Does a roofer need a license in Michigan? Yes, but there is no such thing as a Michigan roofing license. The state doesn’t issue one. A roofer working legally on your house holds either a Maintenance & Alteration (M&A) Contractor license with roofing listed as a trade classification, or the broader Residential Builder license.

Both come from Michigan’s Bureau of Construction Codes, and anyone can look them up. Insurance is a separate question with a separate answer.

Michigan Doesn’t Issue a Roofing License. It Issues Two That Cover Roofing.

Licensure (the state’s permission to do the work legally) runs through the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, or LARA, and its Bureau of Construction Codes. Roofing is a trade classification inside the Maintenance & Alteration Contractor license, which covers specific trades on existing homes. The Residential Builder license is broader, held by companies that build whole houses, and it covers roofing too.

Michigan requires one of the two for residential work valued at $600 or more, which covers essentially any roof job. Either license takes 60 hours of approved prelicensure education before the exam, covering the Michigan Residential Code, construction safety, and contracts and liability.

If you are still deciding whether you need a roofer or a general contractor in the first place, settle that before the license check.

Key takeaway: Roofing sits inside two Michigan licenses, one of which is required for work valued at $600 or more.

The Michigan Contractor License Lookup Takes About Two Minutes, and Anyone Can Run It

LARA’s public search is free, needs no login, and pulls the same records a building department uses. Open the Michigan contractor license lookup and work through it.

1. Search the business name. Use the Organization Name field, or DBA/Trade Name if the company advertises under a different name. A license number from an estimate can be entered directly instead, and a one-person operation may only appear under the owner’s last name.
2. Read the license type. You want Residential Builder, or Maintenance & Alteration Contractor with roofing among its trade classifications. An M&A license limited to other trades is a real license that does not cover your roof.
3. Read the status. Expired, lapsed, or relinquished means the license is not currently good, whatever the truck door says.

The database refreshes once a day, and LARA states it is not responsible for the currency of the records. A license renewed this morning may not appear until tomorrow, so a missing record is a reason to call for the license number and exact legal business name, not a conclusion. LARA’s find or verify a licensed professional page is the official starting point.

Key takeaway: Confirm the license type covers roofing and the status is active. A stale record is worth a call, not a verdict.

A Michigan License Doesn’t Mean a Roofer Is Insured

Michigan’s licensing law does not require a Residential Builder or M&A Contractor to be insured or bonded. The lookup confirms a roofer is legally permitted to do the work; it confirms nothing about coverage. Checking only the license verifies about half of what you think you verified.

General liability insurance (which pays for property damage or injury the business causes while working) is therefore yours to ask for and worth asking to see.

Workers’ compensation (which pays medical bills and lost wages for a worker hurt on the job) is required in Michigan of private employers regularly employing one or more people 35 hours or more per week for 13 weeks or longer in the preceding 52 weeks, or three or more employees at one time, part-timers included. Corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships must either hold a policy or file a Notice of Exclusion, form WC-337, with the state. Sole proprietors need one at one full-time or three part-time employees.

The state’s guidance is plain: if a business has any employees or uses subcontractors, a workers’ compensation policy is required. A roofing company that sends a crew to your house is that business, and a genuinely exempt roofer is a narrow case: one person working alone, or an owners-only company with a WC-337 on file. So ask it the way the rule reads: “do you carry workers’ compensation, or do you have a WC-337 exclusion form on file?” A legitimate small operator answers in one sentence; someone improvising cannot. The Insurance Compliance Division confirms filings at 517-284-8922.

Michigan law also lets that liability transfer from an uninsured subcontractor to the general contractor who hired them, so a roofer using outside crews has reason to check. Hiring one who cannot produce current coverage leaves you next to a dispute you have no control over, and a certificate of insurance settles it before work starts, which is a separate promise from what a workmanship guarantee does and doesn’t cover.

Key takeaway: The license verifies legal standing, not coverage. Any roofing company with a crew needs workers’ compensation or a WC-337 on file.

The Certificate of Insurance Is Worth Checking With the Insurer, Not the Roofer

A certificate of insurance (a one-page summary the insurer issues, listing the policies in force, the dates they run, and who is covered) answers the insurance question. Three things on it matter.

The named insured should match the business name you found in the lookup. A certificate in another company’s name, or an individual’s name when your contract is with an LLC, covers a different party than the one you are hiring.

The policy dates should cover your project window, not only the day the certificate was printed. A roof going on in October under a policy that expires in September is a genuine certificate and an uncovered job.

The agent or carrier is named on the certificate with contact information and will confirm whether the policy is active. Ask the roofer to have the insurer send it to you directly.

Key takeaway: Match the named insured to the licensed business, check the dates against your project, and confirm coverage with the insurer.

Four Answers That Should End the Conversation

The scams that show up after a Michigan storm deserve their own reading. This list is shorter: four answers that mean stop.

No license number on the written estimate. A licensed contractor has the number and no reason to keep it off the paperwork, alongside the rest of what’s worth reading on an estimate.

Can’t or won’t produce a certificate of insurance. A company with active policies gets one from its agent within the hour.

The name on the certificate doesn’t match the licensed business. Two different entities, and only one signs your contract.

Pressure to sign today. A price that only exists until the end of the visit is a sales tactic, common among crews that follow storms across state lines.

Key takeaway: A roofer who cannot produce a license number and a certificate of insurance has answered the question.

Run the Lookup Before You Sign

The whole check is one browser tab and one phone call: the license in the state database, the certificate from the insurer. Most Michigan roofers pass it without blinking, and it is an easier conversation before the estimate than after the shingles are off.

Check Weather Vane Roofing in the Same Lookup

Weather Vane Roofing is licensed and insured, and searchable by Organization Name in the same LARA database this article walks through, at 3238 W St Joseph St in Lansing and 702 N Washington St in Owosso. Complete roofing jobs carry a lifetime workmanship guarantee. Request a free estimate, or ask Roofster if you have one more question first.