Michigan caps a repair overrun at 10 percent or $50, whichever is lesser. The smaller of the two, not the larger. MCL 257.1332 requires a written estimate itemizing labor and parts before work begins, and consent before that cap is exceeded. And the Homeowner Construction Lien Recovery Fund that a great deal of advice still points at was repealed in 2010. It is not there any more, whatever a search result says.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateMichigan average | $130 per hour |
| Attorney hourly rateMichigan average | $266 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
MCL 257.1332, part of the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Act, requires a repair facility to give the customer a written estimate itemizing labor and parts before beginning repair work. The final charge may go above it only where the estimated price is exceeded by not more than ten percent or fifty dollars, whichever is lesser, or where the customer knowingly consents in writing or orally.
Whichever is lesser is the phrase to hold onto. On a four hundred dollar job, ten percent is forty dollars and that is the cap. On a two thousand dollar job, ten percent would be two hundred, so the fifty dollar figure binds instead. The cap tightens as a proportion the bigger the job gets, which is the opposite of how most people assume such rules work.
This page publishes no dollar figure for when the written estimate is triggered, and the reason is worth stating. The statute sets none: it requires an estimate before beginning repair work, without qualification. Two Department of State consumer documents give different thresholds from each other, and one of them also gives two different overrun caps within the same page. Where a state's own materials disagree, the statute is what this directory publishes and the disputed numbers are left out.
The Michigan Homeowner Construction Lien Recovery Fund was repealed. MCL 570.1201 through 570.1207 were struck by 2010 PA 147, immediately effective 23 August 2010, and the compiled Construction Lien Act now shows those sections as repealed.
It matters because a large body of advice still describes the fund as a live route for a homeowner facing a subcontractor's lien on a job they have already paid for. It is not one, and has not been for over a decade. A homeowner in that position here is in a different conversation than the search results suggest, and the sooner that is understood the better the choices are.
What this page does not say is what happened to claims already in the system when the repeal took effect. That was not researched, and it is not something to guess at.
The table above carries the two Michigan figures with a per-state source: shop labor for auto repair, and attorney time. Shop labor sits just below the national figure. Attorney time runs above the national median, which is worth knowing before an hourly engagement starts.
Get the written estimate and check that it itemizes labor and parts separately. The statute asks for the itemization, and an estimate that is a single number gives the overrun cap nothing to attach to.
Work out which side of the cap your job sits on before you authorize it. Under about five hundred dollars the ten percent figure will be the smaller one. Above it, fifty dollars is.
If a shop calls mid-repair asking to go over, that consent is what lifts the cap. Ask for the revised total before agreeing, and ask for it in writing where you can.
On a construction lien problem, do not start from the recovery fund. It is gone, and time spent looking for it is time not spent on the lien itself.
By not more than 10 percent or $50, whichever is lesser, under MCL 257.1332, unless the customer knowingly consents in writing or orally.
The smaller of the two. Below about $500 the 10 percent figure is smaller. Above it the $50 figure binds instead.
MCL 257.1332 requires one before beginning repair work and sets no dollar threshold. Two Department of State consumer documents give different thresholds from each other, so this page publishes none.
No. MCL 570.1201 through 570.1207 were repealed by 2010 PA 147, immediately effective 23 August 2010.
Because the repeal is fifteen years old and a great deal of published material either predates it or was never updated. The compiled Construction Lien Act shows the sections as repealed.