Choosing a garage door company when there is no garage door license to check

What we can say about a garage door license

As far as we can tell, Michigan does not license garage door work as a trade of its own. LARA’s list of licensed professions for complaints shows skilled trades as electrician, mechanic, plumber, residential builder, code official and elevator, and there is no garage door category. That is an absence in a list, so we say “as far as we can tell”, but it is enough to call a claim of a Michigan garage door license unsupported. If a company tells you it holds one, ask what it is called and who issued it.

The statute that lists the residential maintenance and alteration crafts, MCL 339.2404(3), names carpentry, concrete, swimming pool installation, waterproofing a basement, excavation, insulation work, masonry work, roofing, siding and gutters, screen or storm sash installation, tile and marble work, and house wrecking. LARA’s own page for those contractors lists the same trades. Garage doors and openers are not among them.

When a builder license might apply

The statute defines a residential maintenance and alteration contractor as a person who, for compensation other than wages, undertakes to repair, alter, add to, subtract from or improve a residential structure, or who builds a garage or lays concrete. Putting a new door on a garage could be read as an improvement to a residential structure. It could also be read as outside the crafts. Neither LARA’s pages nor the statute text settle it.

We do not say a builder license is required, and we do not say it is not. If you want an answer that binds anyone, ask LARA’s Residential Builders section, which publishes 517-241-9309. If a company says it holds a builder license, you can check it, and that is a more useful step than arguing the point.

The statute also sets a dollar line. MCL 339.2403(f) exempts a single project whose combined price for labor, material and other items is under $600, unless the work is part of a larger operation or split up to avoid the act, and LARA tells homeowners that contractors offering work of $600 or more in labor and materials must be licensed. That line only matters for work that needs a license in the first place, which is the part that stays open for doors. The same statute exempts an owner working on their own property and an owner of rental property maintaining it, which is why a landlord fixing a door is a different case from a company selling you one.

Electrical work is a different matter

Wiring is licensed. MCL 339.5731 says only an individual licensed under that article shall install electrical wiring, subject to exceptions, and that in a municipality with an inspection service a permit must be obtained. On our interpretation, hardwiring a new opener or adding an outlet is wiring, and plugging a cord-connected opener into an outlet that already exists is not. For openers not equipped for permanent wiring, the federal rule requires the instructions to say: contact a licensed electrician to install a suitable receptacle if one is not available. See the permit guide for the permit side.

Check what the company tells you

Ask three questions, in this order. Does the company hold a license or registration for this work, and which? What is the number? Can you look it up? LARA links a Verify a License tool, and statewide search sits at michigan.gov/statelicensesearch. A contractor who cannot give you a number for a license it claims has answered the question.

Ask about insurance and permits instead of assuming. We cannot tell you whether a given company carries liability or workers’ compensation insurance. LARA’s homeowner advice is that a contract should include liability and workers’ compensation insurance and warranty terms, and should state that the contractor will obtain required building permits. Put those lines in writing.

The written contract

Under the Construction Lien Act, MCL 570.1114, a contractor has no construction lien on a residential structure unless the work was done under a written contract. That contract must state that residential builders, maintenance and alteration contractors, electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors must be licensed and, if required, give the contractor’s license number. The written contract is what protects the company’s lien, so it is reasonable for you to ask for one.

Two more lien rules apply. A claim of lien has to be recorded with the county register of deeds within 90 days after the last furnishing of labor or material, and a contractor paid in full must provide a full unconditional lien waiver. A contractor must also give you a sworn statement when payment is due or when you demand one, listing subcontractors, suppliers and unpaid laborers. Ask for both when you pay the last installment.

Paying and canceling

LARA says never to pay for the entire job in advance. Pay a deposit when work begins, pay by check made out to the company name, get a receipt, and make scheduled payments as work progresses.

The three-day right to cancel is narrower than many pages suggest, and it may not cover you. Under MCL 445.112 a buyer may cancel a home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after signing an agreement that complies with the act, and the seller must give a notice of cancellation form. The definition in MCL 445.111 covers a sale over $25 where the seller solicits at the buyer’s residence and the agreement is given there, and it excludes sales after prior negotiations at the seller’s fixed business location and sales made under a printed advertisement in a publication of general circulation. A customer who phones a company after seeing an ad may or may not be covered, so we do not promise the right.

There is an emergency exception. The cancellation right does not apply where you ask for the work without delay because of an emergency, the seller starts performing in good faith, and you give a separate dated, handwritten, signed statement describing the emergency and waiving the right. The act does not say whether a broken spring counts as an emergency. If a company hands you such a statement, read what you are giving up.

If something goes wrong

LARA’s Bureau of Construction Codes enforcement section investigates complaints against residential builders, maintenance and alteration contractors, electricians, mechanical contractors and plumbers, including work without a permit or proper license, and fraud. Its number is 517-241-9309. It has no legal authority over contract, money or warranty disputes. The Attorney General takes consumer complaints, with the warning that complaints become public records and may be sent to the business and other agencies. The Homeowner Construction Lien Recovery Fund is not an option: LARA labels it abolished in August 2010.

For work done under a license the statute covers, a complaint has to be made within 18 months after completion, occupancy or purchase under MCL 339.2411. Whether that clock applies to garage door work turns on the same open question.

When you are ready to compare companies, the door replacement and opener install pages list what to ask, and spring replacement explains why that job goes to a trained technician. We rank no company, and we do not say the companies we send requests to are licensed.