Free Fulfillment Tool
Home Improvement Contract Review Checklist
Residential PV solar is a home improvement in most states, so the homeowner agreement is governed by a statute with a mandatory content list. Read yours against 31 terms and formalities, and see which of the commonly-mandated ones are missing.
Why a sales agreement is not the same as a compliant contract
A residential solar agreement can be a perfectly good contract — clear terms, signed by both parties, enforceable in principle — and still be a defective home improvement contract, because that is a regulated category with its own mandatory content list and its own formalities.
The consequences do not scale with the size of the error. An omission usually produces nothing at all, and occasionally produces a cancellation right that never expires or a contract the contractor cannot enforce. That asymmetry is why the list is worth reading against deliberately rather than trusting a template that was drafted once, for one state.
Read the agreement against the list
Set the two conditions, then work through the document clause by clause. Everything starts at missing, which is the honest default before you have looked.
About this agreement
Read the agreement clause by clause and mark each item as you find it. Everything starts at missing, which is the honest default before you have looked. Scored out of 62: two points for a term that is present and adequate, one for a term that is there but unclear, none for a term that is missing.
Parties and licence
0/4 presentStatutes attach their obligations to the contractor, and the contractor is normally the licensed entity. A contract naming the wrong party is defective on its face.
The contracting party's exact legal entity name, not a trade nameCommonly mandated
A d/b/a is not a legal person. If the entity cannot be identified, neither can the party a claim or a licence complaint runs against.
The contractor's licence number, and the classification it coversCommonly mandated
Required in most states, and it is the number a homeowner uses to verify the licence is active. Confirm the number belongs to the entity named above.
Business address and contact details for the contracting entityCommonly mandated
A statutory requirement in most states, and the practical means of serving a cancellation notice.
Where a different company will perform the work, that relationship is stated
Not always mandated, and it prevents the most common homeowner surprise on a subcontracted project — a crew arriving from a company the paperwork never mentioned.
Price and payment
0/5 presentThe deposit is capped by statute in several states, and every later payment may have to stay within the value of work performed and materials delivered.
The total contract price, stated as a priceCommonly mandated
A monthly payment is a financing term. The statute wants the price of the work.
The deposit is within this state's statutory capCommonly mandated
California, for example, caps it at the lesser of one thousand dollars or ten percent. Exceeding a cap is a defined licensing violation, not a negotiating position.
A payment schedule tied to verifiable events, not to datesCommonly mandated
Many states require each payment to stay within the value of work performed and materials delivered. A date-triggered payment usually cannot satisfy that test.
The payment schedule matches the lender's draw conditions
Where they diverge, the contract is the document a licensing board reads — and it is the one measured against the value-of-work rule.
Financing disclosures present, and the financed amount matches the contract priceCommonly mandated
An approved amount that does not match the contract price is the most common funding stipulation, and it is visible on the paperwork before anyone submits it.
Schedule
0/3 presentApproximate start and completion dates are mandatory in most states. Approximate is not unlimited — unreasonable delay is statutory abandonment in several.
Approximate commencement and completion dates, stated as datesCommonly mandated
'To be determined' does not satisfy a requirement for dates. It only looks like it does.
Third-party dependencies named specifically as conditions
Plan review, association approval, interconnection, inspection and permission to operate. Specific conditions survive; a blanket excuse for unspecified delay generally does not.
A procedure for moving the dates when a dependency slips
Without one, the date moves by drift rather than by agreement, and drift is what a delay complaint describes.
Scope and changes
0/4 presentThe description of work is the reference every later argument about what the homeowner bought is measured against.
The work and principal materials described in usable detailCommonly mandated
Module count and model, inverter, mounting method. A description thin enough to be flexible is thin enough to lose.
Every adder in scope is priced in the contract, not left to a later conversation
Panel upgrade, roof work, trenching, EV charger, tree work. An adder discovered after signature is a change order the homeowner may decline.
What is excluded is stated explicitly
Silence about roof condition, structural work or utility-side costs is read against whoever drafted the contract.
A change-order procedure: how a change is authorised and pricedCommonly mandated
Mandated in most states, and the unwritten change is the most common residential dispute.
Mandatory notices
0/6 presentThese are the terms whose absence has the sharpest consequences — an extended cancellation right, or an unenforceable contract.
Notice of the homeowner's cancellation rights, in this state's prescribed wordingCommonly mandated
The most commonly defective term. Where the disclosure was not properly given, several states treat the cancellation clock as never having started.
A separate cancellation form, where the state requires oneCommonly mandated
Some states require a detachable form with the contractor's name and address pre-filled, and sometimes two copies of it.
A mechanic's lien notice or warningCommonly mandated
A lien can be recorded by parties the homeowner never contracted with, and it attaches to the home. This is their largest hidden exposure.
How to contact the state licensing authority to complainCommonly mandated
Mandated in many states, and the board is frequently the homeowner's most effective remedy rather than a formality.
Any arbitration provision disclosed as this state requiresCommonly mandated
Increasingly a standalone requirement with its own heading, type size and sometimes its own initials line. Improperly presented, the clause can be unenforceable while the contract stands.
A complete executed copy given to the homeowner at signatureCommonly mandated
Itself a statutory requirement in many states. A cancellation right the homeowner cannot read is not a right they can exercise.
Warranty and remedies
0/4 presentThe express warranty is what the clause says. The implied warranty of workmanlike performance exists in most states whether or not the contract mentions it.
The workmanship warranty: scope, term, and the entity that owes itCommonly mandated
A warranty is worth the durability of the company behind it. If the owing entity cannot be named, nobody owes it.
Manufacturer warranties identified as separate obligations of separate parties
Module, inverter and battery warranties are not the contractor's. Presenting them as one bundle sets up a claim that goes to the wrong party.
Who takes a service call, and how
The homeowner calls whoever sold them the system. A covered claim with no route to a technician is a warranty on paper only.
No attempt to disclaim statutory rights or the implied warrantyCommonly mandated
Statutory cancellation rights are not waivable, and several states will not permit the implied warranty to be waived in residential work at all. The attempt attracts attention rather than deterring a claim.
Presentation formalities
0/5 presentFor a mandated disclosure, how it appears is part of whether it counts. This is the section a template most often fails, and the one a commercial review never looks at.
Prescribed type sizes met for every notice that specifies oneCommonly mandated
A correctly worded notice in eight-point grey can fail the same test as a missing one. The formatting rule is the substance of a disclosure obligation.
Prescribed headings and bold or capitalised text used as requiredCommonly mandated
These requirements exist so a right is findable by somebody not looking for it.
Separate signature or initials lines present where a state requires themCommonly mandated
Usually applied to the arbitration provision and sometimes to the cancellation notice, so the homeowner has acknowledged that specific term.
The contract is signed before any work beginsCommonly mandated
A requirement in several states, and it is about sequence rather than paperwork.
The document is the version for the state where the property isCommonly mandated
The substance of these statutes is consistent across states and the formalities are not. One national template is very likely defective somewhere.
A general review framework for residential home improvement agreements. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for the current statute in the state where the property sits. Have counsel draft and review the contract for every state you sell in.
Informational use only, please verify before you rely on it
Home improvement contract requirements are set independently by each state, differ substantially between them, and change. This is a general review framework for residential agreements, not legal advice and not a substitute for the current statute in the state where the property sits. Have counsel draft and review the contract for every state you sell in.
This tool is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. Its output is an illustrative estimate generated from the values you enter and from general assumptions that will not match every deal, market, lender, or homeowner. It is not tax, legal, accounting, financial, or professional advice, and it is not a quote, an offer, a credit decision, or a guarantee of pricing, approval, timing, savings, or eligibility.
You are solely responsible for independently confirming all information presented here including any figures, rates, fees, margins, timelines, tax treatment, and federal, state, local, or utility incentives, with the applicable lender, authority having jurisdiction, and your own qualified tax, legal, and financial advisors before acting on it, relying on it, or presenting it to a homeowner or any third party. Incentive programs, lender terms, and permitting requirements change frequently and vary by jurisdiction.
Seamless Home is not a tax advisor, law firm, lender, or licensed installing contractor, and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, or currency of the information produced by this tool. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Seamless Home accepts no liability for any decision made or action taken in reliance on it.
The section a commercial review never looks at
Six of the seven sections here would be recognisable to anyone who reviews contracts: parties, money, schedule, scope, notices, warranty. The seventh is presentation formalities, and it is the one that catches templates.
Several states prescribe not just the wording of a disclosure but its appearance — a minimum type size, a specific heading, bold or capitalised text, a separate detachable form with the contractor's details pre-filled, an individual initials line for the arbitration provision. A cancellation notice with exactly the right words, set in the same eight-point grey as the indemnity clause, can fail the same test as one that is missing entirely.
That is not a drafting quirk. These requirements exist so a right is findable by somebody who is not looking for it, which makes presentation part of the substance. What a home improvement contract has to contain works through the full list and the consequences of each omission.
This is the homeowner-facing document. The business-to-business install agreement is a different contract read against a different list — indemnity, insurance, retainage, pay-when-paid, termination, surviving obligations — and that is the subcontract agreement review checklist. A project needs both read, and they share almost no items.
Three terms that carry more than they look like
The deposit. Several states cap what a home improvement contractor may take before work begins, and the caps are low enough to be structural — California limits it to the lesser of one thousand dollars or ten percent of the price. Most of those states also require every later payment to stay within the value of work performed and materials delivered, so a compliant deposit followed by a front-loaded second payment still fails. Down payment and progress payment limits covers how a compliant schedule is built.
The completion date. Approximate start and completion dates are mandatory in most states, and approximate is not unlimited — unreasonable delay without lawful excuse is statutory abandonment in several. Completion dates on a home improvement contract sets out how to write one that holds up when a plan reviewer and a utility control the calendar.
The arbitration provision. Increasingly a standalone disclosure requirement with its own formalities, and improperly presented it can be unenforceable while the rest of the contract stands — the worst outcome for whoever relied on it. Arbitration clauses in a home improvement contract covers what the clause reaches and, more usefully, what it does not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a home improvement contract be reviewed for?+
Seven areas. The parties and the licence, because the statute attaches its obligations to the licensed entity and a contract naming a trade name or the wrong company is defective on its face. Price and payment, because several states cap the deposit and many require every later payment to stay within the value of work performed. The schedule, because approximate start and completion dates are mandatory in most states. Scope and changes. The mandatory notices, which is where the sharpest consequences sit. Warranty and remedies. And the presentation formalities — type sizes, headings, separate initials lines — which a commercial contract review never looks at and which decide whether a mandated disclosure counts at all.
How is this different from reviewing an install subcontract?+
Different document, different counterparty, different body of law. An install subcontract is an agreement between two businesses and is reviewed for commercial risk allocation: indemnity, insurance, retainage, pay-when-paid, termination, surviving obligations. A homeowner agreement is a consumer contract governed by home improvement statutes, so it is reviewed against a list of mandated terms and formalities where an omission has a statutory consequence rather than a negotiated one. The subcontract review checklist covers the first document; this one covers the second. A project needs both read, and they share almost no items.
Why do presentation formalities have their own section?+
Because for a mandated disclosure, how it appears is part of whether it counts. Several states prescribe a minimum type size, a specific heading, bold or capitalised text, a separate detachable form, or an individual initials line for a particular term. A correctly worded cancellation notice rendered in the same small grey type as the indemnity clause can fail the same test as a missing one. These requirements exist so that a right is findable by somebody who is not looking for it, which makes presentation substantive rather than stylistic — and it is the section a template most reliably fails.
What happens if a mandated term is missing?+
The range runs from nothing to total. Most often nothing happens unless a dispute arises, which is why this risk is systematically underestimated. Commonly, the homeowner's cancellation right does not start running until the required disclosure is given, which can turn a three-day window into an open-ended one. In several states, defined defects mean the contractor cannot enforce the contract or cannot sue to recover payment for work correctly performed. Licensing discipline is a separate and additional track that does not require anybody to have been harmed.
Does this checklist work for a lease or power purchase agreement?+
Only partly, and it is a mistake to assume it transfers. A lease or power purchase agreement is not a contract to perform improvement work for a price, so the home improvement contract statute may not reach it — while some states apply a solar-specific disclosure regime to those products instead, occasionally a stricter one. The installation work itself still engages licensing and permit obligations either way. Treat a third-party-owned transaction as a separate question with its own answer rather than running it through this list.
Can this replace having a lawyer read the contract?+
No, and it is not built to. The content list, the prescribed wording, the type-size rules, the deposit caps and the consequences of a defect are all state law, they differ substantially between states, and they change. What this checklist does is narrow the conversation: instead of asking counsel to review a document from scratch in every state, you arrive with a specific list of terms and formalities that appear to be missing or unclear. That is a much shorter and cheaper engagement, and a more useful one.
How often should a contract template be re-reviewed?+
On entering any new state, without exception, because the formalities are the part that varies and a national template is very likely defective somewhere. Beyond that, re-review when the state amends its home improvement or solar disclosure statutes, when the financing products offered change, when the contracting entity changes, and when the scope routinely sold changes — adding batteries, chargers or roof work to the standard offering alters what the description of work and the exclusions have to say.
Related resources
Home improvement contract requirements
The full term-by-term reference, the formalities that vary by state, and what an omission costs.
Learn more →What a home improvement contract has to contain
Why solar lands inside these statutes, the mandatory terms, and the four levels of consequence.
Learn more →Subcontract agreement review checklist
The other contract on the project: 28 clauses in the business-to-business install agreement.
Learn more →Who is the contractor of record
The licensed entity these statutes attach obligations to, and the party the contract has to name.
Learn more →One template, fifty different sets of formalities
Seamless Home is a licensed contractor running design, permitting, engineering and project management as inside operations. On projects where it is the contractor of record, the homeowner agreement is its obligation to get right.
Get In Touch