Best HVAC Schools in Michigan (2026)

No, you do not need a personal licence to work as an HVAC tech in Michigan. The state issues no HVAC technician or mechanical journeyman licence; every reference to a journeyman in the governing act is electrical. Technicians work under their employer's licence, and the law is written that way deliberately, requiring that the person or an employee of the person has received a mechanical contractor's licence.

The licence itself is a single mechanical contractor credential carrying one or more of ten classifications: hydronic heating and cooling and process piping; HVAC equipment; ductwork; refrigeration; limited heating service; limited refrigeration and air conditioning service; unlimited heating service; unlimited refrigeration and air conditioning service; fire suppression; and specialty. Specialty subdivides again into solar, solid fuel and vented decorative gas appliances, LP distribution piping, fuel gas piping, and fuel gas piping and venting.

Each classification requires three years or 6,000 hours of experience in that classification, separately, and its own examination. Employers verify the experience in a statement signed under penalty of perjury describing BTU ratings, venting and duct systems, fuel types, refrigerant types and equipment. There is also a ladder: several classifications can only be added after holding a prerequisite for three years, so unlimited refrigeration requires having held HVAC, refrigeration or limited refrigeration first.

A Michigan mechanical license renews once every three years, expiring on 31 August, and is renewable by filing an application and paying the fee on or before 31 October. Initial licences are prorated into that cycle; renewals are not. The statutory fee is $100 a year, and the application form charges $300 for an initial three-year cycle. Adding a classification costs $300, $200 or $100 depending which year of the cycle you are in.

There is no continuing education requirement for mechanical contractors in Michigan, which is unusual for a state with this much classification structure. Re-examination is waived if you renew within three years of a licence being voided, so a lapse is recoverable for a while.

One deadline is much shorter than the others and worth putting in a calendar. If the licence holder leaves the business or the business is sold, there are only 90 days to designate a replacement contractor of record.

HVAC techs in Michigan make a median of $60,850 a year, essentially level with the national median of $61,010. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 12,590 HVAC technician jobs in the state in its May 2025 wage survey, a large workforce supported by cold winters, an older housing stock and substantial industrial and commercial refrigeration work.

The bottom 10 percent earn $40,090 or less and the top 10 percent earn $92,940 or more, with the middle half between $48,910 and $76,320. Michigan's ceiling comes within $2,300 of the national 90th percentile of $95,210, which is closer than its median suggests and points at well-paid commercial and industrial work above the residential market. These figures describe current pay, not future openings.