the

Catch Basin
Plumbing and Engineering
Construction Codes and Licensing Division Winter 2006

Construction Codes and Licensing Plumbing, water conditioning exams

Division merged under one roof
Spring test dates
Building upon Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Drive to March 14 — Duluth, Detroit Lakes and Mankato
Excellence initiative, the state’s five construction March 16 — St. Paul
code and licensing units are now under one roof at the Application deadline for the Spring exam: Feb. 15.
Department of Labor and Industry and have formed
a single Construction Codes and Licensing Division
Fall test dates
(CCLD).
Sept. 19 — Mankato, Duluth and Detroit Lakes
CCLD consists of five units: Sept. 21 — St. Paul
Application deadline for the Fall exam is Aug. 15.
• Building Codes and Standards
• Plumbing and Engineering
• Electrical Licensing and Inspection Completed application must be received with a
• Residential Building Contractors $50 nonrefundable fee postmarked on or before the
• Boilers, High-pressure Piping and Boats-for-hire application deadline.
The group has established its mission to promote safe, The test application forms are available online at
healthy work and living environments in Minnesota www.doli.state.mn.us/pe_license.html.
by establishing code standards, maintaining consistent
administration of construction codes and licensing Online registration is not available at this time. To
construction and code professionals. receive an application form via the mail, call the
Plumbing and Engineering office at (651) 284-5067.
Besides the physical moves, CCLD’s leadership team
has begun to identify ways to improve and streamline
its operations and structure.
Plan review demand grows
The CCLD staff has formed six function teams –
Plumbing plan submittals continue
licensing, plan review, education, code development,
to rise — a 24.5 percent increase
enforcement and inspection – to develop a plan for its
future operations. during the past seven years.

Each team will recommend ways to implement Fiscal year Plans

the division’s vision and strategies, with special 2005 3,269
focus on ways to better align previously separate 2004 3,079
activities. Products of the team’s work will include: 2003 2,825
• business process improvement recommendations; 2002 2,587
• other recommendations to improve services in 2001 2,507
this area; and 2000 2,564
• suggested organizational structure to support the 1999 2,472
function.

443 Lafayette Page 1 ·• St.

Road N. The Catch
Paul, Basin • Winter
MN 55155-4342 2006 • Minnesota
• www.doli.state.mn.us Department
• Phone: (651) of Labor
284-5067 · Fax: and Industry
(651) 284-5748 · TTY: (651) 297-4198
Plumbing inspection requests New contact information for
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry must Plumbing and Engineering
be contacted for inspections on state-funded or licensed
facilities where there is no local inspection department. Engineering Program
Supervisor, Randy Ellingboe (651) 284-5879
Please contact the plumbing standard representative
(PSR) in your area of the state to request plumbing Plan Review Engineers
inspections or answer code or licensure questions Brad Erickson (651) 284-5880
(map below). You may also get information Colleen Erickson (651) 284-5881
about when to request an inspection online at Corey Frain (651) 284-5882
www.doli.state.mn.us/pdf/pe_inspectionguide.pdf. Todd Schaefer (651) 284-5884
Cathy Tran (651) 284-5898
Reminder on plumbing plan submittals Marise Widmer (651) 284-5887
To minimize delays in the plan review process, please Fax: (651) 284-5748
remember to include the following when submitting
plumbing plans for review: Plumbing Program
Supervisor, Jim Peterson (651) 284-5889
• Utility site plan Plumbing Standards Representatives
• Floor plan
• Water and waste and vent riser diagrams Web site: www.doli.state.mn.us/plumbing.html
• Fixture and pipe material specifications
• Roof plan Northeast Region
• Signature Brad Jensen (218) 733-7839
Fee — see the online application at Counties: Aitkin, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Itasca,
www.doli.state.mn.us/pe_planrev.html Koochiching, Lake, Lake of the Woods, St. Louis
Please note that failure to submit any of these items Northwest Region
will result in a correction letter and delay of project Gary Topp (218) 739-1386
approval. Failure to submit plans on site utilities (water Counties: Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Douglas, Grant,
and sewer lines) is one of the most frequent causes of Hubbard, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Otter
delays, according to plumbing contractors Tail, Pennington, Polk, Pope, Red Lake, Roseau, Stearns,
Stevens, Todd, Traverse, Wadena, Wilkin

East Central Region

Chuck Olson (651) 284-5888
Counties: Anoka, Benton, Chisago, Crow Wing, Hennepin,
Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Ramsey,
Sherburne, Washington, Wright

South Central Region

James Shay (651) 284-5890
Counties: Bigstone, Carver, Chippewa, Dakota, Kandiyohi,
Lac qui Parle, McLeod, Meeker, Renville, Scott, Sibley,
Swift, Yellow Medicine

South Region
Mike Freiderich (507) 389-6507, ext. 6
Counties: Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Dodge,
Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Jackson,
LeSueur, Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Mower, Murray, Nicollet,
Nobles, Olmstead, Pipestone, Redwood, Rice, Rock, Steele,
Wabasha, Waseca, Watonwan, Winona

Page 2 • The Catch Basin • Winter 2006 • Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry
Enforcement actions
Please be reminded that all persons or companies
contracting to do plumbing in Minnesota are required
to file a plumbing code compliance bond annually with
the State of Minnesota and register the bond with the
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. A number
of companies listed on license examination applications
and apprentice registrations did not have the required
bond, which has resulted an administrative penalty order
(APO) with monetary penalties to those parties.
APO’s can include monetary penalties. Enforcement
actions may also lead to license suspension or revocation.
Examples of violations include the following:
• Installing plumbing prior to plan approval.
• Installing plumbing without the required license or
bond.
• Allowing apprentices to perform plumbing on a
jobsite without the required supervision.
• Attaching an unlicensed plumber’s name to another
plumber’s license, and then installing plumbing in a
city with a population greater than 5,000.
Please remember it is the duty of the responsible master
plumber or plumbing contractor to: ensure plans have
been submitted and approved prior to installing any
plumbing; verify that any person performing plumbing
is properly licensed or registered prior to performing
plumbing onsite; provide the required immediate
and personal supervision for apprentices performing Remember that apprentices must be under the direct and
plumbing; and properly file evidence of code compliance personal supervision of either a licensed journeyman or
bond if contracting to do plumbing.
Look-up licenses and bonds online by cell phones is not direct or personal supervision.
www.doli.state.mn.us/pe_license.html
Licensed plumbers lists: To locate a licensed plumber
or determine whether your plumber is licensed by the
State of Minnesota.
Plumbing license types:
PM – Master Plumber
PJ – Journeyman Plumber
WC – Water Conditioning Contractor
WI – Water Conditioning Installer
Well setback reminder
Please note that buried sewer lines must be set back
50 feet from wells, unless using sewer pipe materials
approved and tested as per the Minnesota Plumbing
Code, in which case the setback distance is 20 feet.
Accelerated review
Accelerated review has been an
extremely popular option since
instituted in 2003. Nearly 50
percent of the plans coming in at
the end of 2006 were accelerated.
We have recently hired additional
staff to be able to keep up with this
demand, and to improve service delivery for standard
fee plans. Our hope is that by improving turn-around
times on standard fee plans, the need and demand for
accelerated review will decrease.
Auditing residential plumbing
We will begin auditing installations of residential
plumbing projects in cities that have municipal water
supply or sewer systems that do not have a local building
official. The plumbing standards representatives will be
stopping in and auditing for code compliance, contractor
bond, licenses where needed, and registration and
supervision of apprentices.
master plumber, or in cities of less than 5,000 population,
an unlicensed but bonded plumbing contractor. Contact
License exam applications and results
The exam application forms are available on the Web site:
www.doli.state.mn.us/pe_license.html.
Online registration is not available
at this time. Applicants can call
Plumbing and Engineering at
(651) 284-5067 to request that an
application form be sent to them.

Plumbing bond list: A list of businesses that have Exam results are online at
filed their Plumbing Bond with the State of Minnesota www.doli.state.mn.us/pe_license.html.
and paid their filing fee.
Page 3 • The Catch Basin • Winter 2006 • Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry
the
Catch Basin Prsrt Std
US Postage Paid
construction codes and licensing division
Permit No. 171
plumbing and Engineering
St. Paul, MN
443 lafayette road n.
st. paul, mn 55155-4343

The Catch Basin goes online in Fall;
sign up to receive e-mail notification
As of Fall 2006, this newsletter will no longer be sent
via the mail. In order to eliminate printing and postage
expenses, The Catch Basin will become an online-only
publication and subscribers will be notified via e-mail
when a new issue is posted online.
To subscribe to The Catch Basin e-mail distribution
list, go to http://workplace.doli.state.mn.us/elists/ and
select The Catch Basin.
Plug in new contact information
The Plumbing and Engineering
unit (formerly with the
Department of Health) has
moved to the Department of
Labor and Industry in St. Paul.
The unit’s address, telephone and fax numbers have
changed and are listed below. Please ensure that you use
our new contact information for future correspondence.

Plumbing and Engineering

Comments? Construction Codes and Licensing Division
If you have comments about this newsletter or would 443 Lafayette Road N.
like to contribute story ideas for future editions of The St. Paul, MN 55155-4343
Catch Basin, please send an e-mail message to www.doli.state.mn.us/plumbing.html
DLI.Plumbing@state.mn.us. Phone: (651) 284-5067
Fax: (651) 284-5749
All issues of the Catch Basin are posted online at TTY: (651) 297-4198
www.doli.state.mn.us/plumbing.html.

Page 4 • The Catch Basin • Winter 2006 • Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry