Trades & Contractors · 6 min read · Last updated
If your company sells and performs plumbing work in Hamilton, the company needs its own licence, separate from the qualifications of the people who do the work. Schedule 29 of By-law 07-170 sets the terms: business registration, two million dollars of insurance, a police check, and a licensed plumbing master in your employ before the licence is issued.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Trades” category: “Plumbing installations include any procedure, method, matter or thing referred to or described in the Ontario Building Code, which includes the installation, maintenance, alterations, extension or repair of plumbing.”
Who needs this licence?
The licence applies to the business that carries on plumbing work. Plumbing installations include any procedure, method, matter or thing referred to or described in the Ontario Building Code, which covers the installation, maintenance, alterations, extension or repair of plumbing.
That is a wide definition anchored in the Building Code rather than in a list of tasks, so if the Code treats what you do as plumbing, so does the licence.
Your business cannot hold the licence without a licensed plumbing master in its employ. The master is an individual qualified in the trade, carrying a personal photo identification card; the contractor is the business that solicits and performs the work. Neither role covers the other.
Hiring matters more here than people expect. A master may not be employed by more than one contractor at a time, so a qualified plumber already named as another company's master cannot also be yours. If your master leaves, the foundation of your licence goes with them.
Note that Hamilton's plumbing master licence is granted on a certificate of qualification rather than a City exam, which means your hiring pool is defined by who holds provincial trade papers. Schedule 29 of By-law 07-170 sets out the details.
What documents do you need?
The plumbing contractor checklist is short and business focused. It begins with a business registration or corporate profile dated within one year of the application, which shows the company exists and identifies the owners.
Next is liability and property damage insurance of two million dollars. Plumbing failures produce water damage claims that can run well beyond the value of the job, which is why the City sets the limit where it does.
A Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check from the police service board in your city of residence, dated within 36 days of the application, is required, and third party clearances are refused.
The licence then depends on having a licensed plumbing master in your employ. This is the item to resolve first, because unlike insurance or a corporate profile you cannot produce it on demand.
A municipally issued photo identification card is issued for the licence, so include the photo appointment in your planning.
Zoning and premises requirements
There is no Zoning Verification Certificate, addendum or premise plan on this checklist. The plumbing contractor licence is a trade licence, and the City is not approving a use of land when it grants it.
Zoning still governs any premises your business occupies. A shop, a warehouse for fixtures and pipe, or a yard for vans and trailers is subject to the zoning of that property, and outdoor storage or a service yard is not permitted in every zone.
If you run the business from home, the home occupation limits in the zoning by-law apply to you in the ordinary way. The licence does not override them.
Work at a customer's property is governed by the rules for that address, including the building permit and Building Code requirements for the plumbing itself. Your licence authorises the business, not the individual job.
Inspections and approvals
No fire, health, parking or compliance inspection is listed for this licence, and nothing is circulated for inspection when you apply.
The safeguards are the licensed master, the insurance limit and the police check. Because Hamilton's plumbing master licence rests on a certificate of qualification held for at least two years, the trade competence behind your business is verified provincially rather than by a municipal test.
Plumbing work on a given job remains subject to the permit and inspection process applying to that property under the Building Code. Holding a contractor licence does not remove the need for permits or inspections on the work itself.
Between renewals, the practical compliance risks are an expired insurance certificate and the loss of your master. Both are within your control if you track them.
How much does it cost?
A new plumbing contractor application carries a processing fee to open the file, a licence fee, and a photo fee for the municipally issued identification card.
HST applies to the processing fee and the photo fee, but not to the licence fee.
There is no exam fee anywhere in the plumbing stream. The master licence in this trade is granted on a certificate of qualification rather than a written test, so neither side of the trade pays for an examination.
The contractor licence fee is higher than the plumbing master licence fee, reflecting that it licenses a business to solicit and perform the work. Renewal is the licence fee plus the photo fee annually, and a lapsed licence brings a reinstatement fee. All amounts are set in the City's fee schedule and confirmed during the application.
How to apply
Secure your licensed plumbing master before anything else, and confirm they are not already employed as another contractor's master.
Arrange liability and property damage insurance at two million dollars in the name of the business that will hold the licence.
Pull a business registration or corporate profile dated within the past year.
Order the Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check from the police service board where you live so it is within 36 days when you file, and do not substitute a private screening report.
Submit the application with those documents, pay the processing, licence and photo fees, and attend in person for the photo so the identification card can be produced. Keep it with you, since customers and officers can ask to see proof that the business is licensed.
Renewals and staying compliant
Renew every year with Declarations A and B completed. Contractors do both; masters complete Declaration B only.
A new municipally issued photo identification card is printed each year with an updated expiry date, and a new picture is required every three years, so the photo fee recurs at renewal.
Confirm your master is still in your employ and still licensed each renewal. Two annual dates therefore matter to your business: your renewal and your master's.
Set your insurance renewal to fall before your licence renewal so you always have a current certificate to hand, and renew on time, because reinstating a lapsed licence costs substantially more than renewing.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What does a plumbing contractor licence require that a plumbing master licence does not?
The contractor licence is issued to a business, so it requires business registration and insurance; the master licence tests the individual's trade qualification instead.
2. How does Hamilton define plumbing installations for this licence?
The by-law ties the definition to the Ontario Building Code and expressly includes installation, maintenance, alterations, extension and repair.
3. Can two plumbing contractors share the same licensed master?
The by-law states that no master shall be employed by more than one contractor at a time, so each contractor needs its own master.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.