Journeyman, master, and foreman get used almost interchangeably in everyday trade conversation, but they're answering two completely different questions. Journeyman and master describe what someone is legally licensed to do on their own. Foreman describes who's in charge of a specific crew on a specific job -- a role, not a license. Mixing these up is common, but the distinction matters for anyone deciding what's next in their career, or any contractor trying to staff a job correctly.
A journeyman has completed an apprenticeship -- typically several years of supervised, on-the-job training plus classroom hours -- and passed a state licensing exam. That license lets them legally perform the trade's core work without direct supervision. What a journeyman generally can't do is pull permits or run a job under their own name; in most states, only a master-licensed individual can be the license holder of record on a permit. A journeyman is often highly experienced -- they're just still operating under someone else's license and business.
A master license is the tier above journeyman, earned after logging a required number of years working as a journeyman (the exact number varies by state and trade) and passing a more advanced exam. This is the license that actually lets someone pull permits in their own name, legally operate as the contractor of record on a job, start and run their own company, and take on and supervise journeymen and apprentices. In plain terms: journeyman means you can do the work. Master means you can be legally responsible for the work -- and build a business around it.
This is where people usually mix things up. Foreman isn't a licensing tier at all -- it's a leadership role on a specific job site. A foreman is whoever's been put in charge of coordinating a crew: assigning tasks, keeping the schedule on track, being the point of contact between the crew and the office. A foreman can be a journeyman. A foreman can be a master. What actually determines who gets the role is experience and leadership ability, not which license they're holding -- a larger contractor might have several foremen running different crews at once, some journeyman-licensed, some master-licensed, all reporting back to the same license holder.
Stamptd tracks permits the moment they're filed, before a property owner has hired anyone, so contractors know exactly where real work is happening. For a master running their own shop, live permit data is a direct pipeline -- a real-time list of people who need what you do, ranked by actual filing activity, not paid placement. For a journeyman weighing the next step toward going out on their own, seeing what's actually getting permitted nearby gives a genuine read on where the work is. For a foreman juggling crew schedules across multiple jobs, visibility into what's coming down the pipeline helps with planning ahead -- which trades are in demand right now, and where the next wave of work is likely to land.
Both are licensing tiers, but they allow different things. A journeyman is licensed to perform a trade's work independently but not to hold a permit or run a job under their own name. A master has completed additional required years of experience and a more advanced exam, and can pull permits, act as the contractor of record, and run their own company.
No -- foreman isn't a license at all. It's a job role: whoever is put in charge of leading a crew on a specific job site. A foreman can hold either a journeyman or master license underneath that title; the role is assigned based on experience and leadership, not a separate licensing tier above master.
Yes. Since foreman is a job role rather than a licensing level, a journeyman with enough experience and leadership ability can absolutely be assigned to run a crew as foreman, even though they aren't licensed to pull permits or be the contractor of record.
In most states, yes -- a master license is generally what's required to legally pull permits and act as the contractor of record on a job. Requirements vary by state and trade, so it's worth confirming the specific rule in your licensing jurisdiction.
Stamptd tracks construction permits as they're filed, before a property owner has hired anyone, and surfaces them as a live, ranked feed with owner and contractor contact info attached. That gives masters running their own business a direct pipeline of real leads, and gives journeymen and foremen visibility into where work is actually happening in their market.