Michigan contractor license renewal dates
Every Bureau of Construction Codes license type, its renewal cycle, expiration date, and late window — verified against the Michigan Compiled Laws and LARA's renewal guidance.
Michigan contractor-level licenses (residential builder, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing contractor) renew on three-year cycles with staggered, trade-specific expiration dates. Individual trade licenses (master/journeyman electrician, journey plumber) renew annually. Renewal opens 90 days before expiration for every license type.
Cycles are staggered within trades too — two vendors with the same license type can expire in different years. The only reliable answer for a specific vendor is their individual state record.
Renewal cycles by license type.
Renewal opens 90 days before expiration for all license types (LARA BCC renewal guidance). Verified June 2026 against legislature.mi.gov and michigan.gov/lara; statutes change — confirm against the current state record. General information, not legal advice.
The 60-day cliff
After expiration there is roughly a 60-day late-renewal window with a late fee. Miss it and the license is void or lapsed — and under MCL 339.601(3), lapsed is treated as unlicensed.
The 3-year re-exam cliff
A license lapsed more than three consecutive years generally requires re-applying and re-examination — a months-long remediation, not a paperwork fix. A vendor lapsed 2.5 years and one lapsed 3.5 years are very different conversations.
Why staggering matters to buyers
Because cycles stagger within each trade, "we checked everyone last January" guarantees nothing about today. Mid-job expirations are a structural feature of Michigan's system, not an edge case.
Your vendors' dates are scattered across this calendar.
A 40-vendor list typically has expirations in every quarter of the year. LicenseWatchMI checks each vendor against the live state record and flags anything expiring inside your job window.