How apprentice hours are counted in South Dakota
How does each South Dakota trade count and verify apprentice hours?
- Confirm which system your trade counts hours under
- Register the apprentice before the first countable hour
- Log dates, hours, work processes and supervision
- Keep the trade's yearly minimum in view, not just the total
- Keep transcripts or work process records as the proof
Three counting systems, one state
South Dakota counts apprentice hours under three different systems, and the trade decides which one applies. Electrical work counts licensed hours under a commission rule. Plumbing counts documented years under the commission's experience list. Cosmetology and barbering count school hours only, kept by the school as a transcript.
A registered apprenticeship adds a fourth layer that can overlap any of them. Its work process schedule allocates the approximate time spent in each major process, and that schedule is what the program's standards fix.
Mixing the systems is where hours die. School hours do not become electrical hours, and a slow year that misses a trade's yearly minimum cannot be topped up from another trade's ledger.
Registered apprenticeship program standards must include a work process schedule allocating the approximate time spent in each major process. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Electrical hours: licensed, and 2,000 to the year
Electrical hours count only while the registration is live. The State Electrical Commission states that experience hours must be licensed in order for working time to count toward the hours required to take the exams.
The year has a fixed size. ARSD 20:44:16:06 defines one year of experience as 2,000 hours, and the journeyman climb is four years, a total of 8,000 hours.
The log needs the supervisor in it. The statute bars an apprentice from an installation without personal supervision, and the rule splits that into on-site supervision for commercial work and daily supervision otherwise. Hours worked outside that supervision are not licensed hours in any honest ledger.
Electrical experience hours must be licensed for the working time to count toward the hours required to take the exams. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
2,000 hoursThe electrical commission counts one year of experience as 2,000 hours under ARSD 20:44:16:06. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, ARSD 20:44:16:06, retrieved 2026-09-29
8,000 hoursThe State Electrical Commission requires four years as a licensed apprentice, a total of 8,000 hours, before the journeyman exam. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
Under SDCL 36-16-21, an electrical apprentice may not be allowed to work on an installation without personal supervision. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, SDCL 36-16-21, retrieved 2026-09-29
Plumbing hours: the yearly minimum is the trap
Plumbing counts years with a floor. The plumber's license needs four years as an apprentice with at least 1,900 hours in each year, so the proof your apprentice keeps is a year-by-year record, not a running total.
The third-year license converts the same ledger into a credential. Two years of 3,800 total hours under a plumbing contractor, plus a state exam, is what the commission lists.
The specialty trades run on the same idea at half length. Sewer and water, appliance, mobile home, and underground irrigation installers each need two years as that trade's apprentice.
A heavy year does not rescue a light one. The commission publishes a per-year minimum, not an average, so 3,800 hours in one year and 500 in the next is one qualifying year, not two.
1,900 hours per yearA South Dakota plumber's license requires four years as an apprentice plumber with at least 1,900 hours per year. — South Dakota Plumbing Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
3,800 hoursA third-year apprentice plumber's license requires two years as an apprentice, 3,800 hours, under a plumbing contractor. — South Dakota Plumbing Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
2 yearsSewer and water, appliance, mobile home, and underground irrigation installer licenses each require two years' experience as that trade's apprentice. — South Dakota Plumbing Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
School hours: the transcript is the log
The beauty trades log hours in a school's records, not on a job site. Cosmetology applicants complete 1,500 hours of cosmetology education, as shown by transcript from a South Dakota school.
The Commission polices the source. It only accepts training and education documentation from schools or providers it licenses or certifies, though documentation certified by another state's licensing board or a public institution of higher education is accepted subject to review.
The shorter licenses keep the same shape. Esthetics requires 600 hours and nail technology 400 hours, each by transcript, and barbering requires 1,500 hours in a board-approved school under its own statute.
There is no employer ledger to keep here. A salon owner cannot grant or verify training hours, which is the wall the cosmetology page explains.
| Trade | What counts | Who holds the record |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | Licensed hours, 2,000 to a year | Employer and commission |
| Plumbing | Years with 1,900 hours each | Employer and commission |
| Cosmetology | School hours by transcript | The licensed school |
| Barbering | School hours by education record | The approved school |
| Registered program | Time in each work process | The sponsor's schedule |
1,500 hoursA South Dakota cosmetologist license requires 1,500 hours of cosmetology education, as shown by transcript from a South Dakota school. — South Dakota Cosmetology Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
The South Dakota Cosmetology Commission only accepts training and education documentation from schools or providers it licenses or certifies. — South Dakota Cosmetology Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
600 and 400 hoursAn esthetics license requires 600 hours and a nail technology license requires 400 hours of education, each as shown by transcript from a South Dakota school. — South Dakota Cosmetology Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
1,500 hoursUnder SDCL 36-14-13, a registered barber completes 1,500 hours of education or equivalent credit hours in a barber college or school approved by the board. — South Dakota Board of Barber Examiners, SDCL 36-14-13, retrieved 2026-09-29
The registered program's schedule on top
A registered apprenticeship keeps its own count, and it is process-shaped rather than total-shaped. Federal standards require the work process schedule to allocate the approximate time spent in each major process.
The measurement can be time or competence. The state's labor department states that registered programs can be competency based or time based, so a sponsor may prove progression by demonstrated skill rather than by the clock.
For an electrical or plumbing apprentice inside a registered program, the two ledgers can agree. The work process schedule can mirror the commission's hour counts, which is the cleanest way to keep one record serving two systems.
Registered Apprenticeship programs can be competency based or time based. — South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-29
Federal standards require a work process schedule outlining the work processes and the approximate amount of time spent in each major process. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Keeping the log honest
The exam is where a log is tested. Electrical hours arrive at the journeyman exam after 8,000 licensed hours, plumbing years at the plumber's exam, and a padded record surfaces as a failed practical.
Log supervision alongside hours. The electrical rule's on-site and daily supervision distinctions, and the federal program's ratio, are both checks a sponsor may be asked to demonstrate, not just assert.
If your trade's route is still open, read the entry pages first. The electrician route, the plumbing route and the hiring guide each carry the counting rules for their side of the relationship.
8,000 hoursAn electrician apprentice becomes ready for the journeyman exam after four years as a licensed apprentice, a total of 8,000 hours. — South Dakota Electrical Commission, retrieved 2026-09-29
Program standards must include a numeric ratio of apprentices to journeyworkers consistent with proper supervision and training. — 29 CFR 29.5, Cornell LII, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Do hours worked before my electrical registration was issued count?
No. The electrical commission counts only licensed hours toward the exams, so time worked before the registration arrives is lost to the 8,000-hour count.
Can cosmetology hours be earned working in a salon?
No. The Cosmetology Commission only accepts training documentation from schools or providers it licenses or certifies, so salon work does not produce countable hours in South Dakota.
Can a plumbing apprentice bank extra hours from a heavy year?
The commission publishes a per-year minimum of 1,900 hours, not an averaging rule. A heavy year satisfies its own year and does not publish credit toward the next.
Who verifies the hours, the apprentice or the employer?
Both, differently. The commissions approve applications against documented experience, the electrical commission counts licensed hours, and a registered program's sponsor maintains the work process schedule that federal standards require.
Do registered program hours count toward the state licenses too?
They can. A time-based program's work process schedule can mirror the commission's hour counts, so one record can serve both the federal program and the state exam requirement, if the trade's own registration rules are also followed.