How to check a Michigan electrical contractor license before a solar company touches your roof

The statute behind the question

Michigan’s rule is short. MCL 339.5737(1) says a person shall not engage in the business of electrical contracting unless the person has received an electrical contractor’s license from the board or the municipality. The law sits in the Skilled Trades Regulation Act, 2016 PA 407, Article 7, which took effect April 4, 2017. If you’ve seen the statute cited as MCL 338.881 or as the Electrical Administrative Act, that’s the older law; the electrical contractor license statute is MCL 339.5701 et seq.

A second subsection speaks to individuals. MCL 339.5737(2) says an individual who is not licensed and employed by an electrical contractor shall not in any manner undertake to execute any electrical wiring.

Neither subsection names solar. The link comes from the definitions in MCL 339.5701, which describe an electrical contractor as a person engaged in the business of erecting, installing, altering, repairing, servicing or maintaining electrical wiring, and say that electrical wiring includes generating equipment and the generation, distribution and utilization of electrical energy. The definition covers generating equipment, so ask any solar company for its electrical contractor license number. That link is drawn from the definitions, because LARA’s own page on solar projects names only the utility exemption.

Three license levels, and which one the company holds

The state licenses at three levels, and the company’s license isn’t the same thing as an electrician’s.

An electrical contractor license belongs to the business. LARA says it needs a master electrician: the applicant holds a master license or hires one who lives in Michigan and is the master of record. A master can associate with only one contractor, and without one the contractor license is put on hold. LARA’s web page says there is no test to be an electrical contractor, but you still have to apply. The application fee on LARA’s form is $300, veterans’ fees are waived, and application fees are non-refundable.

A master electrician license takes at least 12,000 hours over at least 6 years of experience and a score of at least 75 percent on the master exam. A journeyman must be 20 and have 8,000 hours and 4 years as an apprentice, with an exam score of at least 75 percent. Apprentices must be registered and work for a master and a contractor.

So a contractor license number stands for a business that has applied to LARA, with a master electrician of record behind it.

What to ask the company, and what to look up

Ask for three things in writing before the contract; you’ll compare them with the lookup:

1. The company’s electrical contractor license number.
2. The name of its master electrician of record.
3. Who will be on your roof and in your panel, and whether each is a journeyman, a master or a registered apprentice.

Then look the number up with LARA’s license lookup and compare the name, the license type and the status to what the company told you. If the numbers don’t match, ask the company to explain before you sign.

The same number should come back on your electrical permit. LARA’s permit application, form BCC-339, asks for the contractor’s “STATE OF MICHIGAN LICENSE NUMBER” and expiry, which means the permit is pulled under the contractor’s license. Cities use their own forms: Dearborn requires a valid State of Michigan electrical license and city registration, and Kalamazoo requires a master’s and contractor’s license. How solar permits work in Michigan shows where the number turns up in the permit.

Places the answer changes

Detroit is the clearest example. LARA says that if you live in the City of Detroit, the city issues its own licenses and registrations locally. Ask the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) what it requires from a company working at your address before you assume the state license is enough on its own.

An owner-occupied single-family homeowner is exempt. MCL 339.5737(3)(g) says a license is not required for installation, alteration or repair of electrical equipment by a homeowner in a single family home and accompanying outbuildings owned and occupied or to be occupied by that individual. The exemption is narrow: it doesn’t remove the city permit and inspection or the utility interconnection.

Large utility projects are another carve-out. LARA’s exemption in MCL 339.5737(3)(d) covers a large-scale PV project only if it is integral to a utility’s system, independent of other structures, installed by trained personnel and accessible only to authorized personnel, and only for the scope of work in that section. It isn’t a residential rooftop exemption.

LARA’s page also says Michigan has no reciprocity with other states, so ask for the Michigan license number even if a company tells you it’s licensed somewhere else.

A license is one check among several

The license answers whether the business is allowed to do the wiring. It doesn’t answer what you’ll pay, what’s covered if something fails or how the company treats a customer who changes their mind. The Michigan Public Service Commission’s consumer tips fill in the rest: get at least three bids, ask whether the company is licensed and insured, how long it has been in business and what warranties come with the system, and ask for three customer referrals.

Two state notices bear on the money questions. The Attorney General’s July 15, 2026 lawsuit against Climax Solar, its owner and financing companies describes an alleged scheme: the Attorney General alleges it affected approximately 1,700 Michigan consumers and about $81 million in financed transactions, with hidden dealer fees of more than $22 million averaging more than 27 percent of the amount financed. These are allegations in a case in the U.S. District Court, W.D. Mich., not findings. The questions they point to are plain ones: ask for the total financed price and every fee, and check that the system is finished and utility-approved before payments start.

EGLE’s advisory adds that its Office of Climate and Energy and the MI SFA program are not aware of any state or federal programs providing solar installation at no cost. Consumers Energy tells customers to avoid anyone who promises that you will not receive an electric bill, claims you can be independent of the grid, or offers solar with no upfront cost, and says it does not endorse, certify or recommend renewable contractors. If a pitch includes any of those lines, report deceptive solar marketing to the Attorney General at 517-335-7622 or MIAG@Michigan.gov.

Before you sign

Write down the license number, the master of record’s name and the date you looked them up. Put the number in your own notes next to the quote, and ask for the same number on the permit application. Our quote comparison guide lists the other items worth getting in writing, and the installation page explains what a typical job involves. We’re a referral service, so we don’t hold a license or do the work; the company you speak with does, and the lookup is yours to run.