Michigan trade license reciprocity

Michigan issues a statewide Electrical Journeyman license through LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under Article 7 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act (2016 PA 407). A new applicant must be at least 20, document 8,000 hours over at least four years under the direct supervision of a Michigan-licensed journeyman or master with notarized employer letters, pass the PSI-administered journeyman exam (80 questions, 75% to pass, 2023 NEC) for a $100 exam fee, and pay the $40 license fee; the license renews every year for $40. Michigan has no reciprocity agreements with any state: LARA states that out-of-state licensees must take and pass the Michigan exam, though experience earned in other states may be credited after board review. MCL 339.5733 lets a municipality with an equally stringent ordinance license its own residents; the City of Detroit does so, and Detroit licenses are valid statewide.

Michigan issues a statewide, person-held Master Electrician license through LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under MCL 339.5713; the Electrical Contractor license is a separate business credential that requires a qualifying master and no exam, and is not covered here. A new master applicant must be at least 22, have held an electrical journeyman license for at least two years, document 12,000 hours over at least six years under a master electrician with notarized employer letters, pass the PSI-administered master exam (75% to pass, 2023 NEC) for a $100 exam fee, and pay the $50 license fee; the license renews every year for $50. Michigan has no reciprocity agreements with any state and requires every out-of-state master to pass the Michigan exam, though out-of-state experience may be credited after board review. Under MCL 339.5733 the City of Detroit licenses master electricians who are Detroit residents, and Detroit licenses are valid statewide.

Michigan does not issue a journeyman HVAC, mechanical or refrigeration license and has no HVAC technician registration. Article 8 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act (2016 PA 407) licenses only mechanical contractors, by work classification, and MCL 339.5809 lets anyone perform regulated HVAC, ductwork, refrigeration or service work as long as they or their employer holds a classified mechanical contractor's license and the permit is pulled by that licensee. MCL 339.5811 forbids municipalities from establishing local licensing requirements for these classifications, so no Michigan city issues an HVAC journeyman card either; Detroit only registers contractors who already hold the state license. An out-of-state journeyman HVAC license therefore has nothing to transfer to and is neither required nor recognized for employment in Michigan. A technician who wants to contract independently, or to be a company's contractor of record, applies for the person-held mechanical contractor license described at the master level (3 years or 6,000 hours of experience per classification, a PSI exam per classification, $300 license fee). Federal EPA Section 608 certification is required of anyone handling refrigerants and is not a state credential.

Michigan's HVAC credential is the Mechanical Contractor license issued by LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under Article 8 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act (2016 PA 407). Although called a contractor license, it is issued to an individual who qualifies by examination, so this file treats it as the master level: a business performs mechanical work by designating a licensed individual as its contractor of record (MCL 339.5809, 339.5815). The license is classified; an HVAC business typically holds HVAC Equipment (which includes ductwork and gas piping), Refrigeration and the heating and refrigeration/air conditioning service classifications. For each classification the applicant documents 3 years or 6,000 hours of experience with statements signed under penalty of perjury by each employing contractor of record (a 2-year HVAC program may be credited up to 1 year or 2,000 hours), is approved by LARA, and passes the PSI exam for that classification (75% to pass; the HVAC Equipment exam is 150 questions, open book, 3 hours, $100; other classification exams are 55 questions, 60 minutes, $50). The license fee is $300 for the 3-year cycle ($100 per year, prorated), licenses expire August 31 every third year, and municipalities may not impose their own licensing (MCL 339.5811). Michigan has no reciprocity with any state and no licensure by endorsement: LARA's out-of-state form states that Michigan 'does not reciprocate with any other state for licensing' and that out-of-state applicants must be approved to sit for the examination, so an out-of-state HVAC or mechanical contractor's experience counts toward eligibility but the Michigan exams must be passed. Federal EPA Section 608 certification is separately required to handle refrigerants.

Michigan issues a statewide Journey Plumber license through LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under Article 11 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act (2016 PA 407, MCL 339.6101 et seq.), which replaced the Michigan Plumbing Act of 2002. Local licensing is preempted: MCL 339.6125(1) says a governmental subdivision 'may not engage in or require local licensing,' so there is no separate Detroit or other city plumber license. A new applicant must be at least 18, document at least 6,000 hours over at least three years as a registered apprentice plumber under a master plumber with notarized employer letters, pay the $40 license fee with Form BCC-329A, be approved by LARA, then pass both the PSI written exam (125 questions, 180 minutes, 75% to pass, open book on the 2021 Michigan Plumbing Code; $100 fee) and LARA's hands-on practical skills exam, both on a single one-year application. The license renews annually for $40, and renewal requires a board-approved code-update course within 12 months after each state construction code change. Michigan has no reciprocity with any state; out-of-state journeymen must pass the Michigan exams, but their out-of-state experience may be credited toward eligibility after State Plumbing Board review.

Michigan issues a statewide, person-held Master Plumber license through LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes under MCL 339.6113; the Plumbing Contractor license (Form BCC-329, $300, MCL 339.6111) is the separate business credential that must be represented by a master plumber, and a master may represent only one contractor at a time. Local plumber licensing is preempted by MCL 339.6125(1). A new master applicant must be at least 18, hold a journey plumber license and have gained 4,000 hours of experience as a journey plumber over at least two years immediately preceding the application with no lapse in licensure, document that experience with notarized employer letters, pay the license fee at application ($300 for a license term of up to three years, prorated outside the April 30-June 30 renewal window), be approved by LARA, and pass the PSI Master Plumber exam (130 questions, 180 minutes, 75% to pass, open book on the 2021 Michigan Plumbing Code, available in person or online; $100 fee). The license renews every three years for $300, and renewal requires a board-approved code-update course within 12 months after each state construction code change. Michigan has no reciprocity with any state; an out-of-state master must pass the Michigan exam, with out-of-state experience credited only after State Plumbing Board review.

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.

Michigan does not license general, commercial or unlimited building contractors. LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes reviews applications "for Boiler, Electrical, Elevator, Mechanical, Plumbing, Inspector/Plan Reviewer, Residential Builder" and nothing else, and the statute behind the builder license, Article 24 of the Occupational Code, reaches only a "residential structure" — a detached one- or two-family dwelling or a townhouse of not more than three stories. Apartment buildings, offices, retail, industrial and institutional projects fall outside it, so there is no Michigan license for an out-of-state general contractor license to transfer into, no qualifying party to register with a board, no state trade or business-and-law examination, and no NASCLA route: Michigan is not one of the agencies that accept the NASCLA Accredited Examination, and LARA's pages never mention it. What controls commercial work instead is the building permit. Local building departments enforce the state construction code and generally ask a commercial contractor to register with the city and to file plans sealed by a licensed architect or engineer, rather than to prove competency — Detroit's building department states plainly that "commercial construction does not require a licensed contractor to perform the work." Two things still bind statewide: anyone self-performing electrical, mechanical, plumbing, boiler or elevator work needs the matching LARA license for that trade whatever the building is, and any work on a one- or two-family dwelling or a qualifying townhouse needs the residential builder or M&A license, with unlicensed residential work drawing a civil fine of $100 to $500.

Michigan issues no home inspector license, certificate or registration, so an inspector moving here has no state credential to apply for, no examination to sit and nothing to transfer from another state. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs publishes both halves of its own list and home inspection is on neither: the Bureau of Professional Licensing's occupational professions are accountancy, appraisal management companies, real estate appraisers, architects, barbers, collection agencies, cosmetology, professional engineers, hearing aid dealers, landscape architects, personnel agencies, real estate brokers and salespersons and professional surveyors, while the Bureau of Construction Codes licenses "Boiler, Electrical, Elevator, Mechanical, Plumbing, Inspector/Plan Reviewer, Residential Builder". That "Inspector/Plan Reviewer" entry is the one thing on the list an inbound home inspector is likely to misread, and it is not a home inspector license: it is the Code Official registration covering Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing and Fire Protection System Inspector/Plan Reviewer and Building Official, granted under Article 10 of the Skilled Trades Regulation Act, where a building official is defined as "a construction code enforcement person" and an inspector as "the individual who is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the construction of buildings, structures, or appurtenances under the state construction code". It is registered with the State Construction Code Commission, renewed every third year on evidence of code-change training, and it exists to enforce the state construction code on permitted work, not to inspect a house for a buyer before a sale. Because Michigan holds no home inspector examination, the National Home Inspector Examination has nothing to stand in for here, and any "certified" designation an inspector advertises comes from a private trade association rather than from the state. What binds a Michigan home inspector instead is general law: the Michigan Consumer Protection Act makes unlawful, at MCL 445.903(1), unfair, unconscionable or deceptive acts in trade or commerce, expressly including representing that services have characteristics, uses or benefits they do not have, representing that services are of a standard, quality or grade they are not, failing to reveal a material fact whose omission tends to mislead a consumer who could not reasonably know it, and causing a probability of confusion as to the certification of services, which is the provision that reaches an inspector who advertises a trade-association credential as though it were a state license. Beyond that it is the written pre-inspection agreement and ordinary contract and negligence law that set the duty owed, because Michigan has enacted no statutory standard of care for home inspectors and no statute governing the content or form of an inspection report. The one place Michigan law touches this trade is the Seller Disclosure Act: the statutory Seller's Disclosure Statement at MCL 565.957 tells the buyer in capitals that the buyer "SHOULD OBTAIN PROFESSIONAL ADVICE AND INSPECTIONS OF THE PROPERTY TO MORE FULLY DETERMINE THE CONDITION OF THE PROPERTY", and warns that the seller's statement "is not a substitute for any inspections or warranties the buyer may wish to obtain" — a statute that points buyers at inspectors without regulating them. The credentials to go to instead are Michigan's construction ones: any repair, alteration or improvement work that comes out of a report belongs to a licensed residential builder or maintenance and alteration contractor under Article 24 of the Occupational Code, or to the state's licensed electrical, plumbing, mechanical, boiler and elevator trades. Radon is not a credentialed add-on here either: the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy states that radon testers and mitigators "are not licensed or regulated in Michigan" and that it has no regulatory authority over them, recommending only National Radon Proficiency Program or National Radon Safety Board certification, so an inspector who offers radon testing in Michigan should check the rules of any neighboring state before working across the line.