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How do you check a contractor license in Michigan?

Michigan's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, LARA, licenses residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors for home building and remodeling work. Its Helpful Information for Homeowners page, listed in the sources below, points homeowners to the department's License Information database to look one up.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

The license lookup is yours to run on the state's site.

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By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Sources last read: 22 October 2026

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Key facts

Trade license pages

Where is Michigan's lookup for a contractor license?

Start from LARA's Helpful Information for Homeowners page, listed in the sources below: it names the department's License Information database as the place to look when a contractor cannot show you a license.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

Read what the record shows. Section 339.601 of the Occupational Code reads: "(3) Subject to section 411, a person whose license or registration is suspended, revoked, or lapsed, as determined by the records of the department, is considered unlicensed or unregistered."

Source: Michigan Occupational Code, section 339.601, read 22 October 2026.

Which Michigan home jobs need a builder or alteration license?

LARA's homeowner page says contractors offering work that totals the amount quoted below or more, in labor and materials, must hold a license from the department.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

LARA's residential builders page describes the law this way: "Article 24 of Public Act 299 of 1980, as amended was created to license and regulate persons engaged in the construction of a residential structure or combination residential and commercial structure, or persons who undertake the repair, alteration, addition, subtraction or improvement of a residential structure or combination residential and commercial structure for compensation other than wages for personal labor."

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, residential builders page, read 22 October 2026.

The homeowner page adds: "You should be aware that all contractors offering to do work which totals $600 or more in labor and materials must be licensed by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs."

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

LARA's homeowner page describes two licenses for this work. A residential builder license covers a whole house as well as maintenance and alteration work, while a maintenance and alteration license lists the trades its holder may practice.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

The homeowner page puts the limit this way: "The trades for which a maintenance & alteration contractor is qualified to practice are listed on the license."

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

LARA's Enforcement Section lists electricians, mechanical contractors and plumbers separately from residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors among those it takes complaints about.

Source: Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes, enforcement section, read 22 October 2026.

Does a small Michigan job need a builder license?

Not always. Section 339.2403 lists exemptions; the small-job one reads: "(f) A person that is working on 1 undertaking or project by 1 or more contracts, if the aggregate contract price for the labor, material, and any other items for the undertaking or project is less than $600.00."

Source: Michigan Occupational Code, section 339.2403, read 22 October 2026.

The section's list of exemptions opens: "Notwithstanding article 6, a person may engage in the business of or act in the capacity of a residential builder or a residential maintenance and alteration contractor or salesperson in this state without a license under this article, if the person is 1 of the following:"

Source: Michigan Occupational Code, section 339.2403, read 22 October 2026.

Subdivision (f) closes the gap of splitting a job: "The exemption described in this subdivision does not apply if the work of a construction is only a part of a larger or major operation, whether undertaken by the same or a different residential builder or residential maintenance and alteration contractor, or in which a division of the operation is made in contracts of amounts less than $600.00, to evade this act."

Source: Michigan Occupational Code, section 339.2403, read 22 October 2026.

Where can a Michigan homeowner take a complaint?

LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes takes them once your own efforts to settle the matter have failed, or if you think you were defrauded; for building-code problems where your city or county enforces the code, the bureau asks you to go to that office first.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.
Source: Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes, enforcement section, read 22 October 2026.

The bureau's Enforcement Section says: "Therefore, for areas where code authority is enforced at the local or county level, contact should first be made with that agency to see if the matter can be resolved with them before submitting to the state."

Source: Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes, enforcement section, read 22 October 2026.

The same page sets a limit on what the bureau handles: "NOTE: The Bureau of Construction Codes does not have legal authority over contractual, monetary, or warranty issues nor does the bureau have authority to conduct criminal prosecution."

Source: Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes, enforcement section, read 22 October 2026.

It also says: "Complainants may opt for an informal resolution between them and the contractor, formally through the courts or by other agencies."

Source: Michigan Bureau of Construction Codes, enforcement section, read 22 October 2026.

For workmanship and code problems, the homeowner page also points you to your local building inspector: "You may contact the local building inspector for assistance in resolving workmanship and code violations."

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

What should you ask a Michigan builder before you hire?

Ask which of the two licenses the contractor holds and, for a maintenance and alteration license, which trades it lists; then you can search the department's database before you sign, as an optional public-record step. These are practical suggestions, not LARA rules.

Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

  1. Ask whether the contractor holds a residential builder license or a maintenance and alteration license.
  2. For a maintenance and alteration license, ask which trades are listed on it, and whether your job falls inside them.
  3. Ask for the price of the whole job, labor and materials together, and compare it with the line quoted above from LARA's homeowner page.
  4. Go to LARA's Helpful Information for Homeowners page, first in the sources below; search the License Information database that page names, and read what the record shows.

    Source: Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, helpful information for homeowners, read 22 October 2026.

  5. Note the day you searched and what the record showed.

Who sees your contact details when you post a job on InstaBids?

One point about InstaBids follows. Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, live-page excerpts, read 22 October 2026.

Post your job on InstaBids, and contractors can bid in writing on one written scope.

Homeowners anywhere in the US can post a job; once you send it, InstaBids finds contractors to bid on it.

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