Running the Business · Part 3
Service and repair contracts (B&P 7159.10): when the short form applies, what it must say, and how a service call falls out of it
The service and repair contract is the form for the ordinary plumbing call: the customer phoned, the job is $750 or less, you fix what they called about, and they pay when it is done. In exchange for those four conditions the law drops the three-day cooling-off period and most of the home improvement notices, and gives you a one-page contract you can fill in at the kitchen table. But the four conditions are strict, the form still has a dozen required elements including a right-to-cancel notice of its own, the service charge must be disclosed in every ad and on the phone, and the moment any condition fails, the full home improvement contract was required and the customer can rescind. This lesson is the form and the trap.
What the full lesson covers
- Four conditions, all required: $750 or less; the buyer initiated the contact; nothing sold beyond what is reasonably necessary to fix the particular problem; no payment due or accepted until the work is complete (and inspected, if a permit was required).
- Fail one and section 7159.10(b) applies the full 7159 requirements, including the customer's right to rescind, regardless of the price.
- The form must carry: "Service and Repair" heading; the 12-point "Notice to the Buyer" restating the four conditions, signed and dated by the buyer; the completed-copy notice; Contract Price or Estimated Contract Price with rate, materials estimate, time increment, and the written-authorization sentence; description; the replaced-parts statement and checkbox; "Amount of Service Charge" with the one-charge sentence; the insurance notices; and "YOUR RIGHTS TO CANCEL BEFORE WORK BEGINS" next to the buyer's signature.
- If you charge a service charge, every ad must say there is one, and you must state the amount when the customer calls (7159.14(a)(9)).
- Violations of the price, writing, contract-amount, authorization, buyer-initiated, upsell, and single-charge rules are misdemeanors (7159.14(b)).
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More lessons in Contracts and Getting Paid
- 1The home improvement contract (B&P 7159): every required element, the exact notices, and the three-day right to cancel
- 2The deposit cap: $1,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less, and progress payments that cannot exceed the work. CSLB's most common citation
- 3Service and repair contracts (B&P 7159.10): when the short form applies, what it must say, and how a service call falls out of itYou are here
- 4Subcontracts with GCs: the twelve clauses to read, what to strike, and what to negotiate
- 5Change orders: written, signed, before the work. Every time. Why verbal ones end in CSLB complaints
- 6Mechanics liens I: the 20-day preliminary notice. Miss it, lose your rights
- 7Mechanics liens II: recording deadlines, the 90-day foreclosure clock, the four statutory release forms, stop payment notices, and payment bonds on public work
- 8Collections: demand letter, lien, small claims, attorney. When each is worth it, and the one thing that makes all of them impossible
- 9Taking payment: cards, ACH, checks, cash, financing partners, and getting every dollar into the right account
- 10Case: the job that went unpaid. Where the contractor lost lien rights and how to have kept them
- 11Case: the deposit that became a citation
- 12Case: the change order that was never written
- 13Template: the home improvement contract, with every B&P 7159 notice verbatim
- 14Template: the service and repair contract (B&P 7159.10), one page, with the notices verbatim
- 15Template: the change order, one page, signed before the work
- 16Template: the 20-day preliminary notice, with the proof-of-notice declaration
- 17Template: the four statutory lien waiver and release forms (Civil Code 8132 to 8138), verbatim
- 18Template: the demand letter, homeowner version and general contractor version
- 19Template: the subcontract review checklist. Twelve clauses, three boxes each