Foundation, basement and crawl space work in Michigan: the rules, in order

Licensing: who may do foundation work

The statute has no category called foundation repair, underpinning or crawl space. Foundation work on a detached one- or two-family home counts as repair, alteration or improvement of a residential structure, so a contractor charging $600 or more in labor and materials needs a LARA residential builder license or a maintenance and alteration license. The maintenance and alteration crafts are carpentry, concrete, swimming pool installation, waterproofing a basement, excavation, insulation work, masonry, roofing, siding and gutters, screen or storm sash, tile and marble, and house wrecking. Which craft a given job needs is our reading, not the statute's, so check that the license lists the craft that fits the work.

You do not need a license to work on your own occupied home, and the $600 line counts the whole job, so splitting a contract to stay under it does not count. Unlicensed residential work is a misdemeanor with a fine of $5,000 to $25,000 and up to a year in jail, and an unlicensed contractor cannot sue for payment or place a lien. LARA says the state fund that once reimbursed homeowners was abolished in August 2010, so the license check is your protection. Our guide shows how to check a Michigan builder license.

The code and the permit: which edition, and who decides

LARA's code-books page lists the 2015 Michigan Residential Code as current. A court order of July 7, 2025 keeps the 2015 rules in effect while the 2021 update is on hold, and we have not checked whether the order has since been lifted. Troy, Westland and Sterling Heights state the same edition on their own pages.

The base code requires a permit to construct, enlarge, alter or repair a building. Michigan's list of work that needs none names sheds, fences, low retaining walls, sidewalks and similar items and does not name foundation repair, waterproofing or crawl space work, though whether your repair counts is the building official's call. Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Livonia, Sterling Heights and Warren each print basement waterproofing as a permit item, and Westland lists interior perimeter drains and sump pits. Our permits by city guide lists what each one prints.

Engineers: when a professional engineer comes first

Only a licensed professional engineer may practice engineering in Michigan, and the engineer's seal is required on documents filed with a public authority such as a city building office. State law exempts the planning and design of a detached one- or two-family home up to 3,500 square feet from the engineer-license article, so there is no statewide rule that a stamp is needed for an ordinary foundation repair, and a city can still ask for one.

The model code is more specific about walls. It requires engineered design where a foundation wall faces groundwater pressure or holds back more than 48 inches of unbalanced backfill. That is the case where a contractor's pitch and an engineer's report are most likely to differ, which is why we say to get the report from someone who does not sell the repair. See why an engineer comes first and the engineer tool.

Ground, frost and water

Michigan's rule is that footings and foundation systems extend 42 inches below actual grade, and the building official may modify the depth on evidence of freezing degree days, soil type, ground water, snow depth or other conditions. It is a footing rule, not a pipe-burial depth. Heavy rain is the other regular test: the National Weather Service recorded 4 to 6 inches in about four hours across Wayne, southern Oakland and Macomb counties on August 11, 2014, and state police say floods often follow snowmelt and heavy spring rain.

We found no Michigan map of expansive soils, so we do not call any city's clay expansive; the model code defines the term by laboratory tests. Federal and USGS sources describe clay lake-plain soils in southeast Michigan at regional scale, and we use them only that way. The frost depth guide explains what the 42 inches means for piers and additions.

Radon: the one service nobody licenses

EGLE says radon testers and mitigators are not licensed or regulated in Michigan, that it has no authority over them and that hiring one is a buyer-beware decision. EPA puts nine Michigan counties in Zone 1 (Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Hillsdale, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lenawee, St. Joseph and Washtenaw), while Wayne and Macomb are Zone 3. EGLE also says one in four Michigan homes is expected above the 4 pCi/L action level, and EPA says the zone map must not decide whether you test.

A short-term do-it-yourself kit generally costs $10 to $20 according to EGLE's FAQ, and the same page gives $750 to $1,500 as a typical Michigan mitigation range. Other EGLE pages give different ranges, so we name the page whenever we quote one. Start with the radon guide.

What this work costs in Michigan: the evidence we have

We have collected no Michigan quotes, so every range on this site is an estimate from a model, labeled that way. The first rows below are the estimate for each service, built from published national cost ranges and adjusted by Michigan's wage ratio for the nearest federal occupation. They are not quotes and they are not Michigan prices. After them come the wages: Michigan statewide median annual pay in 2025 data republished by O*NET was $49,590 for construction laborers, $59,860 for cement masons and concrete finishers, $61,680 for carpenters and $92,100 for civil engineers. That is pay, not price, and no wage category covers a foundation crew exactly.

Permit fees are printed city by city: Ann Arbor charges a base application fee of $15 plus a permit fee of $100 plus $10 per $1,000 of project cost for jobs from $1,000 to $50,000, and says basement waterproofing is priced the same as a building permit. Each service page shows its estimate with the method and the rows we can source.

How we estimate costs: every Estimated range row is a model, not a quote. It takes published national ranges for the job (cost guides from third-party sites that we have not verified and do not cite) and multiplies them by Michigan's median wage ratio to the US for the nearest federal occupation (BLS 2025 data read through O*NET OnLine). No permit fee is added, and the wage and permit rows are not prices. We have collected no quotes, and we found no Michigan foundation company that publishes a price we could count. Full method.

Questions about foundation work in Michigan

• DetroitWayne · 636,644 · 90% pre-1980
• Grand RapidsKent · 197,768 · 75% pre-1980
• WarrenMacomb · 138,128 · 83% pre-1980
• Sterling HeightsMacomb · 133,473 · 58% pre-1980
• Ann ArborWashtenaw · 121,179 · 64% pre-1980
• LansingIngham · 112,546 · 80% pre-1980
• DearbornWayne · 107,846 · 84% pre-1980
• LivoniaWayne · 94,058 · 78% pre-1980

Michigan guides

• Permits8 min read

  Basement waterproofing permits in Michigan, city by city

• Crawl spaces8 min read

  Crawl space encapsulation and what the 2015 code actually requires

• Reading cracks7 min read

  Foundation crack types in Michigan and what each pattern usually means

• Independent diagnosis8 min read

  Get an engineer's read before you hire a Michigan foundation contractor

• Contractor licensing7 min read

  How to check a Michigan builder license before you sign

• Wet basements7 min read

  How to waterproof a basement without digging, and what that can and cannot fix

• Footings and ground7 min read

  Michigan frost depth: the 42-inch footing rule and what frost heave does

• Radon8 min read

  Radon in Michigan: EPA zones by county, test kits and what a fix involves

• Costs7 min read

  What foundation repair costs in Michigan: our estimates and what shapes a quote

• Contractor licensing7 min read

  What happens when a foundation contractor has no Michigan license

• Sump and drainage7 min read

  Where a Michigan sump pump may discharge, and who may install one

• Building code7 min read

  Which residential code applies to Michigan foundation work, 2015 or 2021