Moving to Michigan as a residential contractor: every state's rule

Michigan licenses home building statewide through LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under Article 24 of the Occupational Code (1980 PA 299). There are two credentials and an applicant holds one or the other, never both. The Residential Builder license "allows you to build a complete residential structure and to do maintenance and alteration (remodeling) work." The Maintenance & Alteration Contractor license covers only the trades printed on it, chosen from carpentry, concrete, excavation, insulation work, masonry, siding, roofing, screens and storm sash, gutters, tile and marble, house wrecking, swimming pools and basement waterproofing. A "residential structure" is a detached one- or two-family dwelling or a townhouse of not more than three stories, so neither license reaches apartment buildings or commercial work, and an owner building for their own use and occupancy, or a job whose total contract price is under $600, needs no license at all. The license is person-held: an individual applies in their own legal name, sits the exam and holds the license, and a company may not be named on that application. A corporation, LLC or partnership takes a separate company license and must designate one of its officers, partners, members or its managing agent as the qualifying officer; that person must hold the individual license as well, is responsible for supervising the company's construction operations, and the company license is suspended if they leave or let their own license lapse. Entry is by 60 hours of approved prelicensure education and one closed-book PSI examination that combines the trade and business-and-law parts. Michigan sets no experience, apprenticeship, bond, insurance or net-worth requirement, but every licensee must maintain a physical place of business in Michigan, and licenses run three years.