How to Choose a General Contractor in Metro Detroit

Ask to see their Michigan residential builder’s license and a current certificate of insurance (both liability and workers’ compensation), and confirm the name on them matches who you’re hiring. Ask who pulls the permits (the answer should be "we do"), who your day-to-day contact is, and how they handle change orders and the payment schedule. Ask for a written scope, a project timeline, and references from whole-home jobs finished in the last year, ideally in your city. A real contractor answers all of this plainly and puts it in writing. Vague, verbal-only answers on money and scope are the tell.

Some warning signs are worth ending the conversation over: a large cash deposit demanded up front, a bid dramatically lower than every other, no license or proof of insurance, pressure to skip the permit "to save time," and refusal to put the scope in writing. Unpermitted work is a special trap: it can stall a home sale, void insurance claims, and force you to tear open finished work for an inspector later. A contractor who treats permits and paperwork as optional is telling you exactly how the rest of the job will go.

The hardest part of hiring is verifying that a contractor is who they claim to be before money changes hands. That’s the step we take off your plate. Every general contractor in our network is screened for a valid Michigan license, current insurance, and a real track record of finished whole-home projects, not just a website and a phone number. You still interview and choose the one who fits your project and budget, but you’re choosing from pros who’ve already cleared the checks that catch the bad actors. It turns a search-engine gamble into a short list you can trust.