Michigan: some chimney work needs a state license. Here's what that means.

Perfect regime contrast (comparison, not Michigan law): in PA anyone can legally sweep (registration only, no license); in Michigan chimney masonry REPAIR ≥$600 requires a state license and an unlicensed contractor can't even sue for payment. Two neighboring-market pages, opposite headlines — this is why per-state pages exist.

Michigan requires a STATE LICENSE for residential repair/alteration/improvement work where the aggregate contract price (labor + materials) is $600 or more: either Residential Builder or Maintenance & Alteration (M&A) Contractor (Occupational Code, Article 24, MCL 339.2401 et seq.). LARA's homeowner page: "All contractors offering to do work which totals $600 or more in labor and materials must be licensed"; LARA's FAQ adds that contracts may not be split to stay under $600. M&A licenses list specific trades; LARA's enumerated list is "carpentry, concrete, excavation, insulation work, masonry, siding, roofing, screens and storm sash, gutters, tile & marble, house wrecking, swimming pools, basement waterproofing" — chimney is not named, but chimney rebuilds, crowns, and tuckpointing are masonry, so ≥$600 masonry chimney repairs are licensed work (our reading; relines are not clearly an enumerated trade — flag as interpretive). Requirements: 60 hours of approved prelicensure education + exam; LARA FAQ lists a $195 company application fee and $185 individual relicensure fee. Public lookup: michigan.gov/statelicensesearch. Sweeping-only caveat: pure chimney cleaning is not an enumerated M&A trade; a cleaning-only visit arguably falls outside licensure → the certification gap still matters. (Interpretive point — flag as our reading, not statute text.)

The exam covers codes/business/law — nothing chimney-specific. A licensed mason may never have scanned a flue. Individual certs (NCSG CCP/CCJ/CCR; CSIA CCS, C-DET) remain the competence signal.

Seller Disclosure Act, Act 92 of 1993 (MCL 565.957): statutory disclosure form is mandatory in most 1–4 unit sales; the statutory form's systems checklist includes "Fireplace & chimney" and "Wood burning system" (Yes / No / Unknown / Not Available working-order columns). Limit: sellers disclose KNOWN conditions — never-looked = nothing to disclose. No statute mandates a chimney inspection at transfer; NFPA 211's Level 2-at-transfer remains a national standard, not MI law. (Pending bill HB 4110 of 2025 would add a property-tax estimate to the form; in committee, does not touch chimney items.)

MCL 339.2412(1): a residential builder or M&A contractor "shall not bring or maintain an action in a court of this state for the collection of compensation for the performance of an act or contract for which a license is required by this article without alleging and proving that the person was licensed ... during the performance of the act or contract." Enormous homeowner leverage. Unlicensed contracting may be a criminal violation (the AG's consumer alert says failure to obtain a required license "may constitute a violation of criminal law"). LARA takes complaints against licensees. Home Solicitation Sales Act (Act 227 of 1971, MCL 445.111–445.117; cancellation right in MCL 445.112): sales solicited at the home carry a 3-business-day right to cancel — the AG's building-and-remodeling alert confirms "sales solicited at your home (three days to cancel)." Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCL 445.901+) exists but courts have narrowed its application to licensed activities — treat MCPA as secondary; flag for legal review.

Michigan AG maintains a standing Building and Remodeling — Advice for Homeowners consumer alert (michigan.gov/consumerprotection) covering high-pressure sales, license verification, and the 3-day home-solicitation cancel. Recent AG home-improvement enforcement under the MCPA: Hummingbird Construction Co. — consent judgment February 17, 2026 (company dissolved, owner barred 10 years from Michigan construction businesses, refunds). No Michigan AG chimney-specific enforcement action was found — describe patterns, not names, for chimney content.

Statewide code under the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act (PA 230 of 1972), enforced by local building departments. The 2015 Michigan Residential Code (IRC 2015-based) remains in effect. LARA filed rules adopting the 2021 Michigan Residential Code (2021 IRC) and residential energy provisions to take effect August 29, 2025, but a Michigan Court of Claims order dated July 7, 2025 (posted by LARA) paused both rule sets, stating the 2015 versions "will remain valid and in effect." The Home Builders Association of Michigan's lawsuit was still in discovery at the latest check. HBAM's legal page (modified Aug 14, 2026; REF) says the court extended discovery to "late spring" and reports no ruling. LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes page (GOV, Sep 25, 2026) still describes the 2021 residential and energy rules as under injunction. No source shows the 2021 MRC in force. (Commercial side is different: 2021 Michigan Building Code took effect April 2025 — do not conflate.) Relines, rebuilds, and solid-fuel appliance installs are typically permit work (building/mechanical); routine sweeps and like-for-like cap swaps typically are not — local variation is real, say so.

No statewide burn-day regime; outdoor wood boilers regulated locally in many townships. UP wood-heat density among the highest in the country.

The statute layer is MCL 125.1504f (the "Overbeck law," added to the Construction Code Act by 2008 PA 377, effective March 23, 2009). The statute is enabling, not self-executing. It reads: "The director may provide for, at the time of initial construction of a single-family dwelling or a multifamily dwelling, or at the time of renovation of any existing single-family dwelling in which a permit is required, or upon the addition or creation of a bedroom, the installation of at least 1 operational and approved carbon monoxide device." A device "shall be located in the vicinity of the bedrooms ... in areas within the dwelling adjacent to an attached garage; and in areas adjacent to any fuel-burning appliances." Subsection (3) bars penalties until a code incorporating the requirement takes effect (legislature.mi.gov, MCL 125.1504f). The binding requirement therefore sits in the Michigan Residential Code (R315), which the construction code adopts. (R315's current MRC text was not re-read on a primary source in Sep 2026; cite it as the code-level home of the rule, not by quoted wording.) There is no statewide retrofit or at-sale CO requirement for existing homes — a permitted chimney job is exactly the trigger, and the natural moment to add alarms. Rental rules vary locally.