What Michigan law means for a contractor's site, phones and inbox

Most Michigan rules for a service business are written for paper and phones, not for websites. They still reach your web pages, your call handling and your invoices. This page covers six areas where Michigan has a specific, written rule. It leaves out topics where we found no state rule, and it says so where that matters. Federal law (the TCPA and CAN-SPAM) applies in Michigan as it does everywhere, so read this page with our guides to texting rules and recording business calls.

Does your Michigan license number have to appear on your website?

If you hold a residential builder or maintenance and alteration (M&A) license from LARA, the administrative rule on advertising says you must include your name, license number and actual business address, as shown on the license, in all advertising. The rule, R 338.1532, adds that using a telephone number or post office box number alone is prohibited. A truck wrap, a yard sign, a mailer and a Google Business Profile post are all advertising in the ordinary sense, and a website page that promotes your services reads the same way. LARA has not published a separate website checklist that we could find, so confirm with the Bureau of Construction Codes if your setup is unusual.

The simplest compliance is a footer line on every page of the site, and on every ad, with the name exactly as printed on the license, the license number, and the street address. Do not shorten the company name or swap in a brand name. The rule says "as shown on the license." The same rule also bars promising a homeowner a bonus for letting you display their house or for sending you other customers, when the bonus depends on getting more orders.

Licensing also affects what you can do after a dispute. Under MCL 339.2412, a residential builder or M&A contractor cannot sue in a Michigan court to collect pay for work that needs the license without alleging and proving that it was licensed during the work, and cannot impose a lien on the property unless licensed during the work. Prosecutors and the Attorney General can bring civil actions against unlicensed operators, with a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $25,000. Our Michigan contractor license guide covers which trades need which license. Electricians, plumbers and mechanical contractors are licensed under other parts of the code, and R 338.1532 is written for the residential builder and M&A licensees.

Can you record customer calls in Michigan?

Michigan's eavesdropping statute, MCL 750.539c, bars using a device to eavesdrop on a private conversation without the consent of all parties, and carries up to two years in prison or a $2,000 fine. But MCL 750.539a defines eavesdropping as listening to or recording the private discourse of others. In Sullivan v. Gray (1982) the Michigan Court of Appeals read that wording to leave out a participant who records their own conversation. The Michigan Supreme Court has not squarely settled the question.

For a business line that means one practical rule: tell callers. A recorded-line greeting costs nothing and removes the argument. It also covers you when an out-of-state caller is in an all-party state, as our call recording guide explains. If you use an AI receptionist that records or transcribes, put the notice in the first sentence it speaks, before it asks for a name or address.

What does Michigan law say about sales calls and texts?

Michigan's Home Solicitation Sales Act, 1971 PA 227, contains the state's telephone solicitation rules in MCL 445.111a to 445.111e. They apply to a "telephone solicitation," defined as a voice communication meant to encourage the recipient to buy, rent or invest in goods or services during that call. Three exclusions matter to a service business: calls the subscriber invited or permitted in advance, calls to an existing customer, and calls that ask for a face-to-face meeting without pushing a decision on the call. A call the customer places to you is not a solicitation to begin with.

An "existing customer" is a person who bought from you and paid within the preceding 12 months, or has not yet paid because of a prior agreement. That is a tight window. A customer you last served 18 months ago is not covered by the exclusion on the call. The exclusion also disappears if that customer has told you to stop calling.

The duties on calls that are covered include:

• No sales call that consists in whole or in part of a recorded message (MCL 445.111a(1)).
• No calls to numbers on the state do-not-call list, and the statute designates the federal list as the state list once a federal list exists (MCL 445.111a(4) and (5)).
• At the start of the call, state your name and the full name of the business, give a callback number on request, and keep a live person available at that number while calls are being made (MCL 445.111b).
• No blocking of caller ID.
• No taking payment or charging a card before getting a verifiable authorization, which the statute defines as written, a recording of an oral authorization, or confirmation through an independent third party (MCL 445.111c(1)(d)).
• No leaving a voicemail that falsely suggests the person has a current business matter or customer relationship with you (MCL 445.111c(1)(h)).

Section 445.111c makes a violation of those items an unfair or deceptive practice. A person who suffers loss can sue for actual damages or $250, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees. A knowing or intentional violation of the list in section 1c is a misdemeanor with up to six months in jail or a $500 fine, though the statute carves out violations of the recorded-message, do-not-call and caller-identification sections from that criminal penalty. Michigan's sections set no calling hours that we found in the text. The federal window (8 a.m. to 9 p.m. recipient local time) still applies, and our TCPA guide covers it.

The state definitions speak of voice communications. They do not mention text messages, so texting stays under the TCPA. Whether a synthetic-voice outbound call counts as a "recorded message" is a legal question we have not found answered, so do not point an AI voice at a list of cold prospects without legal review. An AI that answers calls customers place to you is a different case, because an inbound call is not a telephone solicitation on the statute's definition.

What do written quotes and cancellation rights look like in Michigan?

Two sets of rules shape an online quote or booking flow. First, LARA's rule R 338.1533 says that all agreements and changes to agreements between a builder or contractor and the customer must be in writing and signed by the parties, with copies given to the customer. The agreement has to state the terms clearly, including specifications, cost, the type and amount of work and the type and quality of the materials. A text that says "sounds good, see you Tuesday" does not meet that standard for a licensee. If you collect acceptances online, ask LARA whether your e-signature tool satisfies the signature requirement before you rely on it.

Second, the Home Solicitation Sales Act gives buyers a cancellation right. A home solicitation sale is a sale of goods or services of more than $25 where the seller solicits the sale personally, by phone or in writing, the buyer receives the solicitation at their residence, and the buyer's agreement is given there. Sales made after prior negotiations at the seller's fixed place of business, and sales made from a printed advertisement in a publication of general circulation, are excluded. For a covered sale, the buyer has three business days after signing, through midnight, to cancel (MCL 445.112).

The contract must contain a statement near the signature line about the right to cancel and an attached notice of cancellation in duplicate. The notices must be at least 10-point bold type and 2 points larger than the contract text. If you skip the notice, the buyer can cancel by any means until you comply (MCL 445.113). You may not send a courier to pick up the buyer's payment at the home during the three-day window. There is a narrow emergency exception: the buyer must ask for immediate service, you must begin performance in good faith, and the buyer must hand over a signed, dated, handwritten statement of their own that gives up the right, and, if goods are involved, they must be impossible to send back in their original condition (MCL 445.112(5)).

In practice, a roofer who writes up an estimate at the kitchen table and has the owner sign a tablet contract on the spot is in this territory. Build the notice into the contract template inside your CRM so no crew member can send an agreement without it.

How should sales tax show up on a Michigan contractor invoice?

Michigan Treasury's construction FAQ says a contractor who constructs, alters, repairs or improves real estate is the consumer of the materials. The contractor pays tax when buying materials and does not charge sales tax to customers. Treasury allows you to bill the customer for all costs of the contract, including that tax cost, but says you may not break the tax out as though it was being billed to the customer. So the invoice template your web form or CRM generates should not have a "sales tax 6%" line on contract work.

Selling goods at retail is different. Treasury collects a 6% sales tax from businesses that sell tangible personal property to the final consumer, and local units cannot add their own. If you sell products separately, such as filters or planters, register for a sales tax license, which runs January 1 through December 31. Treasury also applies use tax to certain services it names, telecommunications among them. Confirm your own mix with Treasury, because a business doing both contract work and retail sales has to keep the two apart.

Can you add a card surcharge in Michigan?

The Attorney General's consumer page says that merchants in Michigan could charge extra for credit card use starting in 2013, that Michigan has no state law prohibiting or restricting credit card surcharges, and that it has none for debit cards either. Card network rules still apply. The page cites caps of 3% for Visa and 4% for Mastercard, says the network rules and the class action settlement do not allow surcharges on debit or prepaid cards, and notes that merchants may offer cash discounts.

The same page lists three disclosures for sellers who surcharge. A brick-and-mortar seller posts a notice at the entrance and at the point of sale. Receipts itemize the exact surcharge amount. An online seller discloses the surcharge on the web page where credit cards are first mentioned. If you take card payments online, put that notice on the booking or payment page and show the amount as its own line on the invoice. Check your processor's terms as well, since processors set their own rules.

Putting the Michigan rules to work in your setup

• Website: if you hold a residential builder or M&A license, repeat your name, license number and address on every page footer. Keep the legal name consistent with the license. Do not put a "sales tax" line on contract-work quotes. Put the three-day cancellation notice into any contract signed at a home.
• Business phone line: use a recorded-line announcement. Keep outbound sales calls to people who asked for contact or who are existing customers within the 12-month window, with a live caller, never a recording.
• AI receptionist: configure the recording notice first, then the greeting. Keep it on inbound calls and customer callbacks that follow a customer's own request.
• Email: Michigan's solicitation sections do not address email, so CAN-SPAM governs. Use your licensed name and address in the footer, which also meets the advertising rule.

This is general information, not legal advice. Statutes and agency rules change, so confirm the current text with LARA, the Attorney General and Treasury before you rely on it. Our Michigan startup page covers LLC filing, workers' compensation thresholds and the rest of the state-level basics.

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