Requirements, license levels, and the issuing authority, sourced from Michigan's official board.
Start collecting the paperwork before you need it. Michigan will not accept a narrative account of experience, it wants payroll-grade documents covering two years inside the last five, and reconstructing those from a former employer years later is the usual reason an application stalls.
| Requirements | MICHIGAN CALLS IT A REGISTRATION RATHER THAN A LICENCE, and it is issued by the environmental agency, EGLE, rather than a construction board, because well construction is regulated here as a drinking-water and groundwater-protection matter. EXPERIENCE, AND HOW IT MUST BE PROVEN. An applicant must provide proof of AT LEAST TWO YEARS of work experience DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS as a water well driller or pump installer. The recency window matters. And Michigan is specific about the evidence it will accept: W-2 FORMS, PAYCHECK STUBS, EMPLOYERS' PAYROLL RECORDS, or WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE RECORDS. A letter from an employer is not on that list, the agency wants documents created for another purpose at the time. Registration is applied for on form EQP2087, which covers both the drilling contractor and the pump installation contractor categories. A well driller also works inside the groundwater-protection rules that govern well construction, abandonment and reporting; the licensing agency is normally the same body that receives the well log, so the licence and the reporting duty travel together. |
| Reciprocity | EGLE assesses out-of-state applicants against the same two-years-in-five documentary standard; there is no published waiver. The documentary evidence requirement applies equally to experience earned elsewhere. |
| Renewal | Registrations renew with EGLE's Water Well Construction Unit on the agency's published cycle; the unit's registration pages carry the current renewal form and fee. |
| Notes | Start collecting the paperwork before you need it. Michigan will not accept a narrative account of experience, it wants payroll-grade documents covering two years inside the last five, and reconstructing those from a former employer years later is the usual reason an application stalls. |
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Sources: www.michigan.gov, www.michigan.gov. Always confirm current requirements with the issuing authority.
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