The short answer
You can verify any Texas plumber in about two minutes using the license search on the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners website. Ask the company for its license number, search it, and confirm the license is active and the type matches the work. X-Act Plumbing operates under Texas Master Plumber license RMP-44569, held by owner Daniel Clayburn — search it before you call if you like.
Why this is worth two minutes
Plumbing is one of the trades where the license actually gates something. An unlicensed person can't pull a permit, which means the work can't be inspected, which means nobody independent ever looks at the gas connection or the vent. That's the real exposure. It isn't about credentialism — it's that the permit and the license are the same system, and losing one loses the other.
It also tends to surface at the worst time. Unpermitted work shows up during a buyer's inspection, years later, when you're under contract and have nothing to push back with.
The Texas license ladder
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| Apprentice | Registered and learning, works under supervision |
| Tradesman Plumber | Licensed for certain residential work, under a Master's responsibility |
| Journeyman Plumber | Licensed to perform plumbing work under a Master's responsibility |
| Master Plumber | Passed the Master exam; can hold a company's license |
| Responsible Master Plumber | The Master a company operates under — permits are issued against this license |
Daniel Clayburn worked as an apprentice at 18, then journeyman, superintendent, and project manager across 14 years before sitting for the Master exam. That progression is the normal path, and it's slow on purpose.
How to run the search
Go to the TSBPE site and open the license search. Enter the license number if you have it, or the individual's name. Read three fields: license type, status, and expiration. Active is what you want. If the status reads anything else, ask about it directly rather than assuming the worst — administrative lapses happen — but get an answer before work starts.
One practical note. Company names and license holder names often differ, because the license belongs to a person and the business is an entity. If you search the company and find nothing, ask who the Responsible Master Plumber is and search that name instead. That's not evasive; that's how the system is built.
What licensing doesn't tell you
Here's the honest limit. A license confirms someone passed an exam and is accountable to a state board. It says nothing about whether they show up when they said they would, explain what they found, or clean up after themselves. Plenty of licensed plumbers are mediocre at the parts of the job that aren't technical.
So use the license as a filter, not a verdict. It removes the people who shouldn't be in your house at all. After that you're judging the same things you'd judge in any trade: did the estimate make sense, did they answer the question you actually asked, did the price change after the work started.
What to do if the license doesn't check out
Don't argue about it on the phone. Thank them, hang up, and call someone else. There's no version of this where you talk a contractor into being licensed, and the conversation usually turns into an explanation about a lapsed renewal or a license held by a partner who's unavailable today.
If work has already been done by someone unlicensed, that's a different problem and it's worth getting a licensed plumber to inspect it — particularly anything involving gas, venting, or a water heater. You're not looking to redo everything. You're looking for the specific things that would fail an inspection or hurt somebody.
The three questions worth asking on the phone
What's your license number. Are you pulling the permit for this. Can you send a certificate of insurance. All three are routine for a licensed company and slightly uncomfortable for one that isn't. You'll hear the difference in the pause before the answer. None of it takes more than a minute, and it happens before anyone is standing in your kitchen quoting a number.
X-Act Plumbing works across Red Oak, Waxahachie, Midlothian, Ferris, Kaufman, and the rest of Ellis and Kaufman counties. Reach us at (469) 505-8362 or through the contact page.