Michigan contractor license requirements
What you need before your first paid job in Michigan, one page for each trade. The license, the least insurance you must carry, whether the state asks for a bond, when you charge sales tax, and the deadlines that protect your right to be paid.
Plumbing in Michigan
- License you need
- Plumbing Contractor Renew Every 3 years, expires April 30
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimum customers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required as soon as you hire anyone
- There is no short road to your own plumbing business in Michigan. You need 6,000 hours over at least 3 years as a registered apprentice to sit the journey exam, then 4,000 more hours over at least 2 years as a journey plumber to sit the master exam. Only then can you apply for the contractor license.
- The plumbing contractor license goes to a person, not a company. That person must be a sole proprietor, a partner, a corporate officer, or an LLC member, and must either hold a master plumber license or employ a master plumber. A master plumber can stand behind only one contractor at a time.
HVAC in Michigan
- License you need
- Mechanical Contractor Renew Every 3 years, expires August 31
- Insurance you must carry
- No state minimum customers usually ask for $1,000,000
- Workers' comp
- Required as soon as you hire anyone
- Michigan has no journeyman or technician HVAC license. The only license is the mechanical contractor license, and your employees work under it. Each of the 10 work classifications, like HVAC equipment, ductwork, or refrigeration, needs its own 3 years or 6,000 hours of experience and its own exam.
- The license runs in three-year blocks and costs $300. Every mechanical contractor license in the state expires on the same date, 31 August of the third year, so the license you buy is not three years from the day you apply but whatever is left of the block.
Electrical in Michigan
- License you need
- Electrical Apprentice registration Renew Every year
- Workers' comp
- Required as soon as you hire anyone
- Credit score
- None found
- There is no exam for the contractor license itself. You pass the master electrician exam, then apply for the contractor license separately, and the state tests you only once.
- An electrical contractor must have a master electrician attached to it. If that person's license lapses, the contractor license goes on hold until they renew and you tell the state.
Across states
Sales tax on labor for plumbers and HVAC contractors by state. Which states tax the work itself, which tax only the parts, and how a repair differs from a new install.