What You Should Know About Renewing Your State of Michigan Builders License

Is it time to renew your Michigan license but you don’t know where to start? License renewals, irrespective of the type can be quite stressful. That doesn’t eliminate the fact that they are crucial to guaranteeing the validity of your license and helping you remain compliant with state regulations.

In Michigan, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) mandates all Residential Builders and Maintenance & Alteration (M&A) contractors to renew their licenses once every three years before May 31. You can always check your license for an expiration date to avoid second-guessing when you’re supposed to renew it.

This article is a quick guide for the crucial information you’ll need when renewing your residential builder’s license.

Why Do You Have to Renew Your License?

One of the most common questions that a majority of professionals have at the back of their minds is why license renewals are all that crucial, yet you’re constantly gaining experience at work. Well, here’s why. Even after you have acquired your State of Michigan Builders License through an accredited provider like RocketCert and practised for a couple of years, vital safety, building codes, and industry standards changes may emerge.

Continuing education helps you keep in touch with these changes so you’re always offering high-quality services. Not only that but putting some effort into keeping your licence current demonstrates your commitment to maintaining professional standards.

Understanding the Renewal Cycle

In Michigan, you will have to renew your builder’s license after every three years by May 31st. Make sure you always keep track of this date to avoid unnecessary interruptions to your work schedule. As you can expect, failing to renew your license on time means it will expire meaning you aren’t permitted to offer your services until you reinstate your license and that can be quite cumbersome and costly.

Renewal Requirements

Before starting the renewal process, it’s advisable to ensure you have the most recent copy of the Michigan Residential Codebook. When you’re ready to proceed, bear in mind that your continuing education requirements will vary depending on how long you’ve held your license:

First 6 years: If you’ve only had your license for 6 years or less, you will be required to complete 21 hours of continuing competency classes within the 3 years that your license is valid. These courses cover vital areas such as building codes (1hr), construction business & laws (1hr), and safety practices (1hr).

After 6 years: A residential builder licensee with more than six years of experience shall only complete a 3-hour continuing competency course focused on building codes (1hr), construction business & law (1hr), and safety (1hr).

In summary, you must spend at least one hour on education in each of the three crucial topics (building codes, construction safety, construction business &law) without regard to how long you’ve been licensed. If you must complete 21 hours of continuing competency, you can then choose from a couple of elective courses to cover the remaining 18 hours.

Always source your continuing competency courses from a state-recognized provider with great testimonials or excellent ratings and reviews on different online platforms.

Online License Renewal Process

After meeting the specified continuing education requirements, you can proceed with the renewal process online through LARA’s web portal. Here’s how you do that:

Step 1: Begin by registering and setting up your Lara Accela Account (Skip, if you have an active account).

Step 2: Connect your license to your Accela account. For the license type, make sure you’ve selected Residential Builder M and A Individual. (Also optional if you already have a finalized account).

Step 3: Renew Your License – Once you’ve logged in to your active Accela account, you will want to click “Search”, “My Records”, and then on “Renew Application”, in that order.

Check the information that comes up on the next page to ensure it’s correct, then click “Continue Application” to add your application to the cart. If you only have a single license to renew, you can click “Checkout” or “Continue Shopping” if you have multiple licenses.

Click “Checkout” once more to process the fee, and keep in mind that you can only pay through an electronic check or a credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or Discover).

Enter the required details such as your billing address and payment information, then confirm that all details are correct before clicking on “Pay Now”. If your transaction is successful, the screen should go blank, then you’ll get an email to confirm the successful submission of your application.

To make sure you never have to miss the renewal deadline, always do the following:

• Set reminders for the deadline.
• Plan your continuing competency course carefully and begin as early as you can.
• Keep records such as certificates of completion and renewal confirmations just in case you have to reference them in the future.

Don’t Struggle With Your Continuing Education

The process of renewing your Michigan Residential Builder’s license may seem lengthy and quite involving, especially if you’ve only been ratified for a couple of years. With the support that RocketCert’s team offers, however, you should be able to complete your continuing competency course quickly and effortlessly.

Check out their website today to learn more or get started on your CE course.

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