Where do I actually look the licence up?

The state runs a construction trades licence lookup covering residential builders, maintenance and alteration contractors, plumbers, mechanical and electrical. It is linked from the Michigan LARA page for finding or verifying a licensed professional. If you would rather ask a person, the residential builders and maintenance and alteration licensing line is 517-241-9309.

Do I get three days to cancel?

Often, but not always, and the difference matters. Michigan's home solicitation sales provisions give a buyer until midnight of the third business day to cancel, and require the seller's written agreement to say so in bold type at least two points larger than the contract text. That regime turns on the sale having been solicited and agreed at your home. There is an exclusion list covering, among other things, prior negotiations at a fixed business location and responses to published advertisements, so a deal you started by driving to a showroom may sit outside it. Read the agreement and, if it matters, take advice rather than relying on a general rule.

Who do I complain to if it goes wrong?

There are two routes and people regularly pick the wrong one. Complaints about a licensed builder or maintenance and alteration contractor go to the LARA Bureau of Construction Codes enforcement section. General consumer complaints go to the Michigan Attorney General's consumer protection division, which takes complaints online and on 877-765-8388.

Check a Michigan Waterproofing Licence Before You Hire

Q: What if the licence exists but does not name waterproofing?

That is the point of checking. The statute issues the licence in crafts, and LARA states that the trades or crafts a maintenance and alteration contractor is qualified to practise are listed on the licence itself. A licence naming carpentry and siding is a real licence that does not cover waterproofing a basement or excavation. Ask which crafts are printed on it.

Michigan gives homeowners a stronger position here than most states, and it takes about two minutes to use. Almost nobody does.

Most states licence contractors in broad categories, so checking a licence tells you little more than that somebody paid a fee. Michigan does something more useful, and it is worth knowing about before a salesperson is sitting at your kitchen table.

The licence names the craft

Michigan's occupational code sets out the crafts in which a residential maintenance and alteration contractor licence is issued. The statutory list reads: 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.

Two of those are the work discussed on this site, and they are separate entries. LARA puts it plainly: the trades or crafts for which a maintenance and alteration contractor is qualified to practise are listed on the licence.

So the question is not "are you licensed". Everyone answers yes to that. The question is which crafts are printed on the licence, and whether waterproofing a basement, or excavation for an exterior job, is one of them.

The threshold is 600 dollars

The code exempts work on a single project where the aggregate contract price for labour, materials and other items comes to less than 600 dollars. LARA translates that for homeowners as: all contractors offering to do work totalling 600 dollars or more in labour and materials must be licensed.

In practice that means every real basement job. A crack injection at the bottom of the range is already at or over the line, and a drainage system is far past it.

What happens if they are not licensed

This is the part that changes the balance of a dispute, and very few homeowners know it.

Michigan law says a person shall not bring or maintain an action in a court of this state for the collection of compensation for the performance of an act or contract for which a licence is required without alleging and proving that they were licensed during the performance of that work. The same section says such a person shall not impose, or take legal or other action to impose, a lien on real property unless they were licensed at the time.

There is a public enforcement limb as well. A prosecuting attorney or the Attorney General may bring an action for a civil violation, and the court is to assess a civil fine of not less than 5,000 dollars and not more than 25,000 dollars, separate from any civil damages or restitution.

None of that is a reason to hire an unlicensed contractor on the theory that you hold the cards. An unlicensed contractor is also, by definition, one who has not sat the examination and may carry no insurance, and recovering money from someone who has taken a deposit and gone is difficult whatever the statute says. It is a reason to check first.

What the paperwork should contain

The state's own homeowner guidance lists what belongs in a home improvement contract: the company name, address, telephone number and the full name and licence number of the builder or contractor; detailed job specifications including a description of materials; start and completion dates; a statement that the contractor will obtain all required building permits and variances; confirmation of liability and workers compensation cover; a statement of warranty on the work; clearly stated terms of payment; and a right to cancel clause where the agreement was signed at home.

On deposits, the guidance is to pay when work begins, to cover materials and startup costs, to pay by cheque made out to the company name, and always to get a receipt.

Permits are a licence question too

The state guidance expects the contract to say that the contractor obtains the permits. In this region that can mean more than one: your municipality for the building, plumbing and electrical elements, and for exterior work potentially a Saginaw County soil erosion permit as well. The town pages list who issues what where, and the exterior excavation page covers the soil erosion point in more detail.

A contractor who wants you to pull the permit yourself is worth a second thought, because the permit is also the mechanism by which an inspector other than the contractor looks at the work.

Checking a Michigan licence before you hire