Structural pest control licensing
Is your exterminator licensed in Michigan?
Use the 'Find Businesses Licensed by MDARD' tool from the licensing page — it covers pesticide businesses among other licensed firms. The check worth making in Michigan is INSURANCE: a PABL holder must maintain insurance throughout the licensing period and is responsible for getting a current certificate to MDARD when the previous one expires, so ask to see proof of current cover before work starts. The license also names a specific certified applicator, and the business must notify MDARD of any change in that person's status or in the business name or address — a company whose named applicator has left may be operating on a stale license. Categories are indicated on the license application, so ask which ones they hold. Note the MDARD search has been observed returning 'Search is currently unavailable'; if it fails, call the Central Licensing Unit on 517-284-5771 or MDARD on 800-292-3939.
- Who regulates it
- MDARD
- Verification
- Online
- Check before paying
- The business license
The regulator
The credential to look for
Open the official Michigan search →
Renting in Michigan? Before you pay for treatment, check whether your landlord is legally responsible for the cost. Michigan bed bug law →
What to verify, in order
The business license, not just the technician
Most states license the company and certify the individual separately. A certified technician working for an unlicensed business is still an unlicensed job.
The category or phase covers structural work
Licenses are issued by category. An applicator certified for turf and ornamental has no business in your bedroom.
Status is active, not lapsed
Some state databases exclude cancelled licenses from results entirely, so a revoked company returns the same empty result as a typo. If you get nothing, phone the agency before assuming you mistyped.
Complaint and enforcement history
Where a state publishes disciplinary actions they are usually on the board site rather than inside the license search.
Link last confirmed: . State license portals migrate often and licenses lapse daily — treat anything older than a few months as a starting point, not an answer.
Always confirm on the state's own site. This page points at the official database; it does not mirror or cache license records. Status changes daily and only the issuing agency is authoritative.