Michigan · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Michigan licenses residential remodeling at the state level. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes, issues the Residential Builder license and the Maintenance and Alteration Contractor license under Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980. Any job of $600 or more in labor and materials needs one. Sixty hours of prelicensure education come first.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Michigan licenses remodeling from Lansing, not from city hall. The authority is the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes, Licensing Section. The governing law is Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980, the Occupational Code, which was written to license and regulate people who construct residential structures and people who repair, alter, add to, subtract from or improve a residential structure for compensation other than wages for personal labor. Article 24 also created the Residential Builders' and Maintenance and Alteration Contractors' Board. That board has nine members: four licensed residential builders, two licensed maintenance and alteration contractors, and three members representing the general public. One state license covers the whole state, so a remodeler working Oakland County and a remodeler working Kent County hold the same credential. Applications go to the Bureau by mail at P.O. Box 30255, Lansing, or online through Accela at aca-prod.accela.com/LARA. The Bureau says processing may take three to five weeks, that applications are reviewed in the order they arrive, and that application fees are not refundable. The licensing phone line is 517-241-9316. Residential builder licensing moved off the old MyLicense system onto Accela on August 26, 2019, and a licensee who never linked an existing license to an Accela account has to do that before renewing. One limit worth knowing: the Bureau licenses residential builders, not commercial builders. A remodeler who takes a commercial tenant build-out is outside Article 24 on that job, though the state construction code and local permits still apply.
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An individual picks one of two licenses and cannot hold both. The Individual Residential Builder license allows you to build a complete residential structure and to do maintenance and alteration work, which is the term Michigan uses for remodeling. The Maintenance and Alteration Contractor license, written M&A, licenses you only in the specific trades you check on the application. The application form states it plainly: you may hold either an Individual Residential Builder license or an M&A license, you cannot apply for both, and an M&A applicant must select at least one trade but not all trades. For a remodeling company whose typical job crosses framing, concrete, roofing and tile, the builder license is the wider authority and the simpler answer. For a contractor who only reroofs or only pours flatwork, the M&A license in that trade is enough. The definitions sit in MCL 339.2401. A residential builder is a person who, for a fixed sum, price, fee, percentage, valuable consideration or other compensation other than wages for personal labor only, undertakes the erection, construction, replacement, repair, alteration, addition to, subtraction from, improvement, wrecking or demolition of a residential structure or a combination residential and commercial structure. A residential maintenance and alteration contractor is defined around the same repair and alteration work, plus building a garage, laying concrete on residential property, and the purchase, substantial rehabilitation or improvement, and resale of a residential structure. That last clause pulls house flippers into Article 24.
MCL 339.2404(3) lists the crafts and trades an M&A license can carry: carpentry; concrete; swimming pool installation; waterproofing a basement; excavation; insulation work; masonry work; roofing; siding and gutters; screen or storm sash installation; tile and marble work; and house wrecking. The statute says the license shall specify the particular craft or trade for which the licensee is qualified. The current application form prints the same list as checkboxes with letter codes: Carpentry (A), Concrete (B), Excavation (D), Insulation Work (G), Masonry (I), Siding (K), Roofing (M), Screens and Storm Sash (N), Gutters (O), Tile and Marble (P), House Wrecking (R), Swimming Pools (S) and Basement Waterproofing (T). The same subsection carries a rule that decides real jobs. A specialty contractor is not prohibited from taking and executing a contract that involves the trade he is licensed in plus one or more other trades, if the work in the other trade is incidental and supplemental to the licensed trade. A roofing M&A contractor replacing rotted fascia during a reroof sits inside that rule. The same contractor framing a dormer addition does not. LARA publishes the trade list on its homeowner page and on a dedicated M&A page, and tells homeowners that the trades an M&A contractor may practice are printed on the license. Your customer can read your card and see exactly where your authority stops.
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MCL 339.2403 lists who may work without an Article 24 license. An authorized representative of the United States, the state, or a county, township, city or village. An owner of property working on a structure for the owner's own use and occupancy. An owner of rental property doing maintenance and alteration on that rental property. An officer of a court acting within that office. A person other than a salesperson who engages solely in performing work and services under contract with a licensed residential builder or licensed M&A contractor, which is the subcontractor path. A person working one undertaking or project under one or more contracts where the aggregate contract price for labor, material and any other item is less than $600. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical contractors licensed under the Skilled Trades Regulation Act, but only for their own trade work. The $600 exemption has teeth removed from it: it does not apply if the construction work is only part of a larger operation, whether taken by the same or a different contractor, or if the operation is divided into contracts of less than $600 to evade the act. So you cannot write four $550 contracts for one kitchen. LARA states the practical version on its homeowner page: all contractors offering to do work totaling $600 or more in labor and materials must be licensed by the Department. For a remodeler that threshold is low enough that almost every real job is covered.
Michigan does not ask for documented field years. It asks for classroom hours and good moral character. Since June 1, 2008, an applicant for a Residential Builder or M&A Contractor license must complete 60 hours of approved prelicensure education before taking the examination or submitting an application. MCL 339.2404b(1) and the Bureau's own page set the subject floor at 6 hours in each of these areas: business management, estimating and job costing; design and building science; contracts, liability and risk management; marketing and sales; project management and scheduling; the current Michigan Residential Code; and construction safety standards promulgated under the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act. The remaining 18 hours come from other topics on the approved course list. Courses must be preapproved by the Department, and the approved course list is updated as programs are added. The Bureau says 60-hour prelicensure certificates do not expire if the course was taken after June 1, 2008, and that courses taken before that date do not count. Beyond the hours, an applicant must submit a completed application with the fee, be of good moral character, and pass the examination once the other requirements are met. A veteran may request a waiver of the 60 hours by submitting a signed letter from a commanding officer, supervisor or military superior with direct knowledge of the applicant's experience in the covered subjects. Anyone who held a license on June 1, 2008 and is renewing is exempt from the prelicensure requirement.
The State of Michigan contracts with PSI Services LLC to run the Bureau of Construction Codes examination program, delivered at computer testing centers in Michigan. The sequence matters: you apply for licensure first, and only after the Department approves you to test does your information go to PSI. The Bureau says PSI should contact you within 10 business days so you can pay and schedule. Applications are good for one year from the date of first review, and failing to pass all required exams inside that year means reapplying and forfeiting fees paid. Residential Builder Salesperson applicants are the exception: they test before applying. While PSI schedules and proctors, the exams are written by Bureau of Construction Codes staff and are based on the code, law and rules governing the trade. PSI's Michigan handbook gives the specifications for the Residential Builder examination: 160 total questions, of which 50 are the Business and Law section, a 240-minute time limit, and a passing raw score of 116. The examination is closed book and no reference materials are allowed in the center. The Business and Law section is required for both the Residential Builder and the M&A Contractor license. Its 50 questions include regulatory and statutory requirements (13 questions), contracts (7 questions), types of business organization (4 questions) and estimating (1 question), among others. The Practice and Trade section runs 110 questions. Up to ten unscored experimental questions may be added without being identified.
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The Bureau publishes one fee schedule for residential builder and M&A licensing. Application for a residential builder or maintenance and alteration contractor license is $195. Application for a residential salesperson or branch office license is $195. A qualifying officer change is $10. A name or address change is $10. Renewal for builder, M&A, sales or branch office is $150. Late renewal is $170. Relicensure is $185. The application form confirms the same numbers from the applicant side and adds the veteran path: an Individual Residential Builder or Individual M&A Contractor application fee is waived for a veteran who submits a copy of a DD-214 showing honorable discharge or honorable character of service. Checks and money orders go to the State of Michigan, and application fees are not refundable, so submitting duplicate applications only slows the queue. Examination money is separate and goes to PSI when you schedule, not to the state. PSI's Michigan handbook lists the Residential Builder Practice/Trade and Business/Law combination at $117 for first-time testing and $117 for a retest. The M&A Contractor trade and business/law combination runs $70 for one portion, $99 for two portions and $114 for three portions, with retests priced the same. The salesperson examination is $85 first time and $85 for a retest. PSI registration fees are not refundable or transferable and are good for one year from the date of registration.
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Your individual license is not your company's license. The Bureau's FAQ draws the line: a sole proprietor may operate on an individual license, but forming a corporation, limited liability company or partnership creates a new legal person that must obtain its own Residential Builder or M&A Contractor company license. Register the entity with the Corporations Division first. MCL 339.2405 then requires the entity to designate one of its officers, partners, members or its managing agent as a qualifying officer. That person passes the examination, meets the other Article 24 requirements, and must also hold and maintain an individual license. The qualifying officer is responsible for exercising the supervision or control of building and construction operations needed to secure full compliance with Article 24. The Department will not license the entity unless each partner, trustee, director, officer or member, and each person exercising control over it, is at least 18 and meets the license requirements other than those on knowledge and experience. The suspension rules are strict. If the qualifying officer's license or application is suspended, revoked or denied, the company license is suspended until the board decides the disability is removed. If the qualifying officer ceases to be the qualifying officer, the license is suspended, though the Department may on request let it stand for a reasonable time while a new qualifying officer qualifies. A licensee on inactive status cannot serve as qualifying officer. MCL 339.2404(4) also requires a place of business in Michigan, with a branch office license issued for each additional place of business.
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There is a gap here that surprises contractors coming from other states. The published text of Article 24 sets no surety bond amount and no minimum general liability insurance limit for a residential builder or an M&A contractor, and the Bureau's license application asks for neither. Nothing in the fee schedule covers a bond. What does apply comes from outside Article 24. Workers compensation is the hard one. MCL 418.115 applies the Worker's Disability Compensation Act of 1969 to all private employers, other than agricultural employers, who regularly employ 3 or more employees at one time, and to private employers who regularly employ fewer than 3 if at least one of them has been regularly employed by that same employer for 35 or more hours per week for 13 weeks or longer during the preceding 52 weeks. A remodeling crew of three working steadily is squarely inside that. The second pressure comes from the demand side rather than the statute. LARA's own homeowner guidance tells Michigan homeowners that their contract should include a guarantee that the contractor carries liability insurance and has workers compensation coverage in case of accidents on the job. Your customers are being coached by the state to ask for proof, and general contractors and local permit counters commonly ask as well. Treat certificates of insurance as a sales document, not just a compliance file, because in Michigan they are not what the license turns on.
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MCL 339.2404(5) sets the license term at 3 years. On renewal, MCL 339.2404(6) requires the applicant to state that he or she has a current copy of the Michigan Residential Code and meets the continuing competency requirements, and MCL 339.2404(7) requires the licensee to keep documentation of qualifying activities for at least 5 years. The hours depend on when you were first licensed. Under MCL 339.2404b(2), a licensee who got an initial license on or after January 1, 2009 must complete at least 21 hours of continuing competency activities in each 3-year cycle, including at least 3 hours in each calendar year during the first 6 calendar years of licensure, and at least 3 hours on applying state building codes and laws, safety, and changes in construction and business management laws. The Bureau's renewal sheet spells out the rest: a licensee originally licensed before January 1, 2009 needs 1 hour on building codes and laws, 1 hour on safety and 1 hour on changes in construction and business management laws every 3 years, and a licensee first licensed after January 1, 2009 who is past 6 years of licensure needs the same 3 hours every 3 years. Qualifying activities are broad: approved prelicensure courses, Bureau code update courses, MIOSHA safety courses, college courses, seminars and trade association presentations, publishing a trade journal article, attending a Board or Construction Code Commission meeting, ICC code hearings, and school-sponsored mentoring. Distance learning counts. Nothing is filed unless you are audited. Renewal is $150 and late renewal is $170.
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Michigan does not trade licenses. The Bureau's FAQ states that Michigan does not hold reciprocal agreements with any other state, and that an individual licensed elsewhere must meet every Michigan requirement for an individual builder or M&A contractor license. There is no shortcut for a contractor with twenty years in Ohio or Indiana: 60 hours of approved prelicensure education, the application and fee, good moral character, and the PSI examination. A nonresident may hold a Michigan license. MCL 339.2406 says a nonresident may become a licensee by conforming with Article 24, that a license will not issue to a foreign corporation unless it is authorized to do business in Michigan, and that the nonresident must file a notarized irrevocable consent to service of process. The Bureau asks for that form with the out-of-state address, and the application still requires a physical Michigan business address that is not a post office box, paired with the place-of-business requirement in MCL 339.2404(4). Letting a license lapse creates a separate path. The Bureau describes relicensure for a license expired from 61 days to 3 years as filing the relicensure application and fees and being of good moral character, at a $185 fee. For a license lapsed more than 3 years, add completion of 60 hours of approved prelicensure education and passing the current examination. An out-of-state company registers with the Corporations Division first, then files the company licensure application with the applicable $195 fee.
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The penalties under Article 24 are unusually heavy, and they are aimed at residential builders and M&A contractors specifically. MCL 339.601(1) bars practicing a regulated occupation without a license. MCL 339.601(6) then carves residential builders and M&A contractors out of the ordinary misdemeanor schedule. A first offense is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $5,000 or more than $25,000, or imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both. A second or subsequent offense carries the same fine range and up to 2 years. An offense that causes death or serious injury is a felony punishable by the same fine range and up to 4 years. The trier of fact must also order restitution where a violation is found. MCL 339.601(3) treats a person whose license is suspended, revoked or lapsed, according to department records, as unlicensed, so a missed renewal is not a technicality. The commercial consequences are in MCL 339.2412. An unlicensed person cannot bring or maintain an action in a Michigan court to collect compensation for work requiring an Article 24 license without alleging and proving licensure during performance. An unlicensed person cannot impose or take legal action to impose a lien on real property. A prosecuting attorney or the attorney general may bring a civil action for a civil fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $25,000, aside from civil damages or restitution.
Two bodies of law shape a Michigan remodeling contract. Article 24 makes contract failures a licensing matter. MCL 339.2411(2)(h) subjects a licensee to penalty for failure to deliver to the purchaser the entire agreement of the parties, including any finance or other charge arising out of or incidental to the agreement, on work involving repair, alteration, addition, subtraction, improvement, wrecking or demolition of a residential structure, building a garage, or laying concrete on residential property. MCL 339.2411(2)(f) covers failure to furnish a lender the purchaser's signed completion certificate on an M&A contract. MCL 339.2411(1) gives a homeowner 18 months after completion, occupancy or purchase, or after issuance of the certificate of occupancy or closing, to file a complaint. The rescission right comes from the Home Solicitation Sales Act, 1971 PA 227. MCL 445.111(a) defines a home solicitation sale as a sale of goods or services of more than $25 where the seller solicits, the buyer receives the solicitation at the buyer's residence, and the buyer's agreement or offer to purchase is given there. MCL 445.113 requires a written agreement dated the day the buyer actually signs, carrying a cancellation statement in immediate proximity to the signature line and a duplicate notice of cancellation. The buyer may cancel at any time before midnight of the third business day after the transaction date, and the seller may not have a courier collect payment before that window closes. Business day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and the listed holidays. Exceptions include an emergency the buyer asks you to handle without delay and a sale that followed prior negotiations at your fixed business location.
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Michigan treats customer money as a trust. MCL 570.151 provides that in the building construction industry, the building contract fund paid by any person to a contractor, or by that person or contractor to a subcontractor, is a trust fund for the benefit of the person making the payment and of contractors, laborers, subcontractors and materialmen, and that the contractor or subcontractor is the trustee of those funds. MCL 570.152 makes it a felony for a contractor who, with intent to defraud, retains or uses any part of a payment for any purpose other than first paying the laborers, subcontractors and materialmen engaged on that specific improvement while amounts owed remain unpaid, punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $5,000 and imprisonment of not less than 6 months nor more than 3 years. Article 24 adds its own grounds: MCL 339.2411(2)(b) covers diversion of funds received for a specific project, and (2)(c) covers failure to account for or remit money belonging to others. On the consumer side, LARA tells homeowners never to pay for the entire job in advance, to make a deposit when work begins to cover materials and startup, to pay by check written to the company name, to always get a receipt, and to make scheduled payments as work progresses. There is no state safety net behind that advice. The Homeowner Construction Lien Recovery Fund, created by 1980 PA 497, was abolished in August 2010, as LARA's own residential builders page states.
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Michigan's display rule is physical rather than promotional. LARA's homeowner page states that the holder's state license must be displayed in the place of business, and that all contractors and their salespersons must carry a pocket card that the homeowner should ask to see. The same page tells homeowners that the contract should start with the company name, address and phone number and the full name and license number of the builder or contractor and of the salesperson, so the license number belongs on every written agreement you hand a Michigan homeowner. On advertising, the published text of Article 24 contains no provision requiring a license number in advertisements, on vehicles or on a website, and sets no penalty for omitting one. PSI's Michigan handbook does list advertising among the regulations governing conduct and penalties tested in the Business and Law section, which points at board rules rather than the statute, so confirm current rule text with the Bureau before building ad copy around the absence. On wording, the license is what lets you call yourself a licensed residential builder or a licensed maintenance and alteration contractor in the trades printed on your license, and nothing more. Verification is public. The Bureau's lookup runs on Accela Citizen Access and searches by name, business name, license type, license number, or city and state, with Residential Builder among the license types. LARA also routes consumers through its Find or Verify a Licensed Professional or Business page, where Residential Builder sits under Skilled Trades.
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Michigan runs one construction code statewide, which spares remodelers the patchwork other states live with. The Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, 1972 PA 230, MCL 125.1501 to 125.1531, has the director prepare and promulgate the state construction code. MCL 125.1504(2) builds that code from the International Residential Code, International Building Code, International Mechanical Code, International Plumbing Code, International Existing Building Code and International Energy Conservation Code published by the International Code Council, plus the National Electrical Code, with state amendments, additions or deletions. Code compliance is a license matter, not just a permit matter. MCL 339.2411(2)(m) makes workmanship that fails to meet the Michigan Residential Code promulgated under that act grounds for penalty against your license, and MCL 339.2411(2)(e) makes a willful violation of the building laws of the state or of a political subdivision of the state grounds for penalty too. That second clause is how a local ordinance reaches your state license. The local layer still exists. The Bureau's FAQ states that certain municipalities may have additional requirements, that Bureau staff cannot advise on them, and that you must contact the specific municipality. Permits and inspections come from the local enforcing agency. LARA tells homeowners the contract should state that the contractor will obtain all required building permits and variances before work begins, and explains that an inspector then confirms the finished job meets code and makes the contractor responsible for corrections.
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These are common details other guides publish about Michigan, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
At the state level. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Construction Codes, issues the Residential Builder and Maintenance and Alteration Contractor licenses under Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980. Cities still issue building permits and some add their own registration, but the license itself is statewide and comes from Lansing.
You cannot hold both. The Individual Residential Builder license covers building a complete residential structure plus all remodeling work. The M&A license covers only the trades you select, such as carpentry, roofing or concrete. If your jobs cross several trades, the builder license is the wider authority and avoids arguments about scope.
MCL 339.2403 exempts one undertaking or project where the aggregate contract price for labor, material and any other item is under $600. The exemption fails if the work is part of a larger operation or if the job is split into contracts under $600 to evade the act. LARA states that work totaling $600 or more requires a license.
Sixty hours of approved prelicensure education, required since June 1, 2008. At least 6 hours each in 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. The other 18 hours come from approved topics.
PSI delivers it after the Department approves you to test. The Residential Builder examination has 160 questions, 50 of them in the Business and Law section, a 240-minute limit and a passing raw score of 116. It is closed book with no reference materials allowed. Bureau of Construction Codes staff write the questions.
The Bureau's schedule lists $195 to apply for a residential builder or M&A license, $195 for a salesperson or branch office license, $150 to renew, $170 for late renewal, $185 for relicensure, and $10 for a qualifying officer or name and address change. The PSI builder exam is $117. Veteran application fees are waived.
The published text of Article 24 sets no bond amount and no minimum liability insurance limit, and the license application asks for neither. Workers compensation is separate: MCL 418.115 covers private employers with 3 or more employees, or fewer than 3 where one has worked 35 hours weekly for 13 weeks in the past year.
Three years under MCL 339.2404(5). A licensee first licensed on or after January 1, 2009 needs 21 hours of continuing competency each cycle, with at least 3 hours per calendar year through the first six years. After that, and for anyone licensed earlier, it is 3 hours every cycle covering codes and laws, safety, and law changes.
No. The Bureau states Michigan holds no reciprocal agreements with any other state, so you complete the 60 prelicensure hours, apply, and pass the Michigan exam. A nonresident may still be licensed under MCL 339.2406 by filing a notarized irrevocable consent to service of process, and the application requires a physical Michigan business address.
MCL 339.601(6) makes a first offense a misdemeanor with a fine of $5,000 to $25,000 and up to a year in jail, rising to two years on a repeat and a felony with up to four years if someone is killed or seriously injured. Under MCL 339.2412 you also cannot sue to collect or place a lien.
Yes, when the deal is a home solicitation sale. Under MCL 445.113, for a sale over $25 solicited and signed at the buyer's residence, the buyer may cancel before midnight of the third business day. You must date the agreement the day they sign, print the cancellation statement by the signature, and attach a duplicate cancellation notice.
Not anymore. The Homeowner Construction Lien Recovery Fund, created by 1980 PA 497, was abolished in August 2010, as LARA's residential builders page states. A homeowner's remedies are a complaint to the Bureau of Construction Codes, the local building inspector on code and workmanship issues, Small Claims Court, and ordinary contract claims.
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