Michigan general contractor marketing that sells your license, your draw schedule and your spring start dates

Michigan has two licenses for home construction. The one on your card decides which pages your website can honestly carry.

The state's definitions for builders and contractors split the work. A residential builder erects, repairs or adds on to a one- or two-family home, or a townhouse of up to three stories. A maintenance and alteration contractor repairs, alters or adds to an existing home. That license also covers building a garage and laying concrete on residential property.

So a "new homes" page belongs to a builder licensee. A remodeler on the maintenance and alteration license is licensed craft by craft, as our Michigan roofing page explains. Each service page should sit inside a craft on the card. If your gallery shows a house you worked on as a sub, say that in the project write-up.

House flips count as well. Under the same definitions, buying, substantially rehabbing and reselling a house more than twice in one calendar year is maintenance and alteration work. There are exceptions, such as hiring a licensed contractor for all of it. A GC that also runs a "we buy houses" page should check this before the ad goes live.

Every licensee who started after June 1, 2008 sat 60 hours of approved courses first, with at least six hours on each of seven subjects, under the prelicensure rule. Marketing and sales is one of the seven. The current Michigan residential code is another.

Michigan writes a lot of homeowner protection into a contractor's paperwork. Put it on your website, and it becomes proof that a client's money is safe with you.

Michigan's sworn statement law says a contractor gives the owner a sworn statement whenever payment is due or requested. It lists every subcontractor and supplier, what each is owed and what has been paid. A contractor that skips it is not entitled to any payment until it is provided.

Most homeowners have never heard of it. A "How our draws work" page with a sample statement answers the worry that loses bids: who else could put a lien on my house? The same section lets the owner hold back enough of a draw to pay the subs listed, so explain that calmly too.

The license law's list of violations adds two promises worth printing. Money taken for one project may not be spent on another. And the homeowner gets the entire agreement, including any finance charges. Say both in plain words beside the payment schedule.

Homeowners get a form of their own. When a sub or supplier asks in writing, the owner must return a notice of commencement within 10 days of the postmark. The form carries a bold warning to the homeowner. Tell clients it may come and what to do with it, and you look organized before the first wall comes down.

A construction lien also cannot exceed the claimant's contract less what has already been paid on it, under the lien amount rule. That line belongs in your FAQ. Not legal advice; confirm with counsel.

A Michigan remodel is often signed months after the first visit. A homeowner can also complain to the state for a year and a half after the job. Your follow-up should cover both ends.

Michigan's telephone solicitation definition leaves out a call that only asks for a face-to-face meeting. It also leaves out calls to customers who paid you in the last 12 months. A call asking an old bid to book a site visit fits that line far better than one pushing them to sign on the phone.

Recorded voices are another matter. No telephone solicitation may consist even partly of a recorded message, under Michigan's do-not-call section. The FCC also treats voices made by AI as artificial under its 2024 ruling. Keep old-bid calls live, and see our texting and call rules guide for texts.

Then the long tail. A homeowner may file a complaint against a licensee for 18 months after completion, occupancy or purchase, or after the certificate of occupancy or closing on a permit job, under the complaint deadline. Workmanship below the Michigan residential code is one listed ground. We set a check-in call at month 11, then a review request, so a small fix happens before it turns into a complaint.