Plenty of Toledo-area yards are in Michigan: Temperance, Lambertville, Erie, Monroe, Dundee. The permit is local and we cover those town by town. Five things are statewide, and they catch people who have only ever bought a fence in Ohio.
MISS DIG 811: 3 business days
Michigan’s one-call system is MISS DIG 811, and the law behind it is the MISS DIG Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Public Act 174 of 2013.
How to file. Dial 811, or file online through MISS DIG’s OneCallAccess portal (800-482-7171 from outside Michigan). It is free.
When. The statute says at least 72 hours and no more than 14 calendar days before digging, counting only business hours, 7 to 5 Monday to Friday minus MISS DIG’s holidays. MISS DIG calls it 3 business days: file Monday, dig Thursday. First check the ticket’s Positive Response status online, which shows every utility has answered. Start within 14 days of your legal start date; the ticket is good for 21.
What gets marked. The utilities send their own locators; MISS DIG marks nothing itself. Private lines are not marked: the power run to a garage or shed, a gas line to the grill, pool lines, sprinklers, an invisible dog fence. A private locating company finds those for a fee.
Who calls. Whoever digs: you, or the contractor. Within 48 inches of a mark the law requires hand digging to expose the line before any auger goes in.
Fence posts. The statute defines excavation as moving earth with power tools or equipment; the one fence exception is putting a post back in its existing hole. MISS DIG’s advice is simpler: any project, any size or depth. Take the advice.
If someone skips it. Knowingly hitting a line and not reporting it, burying the damage or pulling up the flags is a misdemeanor, up to a year or $5,000. The Public Service Commission can fine any violation up to $5,000 and order training. An excavator who filed and hits an unmarked line is not responsible for it.
Sales tax: 6 percent, and the installer pays it
Michigan sales tax is 6 percent with no city or county add-on, against 7.75 in Lucas County.
You will not see a tax line. Treasury’s construction bulletin treats the contractor as the consumer of the materials he fixes to your land: he pays 6 percent when he buys posts, panels and concrete, may fold it into his price as overhead, and may not charge you sales tax as a separate item. An invoice with “6% sales tax” on the bottom is a question to ask.
How deep the posts go: 42 inches
The Michigan Residential Code puts the frost line at 42 inches and requires exterior footings and foundations to go 42 inches below grade. That is a building rule; a fence post is not a building footing, and there is no state rule for post depth. But the frost line is why posts go deep at all, so ask your installer to work from 42 inches, not Toledo’s 36: six inches more hole and more concrete per post.
The same code exempts a fence of 7 feet or less from a building permit. That is the building permit only: every town we checked still wants a zoning permit, and Monroe’s fee schedule adds a building permit over 6.5 feet.
Is your contractor licensed?
Michigan licenses residential work through LARA’s Bureau of Construction Codes. The Occupational Code says anyone who, for a price, repairs, alters, adds to or improves a residential structure, defined as the house and all related facilities appurtenant to it, needs a Residential Builder or Maintenance and Alteration license. The exemption is a job whose whole price, labor and materials, is under $600, and splitting a job into pieces under $600 does not count.
Here is the honest gap. LARA’s FAQ says the bureau will not rule on whether a given job needs a license, and the 13 Maintenance and Alteration trades (carpentry, concrete, excavation, masonry and so on) do not include fencing. We found no state page with the word fence in it. Our plain reading: a fence is a facility appurtenant to the house and nearly every fence job is over $600, so your installer should hold a Residential Builder license or a Maintenance and Alteration license in carpentry, concrete or excavation. Frenchtown Township’s zoning permit form asks for the builder’s license number, which points the same way.
Check it yourself. Go to michigan.gov/lara, choose “Find or verify a licensed professional or business”, and use the Bureau of Construction Codes lookup, which runs on a system called Accela Citizen Access. Search by name or license number. If you get stuck, the licensing line is 517-241-9316. A contractor who cannot give you a number to check is telling you something.
Your right to cancel a sale made at home
Michigan’s Home Solicitation Sales Act covers any sale over $25 where the seller came to you and you signed at your home. That is most fence sales: the salesman measures the yard, writes the contract at the kitchen table, you sign.
You may cancel until midnight of the third business day after the day you sign. Business days are Monday to Friday, minus ten listed holidays. The contract must say so next to your signature, and the seller must hand you a notice of cancellation form in duplicate. Mail or deliver it, or any signed note saying you cancel, to the address on the form. Your deposit comes back within 10 business days. The seller may not send a courier to collect payment before the three days are up.
Two things to know. If the seller never gave you the cancellation notice, the clock never started: you may cancel at any time, by any means, until he does. And the act does not cover a sale you negotiated at the company’s own office, or one made from a printed advertisement, so a contract signed in a showroom is a different case.
See your price range
Put your fence runs into the estimator, see the installed range, and request a quote. Then, in this order: check the license, read the cancellation notice, confirm the zoning permit with the township, and make sure someone has filed with MISS DIG before the auger arrives.
Questions people ask
How many days before digging do I have to call MISS DIG in Michigan?
At least 3 business days, and no more than 14 calendar days ahead. The statute counts 72 hours of business time, 7 to 5, Monday to Friday, skipping MISS DIG’s holidays, which comes to the same thing. Call 811 or file online. It is free, and the ticket is good for 21 days from your start date.
Does the law apply to a few fence post holes?
MISS DIG says yes, any project regardless of size or depth. The statute defines excavation as moving earth with power tools or equipment, and the only fence exception is putting a post back in its existing hole. A contractor digging for you is the excavator and has to file the notice. Do not test the exception with a gas line.
Do I pay sales tax on a fence in Michigan?
Not as a line on your bill. Michigan sales tax is 6 percent with no local add-on, and Treasury treats the contractor as the consumer of the materials. He pays the tax when he buys the posts and boards, and may build it into his price, but may not charge it to you separately.
How deep is the frost line in Michigan?
The state residential code puts the frost line at 42 inches and requires building footings to go 42 inches below grade, 6 inches deeper than Toledo’s 36. There is no state rule for fence posts, but installers on the Michigan side dig to the same 42 inches for the same reason: frost heaves a shallow post.
Does a fence contractor need a license in Michigan?
Michigan’s Occupational Code requires a residential builder or maintenance and alteration license for $600 or more of work, labor and materials together, on a home or the facilities around it, and splitting the job does not dodge it. LARA’s own FAQ will not say yes or no about any particular trade, and fencing is not a named license trade, so ask for the license number and check it on LARA’s lookup.
Can I cancel a fence contract I signed at home?
If the salesman came to you and you signed at your home, Michigan’s Home Solicitation Sales Act gives you until midnight of the third business day after signing. The seller must give you a written cancellation notice. If he never did, you can cancel at any time, by any means, until he does.