How to Get a Contractor License or Registration in Michigan

Step one: decide whether you are a Builder or an M&A Contractor

LARA describes Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980 as covering both the construction of a residential structure or combination residential and commercial structure, and the repair, alteration, addition, subtraction or improvement of such a structure for compensation other than wages for personal labour. The Residential Builder licence sits on the construction side. The Maintenance & Alteration Contractor licence sits on the change side, and is issued craft by craft.

The M&A crafts LARA publishes are carpentry, concrete, excavation, insulation work, masonry, siding, roofing, screens and storm sash, gutters, tile & marble, house wrecking, swimming pools and basement waterproofing. LARA states that "the trades, or crafts for which a maintenance & alteration contractor is qualified to practice are listed on the license", which makes the licence itself the definition of your permitted scope. Choose the crafts against the largest job you intend to sell over the next three years, not the one you are comfortable with today, because the renewal cycle is three years long.

Then decide how many records you actually need. LARA's Licensing Section lists Individual Residential Builder, Maintenance & Alteration (M&A) Contractor, Builder Company, M&A Company, Residential Builder Salesperson and Branch Office licences. A company that trades under an entity generally needs both the company licence and a current individual licence held by its qualifying officer, and LARA warns that "you cannot operate without a qualifying officer" and that the company licence "will be placed in Section 2405 Suspension" if the individual licence is not renewed. If you operate from more than one place of business, ask the Licensing Section about the branch office licence before you open the second address.

Official sources: LARA Bureau of Construction Codes: Residential Builders; LARA Maintenance & Alteration Contractor License Information; LARA Bureau of Construction Codes Licensing Section; LARA BCC License/Registration Renewals

Step two: complete 60 hours of approved prelicensure education

This is the step that sets Michigan apart from most states, and it comes first. LARA states that beginning June 1, 2008, an applicant for a Residential Builder or Maintenance & Alteration Contractor licence "must complete 60 hours of approved prelicensure education prior to taking the examination or submitting a license application to the Department", and that courses "must be preapproved by the Department", from a published Approved Prelicensure Education Course List that is updated as new courses are approved.

LARA fixes the shape of those hours. At least 6 hours must be taken in each of Business Management, Estimating, and Job Costing; Design and Building Science; Contracts, Liability, and Risk Management; Marketing and Sales; Project Management and Scheduling; The Michigan Residential Code; and MIOSHA Construction Safety Standards. That is 42 hours of mandated subjects; LARA states the remaining 18 hours "can come from other topics on the approved course list". If a school offers you a 60-hour package, check it against that seven-subject minimum rather than the total.

The administrative rules govern who may teach it. R 338.1560 requires a prelicensure instructor to be qualified under the statute or by experience and education, including a properly licensed or approved instructor at a school, community college, university, the bureau of construction codes, MIOSHA or another government agency, or someone "currently licensed as a residential builder or maintenance and alteration contractor with at least 3 years of experience in the subject matter being taught". R 338.1562 requires the sponsor to issue a certificate of completion carrying the sponsor name, your name, the completion date, the course name, the course approval number and the number of hours approved for each area of competency, and to retain attendance records for five years. Keep your certificate; it is the only thing that proves the 60 hours.

Official sources: LARA Prelicensure Education Requirements; Michigan Administrative Code R 338.1511 to R 338.1566

Step three: application, good moral character and the PSI examination

After the hours, LARA states that an applicant must submit a completed application and the applicable fee, be of good moral character, and successfully complete the Residential Builder or Maintenance & Alteration Contractor examination once all other requirements are met. Most but not all applications are submitted online through LARA's Accela system; paper forms are published under BCC Forms. Residential Builders licensing moved to the Accela platform on August 26, 2019, and LARA notes that accounts under the previous MyLicense system did not transfer, so an Accela Citizen Access account has to be created and the licence linked to it.

Examinations are administered by PSI, not by the Bureau. LARA states that approved applicants will be contacted by PSI to schedule at one of five PSI testing centres across the state, available six days a week, that applicants choose their centre and day, and that "all examination fees are required to be paid to PSI at the time an examination is scheduled". Since June 1, 2008 examination fees are no longer submitted to the State of Michigan or the Bureau of Construction Codes.

Two hard deadlines sit inside the process. R 338.1521(1) provides that if an applicant fails to complete all application requirements, including any required examination, within one year from the date of first applying, "the application shall be void and the application processing fee shall be forfeited". R 338.1521(2) provides that a passing score on an examination, or on a portion of one given in parts, "shall be valid for 1 year" from the date it was passed. LARA separately warns in capitals that application fees are non-refundable and asks applicants not to submit multiple applications, and states that Licensing Section processing "may be up to 3-5 weeks" with applications reviewed in order of receipt.

Official sources: LARA Prelicensure Education Requirements; LARA Bureau of Construction Codes: Residential Builders; LARA Bureau of Construction Codes Licensing Section; Michigan Administrative Code R 338.1511 to R 338.1566

Step four: keep it, because the three-year cycle is easy to miss

LARA states that an individual Residential Builder or M&A Contractor "must renew every three (3) years by 5/31", that renewal opens 90 days before the expiration date, and that "not all residential builder licenses renew the same year". Renewal costs $150.00. If you do not renew before expiration there is an additional $20.00 late fee, and if you have not renewed within 60 days of the expiration date "the late fee increases to $35.00". Individuals may renew with Express Pay without logging in; builder company, M&A company and branch licences cannot, and must be renewed inside an Accela account.

Continuing education is tiered. LARA requires 21 hours for a first or second renewal cycle and 3 hours for a third or higher cycle, and states that proof is not submitted unless you are audited, though you should keep a copy for your records. Company licence holders are not required to take continuing education for the company licence itself, but the qualifying officer still has to satisfy the requirement on the individual licence that keeps the company licence alive.

R 338.1564 defines what counts. Approved construction code update courses, fire safety and workplace safety courses, courses approved by another state's residential builder board or by a home builder association, distance learning consistent with R 338.1566, teaching an approved prelicensure course, participating in a code hearing conducted by the International Code Council or the bureau of construction codes, and attending a state residential builders board or construction code commission meeting all earn one hour per qualifying hour. A college or university course earns "a minimum of 15 continuing competency hours" per semester credit hour, a passing score on a department-administered comprehensive examination earns five hours, and publishing an article in a trade journal or regional magazine as an expert earns five. Credit is measured at 50 minutes of continuous instruction to the hour.

Official sources: LARA BCC License/Registration Renewals; Michigan Administrative Code R 338.1511 to R 338.1566

What this licence does not cover

A residential builder or M&A licence is not a trade licence. LARA runs separate programmes for plumbing, electrical and mechanical work, each with its own experience ladder. A journey plumber needs "not less than 6,000 hours experience attained over a period of not less than 3 years" as a registered plumbing apprentice, plus both a written and a hands-on practical examination passed on a single application; a master plumber needs 4,000 hours as a journey plumber over not less than two years. A plumbing contractor licence, under the statute LARA cites as MCL 339.6111, requires the applicant to hold a master plumber licence or employ one as a representative, and LARA states that "the contractor license will not be issued without master plumber representation".

The electrical ladder is longer still: an electrical journeyman must be at least 20 years old with 8,000 hours and four years as an electrical apprentice and a passing score of at least 75 percent; a master electrician must be at least 22, hold the journey licence for at least two years with 4,000 hours as a journey, and LARA states the total is "at least 12,000 hours of experience over AT LEAST 6 years". An electrical contractor licence requires no examination but does require an associated master electrician, who must live in Michigan if the applicant lives out of state.

Mechanical is licensed by work classification. LARA requires "a minimum of 3 years experience in each of the work classifications applied for" and an examination passed for each classification desired, across classifications including hydronic heating and cooling and process piping, HVAC equipment, ductwork, refrigeration, limited and unlimited heating service, limited and unlimited refrigeration and air conditioning service, fire suppression, solar heating and cooling, solid fuel and vented decorative gas appliances, LP distribution piping, fuel gas piping, and fuel gas piping and venting. If your business plan includes any of this work, budget the years, not the weeks.

Official sources: LARA Plumbing Examination, Licensing and Application Information; LARA Electrical Examination, Licensing and Application Information; LARA Mechanical Examination, Licensing and Application Information

Check the official page yourself before you file or sign

Michigan publishes its contractor rules across at least four agencies: LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes for the licence, LARA's Corporations Division for the entity, the Department of Treasury for tax registration and returns, and the Workers' Disability Compensation Agency for coverage. No single page carries all of it, and each one changes on its own schedule.

Before you file an application, sign a contract, or hire anyone, open the specific LARA page for your licence type, confirm the hours, the renewal date and the fee, and keep a dated copy of what you read. LARA publishes a licensing phone line at 517-241-9316 and an email address for the Licensing Section, and it warns that "application fees are non-refundable" and that processing "may be up to 3-5 weeks". A ten-minute call before you pay is cheaper than a non-refundable application filed into the wrong licence type.

Official sources: LARA Bureau of Construction Codes Licensing Section; LARA Bureau of Construction Codes: Residential Builders