Running the Business · Part 3
Template: the service and repair contract (B&P 7159.10), one page, with the notices verbatim
The one-page form for the ordinary service call: the customer called, the job is $750 or less, you fix what they called about, and they pay when it is done. Every element section 7159.10 requires, in order, with the statutory notices word for word and the type sizes marked, plus a filled-in example for a $475 pressure regulator replacement. Carry it with the home improvement contract; the moment a call fails one of the four conditions, switch forms.
What the full lesson covers
- Use this form only when all four conditions hold: $750 or less, buyer initiated, nothing beyond the problem, no payment until complete.
- The buyer signs and dates two things: the "Notice to the Buyer" restating the conditions, and "YOUR RIGHTS TO CANCEL BEFORE WORK BEGINS" next to their signature.
- A time-and-materials call states the Estimated Contract Price, the rate, the materials estimate, the time increment, and the sentence that the actual amount may not exceed the estimate without written authorization; a fixed-price call states the Contract Price.
- One service charge, stated under "Amount of Service Charge," with the statutory sentence; disclosed in every ad and on the phone.
- Offer the replaced parts, and give the customer the signed copy before starting.
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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 it
- 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 verbatimYou are here
- 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