Summary. What the contract must say, who can put a lien on your house, and what to do when the work stops.

The largest contract nobody reads

A kitchen renovation is a $60,000 contract. A roof is $18,000. A whole-house remodel is $200,000 or more.

For each of those, the typical homeowner signs a two-page document produced from the contractor's truck, containing a price, a rough description, and a payment schedule weighted toward the front. There is no lawyer. There is frequently no lien waiver process, no clear scope, no change order procedure, no schedule with dates, and no provision about what happens if the work stops.

Then something goes wrong — and something goes wrong on a substantial share of residential construction projects — and the homeowner discovers three things in quick succession:

  1. Their state has a home improvement contract statute with mandatory terms, most of which their contract omits.
  2. Subcontractors they never met and never paid can put a lien on their house, even though they paid the general contractor in full.
  3. The contract they signed has an arbitration clause that quietly moved the dispute out of court.

Every one of those is knowable in advance. This article is about knowing them in advance.

The contract

What state law requires

Most states have a home improvement contract statute imposing mandatory terms on residential work above a dollar threshold. The details vary; the common core is remarkably consistent.

A compliant home improvement contract typically must be in writing, signed by both parties, with a copy given to the homeowner at the time of signing, and must contain:

  • The contractor's name, address, and license number
  • The homeowner's name and the address of the work
  • A detailed description of the work and the materials to be used
  • The total contract price
  • A payment schedule, with limits in many states on the size of the deposit and on payments exceeding the value of work performed
  • Start and completion dates, or a description of when work will begin and its duration
  • A change order provision requiring written, signed changes
  • The notice of the right to cancel, in the required form and typeface
  • Warranty terms
  • A statement about insurance and bonding
  • In many states, a mechanics lien notice in prescribed language
  • In some states, disclosure of the state recovery fund and how to reach the licensing board

The consequence of non-compliance is more significant than people expect. In a number of states, a materially non-compliant contract is voidable by the homeowner, or renders the contract unenforceable by the contractor, or bars the contractor from suing to collect. Some states treat a violation as a per se unfair or deceptive act under the state consumer protection statute, which brings multiplied damages and attorney's fees.

That is not a technicality. It is frequently the strongest card a homeowner holds, and it is available only to the homeowner who kept the contract and read it against the statute.

The right to cancel

Two distinct rights are frequently confused.

The federal cooling-off rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 429, gives a buyer three business days to cancel a sale of $25 or more made at the buyer's home or at a location that is not the seller's permanent place of business. The seller must give written notice of the right and two copies of a cancellation form. Failure to give the notice means the cancellation period does not begin to run — which can leave the right alive for months.

This applies squarely to the roofing salesman at the door after a hailstorm, the window company doing an in-home estimate, and the water treatment demonstration in the kitchen.

State home improvement statutes frequently provide their own cancellation right, sometimes longer, sometimes applying regardless of where the contract was signed, and sometimes with additional periods for older or disabled homeowners.

And where the project is financed by a loan secured by the home, the Truth in Lending Act's right of rescission at 15 U.S.C. § 1635 provides three business days to rescind, extended to three years if the required disclosures were not properly given. High-cost mortgages carry additional protections at 15 U.S.C. § 1639. The statute's purposes are stated at 15 U.S.C. § 1601.

The practical point: if you signed at your kitchen table and want out, check all three. And if the contractor never gave you the cancellation notice, the clock may never have started.

The terms that matter most

Beyond the statutory minimum, a handful of provisions determine whether a project goes well.

Scope, in detail. "Remodel kitchen" is not a scope. A scope lists what is included, what is excluded, and the specific products by manufacturer and model. Ambiguity in scope is where every change order dispute begins.

Allowances. Where materials are not yet selected, the contract carries an allowance — "$4,000 for cabinet hardware." Ask what the allowance actually buys. Low allowances are a common pricing tactic: the contract price looks competitive and the real cost arrives as overages.

Payment schedule tied to milestones, not dates. Payments should follow completed, verifiable work — demolition complete, rough-in inspected and passed, drywall hung — not calendar dates. And the deposit should be modest; many states cap it.

Retainage. Hold back a meaningful final payment — commonly 10% — until the work is complete, inspected, and punch-listed. This is the homeowner's only real leverage at the end of a project, and homeowners give it away constantly by paying in full before the punch list is done.

Change orders in writing, signed, with a price, before the work. The most common source of disputed billing in residential construction is verbal changes. A contract that requires signed change orders and a homeowner who insists on them eliminates most of it.

Schedule with dates and a mechanism. Start date, substantial completion date, and what happens if it slips. Liquidated damages are unusual in residential work but a stated schedule with a written notice provision is not.

Permits — who pulls them. The answer should be the contractor, in the contractor's name. A homeowner who pulls the permit as an owner-builder assumes responsibility for code compliance and may void protections, and some contractors ask for exactly that when they cannot pull one themselves.

Insurance. General liability and workers' compensation, with certificates naming you, obtained directly from the insurer or agent, not from the contractor.

Lien waivers with every payment. Discussed below, and the most protective single practice available.

Warranty. What, how long, and what it excludes. Note that most states imply a warranty of workmanlike construction regardless of what the contract says, and some prohibit its waiver.

Dispute resolution. Read this clause before signing. Discussed below.

Licensing and bonding

What licensing actually gets you

Most states license residential contractors, often by trade and by dollar threshold. What licensing provides:

  • A complaint mechanism with an agency that can investigate, order restitution, and suspend or revoke
  • A verification point — you can confirm the license is current and see the disciplinary history
  • Bond and insurance requirements as a condition of licensure
  • Access to a recovery fund in many states

The unlicensed contractor problem

This is one of the sharpest rules in consumer law and it cuts both ways.

In many states, an unlicensed contractor cannot sue to enforce the contract or recover for work performed — not even in quantum meruit. Some states go further and permit the homeowner to recover payments already made, regardless of whether the work was satisfactory.

That sounds like a windfall. It is not, in practice, a reason to hire an unlicensed contractor. An unlicensed contractor typically has no bond, no insurance, no workers' compensation, and no assets, which means a judgment against them is a piece of paper. And an uninsured worker injured on your property becomes your problem.

Verify the license before you sign. It takes two minutes on the state board's website. Check that the name on the license matches the name on the contract, that it is current, that the classification covers the work, and that the disciplinary history is clean.

The bond

Contractor license bonds are typically modest — often $10,000 to $25,000 — and are shared among all claimants against that contractor. They are not insurance for the homeowner's benefit in any complete sense.

But they are real, quick money compared to litigation, and the claim process is administrative. File the bond claim early, because bonds are exhausted by the claimants who file first.

Recovery funds

A number of states operate a recovery fund paying homeowners harmed by licensed contractors' misconduct, funded by licensing fees. Caps are typically per-transaction and per-contractor, and eligibility usually requires a judgment or a licensing board finding first.

They are underused, largely because homeowners do not know they exist. Ask the licensing board whether the state has one and what its prerequisites are — before you spend money on litigation, because the fund's requirements may shape the litigation strategy.

Mechanics liens

The thing homeowners find hardest to believe

A subcontractor or supplier you never hired, never met, and never paid can record a lien against your house — even if you paid your general contractor in full.

This is true in essentially every state. The theory is that the lien claimant improved your property and should have security for payment. The consequence is that a homeowner can pay twice: once to the general contractor who did not pay the subcontractor, and again to clear the subcontractor's lien.

How the system works

Preliminary notice. In many states, a subcontractor or supplier must serve a preliminary notice — variously called a notice to owner, pre-lien notice, or notice of furnishing — within a set period of first furnishing labor or materials, as a condition of later lien rights.

These notices look like junk mail and they are not. They arrive early in a project, they name a company you have never heard of, and they are frequently thrown away. Keep every one. They tell you exactly who can lien your property, which is precisely the list of people you need waivers from.

Recording. A claimant records a lien within a statutory period after last furnishing labor or materials — commonly 60 to 120 days.

Enforcement. The claimant must file suit to foreclose within a further statutory period — commonly 90 days to a year — or the lien expires.

Priority. Lien priority often relates back to the commencement of work or first furnishing, which can place a lien ahead of a mortgage recorded later. This is why lenders care intensely about lien waivers.

Lien waivers — the single most protective habit

Every time you make a payment, obtain a lien waiver from everyone who could lien.

There are four kinds and the difference matters:

Conditional Unconditional
Progress Effective when payment clears; covers work through a date Effective immediately; covers work through a date
Final Effective when final payment clears; covers everything Effective immediately; covers everything

Give conditional waivers when you pay by check — they take effect when the check clears, which protects both sides. Accept unconditional waivers only where payment has already cleared.

Who to get them from: the general contractor, and every subcontractor and supplier who sent a preliminary notice, plus anyone you know is on site. Many states have statutory waiver forms; use them.

How to make this practical: make the waiver a condition of payment in the contract. "Payment will be made within seven days of receipt of a conditional waiver from the contractor and from each subcontractor and supplier who has provided a preliminary notice." Then follow it, every time.

Contractors who do this routinely will not blink. Contractors who resist are telling you something.

If a lien is recorded

  1. Do not ignore it. It clouds title and will surface at refinance or sale, usually at the worst moment.
  2. Verify it was timely and procedurally correct. Deadlines in this area are strict and lien claims are frequently defective.
  3. Check whether a required preliminary notice was served. No notice, in many states, means no lien.
  4. Demand the general contractor clear it — most contracts obligate them to, and most do not want the licensing board involved.
  5. Consider a bond to release the lien, which substitutes a surety for the property and clears title while the dispute continues.
  6. Check the deadline for the claimant to sue. An unenforced lien expires, and in many states you can force the issue by demanding suit be filed.
  7. Ask whether your state limits an owner's exposure where the general contractor was paid in full — some do, and some do not.

When the work goes wrong

Defective workmanship

Most states imply a warranty of workmanlike construction in residential contracts — that the work will be performed in a good and workmanlike manner, in accordance with the standards of the trade. Many prohibit waiver.

Add: the contract's express warranty · manufacturer warranties on materials · code compliance obligations · and, in many states, a statutory new-home warranty for builders.

What to do:

  1. Document immediately. Photographs, dated. A written list of specific defects — not "the work is bad," but "the tile at the shower threshold is not sloped to drain; water pools approximately 1/4 inch deep."
  2. Notify in writing and give an opportunity to cure. Many states have a construction defect notice statute requiring written notice and an opportunity to inspect and repair before suit, on a specific timeline. Failure to follow it can bar the claim. Find out whether your state has one before you do anything else.
  3. Get an independent inspection. A licensed home inspector, an engineer, or a contractor of the same trade. Written, with photographs, and with a repair estimate.
  4. Get two repair estimates.
  5. Stop paying — but understand that withholding payment on a contract that is otherwise being performed can itself be a breach. Withhold an amount proportional to the defect, in writing, stating why.

Abandonment

The contractor takes the deposit, does partial work, and stops returning calls.

  1. Written demand, by a method that proves delivery, giving a specific deadline to resume and stating that failure will be treated as abandonment.
  2. Document the state of the work exhaustively — photographs, video, measurements, what was installed, what materials are on site.
  3. Get bids to complete, from at least two contractors, itemized.
  4. Compute the damage: the reasonable cost to complete, minus the unpaid contract balance, plus consequential damages where allowed.
  5. File with the licensing board. Abandonment is a licensing violation nearly everywhere, and boards act on it.
  6. File the bond claim. Early — bonds are exhausted first-come.
  7. Check the recovery fund requirements.
  8. Report to the attorney general's consumer division.
  9. Consider criminal referral where a deposit was taken with no intent to perform. Many states have a specific home improvement fraud statute.

The consumer protection route

State unfair and deceptive acts and practices statutes are frequently the homeowner's most powerful tool, and they are underused because homeowners think in terms of breach of contract.

Why they matter: many provide double or treble damages, and most provide attorney's fees to a prevailing consumer — which is what makes representation available on a $30,000 claim. And in many states, violating the home improvement contract statute is itself a per se deceptive act, meaning the missing cancellation notice on page two converts a contract dispute into a fee-shifting statutory claim.

The federal analogue, 15 U.S.C. § 45, does not provide a private right of action, but state statutes modeled on it generally do.

Arbitration

Read the dispute resolution clause before you sign.

Many residential construction contracts require arbitration, and the Federal Arbitration Act makes such agreements enforceable — 9 U.S.C. § 2 — with class waivers upheld in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. 333 (2011).

What arbitration means for you: no jury, limited discovery, limited appeal, and filing fees and arbitrator fees that can run into thousands of dollars — a significant barrier on a moderate claim. Some clauses require arbitration in a distant venue.

What to do: ask to strike it before signing, or to modify it — small claims carve-out, local venue, contractor pays the arbitrator's fees. A contractor who wants the job will frequently agree. After signing, a clause may still be challenged as unconscionable, and some states restrict arbitration clauses in residential construction contracts specifically.

Two rules that catch people

The lead paint rule. Renovation, repair, or painting disturbing painted surfaces in housing built before 1978 is subject to the EPA's renovation rule at 40 C.F.R. Part 745. The contractor must be certified, must use lead-safe work practices, and must give the homeowner the required lead hazard pamphlet before work begins. Disclosure obligations on transfer appear at 42 U.S.C. § 4852d. Ask for the certification number. Non-compliance carries substantial penalties and is a useful fact in any dispute.

Permits and inspections. Unpermitted work is a problem that surfaces years later — at sale, at refinance, at an insurance claim after a fire. The contractor should pull the permit, in the contractor's name. A contractor who asks you to pull it as an owner-builder is usually shifting liability, and sometimes cannot pull one at all. Keep the permit card, the inspection sign-offs, and the certificate of completion.

Four projects

The roof that was sold at the door

Three days after a hailstorm, a man in a branded polo knocked on Solveig Okonjo-Marsh's door, walked her roof, showed her photographs of hail bruising, and offered to "handle the insurance claim." She signed a one-page agreement at her kitchen table. It contained a price of "insurance proceeds plus deductible," an assignment of her insurance benefits, and no cancellation notice.

Three problems, all of them common after storms.

No cancellation notice. The sale was made at her home, which triggers the federal cooling-off rule — three business days to cancel, with the seller required to give written notice and two copies of a cancellation form. She got none. Which meant the three-day clock never started, and the right to cancel remained alive. She exercised it four weeks later, in writing, by certified mail.

The assignment of benefits. Signing over insurance proceeds hands the contractor the right to negotiate directly with the insurer and, in many arrangements, to sue in the homeowner's name. Several states now restrict or regulate these assignments in residential property claims specifically. She would have had no control over the scope or the settlement.

"Insurance proceeds plus deductible" is not a price. It is a promise to charge whatever the insurer approves. Home improvement contract statutes in most states require a total contract price.

What she did instead. Cancelled in writing. Got three itemized bids from local roofers she found through her insurance agent and two neighbors. Verified each license and each certificate of insurance directly with the insurers. Signed a contract with a fixed price, a written scope naming the shingle by manufacturer and product line, a payment schedule tied to milestones, a 10% retainage, and a requirement of conditional lien waivers with every payment.

The lesson. Post-disaster door-to-door contracting is the highest-risk transaction in this entire field, and the cooling-off rule exists for precisely this. The absence of the required notice is not a small defect — it keeps the cancellation right open.

The kitchen that cost twice

Ignatius Beaulieu-Vance signed a $74,000 kitchen contract. He paid a $22,000 deposit, then $20,000 at demolition, then $18,000 at rough-in. The contractor, Verdant Home Concepts, disappeared with the cabinets uninstalled.

Then the liens started arriving. The cabinet supplier: $19,400. The electrician: $6,200. The plumber: $4,800. The tile supplier: $3,100.

He had paid $60,000 and owed $33,500 more to people he had never hired.

Three things had gone wrong, and each was preventable.

He threw away the preliminary notices. Four had arrived in the first six weeks, on letterhead from companies he did not recognize. He assumed they were solicitations. They were the complete list of everyone who could lien his house — which is to say, the list of people he needed waivers from.

He never obtained a single lien waiver. Not one, across $60,000 in payments.

His payment schedule was front-loaded. A $22,000 deposit on a $74,000 contract is nearly 30%, well above what many states permit, and it meant the contractor was ahead of the work from the first day.

What he did after. Verified each lien for timeliness and for service of the required preliminary notice — one was untimely and fell away. Filed a licensing board complaint for abandonment. Filed a bond claim in week two, which mattered: the bond was $15,000 and four other homeowners were making claims on the same contractor. Filed a state recovery fund application, which required the licensing board finding he was already pursuing. Sued under the state deceptive trade practices act, using the contract's missing statutory terms as a per se violation, which brought fee-shifting.

He recovered a meaningful fraction. He did not recover all of it, because the contractor had nothing.

The lesson. Lien waivers with every payment would have prevented the entire $33,500. It is the single most protective habit in residential construction and it costs nothing but a form and a habit.

The bathroom that leaked

Perpetua Achterberg-Nakamura's remodeled bathroom looked perfect and leaked into the ceiling below within four months.

Her instinct was to hire someone else and send the bill. Her state has a construction defect notice statute, requiring written notice of the specific defects and an opportunity to inspect and repair before suit, on a defined timeline. Repairing first and suing after would have barred her claim entirely.

What she did:

  1. Photographed and documented — the staining, the moisture readings, the dates.
  2. Wrote a specific notice: not "the bathroom leaks," but "water is entering the ceiling below the second-floor bathroom at the location of the shower pan; moisture readings of 28% were recorded at [locations] on [date]; the shower pan liner appears not to have been installed with a proper slope to the weep holes."
  3. Hired an independent inspector — a licensed plumber not connected to the original contractor — who confirmed the pan liner was improperly installed and estimated repair at $8,400.
  4. Gave the contractor the statutory opportunity to inspect and repair, in writing, with dates.
  5. Documented the contractor's inspection and their offer, which was to re-caulk.
  6. Rejected the inadequate repair in writing, with the inspector's report attached.
  7. Got two repair estimates.
  8. Filed a licensing board complaint in parallel, which is free and runs on its own track.

The contractor's insurer settled at $9,100 before suit.

The lesson. In construction defect matters, the notice statute is the first thing to look up, before anything else. Doing the right repair in the wrong order can forfeit the claim.

The arbitration clause on page four

Thaddeus Oyelaran-Whitcombe had a $140,000 whole-house remodel go badly. When he consulted a lawyer, the first thing she read was the dispute resolution clause: binding arbitration, administered by a named provider, in a city three hundred miles away, with fees split equally.

The arbitrator's fees alone were estimated at $12,000 to $18,000 for a multi-day hearing. His share of that, plus travel, plus counsel, made a $60,000 claim marginal.

What could have been done at signing, in one conversation: strike the clause; or carve out small claims; or specify local venue; or provide that the contractor advances the arbitrator's fees subject to reallocation. Contractors who want a $140,000 job frequently agree to all four, because they have never been asked.

What was done after. His lawyer challenged the clause as unconscionable on the venue and cost provisions, and separately argued that his state's home improvement statute limited arbitration clauses in residential contracts. The provision was narrowed rather than voided, and the case was heard locally.

The lesson. The dispute resolution clause is the most consequential paragraph in a construction contract and the one homeowners never read. Read it before you sign, when you still have leverage.

Choosing a contractor

Most of the disasters in this article are selection problems, not legal problems. The screening that prevents them takes about two hours.

Verify the license yourself, on the state board's website. Check: current status, the classification for this scope, the name matching the contract, and the disciplinary history. Print the page.

Verify insurance directly with the insurer or agent — general liability and workers' compensation. A certificate handed to you by the contractor may be expired or fabricated. Call the number on it and confirm.

Verify the bond with the surety.

Get three itemized bids on the same written scope. If bids are wildly divergent, someone has misunderstood the scope — usually the low bidder, and usually deliberately.

Be suspicious of the low bid. In residential construction, the low bid is frequently the bid that will be made whole through change orders.

Ask for and actually call references, including one from a project two or more years old. Recent clients are happy. Clients two years out know whether the work held and whether the warranty was honored.

Ask to see a current project. Look at the site: is it organized, protected, and clean? That predicts a great deal.

Search the court records in your county for the business name and the owner's name. Judgments, liens, and prior construction suits are public and take fifteen minutes to find.

Search the licensing board's disciplinary database and the state attorney general's consumer complaint records.

Check whether the entity is in good standing with the secretary of state, and whether it was formed recently — a brand-new LLC operated by someone with a long history is a pattern worth understanding.

Red flags, in rough order of seriousness:

  • Door-to-door solicitation, especially after a storm
  • A demand for a large cash deposit
  • "Today only" pricing
  • No written contract, or a one-page one
  • No license, or a license in a different classification
  • Reluctance to provide insurance certificates
  • Asking you to pull the permit as owner-builder
  • Refusing to include lien waivers as a payment condition
  • A price far below the others
  • No physical address, or a residential address with no yard, shop, or vehicles
  • Pressure to sign before you have read it

The contractor's side

Homeowners are not always the wronged party, and a contractor reading this should know where the exposure is.

The contract is the first thing a judge reads. A non-compliant home improvement contract can render the whole agreement unenforceable and convert an ordinary collection case into a consumer protection claim with fee-shifting against you. Use a compliant form. The state licensing board frequently publishes one.

Give the cancellation notice, in the required form and typeface, and get a signed acknowledgment. This single omission has cost contractors entire contract balances.

Get change orders signed before doing the work. A verbal approval is a fee you will not collect, and "they told me to" is not a defense to a home improvement statute claim about unauthorized charges.

Do not take a deposit you cannot justify. Many states cap it, and an excessive deposit is evidence of the fraud theory a homeowner's lawyer wants to plead.

Pull the permit yourself. Asking the homeowner to pull it as an owner-builder looks, in hindsight, like an attempt to evade licensing or code responsibility — even when it is not.

Pay your subs and get waivers from them. A lien filed by your subcontractor against your customer's house is the fastest way to lose a reference, a bond, and a license.

Respond to a defect notice in writing, on time, and inspect. Ignoring a construction defect notice forfeits the statutory opportunity to cure — which is a right that exists for your benefit.

Document the site. Daily photographs, a log of who was on site, and written records of homeowner-directed changes and delays. In a dispute, the party with the contemporaneous record wins the factual questions.

Answer the licensing board. A complaint answered with documentation frequently closes. A complaint ignored becomes discipline.

Carry the insurance and keep the certificates current. An uninsured injury on a residential site is the end of a small contracting business.

Financing a project — where it gets worse

The financing side of home improvement produces more serious harm than the construction side, because it puts the house at risk.

Contractor-arranged financing is a business the contractor is paid to originate. It is frequently not the best available. Shop it — a home equity line from a credit union, or an unsecured personal loan, or a card with a promotional rate, are all worth pricing.

Beware of loans secured by the home for ordinary repairs. A $14,000 roof financed with a mortgage on the house converts a manageable debt into a foreclosure risk. If a lien is being placed on your home, the rescission right at 15 U.S.C. § 1635 applies — three business days, extended to three years if disclosures were not properly given.

Watch for high-cost loan features: high rates, points rolled in, balloon payments, prepayment penalties, and negative amortization. Loans crossing statutory thresholds trigger additional protections under 15 U.S.C. § 1639, including restrictions on terms and additional disclosures.

PACE and similar assessment-based financing — where the repayment rides on the property tax bill as a special assessment — deserves particular attention. It creates a priority obligation on the property, can complicate a sale or refinance, and has been the subject of substantial consumer protection concern where it was marketed door-to-door alongside the work itself. Read what you are signing and ask specifically whether repayment attaches to the property.

Never sign a blank or incomplete financing document, and never sign one the contractor will "fill in later."

Never sign a completion certificate before the work is complete. Lenders release funds against it, and a homeowner who signs it early has released the money and lost the leverage.

Disaster and insurance work

Storm, fire, and flood restoration is a distinct market with distinct risks, and it arrives when homeowners are least able to evaluate anything.

The insurer's adjuster and the contractor's estimator are not the same person, and neither works for you. A public adjuster does, for a percentage — and public adjusters are licensed and regulated in most states, so verify.

Do not sign an assignment of benefits without understanding it. It transfers the right to collect and frequently to litigate. Several states restrict them in property claims for good reason.

Get the scope in writing and compare it line by line to the insurer's estimate. The gap between them is the argument, and it is your argument, not the contractor's.

Emergency mitigation is different from repair. Water extraction and board-up happen fast, often on a contract signed at 2 a.m. Read what you are signing even then, and be alert to documents that bundle mitigation with a commitment to the full repair.

Deductible waivers are illegal in many states. A contractor who offers to "cover your deductible" is proposing insurance fraud, and the homeowner who accepts is a participant.

Check the contractor's out-of-state status. Post-disaster markets attract crews who arrive, collect, and leave. Verify state licensure, a local address, and how long they have been in the state.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a written contract? Yes, and in most states above a dollar threshold the law requires one with specific terms. An oral home improvement contract is frequently unenforceable by the contractor.

How much deposit is normal? Modest — many states cap it, often at 10% or a fixed dollar amount. A demand for 50% up front is a warning sign.

They want cash. Pay by a traceable method. Cash eliminates your proof of payment and frequently signals an unlicensed or unreported operation.

Can I fire my contractor? Depends on the contract. Most permit termination for cause with notice and an opportunity to cure. Terminating without following the contract can make you the breaching party.

Do I have to let them fix it? Frequently yes — many states require written notice and an opportunity to repair before suit, and skipping it can bar the claim.

They put a lien on my house and I paid in full. Verify the lien's timeliness and whether a required preliminary notice was served. Demand the general contractor clear it. Consider a release bond. This is why lien waivers at every payment matter.

What if they're not licensed? In many states they cannot enforce the contract or recover for the work, and you may be able to recover payments made. But they also likely have no bond, insurance, or assets. Verify licensure before signing.

How long do I have to sue? Contract limitations periods vary; construction defect claims are frequently governed by separate statutes of limitation and repose, with repose periods running from completion regardless of discovery. Find out early — repose periods are absolute.

Related documents

Educational only, not legal advice. Home improvement contract requirements, licensing, lien deadlines, and construction defect notice statutes vary substantially by state. Check your state's rules before signing or suing.