| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Evening trade school; in person only, no online classes |
| Campus | 1: Lexington, KY |
| Programs | HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical |
| Length | About 9 months to 1 year (HVAC), 1 year (Plumbing), 2 years (Electrical) |
| Credential | Program completion toward Kentucky journeyman licenses; the school does not name a diploma or certificate |
| Accreditation | No institutional accreditation; listed as licensed by the Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education for July 2025 to June 2026 |
| Federal aid | No |
| Cost | $8,000 (HVAC, Plumbing) or $12,000 (Electrical) for the whole program, books and tools included |
| Operator | Building Industry Association of Central Kentucky, a nonprofit builders’ association founded in 1952; school opened September 2014 |
| Facts checked | October 2026 |
An evening trade school run by Lexington’s builders’ association
The Building Institute of Central Kentucky is a small evening trade school operated by the Building Industry Association of Central Kentucky, a nonprofit association of home builders, remodelers, contractors and suppliers. The association was called the Home Builders Association of Lexington until 2016, and it opened the school in September 2014 to help builders recruit workers, as WEKU reported at the time. The school teaches three trades, HVAC, plumbing and electrical, at one campus in Lexington. Classes run in the evening because students typically work for trade companies during the day, and each program is built around Kentucky’s journeyman license rules. The association’s 2024 presentation gives room for about 103 students and counts 67 graduates in the 2024 school year. Online classes are not offered.
Three evening programs
| Program | Length | Schedule | Instruction | Counts toward | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC | About 9 months to 1 year, depending on start | Mon–Thu, 6–9 pm | 312 hours | Kentucky journeyman HVAC license; EPA 608 testing included | $8,000 |
| Plumbing | 1 year | Mon–Thu, 6–9 pm | Not stated (state minimum for its programs: 288 hours) | Kentucky journeyman plumber license | $8,000 |
| Electrical | 2 years | 2 evenings a week, 6–9 pm | Not stated | Kentucky journeyman electrician license | $12,000 |
The school does not name a diploma or certificate for any program; it describes students as graduating ready to take the state journeyman exam once they meet Kentucky’s other requirements. Instructors hold master or journeyman licenses or own trade companies, according to the school. All three programs are on the state’s list of KEES workforce-qualified programs (see the cost section). The association’s 2024 presentation says the school ran carpentry and property maintenance programs in its first years but dropped both by 2017, and that state approval in 2019 shortened HVAC and Plumbing from two years to one and Electrical from four years to two.
What the main programs cover
HVAC
The HVAC program has 312 hours of instruction over about nine months to a year, depending on when a student starts, on four evenings a week. The school’s HVAC page lists safety standards, EPA requirements, core foundation skills, and residential and commercial heating and cooling, taught in lectures and hands-on labs. EPA 608 refrigerant testing takes place before graduation. The course alone does not make a student a journeyman: Kentucky’s 2019 HVAC licensing law requires two years of HVAC work and lets one academic year in an approved curriculum count as one of them.
Plumbing
The plumbing year mixes residential and commercial plumbing theory with lab work, including video drain inspection and backflow testing, on Monday to Thursday evenings. The school says the program prepares students to pass the journeyman’s test if they fulfill the other requirements. Under Kentucky’s plumbing license regulation, that means a department-approved course plus one year as an apprentice plumber, instead of two consecutive years. The school says the state has approved it to license students “in half the time”, but we found no state list of approved courses, so confirm with the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction.
Electrical
The two-year Electrical program meets two evenings a week and teaches the Kentucky electrical codes for residential and commercial installation. A journeyman electrician license in Kentucky needs 8,000 hours of experience, or 4,000 hours plus 576 hours of approved classroom training, according to the state licensing checklist. The school does not state the program’s own classroom hours; it says only that Kentucky requires at least 288 classroom hours for its programs. Ask how many hours the two years add up to and whether they qualify for the 576-hour route.
Tuition: one price per program, tools included
| Program | Tuition, whole program |
|---|---|
| HVAC | $8,000 |
| Plumbing | $8,000 |
| Electrical | $12,000 |
The school charges one price per program, with no member, employer or residency rates. Its tuition page says the price covers classroom instruction, textbooks, safety equipment, school supplies, field trips, lab fees, pre-graduation certificates such as EPA 608, and the tools and equipment used at the school. Payment plans are available. The page shows no effective date or school year, so confirm the current price before enrolling, and ask whether state license exam fees are extra.
The school is not eligible for federal student aid, so Pell Grants and federal student loans cannot be used. All three programs appear on KHEAA’s 2024-25 list of KEES workforce-related qualified programs, so Kentucky students who earned KEES scholarship money in high school may be able to use it here; check the current list. The school says no one has been turned away for financial reasons and that it helps students look for grants.
Who can enroll and when classes meet
Enrollment is open to students of any age, and a high school diploma or GED is not required, but students must be able to read, write and handle basic math. To be hired by a company while studying, students must be 18, hold a driver’s license and have reliable transportation. New students start in September or January. Classes run in blocks of five weeks followed by a one-week break, and the association’s presentation gives the school year as September to May.
Classes meet from 6 to 9 pm: Monday to Thursday for HVAC and Plumbing, two evenings a week for Electrical. The school says it is not a placement service; once students have enrolled and paid, it gives them a list of companies that may be hiring.
Licensed by the state, not accredited
The Building Institute has no institutional accreditation. It was listed as a resident school licensed by the Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education for July 2025 to June 2026; we did not find the 2026-27 list. It does not take federal student aid.
The results below are school-reported; we found no audited or state-published rates. On its About page it reports a job placement rate of over 95% after the first semester for eligible students, without a year or a definition of “eligible”.
The association’s 2024 presentation reports a 100% pass rate on the journeyman HVAC, electrical and plumbing exams for the last class to graduate before the presentation, and says three plumbing students passed on a free retake. The school publishes no completion rate. We found no student reviews of the school on Niche, Trustpilot or GradReports (October 2026).
Before you enroll
- The program alone does not license you. Each Kentucky journeyman license also needs work experience, which students build in daytime jobs; confirm your route with Kentucky’s Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction before you start.
- There is no federal aid and no institutional accreditation. Plan to pay through savings, the payment plan or KEES, and ask any college you may attend later whether it would credit these hours.
- The results are the school’s own: the 95% placement figure has no year or definition, the 100% pass rate covers one class, and no completion rate is published.
- Classes take three hours, four evenings a week for HVAC and Plumbing, on top of a daytime job for students working in the trade. There are no online classes.
- The tuition page carries no date. Confirm the current price and what is included before you sign up.
One campus on Kennedy Road
All classes and labs are at 650 Kennedy Rd, Lexington, KY 40511. The school opened on Trade Street in 2014, moved to 109 West Loudon in 2018 and to Kennedy Road in 2022, according to the association’s 2024 presentation. The school’s phone number is (859) 788-3818. The association’s own office at 3146 Custer Drive is not a campus.
Facts checked October 2026.
Programs & Courses
Evening trade programs (Lexington)
- Electrical Training Program (2 years)
- HVAC Training Program (9 months to 1 year, 312 hours)
- Plumbing Training Program (1 year)
Campus Locations
Lexington, KY 650 Kennedy Rd, Lexington, KY 40511