Does a Texas HVAC, electrical, or plumbing license go to the buyer?
The company does not carry the license to the new owner
Last reviewed November 9, 2026. This is the published rule from the Texas boards and the Occupations Code. It is not a filing, and it is not a substitute for the board or your lawyer on your own deal.
Owners hear “the company is licensed” and assume the license is a company asset, like a truck or a customer list. It is not. The right to pull permits and do the work stays with a licensed person — the qualifier. Selling the stock or the assets does not put the buyer’s name on that license.
The buyer can keep the crews working only if a licensed qualifier is in place for the buyer’s company. That person might be the seller, if the seller stays and the board accepts the assignment. It might be someone already on the payroll. It might be someone the buyer still has to hire. In every case it is a person the board licenses. It is not a line item that transfers at closing.
If that person is you, and you plan to leave, the buyer does not have a license until they have their own qualifier. Say that before you sign. A buyer who discovers it in diligence will treat the company as unable to operate the day you walk out.
HVAC: TDLR licenses the person, and that license is not transferable
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation handles air conditioning and refrigeration. TDLR’s own program page says contractors who install, repair, or maintain air conditioning, refrigeration, or heating must have a TDLR license, and an ACR company must employ an ACR contractor in each permanent location.
The statute says the same thing more tightly. A person may not do air conditioning and refrigeration contracting without a contractor license. That person may assign the license to only one permanent office of one contracting company. The company must employ, full time, in each permanent office, a license holder whose license is assigned to that company. If it does not, it may not collect a fee or enforce the contract.
TDLR’s rule states it in one line: a license is not transferable. The buyer of the company does not become the license holder because the company changed hands. Someone with an ACR contractor license has to be assigned to the buyer’s company. If that person is affiliated with the company, TDLR’s rule requires them to be an employee or owner who works there full time.
Official sources, HVAC. TDLR Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors. Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1302, §1302.251 (license required; one assignment) and §1302.252 (the company must employ a license holder). 16 Texas Administrative Code §75.22(b): “A license is not transferable.” 16 Texas Administrative Code §75.70: the licensee assigns that license to one company and, if affiliated, must be an employee or owner who works there full time.
Electrical: a sale means a new contractor license, still tied to a master electrician
TDLR also licenses electrical contractors. An electrical contractor license is how the business offers electrical work. It is still tied to a person. To hold that license, the business must employ a licensed master electrician, or the owner must be one. TDLR calls that person the master electrician of record. A master electrician may be assigned to only one electrical contractor, unless that master owns more than 50 percent of the contracting business.
TDLR’s contractor change form tells the company owner to apply for a new license if the company is sold or transferred to a new owner, or if the ownership type changes, such as from a sole proprietorship to an LLC. Changing the name on the old license is not the path when the company is sold.
If the master electrician of record leaves, TDLR says the company must notify the department and name a new master within thirty business days. That is a notice for a company that already holds a contractor license. It is not a way to hand the old license to a buyer. The buyer still needs a contractor license of their own, and a master electrician of record assigned to it.
Official sources, electrical. TDLR: Apply for a New Electrical Contractor License (master electrician of record). TDLR form ELC-LIC-004, Contractor Notice of Change: a new license is required if the company is sold or transferred to a new owner, or the ownership type changes. Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1305, §1305.159 (electrical contractor must be a master electrician or employ one; a master is assigned to a single contractor unless that master owns more than half the business).
Plumbing: the board licenses the plumber, and the company must secure an RMP
Plumbing is not TDLR. It is the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners. The board licenses the person. A company that advertises or offers plumbing work must secure the services of a responsible master plumber. That RMP is a master plumber who allows one plumbing company to offer and perform plumbing under that master’s license, pulls the permits, and is responsible for the work. An RMP may be the RMP of record for only one company at a time.
The license number is not assignable or transferable, with one narrow exception that is not a sale of the company. A plumber who has held an unexpired license continuously for at least 35 years may, with board approval, transfer the license number to a relative within the second degree on retirement or death. A buyer of the company does not qualify for that. Buying the stock, the trucks, or the name does not make the buyer the RMP.
If you are the RMP and you leave, the company no longer has your license to stand on. It has to secure another responsible master plumber before it can keep offering plumbing work under an RMP’s license. TSBPE’s change-of-company notice says the board licenses individuals and not companies.
Official sources, plumbing. TSBPE: Responsible Master Plumber (RMP of record for only one company). TSBPE change-of-company notice: “The TSBPE licenses individuals and not companies.” Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1301, the definition of responsible master plumber, §1301.351 (a company offering plumbing must secure an RMP), §1301.359 (the license number is not transferable), and §1301.406 (the family license-number exception on retirement or death).
What to settle before a buyer treats the license as theirs
Write down who the qualifier is today, for each trade you actually perform. If one person holds the HVAC license, the master electrician assignment, and the RMP designation, that person is the business. A buyer is not buying three licenses. They are buying a company that stops being allowed to do the work when that person is gone.
An asset sale and a stock sale do not fix this. The asset sale and stock sale comparison is about what the buyer receives and how the seller is taxed. Neither structure moves a personal trade license onto the buyer. Electrical is the sharpest case: TDLR’s form says a sale or a change of ownership type means the new owner applies for a new contractor license.
Ask two questions before you talk price. Will a licensed qualifier still be assigned to the company the day after closing, and has that person agreed to it? If the answer is no, the buyer’s first job is finding their own qualifier, and the company cannot keep offering that work on the strength of your license.