Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act covers most remodeling, repair and addition work on a house in Conshohocken and the nearby townships. It requires the contractor to register with the Attorney General, puts thirteen required terms in every contract, caps the deposit on jobs over $5,000 at one-third of the price, and gives you three business days after you sign to cancel. The law took effect on July 1, 2009, and is codified at 73 P.S. ยง 517.1 and following sections.
Which jobs the law covers
The act applies to work on a private residence when the total price agreed with the contractor is more than $500. A private residence means a single-family house, a building with no more than two units, or a single unit in a larger building, which includes condominiums and co-op units. Covered work includes repair, remodeling, demolition and renovation, along with roofs, siding, flooring, painting, windows, waterproofing and central heating and air conditioning.
Building a new house is not a home improvement under the act. Neither is work an owner does on the owner’s own home without pay.
Who has to register
Anyone who owns or runs a home improvement business, or offers to do home improvement work, has to register with the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Office of Attorney General. The statute excludes a person whose home improvement work totaled less than $5,000 in the previous tax year, and home improvement retailers with a net worth of more than $50 million.
The Attorney General’s office says subcontractors who do home improvements must register even if they never sign a contract with a homeowner, and that out-of-state contractors working in Pennsylvania must register too. Registrations are valid for two years.
To register, a contractor has to show liability insurance of at least $50,000 for personal injury and $50,000 for property damage, and disclose past fraud or theft convictions, bankruptcies and recent home improvement judgments.
How to check a registration
The registration number appears as “PA” followed by digits, such as PA123456, according to the Attorney General’s office. The contractor has to print it on every advertisement, contract, estimate and proposal.
Look the contractor up in the Attorney General’s contractor search by registration number, business name, owner’s name or county. The search shows only active registrations, along with each one’s expiration date. You can also call the toll-free line at 1-888-520-6680.
The Attorney General’s office says registration is not an endorsement of a contractor’s honesty or work, and it advises checking references and getting more than one bid.
What the contract must contain
A home improvement contract is not valid or enforceable against the owner unless it does all of the following:
- Is in writing, legible, and shows the performing contractor’s registration number.
- Is signed by the owner and by the contractor or the contractor’s salesperson.
- Contains the entire agreement, with copies of all required notices attached.
- Shows the date of the transaction.
- Gives the contractor’s name, address and phone number. A post office box alone does not count as an address.
- Gives approximate start and completion dates.
- Describes the work, the materials, and a set of specifications that cannot change without a written change order signed by both of you.
- States the total sales price, or sets out a time-and-materials arrangement with a written initial estimate.
- Lists the down payment and any amount for special-order materials, each on its own line.
- Names every subcontractor known at signing, with addresses and phone numbers.
- Promises to keep the $50,000 liability and $50,000 property damage coverage, and states the amount of coverage in force at signing.
- Includes the Attorney General’s toll-free number.
- Includes a notice of your right to cancel.
The contractor has to give you a completed copy, with all notices, at no charge when you sign.
A time-and-materials contract, where you pay actual labor at an hourly rate plus materials and a fee, has extra rules. The contractor must give you a written cost estimate before work starts. The contract has to state that estimate in dollars, say that the cost may not run more than 10% above it, state the total possible cost including that 10%, and say that any increase beyond it needs a written change order signed by both of you. The change orders guide covers the rest.
Clauses that let you void the contract
The act lets the owner void a home improvement contract that contains any of these: a hold harmless clause, a waiver of health, safety or building code requirements, a confession of judgment, a waiver of a jury trial, a clause that awards the contractor its attorney fees, a waiver of any right under the act, or a clause in which the owner agrees not to bring claims arising from the contract. Automatic renewal clauses are also on the list unless the contract meets the act’s notice rules.
An arbitration clause has to be in capital letters and 12-point bold type, on a separate page with its own signature line for each of you, and it must say whether the decision is binding. Otherwise a court can void it if either side asks before arbitration starts.
Deposits
On a contract over $5,000, the contractor may not take a deposit larger than one-third of the contract price. When the contract designates special-order materials, the cap is one-third of the price plus the cost of those materials. The act defines special-order materials as items made or processed for your job that the contractor cannot return for credit. Separately, no contractor may demand or accept any payment before the contract is signed.
The three-day right to cancel
You may cancel a home improvement contract within three business days of signing it, without penalty, no matter where you signed. The Attorney General’s office says the contract has to include the cancellation notice exactly as the law words it, and that if you were never told of this right, the whole contract may be voidable even after the three days pass.
The wording comes from section 7 of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which calls for a detachable “Notice of Cancellation” form in duplicate. Under that section, the cancellation period does not begin until you have been told of the right and given the forms, and a seller who receives a valid cancellation must refund your payments within ten business days.
There is one exception. When you call a contractor about a genuine emergency at your home, the contractor may ask you to sign an emergency work authorization, printed on a card at least 4 by 6 inches, along with a written estimate. Signing it gives up the three-day cancellation right for that work.
When work never starts
The act bars a contractor from keeping your money when the job does not begin. If no substantial part of the work has been done and more than 45 days have passed since the start date in the contract, you can ask for a refund in writing by certified mail. The contractor then has ten days to return the money.
Abandoning a job without justification is also prohibited. Taking an advance payment, failing to do the work by the date in the contract and keeping the money, with intent to defraud, is the crime of home improvement fraud. It is a third-degree felony when the payment kept is more than $2,000, and one grade higher when the victim is 60 or older.
Local registration in Conshohocken
Conshohocken Borough keeps its own registration form for residential contractors. It lists a $90 fee, waived for contractors registered with the Attorney General, which matches the state law barring local registration fees for registered contractors. The permits guide covers what each municipality asks for.
Where to complain
Every violation of the act also counts as a violation of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection takes complaints through an online form and offers mediation. Report an unregistered contractor at 1-888-520-6680 or HIC@attorneygeneral.gov. For a dispute over money or a contract you have already signed, talk to a lawyer.
Hiring a roofer has its own permit and insurance questions, which Conshy Roofers covers. Window replacement is covered at Conshy Windows.