South Dakota does not license HVAC technicians at the state level.
South Dakota does not license HVAC. There is no statewide HVAC, air conditioning, heating or mechanical-contractor license, no state HVAC board, no state HVAC examination and no state HVAC fee schedule, so there is nothing to apply for at the state level. The proof runs two ways. Title 36 of the South Dakota Codified Laws - the title that creates every state professional and occupational license - contains chapter 36-16 for ‘Electricians and Electrical Contractors’ and chapter 36-25 for ‘Plumbers,’ and no HVAC, mechanical, refrigeration or heating chapter at all. And the Plumbing Commission’s reach is fixed by the statutory definition of ‘Plumbing’ in SDCL 36-25-1(5), which is about piping, fixtures and appurtenances ‘in connection with sanitary drainage or storm drainage facilities, the venting system and the public water supply systems’ - drainage, venting and water supply, not heating, cooling or ductwork.
One state credential sits close enough to HVAC that it is worth understanding before you dismiss it. Among the thirteen license categories SDCL 36-25-19 assigns to the Plumbing Commission are ‘appliance contractor’ and ‘appliance installer.’ ARSD 20:53:01:01(1) defines appliance installation as ’the making of local connections to water and waste systems of all miscellaneous and commercial equipment designed to use electricity or gas or both as a basic source of energy; maintenance and service of this equipment, including operation, adjustment, repair, removal, and renovation; but not connection and repair of household and commercial plumbing fixtures that are designed for sanitary use or water conditioning.’ ARSD 20:53:05:01 confirms the boundary: the license ‘allows the licensee to carry on only such plumbing as is necessary for appliance installation.’ It is a plumbing-scope credential, not a heating-and-cooling competency license, and it does not substitute for a city mechanical license. If your scope may touch it, the commission’s terms are an appliance installer license after two years as an appliance installer apprentice in South Dakota, an appliance contractor license after one year as an appliance installer, examinations passed at 80 percent for the contractor and 70 percent for the installer with only one attempt at the same license every three months, annual license fees of $105 for an installer and $200 for a contractor, and an annual expiry of June 30. There is no continuing education for appliance licensees - SDCL 36-25-32 imposes its four-hour requirement only on plumbing contractors, plumbers, their restricted equivalents, and third-year apprentice plumbers licensed by examination.
So the HVAC credential is municipal, and the two large programs are built differently from one another.
SIOUX FALLS ‘requires a “Mechanical Contractors License” of all contractors doing mechanical or HVAC work within the city limits.’ Getting one starts with an individual examination: the Master Mechanic exam, run by the Mechanical Board of Appeals and Examiners, open to an applicant who shows four years of experience as a sheet metal mechanic, refrigeration technician, general manager, project manager or engineer in the employ of a licensed mechanical contractor, having spent at least 2,000 hours a year at it. The exam is timed, part closed book and part open book, based on the International Mechanical Code, the International Fuel Gas Code, the SMACNA HVAC standards and the ACCA manuals, costs $75.00, runs once a month, and requires 75 percent to pass; the refrigeration questions are scored half for the answer and half for citing the code section. A first failure means a 30-day wait and every later failure a 90-day wait. The successful candidate has 90 days to apply for the Mechanical Contractor’s License or must retest. That license costs $200 for a full two-year term ending December 31 of an odd-numbered year (prorated to $100 if issued in the second year), requires a $10,000 compliance bond naming the contractor as principal and the City as obligee, and names a Master Mechanic who must be an owner, partner or W-2 employee of the company. Sioux Falls does not reciprocate any license, does not offer an air-conditioning-only license, and does not let a mechanical contractor touch electrical, plumbing or residential building work without the separate license for it.
RAPID CITY licenses the trade under Title 15 of its municipal code and credentials individuals as well as firms. Class MC is the mechanical contractor license, and the licensed individual behind it needs six years of verifiable experience. Class MI is a personal license: ‘It shall be unlawful for any person to labor at the trade or in the capacity of a mechanical installer’ without one, and a mechanical installer ‘means any person who installs, lays out, alters or repairs mechanical or HVAC systems in all buildings and structures’ - four years of verifiable experience, and the person must be an employee of or working under the direction of a mechanical contractor. Class MA is the apprentice license, worked under the immediate and personal supervision of an installer, and ‘No apprentice shall be in charge of any phase of work.’ Class MAS, the appliance specialist, is confined to listed and labelled hearth, solid-fuel, cord-wood, wood-pellet and biomass appliances and their venting. A completed 18-24 month mechanical education program counts as one year of experience and a 9-12 month program as half a year. Licenses run three years with a 30-day grace period, renewal requires six continuing-education hours per license period, liability insurance must be at least $1,000,000 general aggregate with $300,000 fire damage and $1,000,000 each occurrence, and the fees themselves are set by resolution of the Common Council rather than printed in the code - so ask Building Services for the current figures.
The practical consequence: a technician who is entirely compliant in Sioux Falls may be unlicensed in Rapid City, because Rapid City credentials the person doing the work and Sioux Falls publishes no journeyman-level individual credential. Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown, Pierre and other municipalities set their own rules and were not examined here. Two statewide obligations round out the picture without being HVAC licenses: the Department of Revenue’s contractor’s excise tax license, required of anyone contracting for construction services and levied at 2 percent of gross receipts (both cities ask for the number on their applications), and EPA Section 608 refrigerant certification, which is federal, personal to the technician, and no substitute for any city license.
What it’s called
South Dakota does not license HVAC technicians or contractors at the state level, so a search for a ‘South Dakota HVAC license’ resolves to a CITY credential. In Sioux Falls the credential is a ‘Mechanical Contractors License’ - issued alongside a Refrigeration Contractor and a Fireplace Contractor license - and the individual credential behind it is called a ‘Master Mechanic’ certificate, with an ‘Inactive Master Mechanic’ variant for someone who is not currently contracting. In Rapid City the credentials are trade-class licenses under the Mechanical Code: Class MC mechanical contractor, Class MI mechanical installer, Class MA mechanical apprentice and Class MAS appliance specialist. Informal names - ‘HVAC license,’ ‘AC license,’ ‘air conditioning license,’ ‘mechanical license,’ ‘furnace license’ - all map to one of these municipal credentials, and neither city offers an air-conditioning-only license. Three other credentials are commonly mistaken for a South Dakota HVAC license and are not one. The State Plumbing Commission’s ‘appliance contractor’ and ‘appliance installer’ licenses are plumbing-scope credentials for making local connections to water and waste systems, not heating-and-cooling licenses, and they are a different thing from Rapid City’s Class MAS ‘appliance specialist,’ which covers hearth, solid-fuel, wood-pellet and biomass appliances and their venting. The South Dakota contractor’s excise tax license from the Department of Revenue is a tax registration required of construction businesses, not a competency credential - both big cities ask for its number on their applications. And EPA Section 608 refrigerant-handling certification is a FEDERAL credential held by the individual technician, not a South Dakota or municipal HVAC license. There is no statewide South Dakota HVAC license to search for.
Who does NOT need a license — exemptions
South Dakota licenses no HVAC occupation at the state level, so the operative carve-outs are municipal, with one state list that matters only for the adjacent plumbing licenses. Each is quoted to the end of its own operative clause, because in every one of them the limitation is the point.
(1) RAPID CITY - the license exceptions, RCMC 15.04.140. ‘The following exceptions do not require a license: Employees of a general building contractor license if they are under the supervision of a license holder. A landlord personally performing work on residential property the landlord owns or manages when the landlord is acting as his or her own contractor, except work which would require a license under Chapters 15.16, 15.20, 15.24, and 15.26. A landlord may not build more than 1 single-family dwelling in a 5-year period without obtaining a contractor’s license. A homeowner who builds, constructs, alters, adds to or demolishes any building or structure or any portion thereof that constitutes the owner’s residence or a building or structure accessory thereto that is intended for the owner’s personal use. An owner may not build more than 1 single-family dwelling in a 5-year period without obtaining a contractor’s license, provided he or she occupies the dwelling a minimum of 1 year after the certificate of occupancy is issued.’ Read the landlord exception to its end: it expressly does NOT cover work requiring a license under chapter 15.26, the Mechanical Code - so a landlord in Rapid City may do a great deal of work on property they own and still may not do the mechanical work. The employee exception is likewise narrow: it covers employees of a GENERAL BUILDING contractor license under a license holder’s supervision, while chapter 15.26 separately makes it unlawful for any person to labor as a mechanical installer without a Class MI license and requires apprentices to hold a Class MA license.
(2) RAPID CITY - homeowner mechanical permits, RCMC 15.26.070. ‘A homeowner may design, install and maintain mechanical systems in the following structures only: In a residence when he or she owns and occupies both the structure and the real property; In an accessory structure when he or she owns both the structure and the real property and occupies the main structure on the property; and In a mobile home when he or she owns and occupies the structure. All mechanical systems installed pursuant to this section shall be installed only by the owner, without compensation or pay to any other person for such labor or installation. Such installation shall comply with the requirements of this Code. The homeowner shall file plans, demonstrate to the satisfaction of the City of Rapid City that he or she possesses sufficient knowledge of code requirements and the ability to make such installation properly; apply for and secure a permit; pay the required permit fees; and call for all inspections in the manner provided in this code.’ Note the demonstration requirement - Rapid City does not simply wave homeowners through; the owner must satisfy the City of their code knowledge. Homeowner permits under that section ‘shall be valid for a period of six months from the date of the last inspection.’
(3) SIOUX FALLS - homeowners. ‘Homeowners who live in and own single family dwellings are not required to obtain a license, but must acquire mechanical homeowner permits and would be responsible for mechanical code compliance and to obtain required inspections.’ The permit, the code compliance and the inspections are part of the exemption, not optional extras. And the City closes the obvious loophole in the same breath: ‘If you are receiving compensation for doing mechanical work, even if part-time, you are required to hold a Master Mechanic and Mechanical Contractor’s license. All work must be inspected, and the inspections must be called in under a Mechanical Contractor’s license.’ There is no small-job, part-time or favor-for-a-friend exemption in Sioux Falls.
(4) STATE PLUMBING LICENSE - relevant only if your scope reaches the appliance or plumbing credentials. SDCL 36-25-17 provides that no person may engage in licensed plumbing on property connected to a public water or sewer system unless licensed by the commission, ‘However, no license is required of a person who does the following work in compliance with the provisions of the minimum standards prescribed by the commission: (1) Plumbing on premises owned and actually occupied by the person as the person’s residence; (2) Plumbing on premises of a single-family dwelling unit that is in the process of being constructed, if the person owns the premises and intends to actually occupy the premises as the person’s residence when construction is complete; (3) Plumbing repair work on premises where the person is employed and performing the plumbing repair work; or (4) Plumbing repair work on the person’s own property.’ The compliance-with-minimum-standards condition at the head of that list applies to all four items. Note also SDCL 36-25-16’s transitional allowance, which is a limited grace rather than an exemption: a person registered by the commission ‘may do plumbing work in such municipality for a period of six months following application for a permit or license in said municipality.’
Because exemptions are set ordinance by ordinance, an HVAC contractor working outside Sioux Falls and Rapid City must read the specific city code where the work will be performed. This record states what those two cities and the state statutes publish and does not generalize a single South-Dakota-wide exemption.
Where to get licensed
There is no state HVAC board to call in South Dakota. Work the problem in this order.
IN SIOUX FALLS: contact Building Services, 231 North Dakota Avenue, P.O. Box 7402, Sioux Falls, SD 57117-7402 - licensing 605-367-8672 or [email protected] , mechanical inspectors 605-367-8252. Start with the Master Mechanic examination application (City form 2B25014). Document four years of experience as a sheet metal mechanic, refrigeration technician, general manager, project manager or engineer in the employ of a licensed mechanical contractor, with at least 2,000 hours in each of those years; the code official may investigate, and a refusal can be appealed to the Mechanical Board of Appeals. The exam fee is $75.00, the exam runs once a month, you may name the month you want within the next three available months, and you need 75 percent to pass. The Board’s study suggestions on form 2B25014 name editions: ’the 2021 International Mechanical Code and 2021 International Fuel Gas Code for the master mechanic examination’ (2021 IMC only for the refrigeration contractor exam), plus the SMACNA HVAC standards and the ACCA manuals - and the form states plainly, ‘We will be adopting the 2024 ICC codes in 2026.’ If you fail, you wait 30 days the first time and 90 days after that. Once you pass, file the Mechanical License application (form 2B25006) within 90 days or you will have to retest - and file it with the signed original $10,000 compliance bond, written by a corporate surety authorised in South Dakota, naming your business exactly as it appears on the application, plus the $200 license fee ($100 if you are applying in the second year of the term). Have your South Dakota excise tax number ready. The Master Mechanic named on the license must be an owner, partner or W-2 employee. If you are not going to contract immediately, apply for the Inactive Master Mechanic license before the 90 days run out so you do not have to retest later. Diary December 31 of the next odd-numbered year to renew, and keep the bond continuation certificates flowing to Building Services.
IN RAPID CITY: contact Building Services, Community Development Department, 300 Sixth Street, Rapid City, SD 57701; 605-394-4120. Decide which class you need - Class MC (mechanical contractor, six years of verifiable experience), Class MI (mechanical installer, four years, required of anyone who installs, lays out, alters or repairs mechanical or HVAC systems), Class MA (mechanical apprentice) or Class MAS (appliance specialist for listed hearth, solid-fuel, cord-wood, wood-pellet and biomass appliances). Complete the work-record portion of the mechanical license application to prove the experience, and count a completed 18-24 month mechanical education program as one year or a 9-12 month program as half a year. Bring a copy of your South Dakota excise tax license, Secretary of State good standing if your entity must file organizing documents, a South Dakota agent’s contact information if you have one, a valid certificate of insurance showing at least $1,000,000 general aggregate liability with $300,000 fire damage and $1,000,000 each occurrence, proof of workers’ compensation, and a copy of any equivalent state license. Ask Building Services for the current application and license fee amounts - they are set by resolution of the Common Council rather than printed in the code. The designated license holder sits an examination under the direction of the Building Official; the in-lieu acceptance of an outside license applies by its terms to the Class A and Class B licenses (RCMC 15.04.140), not the Class C trade licenses. Licenses run three years with a 30-day grace period, and renewal requires proof of six continuing-education hours for the license period. If your license holder leaves the business, you have 30 days to designate another.
ANYWHERE ELSE IN SOUTH DAKOTA: contact that city’s building or code-enforcement office directly. Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown, Pierre, Mitchell, Yankton and other municipalities are not covered by this record and no state rule fills the gap.
STATEWIDE, WHEREVER YOU WORK: get the South Dakota contractor’s excise tax license from the Department of Revenue before you apply anywhere - both big cities ask for the number - and budget for the 2 percent excise tax on gross receipts. If your scope may include making local connections to water and waste systems for gas- or electricity-powered equipment, ask the State Plumbing Commission (217 W. Missouri Ave., Pierre, SD 57501; 605.773.3429; [email protected] ) whether you need an appliance installer or appliance contractor license; those licenses expire every June 30 and may be renewed no later than six months after expiry. And if you handle refrigerants, get EPA Section 608 certification - federal, personal to the technician, and separate from every South Dakota credential above.