Checked against primary sources 2026-09-04
Licensing
Which Michigan Electrician License Are You On?
Two questions and this page names the credential your situation points at, what LARA, Bureau of Construction Codes asks for, what it costs, and the mistake people make on that route. Every path is written out below, so you can read the whole set instead of answering anything.
On this page
- Two questions
- Electrical Apprentice
- Journeyman Electrician
- Master Electrician
- Electrical Contractor
- Fire Alarm Specialty Technician
- Fire Alarm Specialty Apprentice Technician
- Sign Specialist
- Coming in from another state
- Renewing
- Moving up a grade
- Renewing late, or already lapsed
- Working out whether I owe a code update course
- Changing the master a contractor license runs on
- What this page is
- Questions people ask
- What this page cites
Two questions
Where are you starting from?
Which one are you aiming at?
Electrical Apprentice
MCL 339.5717
Michigan registers apprentices rather than licensing them, and the job has to come before the paperwork.
| Hours | None to get one. The 8,000 hours over at least 4 years are what you work under the registration, not what you need before it.MCL 339.5717, MCL 339.5715 |
|---|---|
| Exam | There isn't one. No apprentice examination appears in the PSI bulletin, because there's nothing to test.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| What LARA asks for | Employment by a master electrician and an electrical contractor, plus enrollment in an approved related technical instruction program. Neither MCL 339.5717 nor LARA's apprentice pages state a minimum age, so this row doesn't state one either.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information; MCL 339.5717 |
| Deadline | Form BCC-0704 within 30 days of being employed as an electrical apprentice. LARA's processing may run three to five weeks and nothing on its pages describes a temporary apprentice credential, so the 30 days is the protection you have.Form BCC-0704, MCL 339.5717; LARA, licensing section |
| Fees | $15.00 to register, not refundable, and $15.00 again each year.Form BCC-0704; LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Term | One year, renewing by 8/31. That's a fixed calendar date rather than an anniversary of your own registration, so your first renewal lands on the same August 31 as everybody else's.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Supervision | One journeyman or master electrician to no more than 3 registered apprentice electricians, applied by the department or the enforcing agency on a jobsite basis.MCL 339.5717 |
A $100 late fee sits on a $15 renewal every August 31
Miss August 31 and the late fee is $100.00 against a $15.00 renewal, more than six times the thing you're renewing. It's the one line on the Michigan fee schedule where the penalty dwarfs the fee, and it lands on the people earning the least. LARA also says you shouldn't be on a job site with an expired registration, because that's against the law, and nothing it publishes says what happens to hours worked during a lapse.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: The registration, form and RTI provider, The whole path, in the order it happens, How the 8,000 hours get counted and proved, Every fee and renewal date on one page.
Journeyman Electrician
MCL 339.5715
Two conditions have to be true at the same time, and working faster only moves one of them.
| Hours | At least 8,000 hours of experience obtained over a period of at least 4 years, in electrical construction or maintenance. The word joining them is and, so your eligibility date is the later of the two.MCL 339.5715 |
|---|---|
| Age | At least 20 years old. Since 8,000 hours over four years has to sit behind the application, the birthday rarely decides anybody's date.MCL 339.5715, Form BCC-341 |
| Supervision | MCL 339.5715 says the direct supervision of a licensed electrician. LARA's licensing page names it as a Michigan licensed journeyman or master electrician. The two wordings aren't identical, and this row prints both rather than picking one.MCL 339.5715; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Exam | 80 questions in 150 minutes, passing score 75 percent, $100 per attempt and not refundable or transferable. Open book on the 2023 NEC with factory markings and factory tabs only, plus 2016 PA 407, 1972 PA 230 and the Michigan Electrical Code Rules Part 8. No NEC Handbook and nothing you marked yourself.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| Fees | $40.00 to apply on form BCC-341, plus the $100 PSI fee for each attempt.Form BCC-341 |
| Term | One year, renewing by 12/31 at $40.00, with a $50.00 late fee after expiration.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Military route | Somebody discharged from military service within the past year who served as an interior electrician documents the 8,000 hours by affidavit from a commanding officer, supervisor or military superior, covering ten named electrical areas. The hour figure doesn't shrink, and the window is one year after discharge.MCL 339.5715 |
Two retake rules run at once and they don't say the same thing
MCL 339.5715 puts a candidate who fails twice within two years out for at least one year from the date of the second failure, and sitting again takes proof of a board approved course on the Michigan electrical code, electrical fundamentals or electrical theory. PSI separately limits journeyman candidates to two attempts within one year, after which you reapply. Read the two together rather than picking whichever one is friendlier.
MCL 339.5715; PSI candidate information bulletin 4375
Read the detail: The journeyman license in full, Counting and proving the 8,000 hours, The registration you work them under, Every fee and renewal date on one page, Work out the day you can sit the exam.
Master Electrician
MCL 339.5713
Three counts run at once here, and your eligibility date is whichever one finishes last.
| Hours | At least 12,000 hours over a period of 6 years or more, in electrical construction, building maintenance or electrical wiring. LARA adds 4,000 hours worked as an electrical journeyman, and those sit inside the 12,000 rather than on top of them.MCL 339.5713; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
|---|---|
| Time held | At least 2 years holding an electrical journeyman's license. That clock starts on the date the license was issued, not on the date you became eligible for it.MCL 339.5713 |
| Age | At least 22 years old.MCL 339.5713, Form BCC-341 |
| Supervision | MCL 339.5713 describes the 12,000 hours as performed under a master electrician's supervision, where the journeyman section describes its hours as under the direct supervision of a licensed electrician. Those aren't the same sentence, so both are printed here.MCL 339.5713, MCL 339.5715 |
| Exam | 76 questions in 180 minutes at 75 percent, $100 per attempt. Fewer questions than the journeyman exam and thirty more minutes to answer them. Same book rules, and two attempts within one year.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| Fees | $50.00 to apply on form BCC-341, plus $100 to PSI for each attempt.Form BCC-341 |
| Term | One year, renewing by 12/31 at $50.00, with a $50.00 late fee. That's ten dollars more than the journeyman renewal, which is a common thing to get wrong from memory.LARA, license and registration renewals |
Filing late for the journeyman license delays the master date too
The two years measure holding a journeyman license rather than deserving one, so the clock starts on the date LARA issued it. Somebody who became eligible and then waited a year to file has pushed the master date back by that same year, on top of any hours still outstanding. If you mean to go on, apply for the journeyman license as soon as the 8,000 hours and the four years are both behind you.
MCL 339.5713
Read the detail: The master license and its three clocks, The journeyman license this builds on, Counting and proving 12,000 hours, The contractor license a master qualifies, Work out the day you can sit the exam.
Electrical Contractor
MCL 339.5711
The one Michigan electrical license with no examination behind it, because the exam sits inside the master license it depends on.
| Who qualifies | A person who holds a master electrician's license, or a business with at least one full time employee who is a master electrician, resides in this state, and is actively in charge of and responsible for Michigan electrical code compliance of all installations of electrical wiring and equipment. That second branch carries four conditions and people usually remember one.MCL 339.5711 |
|---|---|
| Exam | None. LARA says no test is required for the electrical contractor license, though an application still is, and the PSI bulletin lists no electrical contractor examination among its four.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information; PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| Application | Form BCC-974, Application for Electrical/Fire Alarm/Sign Contractor Examination and License. Processing may take up to three to five weeks, in the order applications are received.LARA, licensing forms; LARA, licensing section |
| Fees | $300.00 to renew. The initial application fee isn't printed on the LARA pages cited here, so ask the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316 rather than assuming it matches the renewal.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Term | Three years, by 12/31, with a $50.00 late fee. Every individual electrical license in Michigan renews annually, so this is the one that breaks the pattern.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Continuing education | LARA marks the code update course as not required for the electrical, fire alarm and sign specialty contractor license. The requirement attaches to the individual licenses instead.LARA, license and registration renewals |
One master qualifies one contractor license, and the license holds without one
LARA places the electrical contractor license on hold when there's no associated master electrician. It isn't revoked and it isn't renewed away. It just stops working until a qualifying master is attached again. MCL 339.5713 says a master's license cannot be used to meet the eligibility requirement for more than one electrical contractor's license, so you can't borrow one from another company to cover a gap. Line the replacement up before the departure.
MCL 339.5713
Read the detail: The contractor license and the hold, The master license this depends on, Every fee and renewal date on one page, What a missed renewal costs, Checking that a contractor license is active.
Fire Alarm Specialty Technician
LARA, electrical examination and licensing information
The one Michigan electrical license where a national certification stands in for an hour count.
| What LARA asks for | At least 20 years old, holding either a NICET level II or higher certification in the installation or repair of fire alarm systems, or an ESA Certified Fire Alarm Technician certification at level II or higher.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
|---|---|
| Hours | None published. There's no hour count and no year count on this license, which makes it the exception among the four Michigan electrical examinations.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Exam | 36 questions in 90 minutes at 75 percent, $100 per attempt. That's the smallest question count and the shortest sitting of the four, and unlike the journeyman, master and sign exams it allows unlimited attempts within one year.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| Fees | $50.00 to apply on form BCC-341, plus the $100 PSI fee for each attempt.Form BCC-341 |
| Term | One year, renewing by 12/31 at $50.00, with a $50.00 late fee.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Continuing education | The code update course rule applies here the way it does for journeymen and masters: a course within one year of a new code being adopted, rather than an annual hour count.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| The contractor version | The fire alarm contractor license requires holding or employing a fire alarm specialty technician licensee, with no test, and LARA adds that the licensee has to reside in Michigan if the contractor is out of state.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
Don't lean on an exemption nobody has read to you in full
MCL 339.5731 is the section requiring a license to erect, install, alter, repair, service or maintain a fire alarm system or an electric sign. Article 7 also carries license not required provisions at MCL 339.5725, MCL 339.5727 and MCL 339.5729. The site read those section headings rather than the operative text in full, so it doesn't describe what they carve out. Read the sections themselves before you rely on one.
MCL 339.5725, MCL 339.5727, MCL 339.5729, MCL 339.5731
Read the detail: The fire alarm and sign licenses in full, The contractor license this qualifies, Every fee and renewal date on one page, The journeyman license, for comparison.
Fire Alarm Specialty Apprentice Technician
MCL 339.5723
Michigan registers a fire alarm apprentice alongside the electrical one, on the same form and the same August date.
| Registration | MCL 339.5723 is the section that creates it. Form BCC-0704 is titled Application for Electrical Apprentice or Fire Alarm Specialty Technician Apprentice, so one form covers both.MCL 339.5723, Form BCC-0704 |
|---|---|
| Deadline | The same 30 day window, running from the day you're employed.Form BCC-0704 |
| Fees | $15.00 to register and $15.00 a year to renew, matching the electrical apprentice.Form BCC-0704; LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Term | One year, renewing by 8/31, with a $100.00 late fee. That's the August date rather than the December one.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Continuing education | LARA marks the code update course as not required for the apprentice registration.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| What it leads to | The fire alarm specialty technician license, which asks for a NICET level II or higher certification or an ESA Certified Fire Alarm Technician certification at level II or higher rather than an hour count.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
This one renews August 31, not the December 31 you keep hearing about
Michigan runs two renewal dates. Apprentice registrations, the electrical one and the fire alarm one alike, are due August 31. The journeyman, master, fire alarm specialty technician and contractor licenses are due December 31. Both are fixed calendar dates rather than anniversaries of your own issue date, so everybody in a category expires on the same day. Mixing the two up is what the $100.00 apprentice late fee is for.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: The fire alarm and sign licenses in full, The apprentice registration both share, Every fee and renewal date on one page, The code update course, and who owes it.
Sign Specialist
LARA, electrical examination and licensing information
Half the journeyman's hours and half its years, with an approved training course sitting on the license rather than on the renewal.
| Hours | 4,000 hours of experience and at least 2 years under a sign specialist. Form BCC-341 words it as at least 4,000 hours obtained over not less than 2 years, so the hours and years pattern holds here as it does for the journeyman and master.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information, Form BCC-341 |
|---|---|
| Age | At least 18, lower than the 20 for a journeyman and the 22 for a master.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Training | Completion of an approved training course, which is a condition of the license rather than a renewal item. LARA points to CE Broker at cebroker.com for approved courses.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Exam | 32 questions in 60 minutes at 75 percent, $100 per attempt. Under two minutes a question, a faster pace than the journeyman or master exams ask for, and two attempts within one year.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375 |
| Fees | $40.00 to apply on form BCC-341, the same as the journeyman, plus the $100 PSI fee for each attempt.Form BCC-341 |
| Term | Not published. The sign specialist renewal fee and date aren't on the LARA renewal page cited here, so this row doesn't state them. Call the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316.LARA, license and registration renewals |
The renewal fee and date for this license aren't published anywhere we can read
LARA's renewal page carries rows for the apprentice, the journeyman, the master, the fire alarm technician and the contractor licenses, and no row for the sign specialist. So the amount and the date are left blank here rather than guessed from the neighbors. The $40.00 application fee on form BCC-341 is the one figure that is published. Call the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316 and settle it before your first renewal comes due.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: The fire alarm and sign licenses in full, The sign specialty contractor license, Every fee and renewal date on one page, Licensing questions, answered and cited.
Coming in from another state
LARA, electrical examination and licensing information
Michigan holds no reciprocity with any state or country, so what you get instead is a review of your file.
| Reciprocity | None. LARA says Michigan does not hold reciprocity with any other state or country. There's no list of friendly states and no partial agreement, so the answer doesn't change with the state you name.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
|---|---|
| What to send | Your original license, along with documentation of the detailed requirements of the jurisdiction that issued it. That second item means the other state's statute or rule text on hours, years, supervision and examination, not a photo of your wallet card. Processing may take up to three to five weeks, in the order applications are received.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information; LARA, licensing section |
| What it's read against | For a journeyman, at least 20 years old with at least 8,000 hours over at least 4 years. For a master, at least 22 with at least 12,000 hours over 6 years or more, plus two years holding an electrical journeyman's license.MCL 339.5715, MCL 339.5713 |
| Exam | Unconfirmed. Nothing on the LARA pages cited here says the review can waive an examination, and nothing says it can't, so no answer is stated. Ask the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316 and get the reply in writing before you plan a move.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Out of state hours | Also unconfirmed. LARA publishes that credit is possible for recognized training programs and publishes no rule crediting hours worked under another state's license. MCL 339.5715 says a licensed electrician while LARA's own page says a Michigan licensed journeyman or master, and that gap is what the review exists for.MCL 339.5715; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Forms | There's no out of state verification form on LARA's licensing forms page. What that page carries is a Skilled Trades Detailed License Verification Request, and it runs the other way, verifying a Michigan license for another state that's asking about you.LARA, licensing forms |
| Detroit | LARA's licensing page says that if you live in the City of Detroit, the city issues its own licenses and registrations locally. Nothing on the LARA pages cited here sets out what Detroit requires, so treat it as a second inquiry and ask the city.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
Two Michigan acts sit in that exam and you've never opened either one
The Michigan examinations are Michigan examinations whatever your file shows. PSI allows the National Electrical Code with factory markings and factory tabs only, plus 2016 PA 407, 1972 PA 230 and the Michigan Electrical Code Rules Part 8. Those two acts and Part 8 are the part an experienced electrician from another state hasn't seen. Michigan is on the 2023 NEC, so arriving from a 2020 or a 2026 state adds an edition question on top.
PSI candidate information bulletin 4375
Read the detail: Reciprocity, and what happens instead, How Michigan counts and proves hours, The Michigan journeyman requirement itself, The master requirement, if that's your license, Checking a Michigan license once you have one.
Renewing
LARA, license and registration renewals
Michigan runs two renewal dates and three renewal cycles, and mixing them up is what the late fees are for.
| Dates | Apprentice registrations by August 31. Journeyman, master, fire alarm specialty technician and contractor licenses by December 31. Both are fixed calendar dates rather than anniversaries of your own issue date.LARA, license and registration renewals |
|---|---|
| Fees | Electrical apprentice $15.00 a year, and the fire alarm specialty apprentice technician the same. Journeyman $40.00 a year. Master $50.00 a year, and the fire alarm specialty technician the same. Contractor $300.00 every three years.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Continuing education | No annual hour count. A code update course is owed only within one year of new code being adopted, and LARA marks it not required for the apprentice registrations or for the contractor licenses.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| How you renew | Through Accela at michigan.gov/bccrenewals. LARA says all renewals need to be processed through the website before the expiration date to stay active and avoid late fees.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Apprentices | One extra step. Log into the Accela account, give the master and contractor license numbers for your employer, and confirm participation in or completion of a board approved apprenticeship training program.LARA apprentice renewal instructions |
| Keeping the record straight | Form BCC-3911 covers a change of address, a personal or company name change, or a change in company representation. Filing it is cheaper than missing a renewal notice.LARA, licensing forms |
| Not published | The sign specialist renewal fee and date aren't on the LARA renewal page cited here, so they aren't stated. Call the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316.LARA, license and registration renewals |
The contractor license is the one that isn't annual
Every individual electrical license in Michigan renews every year. The electrical, fire alarm and sign specialty contractor license renews every three years by December 31 at $300.00, and a three year cycle is far easier to forget than a one year cycle. The reminder goes to whatever address and email Accela has on file, which is the other half of the problem. At $50.00 against a $300.00 renewal, the late fee isn't the part that hurts.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: Every fee and renewal date on one page, The code update course, and when it's owed, Late renewal, lapse and getting back, Checking whether a license is active now.
Moving up a grade
MCL 339.5713
Each step up has its own clock, and the master one counts time you spent holding a license rather than earning it.
| Journeyman to master | At least 12,000 hours over 6 years or more, with at least 2 years holding an electrical journeyman's license. LARA adds 4,000 hours worked as an electrical journeyman, sitting inside the 12,000 rather than on top.MCL 339.5713; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
|---|---|
| The arithmetic | Eight thousand hours as an apprentice plus 4,000 as a journeyman is 12,000, which is the arithmetic the statute and the LARA page agree on. For a full time worker the counts land close together at about six years.MCL 339.5713; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Exam | The master examination is 76 questions in 180 minutes at 75 percent, $100 per attempt, on the same form BCC-341 at a $50.00 application fee.PSI candidate information bulletin 4375, Form BCC-341 |
| Master to contractor | No further exam. MCL 339.5711 gives the electrical contractor license to a master, or to a business employing a full time Michigan resident master actively in charge of code compliance on all installations.MCL 339.5711 |
| Supervision wording | MCL 339.5713 describes the master hours as performed under a master electrician's supervision, where the journeyman section says the direct supervision of a licensed electrician. If your years were supervised only by journeymen, ask the Licensing Section how your record reads before you file rather than after.MCL 339.5713, MCL 339.5715 |
| Training credit | LARA says credit toward the requirement is possible for recognized training programs and doesn't publish how much any program carries. Treat a figure a provider quotes as their claim until LARA confirms it against your file.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
Two failures in 24 months costs you a year and a course
MCL 339.5713 puts a master candidate who fails twice within 24 months out for at least one year from the date of the second failure, and reapplying takes proof of the successful completion of a board approved course on the Michigan electrical code, electrical fundamentals or electrical theory. PSI separately allows two attempts within one year. The journeyman section carries the same structure at MCL 339.5715, so it's the Michigan pattern rather than something aimed at masters.
MCL 339.5713
Read the detail: The master license and its three clocks, The journeyman license this builds on, Counting and proving 12,000 hours, The contractor license a master qualifies, Every fee and renewal date on one page.
Renewing late, or already lapsed
LARA, license and registration renewals
The late fee is the small part. The stretch of days when you held nothing is the part that follows you.
| Late fees | $50.00 for a journeyman, master, fire alarm specialty technician or contractor license. $100.00 for an electrical apprentice or fire alarm specialty apprentice technician registration, on a $15.00 renewal.LARA, license and registration renewals |
|---|---|
| Whether it grows | Not on anything published. LARA states each late fee as a flat amount, and nothing on the renewal page cited here makes it larger the longer you wait.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Working in the gap | LARA says you aren't allowed to be on the job site without an active license and that letting it expire may lead to citations or enforcement action. For apprentices it says being on a job site with an expired registration is against the law. For masters it says an expired license may negatively impact your ability to pull permits.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Apprentices | Renew rather than reapply. Your apprentice registration number never expires, and LARA warns that filing a new application instead of a renewal causes delays. You'll owe the $15.00 renewal and the $100.00 late fee.LARA apprentice renewal instructions |
| Hours worked during a lapse | Unconfirmed. Nothing on the LARA pages cited here says what happens to them, so no answer is claimed. Ask the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316 before you rely on those weeks.LARA, license and registration renewals, Form BCC-341 |
| How long you have | Also unconfirmed. The pages cited here publish no cut off after which renewal stops being possible, and none of them says whether a long lapse means sitting the examination again.LARA, license and registration renewals |
Paying the late fee doesn't cover the days you weren't licensed
Michigan renewal dates are shared rather than personal, so everybody in a category expires on the same day and a late renewal leaves a predictable stretch of dates behind you. A lookup shows the position today, not the position last spring. If somebody later checks the work you did inside that gap, the renewal you filed afterwards doesn't reach back over it. Call the Licensing Section at 517-241-9316 with your own dates.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: Late renewal, lapse and getting back, Every fee and renewal date on one page, The apprentice registration and August 31, Checking whether a license is active now.
Working out whether I owe a code update course
LARA, license and registration renewals
Michigan counts code adoptions rather than annual hours, so in a year with no adoption you owe nothing before you renew.
| The rule | LARA's renewal page says you are only required to take a code update course within one year of new code being adopted. No annual figure is attached to a Michigan electrical license, no four hours and no eight.LARA, license and registration renewals |
|---|---|
| The statute | MCL 339.5715 makes a board approved course concerning any update or change in the state construction code a condition of journeyman renewal within 12 months after the change, and MCL 339.5713 carries the same condition for the master in the same words.MCL 339.5715, MCL 339.5713 |
| When the clock starts | From the update to the code, not from your renewal date and not from the date you were licensed. Everybody's 12 months starts on the same day.MCL 339.5715, MCL 339.5713 |
| The current adoption | The Part 8 Michigan Electrical Code rules took effect on 12 March 2024 and adopt the 2023 National Electrical Code second printing along with its TIAs, errata and Annex H, beginning at rule R 408.30801.Part 8 Michigan Electrical Code, final rules |
| What's in the pipe | LARA's currently open rules page lists 2026-17 LR Part 8 Electrical Code as a proposed draft, discussed at a public rules advisory meeting on 27 August 2026. A draft isn't an adoption, and no 12 month clock starts from one.LARA, currently open rules |
| Who doesn't owe it | LARA marks the course as not required for the electrical apprentice registration and not required for the electrical, fire alarm and sign specialty contractor licenses. It's the individual licenses that carry it.LARA, license and registration renewals |
| Where to take it | LARA points licensees to CE Broker at cebroker.com or (877) 434-6323. A provider wanting a program approved is told to write to [email protected], which is the approval route rather than somewhere licensees send certificates.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information; LARA, license and registration renewals |
Watch Michigan's rule filing, not the NFPA publication date
What starts the 12 month requirement is Michigan filing its Part 8 rule, not NFPA issuing an edition. A 2026 NEC existing puts no course on your renewal, and neither does a draft rule discussed at an advisory meeting. The current rules took effect 12 March 2024 on the 2023 NEC, which is also the edition the examination is open book on. Check any provider against CE Broker before you pay, because approved is a status LARA grants rather than a claim a school makes.
LARA, currently open rules
Read the detail: The code update course in full, Every fee and renewal date on one page, The journeyman license and its renewal, The master license and its renewal.
Changing the master a contractor license runs on
MCL 339.5713
A Michigan contractor license stops working the moment its master electrician leaves, and no renewal date is involved.
| The hold | LARA says the electrical contractor license is placed on hold without an associated master electrician. It isn't revoked and it isn't renewed away. A license can be current and still on hold.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
|---|---|
| One at a time | MCL 339.5713 says a master electrician's license cannot be used to meet the eligibility requirement for more than 1 electrical contractor's license, and LARA states the same rule as one association at a time. Two companies need two masters.MCL 339.5713; LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| What the replacement has to be | A master electrician who is a full time employee, resides in this state, and is actively in charge of and responsible for Michigan electrical code compliance of all installations of electrical wiring and equipment. Four conditions, and people usually remember one.MCL 339.5711 |
| The form | Form BCC-3911 covers a change in company representation, alongside a personal or company name change and a change of address.LARA, licensing forms |
| The same structure elsewhere | The fire alarm contractor license and the sign specialty contractor license work this way too, each needing its own qualifying licensee, who has to reside in Michigan if the contractor is out of state.LARA, electrical examination and licensing information |
| Two records | A one person shop normally holds two separate licenses with separate numbers, the individual master license attached to the person and the contractor license attached to the business. Checking one doesn't check the other.MCL 339.5711; LARA, find or verify a licensed professional or business |
A lapsed master license can take the company's permits with it
LARA notes that letting a master license expire may negatively impact your ability to pull permits, which for anybody running work is the business rather than an inconvenience. The master renewal is $50.00 by December 31 with a $50.00 late fee, on a different date and a different cycle from the contractor license's three years by December 31. One person forgetting a $50.00 renewal can stop the company's work.
LARA, license and registration renewals
Read the detail: The contractor license and the hold, The master license this depends on, What a gap in a record means, Checking the person and the company.
What this page is
This is a reading of LARA, Bureau of Construction Codes material, and it is not advice and not an application. Check anything that decides money or a deadline against the source named beside it.
Questions people ask
What does the Electrical Apprentice license in Michigan require?
Michigan registers apprentices rather than licensing them, and the job has to come before the paperwork.
What does the Journeyman Electrician license in Michigan require?
Two conditions have to be true at the same time, and working faster only moves one of them.
What does the Master Electrician license in Michigan require?
Three counts run at once here, and your eligibility date is whichever one finishes last.
What does the Electrical Contractor license in Michigan require?
The one Michigan electrical license with no examination behind it, because the exam sits inside the master license it depends on.
What does the Fire Alarm Specialty Technician license in Michigan require?
The one Michigan electrical license where a national certification stands in for an hour count.
What does the Fire Alarm Specialty Apprentice Technician license in Michigan require?
Michigan registers a fire alarm apprentice alongside the electrical one, on the same form and the same August date.
What does the Sign Specialist license in Michigan require?
Half the journeyman's hours and half its years, with an approved training course sitting on the license rather than on the renewal.
What does the Coming in from another state license in Michigan require?
Michigan holds no reciprocity with any state or country, so what you get instead is a review of your file.
See the exact day you can sit the exam
Type in the hours you have. You get your exam date and your license date, each tied to the rule that sets it. Free, no account.
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What this page cites
- LARA, Bureau of Construction Codes Every figure on this page is taken from the licensing pages on this site, which cite the Occupational Code and LARA in turn. The rows name the source beside the number.