8,000 hours to journeyman, exam at 7,000: the Texas electrician license path, step by step

Half the questions I get are not about the code. They are about the path: how many hours, under whom, what it costs, how long the approval is good for. TDLR's site has all of it, spread across a dozen pages. This is the same information on one page, with the numbers as TDLR lists them on September 20, 2026. Check the live TDLR page before you file; fees and hours do change, and the 7,000 versus 8,000 confusion below is the one I see most.

Step 0: register as an apprentice

You cannot bank hours in Texas without an Apprentice Electrician license. It is a registration, not an exam. Every hour you work after that, under a Master Electrician (or a Residential Wireman, for the residential path), counts toward the next license. Keep your own log of hours by employer, and keep every supervisor's contact information. TDLR's Experience Verification Form needs each one's signature, and TDLR may call them.

Step 1: Residential Wireman (optional, 4,000 hours)

If your work is houses, this is the shortest route to a license of your own.

• Hours: 4,000 of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician or Residential Wireman.
• Application fee: $20, non-refundable.
• Scope: electrical installations in one-family and multifamily dwellings not over four stories. Nothing commercial.
• Exam: one sitting, 80 scored questions in 240 minutes (plus 5 unscored items and 20 extra minutes), 70 percent to pass, $64 per attempt.

The 4,000 hours keep counting toward journeyman. Nothing is wasted.

Step 2: Journeyman Electrician (8,000 hours, exam at 7,000)

• Hours: 8,000 of on-the-job training under a Master Electrician licensed in Texas for the license. TDLR lets you apply and take the exam at 7,000; you finish the last 1,000 before the license issues. Forums quote one number or the other; both are right, for different steps.
• Application fee: $30, non-refundable.
• Exam: two portions since March 2025. NEC Knowledge, 59 items (56 scored) in 130 minutes. Calculations, 26 items (24 scored) in 110 minutes. 70 percent on each, passed separately. $78 for both portions; a retake of one or both is $78.

Once TDLR approves your application you get an email saying you may schedule with PSI. You have one year from the day TDLR received the application to pass and finish licensing. Retakes are unlimited inside that year, each one paid.

Step 3: Master Electrician (12,000 hours and two years)

• Prerequisite: you have held the Texas journeyman license for at least two years.
• Hours: 12,000 of on-the-job training under a Texas-licensed Master Electrician, documented and signed by each supervisor.
• Application fee: $45, non-refundable.
• Exam: two portions. NEC Knowledge, 75 items (70 scored) in 150 minutes. Calculations, 33 items (30 scored) in 170 minutes. 70 percent on each. $78 for both, $78 per retake.

There is no law or business section on the Texas master exam. It is ten NEC subject areas, and the calculations portion leans on services, transformers and motors.

Step 4: Electrical Contractor (no exam)

The contractor license is a business license, not a test. The business must employ a licensed Master Electrician as its designated representative (the owner can be that master), carry liability insurance of at least $300,000 per occurrence and $600,000 aggregate plus $300,000 products and completed operations, and workers' compensation or a self-insurance certificate. Application fee $110. If you are the master, the exam you already passed is the only exam on this path.

The parts people get wrong

The one-year clock starts when TDLR receives the application, not when it approves it. File when you are ready to study hard, not the day you hit the hours. Your name on the PSI booking must match your government ID exactly. PSI will not seat you otherwise, and a missed appointment forfeits the fee. The code edition is the 2026 NEC for every exam since September 1, 2026, and the only book allowed in the room is a soft-bound copy with publisher tabs. No Handbook, no loose notes, no spiral binding. Every Texas electrician license renews yearly, and TDLR requires continuing education for renewal. Check the current hour requirement on TDLR's site before your first renewal comes due.

What to do this week

If you are inside six months of the hours, start on the exam now, not when the approval email arrives. The free 20-question exam on this site takes twenty minutes and shows you which of the ten PSI subject areas need the most work. The knowledge portion is a book-navigation test; the calculations portion is a repetition test. Both reward starting early.