What is the application process?
We strongly urge you to read the NABCEP Certification Handbook or NABCEP Associate Handbook before you start your application. Once you have read the Handbook, and understand the requirements, there are several steps between starting an application and taking the exam.
1. Fulfill Eligibility Criteria
NABCEP’s Board Certifications require you to meet both experience requirements, and advanced training requirements, before you can take any exam. You will need to provide us with the details of your experience and training, so we recommend that you gather and prepare this information before you open the application. To find out the eligibility requirements, consult the NABCEP Certification Handbook for the Board Certification that interests you. Each one has unique eligibility requirements.
NABCEP Associate Credentials require you to meet education OR experience requirements. See the NABCEP Associate Handbook for these requirements.
2. Complete Application
Once you’ve determined that you meet the eligibility requirements, it’s time to enroll and apply. Collect the following information, click the appropriate enrollment link from the list above, and complete your application in your myNABCEP account. The application workflow will guide you through the application process.
- Contact information — email, address, phone number, date of birth
- Experience — details of the projects you’ve worked on including the address, date of installation, proof of a decision-making role, organization details, permits, final approved inspections, and any other required documentation based on the particular Board Certification
- Advanced Training — course completion documents for courses attended, training provider information, verification of the length of the course, and completion date
- OSHA — course completion documents for either OSHA 10-Hour Training for Construction Industry or OSHA 30-Hour Training for Construction Industry
Once you open an application, it will remain active for 2 years, after which time it will expire.
Tip: To complete the application quickly, gather all of the information and documentation you need before opening it. Otherwise, it might take you multiple sessions to complete your application.
Important Note: All NABCEP notifications are sent via email. To help assure successful delivery of these important communications, add nabcep.certemy.com to your “safe senders” list (white list) and firewall.
3. Application Review
Once you submit your application, we will review it to verify that you meet the eligibility requirements and that your experience and training are valid and consistent with the guidelines stated in the NABCEP Certification Handbook or NABCEP Associate Handbook .
Although the volume of applications can vary significantly throughout the year, NABCEP staff will typically be able to review your application within 5–10 business days, although it may take up to 30 days. Once our review is complete, we will notify you by email to move on to the next step.
If we have any questions or issues with your application, we’ll flag your application and email you. Return to your application in your account and notes will be available in the flagged section regarding what you need to provide to complete your application.
Read Frequently Asked Questions about the application process.
4. Payment
There are two payments involved in the application process for Board Certifications. The first occurs when you submit your application, and the second occurs after your application has been approved and you are scheduling to take the exam. The fastest and easiest way to pay is through our application portal, nabcep.certemy.com.
Once you’ve paid your exam fee, you will receive an email from our testing vendor, Scantron, that includes the instructions and information you will need to schedule your exam. From the date of application approval by NABCEP, you are eligible to take the exam for two years (with the exception of System Inspector exams, which must be taken within 6 months), and you may take it up to four times during that period. NABCEP requires that you wait for a minimum of two weeks between exam attempts.
For Associate Credentials, the application and exam payments are combined into one payment which is due at the time of application submission.
Note: To help ensure successful delivery of Scantron’s scheduling instructions, you should add [email protected] to your “safe senders” list (white list) and firewall.
5. Schedule Exam Appointment
For all certifications and credentials, with the exception of the PV System Inspector and Solar Heating System Inspector exams, your exam will be given via computer-based testing (CBT) at a Meazure Learning testing facility or Live Remote Proctoring (LRP) formats. To view the list of testing sites for CBT, please click here. To view the computer system requirements for LRP, please click here.
For the PV System Inspector and Solar Heating System Inspector exams, you can schedule your exam in a Live Remote Proctoring (LRP) environment through Scantron.
After you’ve completed all of the steps above, the only thing left to do is take the exam. Good luck!
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