Michigan General Contractor License: What Applies and What Does Not

Does a contracting business need a license in Michigan?

Michigan issues the Residential Builder License and the Residential Maintenance and Alteration Contractor License for general contractors.

Michigan licenses residential builders and residential maintenance and alteration contractors under the Occupational Code, administered by the Bureau of Construction Codes within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The same code exempts a person working on one undertaking or project whose aggregate contract price for labor, material and other items is less than $600, and that exemption is unavailable where a project is divided into smaller contracts to evade the act. Commercial general contracting outside the residential definitions carries no equivalent statewide license.

The contracting business itself must be licensed or registered, not only the people doing the work.

A corporation, limited liability company or partnership is treated as a separate legal person and files its own company license application in addition to the qualifying individual's license.

This records what Michigan publishes, not a determination about your business. Scope, thresholds and local requirements are set by the issuing body, so confirm with them before you bid or file.

Verified 2026-09-03 against the primary source listed under Sources.

What the LLC has to do first

Where the state licenses the company rather than only the individual, the LLC has to exist before the license application can name it.

The entity filing is separate from anything the license requires. In Michigan it is made with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations Division. File directly with the state here. The order matters wherever the license is issued to the company rather than to a person: the entity has to exist before an application can name it.

Forming an LLC as a contracting business in Michigan covers the filing itself, step by step.

Insurance Michigan general contractors are asked to show

General liability cover is the item most often demanded before a contractor license application is accepted or a job is awarded, and the certificate has to name the entity that holds the license.

We do not publish Michigan premium figures for this trade, so nothing here is a quote. Our business insurance guide for general contractors covers what each policy does and does not pay for.