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PE references: who can sign, and when

Your PE application rests on other people vouching for your work. The NCEES Model Rules ask for five of them, three of them licensed engineers who know your engineering first-hand, and boards that follow them won't act until the last form is back. Who counts, and when to ask, is worth settling long before you apply.

· by the FE → PE Prep team

5

References, NCEES Model Rules

3

Of them, licensed PEs

Never

Relatives, under the Model Rules

Your board

Authority on all of it

Read this first: this is guidance drawn from published rules, not a determination about your application. Licensing boards write their own rules, change them, and apply them case by case. Your board is the only authority on who may serve as your reference. Use this to know what to ask them, not as the answer.

The NCEES model rule

NCEES publishes Model Rules that state boards draw on when they write their own. On references (section 230.30, August 2025) they say four things.

Someone who knows your work

A reference is a person with personal knowledge of you who can assess your experience, ability, character or reputation. For the licensed references, that knowledge has to be of your engineering experience in particular.

Five, three of them licensed

Five references, three of whom are professional engineers, professional surveyors, or other people the board accepts. Engineering applicants need professional engineer references.

Someone for every job

For each employment period, you identify people familiar with your experience in it. A gap with nobody to vouch for it is a gap in the application.

Not family, not the board

Relatives may not be used as references, and no current member of the licensing board may serve as one.

Board by board

The count is where boards differ most, and so is who may fill it. These are the boards we have researched, in each board's own terms. Where a board sets no count, it verifies each job on its own form instead, which is a different mechanism, not a lighter one.

Each board's entry was checked against its own statute, rules or published pages on Sep 24, 2026, and the Model Rules entry against the August 2025 Model Rules on October 11, 2026. Boards change their rules; confirm with yours before you rely on any of it. A state not listed here has its own rules too: start from its board's website.

When to ask, and what to keep

The rules say who may sign. The part that actually delays applications is timing: a reference who has moved on, can't be reached, or never sends the form back. Under the Model Rules, an application can be deferred for questionable references, and it waits for the slowest one.

  • Ask before you list anyone. Under the Model Rules the board sends each reference a form, and you are expected to tell them it is coming.
  • Pick people who answer. Your application can't be acted on until every reference form is back, and one person who never replies holds the whole thing up until they do or you name someone else.
  • Write down their license number, the state that issued it, and how to reach them now, while you still work near them. That is the part that is hardest to recover years later.
  • Line up someone for every job, not just the current one. The Model Rules ask about each employment period, and the boards that verify job by job ask about every job.
  • If you will want a license in a second state, plan on the NCEES Record's stricter list: five references, all licensed U.S. engineers.

What counts as qualifying experience, and how many years each board wants, is in How to document your PE experience.

Common questions

Do all of my PE references have to be licensed engineers?
Not under the NCEES Model Rules: they ask for five references, three of whom must be professional engineers (or professional surveyors, or other people the board accepts) with personal knowledge of your engineering experience. Boards differ. Texas and Florida ask for three references, all licensed PEs; California asks for at least four, from people authorized to practice your branch of engineering; Ohio's five need at least three PEs or professional surveyors. The NCEES Record, which you would mainly use to get licensed in a second state, is stricter again: five references, all engineers licensed in the United States.
Does a reference have to have been my supervisor?
Not as a rule. The Model Rules define a reference as someone with personal knowledge of you who can assess your experience, ability, character or reputation, and they ask you to identify, for every employment period, people familiar with your work in it. Some boards are more specific: Massachusetts wants one of the five to be your current supervisor, and Texas lets a PE who did not work with you review your experience record and serve as one. Washington, Virginia and Illinois verify each job instead: in Washington, by the licensed PE who directly supervised the work.
Can a relative or a coworker be a PE reference?
Not a relative under the Model Rules, which bar relatives outright, and so does California's own rule; check your board's. The Model Rules also bar a current member of the licensing board. A coworker can serve if they have personal knowledge of your engineering work, and, for the references that must be licensed, if they hold the license your board asks for.
When should I ask my references?
Before you list them, and long before that, start keeping their details. Under the Model Rules the board sends each reference a form to complete and return; the board can't act on your application until every form is back; and if a reference doesn't respond, your application waits until they do or you name someone else. So tell people before you name them, pick people who answer their email, and keep their current contact details and license numbers as you go rather than hunting for them the month you apply.
Are PE references confidential?
Under the NCEES Model Rules, references are confidential, nonpublic records that are not disclosed except as the law requires. Your own board's rules decide what that means for your application, so ask them if it matters to you.
Does the NCEES Record need references too?
Yes. The NCEES Record asks for five references who can reflect the character and diversity of your experience and are personally acquainted with your professional reputation, and for an engineer they must be engineers licensed in the United States. Completing the Record is free; NCEES charges when it sends the Record to a board.

Keep your references as you go

Our PE Experience Tracker is free. It keeps your references alongside your jobs, projects, education and exams, and counts them, and your licensed ones, against a summary of your state board's rules (or the NCEES Model Law baseline where we haven't researched your state). Names, license numbers and contact details are encrypted at rest with a key we hold, and it exports for your application.

Open the experience tracker Browse the PE exams

Summarized from the NCEES Model Rules (August 2025) and the NCEES Record requirements, both read on October 11, 2026, and each board's own statutes, rules and published pages, checked on Sep 24, 2026. Boards change their rules and apply them case by case. This is planning guidance, not legal advice and not an official determination. Independent resource; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCEES or any state board.