FAQs
Frequently asked questions
The questions the chapter office gets most, answered plainly.
IEC is the Independent Electrical Contractors, the national trade association for merit-shop electrical and systems contractors. Chapters run apprenticeship schools on a shared four-year curriculum registered with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The practical difference is who pays and who employs you. In this model you are hired first by an electrical contractor, you earn a full-time paycheck from day one, and your employer pays the instruction fee. You are not a student taking on debt in the hope of a job at the end.
For the four-year apprenticeship, yes. Every apprentice is sponsored by a contractor who employs them full time. That’s the model. The on-the-job hours are half the program.
If you don’t have a contractor yet, contact the chapter office and ask which member companies are hiring. A Career Prep course for people with no experience and no employer is in development but is not running yet.
The sponsoring contractor pays the annual instruction fee. It is billed to the employer, not to you. Contractors can get the current fee from the chapter office.
The apprentice pays nothing for the program. You may need your own hand tools, and some employers supply those as well.
Financial aid and student loans don’t apply here, because there’s no tuition bill in your name to apply them to.
Four years. Across that time you accumulate documented on-the-job training hours with your employer and related classroom instruction on the IEC national curriculum.
You finish with a completion certificate from a nationally recognized program and the documented hours a licensing board wants behind a journeyman application. The license itself is issued by the state or county, not by IEC.
- At least 18 years old
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Valid driver’s license or state ID
- Reliable transportation to work and to class
- Able to read, write and speak English (classes are taught in English)
- Able to perform high-school-level math
- Physically able to perform the work of the trade
- Proof of legal residency if not a U.S. citizen
This apprenticeship program does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, genetic information or disability.
Classes are in session now. The first class met on August 17, 2026. Class meets two evenings a week, Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday, from 4:30 to 7:30 pm or 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
For now, classes are held at member contractors’ locations. They move to the chapter office once the chapter has one. Contact the office about the next intake.
Four things: hire them as a full-time employee at your own wage scale, register them with the chapter for the school year, pay the annual instruction fee, and give them the range of work the curriculum assumes they’re getting.
You also report their on-the-job hours annually, and the chapter reports their grades and attendance back to you. Progression is re-enrolled year by year. You are not locked into four years up front.
Full detail is on the apprenticeship page.
Fair question. IEC Florida First Coast was chartered on July 1, 2026, and its first apprentice class started that August. The membership is still small, which means a contractor who joins now has a direct say in how training, events and the chapter itself develop.
If you have an opinion about what this chapter should be, this is the cheapest time to have it counted.