a missing form or an unpaid fee — it's incomplete or improperly documented experience hours. L&I requires notarized affidavits proving you completed your supervised field hours, and the documentation standards are strict enough that small errors can add weeks to your application timeline.

What L&I Requires

To qualify for the 06A specialty exam, you need 4,000 hours of documented experience working as a registered electrical trainee under the supervision of a certified 06A or EL01 electrician. For the 06B restricted exam, the threshold is 2,000 hours.

These hours must be documented through signed, notarized affidavits of experience. Each affidavit must include:

• Your name and trainee certificate number
• Your employer's name, contractor registration number, and electrical contractor license number
• The specific dates of employment (start and end dates for each period)
• The total hours worked during each period
• A description of the type of HVAC electrical work performed
• Confirmation of the supervision ratio maintained (75% for 06A track, 100% for 06B)
• The name and certificate number of the supervising electrician(s)
• The employer's signature, notarized

L&I cross-references the information in your affidavit against their records. If the employer's contractor registration wasn't active during the dates you claim, or if the supervising electrician's certificate was expired, those hours can be rejected.

The Timing Mistake

The biggest mistake trainees make is waiting until they've accumulated all 4,000 hours before requesting documentation from their employer. By that point, you may have worked for multiple employers, your original supervisor may have left the company, or the company itself may have closed.

Get your affidavits signed and notarized at regular intervals — ideally every 6 to 12 months, or whenever you change employers. If you've worked for three different HVAC contractors over your training period, you'll need a separate affidavit from each one covering the hours you worked for them.

When Your Employer Won't Cooperate

If a current or former employer refuses to sign your experience affidavit — whether due to a dispute, business closure, or simple unwillingness — you have options, but none of them are fast.

Contact L&I directly: L&I's Electrical Licensing or Apprenticeship Compliance division has processes for handling uncooperative employers. They may be able to verify your hours through their own records of your trainee card renewals, employer quarterly reports, or industrial insurance payroll records.

Alternative documentation: If your employer has closed but you have pay stubs, W-2 forms, or tax records showing your employment dates and the employer's business information, submit those alongside your affidavit request. They don't replace the formal affidavit, but they give L&I verifiable evidence to work with.

Legal options: In extreme cases where a former employer deliberately refuses to verify legitimate hours, some trainees have had attorneys draft demand letters citing the trainee's right to accurate employment documentation. This is rarely necessary, but it's available if other channels fail.

Tracking Hours During Your Training

L&I doesn't mandate a specific format for tracking your daily hours, but you need a system that produces accurate totals when it's time to fill out your affidavit. At minimum, track:

• Date and hours worked each day
• Job site location and type of work performed
• Name of the supervising electrician present
• Whether the work fell within the HVAC system boundary (relevant for specialty classification)

A paper log signed weekly by your supervisor is the traditional approach. Some employers use digital timekeeping systems that automatically associate hours with supervisors and project codes. Either works as long as the data is available when you need to prepare your affidavit.

The Supervision Ratio Documentation

For the 06A track, L&I requires that you were supervised at least 75% of the time during your training period. This means a certified 06A or EL01 electrician was present on the job site for at least 3 out of every 4 hours you worked. The remaining 25% allows you to work independently on tasks you've been trained on.

For the 06B track, supervision must be 100% — a certified electrician must be present the entire time you're performing HVAC electrical work.

Your affidavit doesn't need to detail the supervision ratio for every individual day, but it should confirm that the overall ratio was maintained during the employment period. If L&I questions the supervision compliance, they may request additional documentation from the employer.

Putting It All Together

When your hours are complete and your affidavits are ready, you submit them with your exam application (Form F626-009-000 for out-of-state applicants, or the standard specialty exam application) and the $114.60 application fee. L&I reviews the documentation, verifies it against their records, and either approves your exam or requests additional information.

The Washington HVAC License Guide includes a supervised hour log template and a step-by-step affidavit preparation checklist that ensures your documentation meets L&I's requirements the first time — so your exam application doesn't get sent back for corrections.

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