What Does Pennsylvania's Home Improvement
Consumer Protection Act (HICPA) Mean To You?

Learn WHY you need an LVBA endorsed HICPA contract from HICPA Compliance LLC:

• Pennsylvania Update: The HICPA Crackdown Continues
  
• AG Announces Legal Action Against Home Improvement Contractors from Across PA
  
• Attorney General Corbett Announces Consumer Protection Lawsuits Against Two Central Pennsylvania Home Improvement Contractors
  
• Consumer Protection Lawsuits Filed Against Two Southeastern PA Contractors
  

Since July 1, 2009, according to Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (HICPA), if you work on existing residential properties (land or buildings) and do "repair, replacement, remodeling, demolition, removal, renovation, installation, alteration, conversion, modernization, improvement, rehabilitation or sandblasting" or work on driveways, swimming pools, pool houses, porches, garages, roofs, siding, insulation, solar energy systems, security systems, flooring, patios, fences, gazebos, sheds, cabanas, landscaping, placement of retaining walls, fountains, drainage systems, painting, doors, windows, waterproofing, HVAC, or awnings you must:

1. Register with the PA Attorney General’s Office (go to www.attorneygeneral.gov) as a Home Improvement Contractor (registration costs $51.25 if done on line and is good for two years).
2. Use a HICPA compliant, written Home Improvement Contract for every job over $500.

What happens if I do not have a HICPA compliant contract?
(1) A disgruntled customer can report a violation to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution as a crime involving "home improvement fraud"; (2) the entire contract is unenforceable by you if any of ten previously common clauses appear in the document, AND (3) use of a noncompliant contract is an "unfair or deceptive act or practice" under Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, entitling the customer to seek triple damages plus costs and legal fees.

What are my options?
You could read the law (and you should - go to www.attorneygeneral.gov to view a copy) and generate your own HICPA compliant contract or you could hire a lawyer to do it for you. If you have searched for sample contracts, the only ones you see are 20-plus pages long. So you can either use an unwieldy form or spend hundreds of hours or thousands of dollars to comply with the law.

Or, you can purchase the right to use the HICPA Compliant Home Improvement Contract from HICPA Compliance LLC. This form contract (6 pages on 4 pieces of paper) was developed by Charles E. Shoemaker, Jr., Esquire, Yale Law School graduate and Pennsylvania lawyer for over thirty years, and Frank A. Alexander, builder, home improvement contractor and five-time Past President of the Lehigh Valley Builders Association. HICPA
Compliance LLC's HICPA Compliant Home Improvement Contract contains all of the required contract provisions and notices in an easy-to-use, contractor-friendly format. Click here to order this easy-to-use contract

Contract Features:

• 6 pages on 4 sheets of paper!
• Written by Yale Law School graduate, Charles E. Shoemaker, Jr., Esquire
• Approved and used by 37-year building industry veteran, Frank A. Alexander
• HICPA Compliance Requirements Of:
• - Your Contractor's Registration Number
• - Toll-free telephone number of the PA Bureau of Consumer
     Protection of the Office of the Attorney General
• - Your full street address
• - Approximate start and completion dates
• - Scope of work, materials to be used and specifications
• - Your property damage and liability insurance limits
• - "Three Business Day Right of Rescission Notice" attachment
     (in duplicate - satisfying both HICPA and UTPCPA)
• - Payment Schedule
• - Change Order Notice
• - Space for signing and dating by you and the customer
• - Required language that the contract states:
• - The agreement in its entirety
• - The total sales price
• - The amount of the downpayment
• - The amount advanced for the purchase of special order materials
     (and list of such materials)
• - Plus the optional:
• - Subcontractor attachment with the required information
• - Arbitration clause in 12-point bold caps
• PA's Construction Workplace Misclassification Act (CWMA) Compliant Contract Package

AND the terms developed and currently used by a 37-YEAR VETERAN OF THE HOME IMPROVEMENT INDUSTRY:

Delays beyond the Contractor’s Control Payment for Special Order Materials Payment Due Date Interest Due on Unpaid Invoices Governing Law Permits

Utilities Recovery of Lost Profits Publicity Release Limited Warranty Changes in Material Costs Substitution of Materials

The HICPA Compliance contract package also includes Change Order forms, Emergency Work Authorization forms, and complete instructions for proper completion!

For more information, or to find out if you need a registration number and contract, visit our Questions Page.
To learn more about the PA Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (73 P.S. §§517.1 - 517.19), visit Pennsylvania Attorney General’s website.

ORDER NOW!

Have your contract faxed to you for immediate use!*

 

* Faxes are a total of 19 will be sent during office hours: M-F 8am - 5pm EST.

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