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Your rights

Alaska

Alaska · home improvement

Your rights in Alaska

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

5 business days to cancel

If they solicited it and you signed away from their office

Each box is one business day.

Cancel within 5 business days of signing: hand back any goods or send a registered letter. They must tell you this in writing.

Some sales are excepted, such as emergency work you ask for.

The 5 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • The deal followed earlier negotiations during your visit to the seller's permanent retail location where the goods or services are offered.
  • You started the contact and need the goods or services to meet a genuine, immediate personal emergency.
  • The sale was carried out and completed entirely by mail.
  • You started the contact and specifically asked the seller to come to your home to repair or maintain your personal property.
  • The sale took place at your own place of business.
Read the full rule

When it applies

A purchase of goods or services of $10 or more where the seller or its representative personally solicited the sale (in person or by telephone) and you made the agreement or offer somewhere other than the seller's place of business (for example, at your home).

If the contractor solicited the job in person or by phone and you signed somewhere other than its place of business, you can cancel within five business days of signing (for purchases of $10 or more). The contractor must give you written notice of this right when you sign. You cancel either by handing back any goods to the contractor or by mailing a registered letter marked 'Deliver to Addressee Only, Return Receipt'.

AS 45.02.350 · read on akleg.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

On the contract and ads

Alaska requires every construction contractor to hold a state contractor registration, whatever the size of the job.

Read the full rule

Alaska requires every construction contractor to hold a state contractor registration (the state calls it a construction contractor license) from the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, whatever the size of the job. The registration number must be on your contract. A general contractor building a home, or doing major alterations to one, also needs a residential endorsement.

Who needs one: Anyone who, as an independent business, offers, bids on or does work to build, alter, repair, move or demolish a building or any fixed structure, including excavation and site development, whatever the size of the job. A handyman registration covers projects of $10,000 or less. A general contractor also needs a residential contractor endorsement to build, or make changes worth more than 25 percent of the value of, a privately owned home of one to four units.

Who doesn't

  • A person working on an existing structure on their own property, or on the existing home they live in (whether they own it or not)
  • An owner acting as their own builder who hires workers and subcontractors and pays for all labor and materials, limited to one home, duplex, triplex, four-plex or commercial building every two years
  • Sale or installation of finished products that do not become a permanent, fixed part of the structure
  • Construction, alteration or repair of personal property
  • A person who only supplies materials, supplies or equipment
  • Authorized representatives of the federal, state or local government, and public utilities regulated by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska doing construction or maintenance work that is part of their own business

Where the number must appear

  • the contract
  • advertising

Issued by: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (Construction Contractors program)

Alaska Department of Law: Home improvement · read on law.alaska.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

What the contract should include

Source: AK law

Some of these come from state guidance rather than a law. Each item's own words say which.

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 6 in writing before you sign.

  • Name, address & reg. #: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's name, mailing address, principal place of business address and contractor registration number (required by AS 08.18.051 for contractor contracts).

  • 5-day cancel noticeNeeded if they sold it away from their office: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the contractor solicited the sale in person or by phone and you signed away from its place of business, include your right to cancel within five business days, with written notice of that right given to you when you sign (required by AS 45.02.350).

  • Work, dates, cost & paymentsState advice, not a legal requirement: show the rule's own words

    In the state's guidance

    Be in writing and detailed, stating exactly what work will be done, the materials, the start and completion dates, the total cost and a payment schedule (Alaska's consumer protection guidance; no statute requiring a written home improvement contract was found in the sources checked).

  • All promises; no blank spacesState advice, not a legal requirement: show the rule's own words

    In the state's guidance

    Include all the terms, conditions, warranties and spoken promises, with no blank spaces left when you sign (state guidance).

  • Pay in stages as work is doneState advice, not a legal requirement: show the rule's own words

    In the state's guidance

    Set partial payments as stages of the work are completed, with the final payment after a satisfactory inspection; never pay for the whole job up front (state guidance).

  • Changes in writingState advice, not a legal requirement: show the rule's own words

    In the state's guidance

    Put any changes to the agreement in writing (Department of Labor and Workforce Development homeowner guide).

On signing day

  • No blank spaces
  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources32 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • Cancellation: read directly from AS 45.02.350 (Alaska Statutes 2025, akleg.gov print view). The Department of Law home improvement page and the CBPL FAQ give the same five-business-day period for door-to-door sales and apply it to home improvement contracts. The statute does not define 'business day' (no definition was found in AS 45.01 or AS 45.02.101-.107 either) and sets no deadline for returning payments, so refundWithinDays is null. Under the statute, cancelling takes effect when you hand back the rejected goods or when you mail the registered letter, and the seller pays the cost of returning goods you reject.
  • The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) also applies to door-to-door sales of $25 or more made at your home. 16 CFR 429.2(b) leaves state door-to-door laws in force unless they give the buyer less. The app uses Alaska's own five-business-day rule here and should not substitute the federal figures. The federal rule separately requires the seller to refund all payments within 10 business days of receiving a valid cancellation notice (16 CFR 429.1(g)), and it expressly covers sales made after the buyer invited the seller (16 CFR 429.0(a)). The app should therefore not tell an Alaska homeowner that no refund deadline applies.
  • Deposit: no statute limiting deposits or down payments on home improvement contracts was found in AS 08.18, 12 AAC 21, AS 45.02.350 or AS 45.50.471. The Department of Law and CBPL only advise against paying for the whole job up front and recommend paying in stages. depositCap is null, and the app must not state an Alaska cap or borrow one from another state.
  • AS 45.50.471(b)(13) makes it an unfair practice not to give the customer, at the time of an installment sale of goods or services, a written order, contract or receipt with the seller's name and address and all the terms, including a description of the goods or services. Whether a home improvement job paid in stages counts as an 'installment sale' was not determined, so contractMust does not rely on it.
  • Registration: AS 08.18.011 and the definition in AS 08.18.171(4) have no minimum job size, and the CBPL FAQ confirms registration is required 'regardless of the size of the job'. Statutes call it a certificate of registration, while CBPL calls it a professional license; both mean the same credential. CBPL also says every contractor needs an Alaska business license (AS 43.70).
  • Residential endorsement wording: AS 08.18.025 defines alteration as changes worth 'greater than 25 percent' of the structure's value, while the DOLWD homeowner brochure says '25% or more'. The statute wording is used here.
  • Required bonds (AS 08.18.071(b)): $25,000 for a general contractor; $20,000 for a general contractor with a residential endorsement doing only residential work; $10,000 for mechanical or specialty contractors and home inspectors; $5,000 for handyman contractors (projects of $10,000 or less). The CBPL FAQ repeats the $25,000, $10,000 and $5,000 figures. Homeowners can bring claims against the bond for negligent or improper work or breach of contract (AS 08.18.071(a)(3), 08.18.081). Under AS 08.18.111, contractors may not advertise 'bonded and insured' just because they meet these requirements.
  • Under AS 08.18.151, a contractor who was not registered when the contract was made cannot sue in Alaska courts to collect payment for work that required registration.
  • Handyman registration (12 AAC 21.700) cannot be used for work that needs an electrical or mechanical administrator or a residential contractor endorsement.
  • Electrical and mechanical administrator exclusions: AS 08.40.390(b)(3) takes mechanical installation on a single-family or two-family residence not intended for sale out of the mechanical administrator rules. AS 08.40.390(b)(2) does the same for mechanical work up to $50,000 in communities under 5,000 people or more than 50 miles by air or water from a licensed administrator. AS 08.40.190(b)(2) does the same for electrical work up to $5,000 in communities under 500 people or the same distance from a licensed administrator. These exclusions are in AS 08.40 only, and AS 08.18.161 has no matching exemption from contractor registration. 12 AAC 21.420 registers contractors doing work exempt under AS 08.40.390(b)(1) or (b)(2) as 'Mechanical Contractor, Exempt'. Separately, AS 18.62.070 requires a DOLWD certificate of fitness for people doing electrical wiring or plumbing covered by the state codes, and 12 AAC 21.420 says exempt mechanical contractors remain subject to AS 18.62. DOLWD's own certificate-of-fitness regulations were not checked for exemptions.
  • AS 08.18.125(e) bars administrative fines (not the registration requirement itself) in places with 1,000 or fewer people that are not connected by road or rail to Anchorage or Fairbanks.
  • Right-to-cure notice: for a contract to design, build, or remodel a dwelling (a change worth more than 25 percent of the structure's value, AS 09.45.899(7)), a contractor who wants to use Alaska's pre-lawsuit right-to-cure process must attach a separate page titled 'Notice of Potential Claims Must Be Provided within One Year' that the homeowner signs (AS 09.45.893). This is a condition on the contractor's rights, not a requirement for every contract, so it is listed here rather than in contractMust.
  • Fetch status: CBPL HTML pages on commerce.alaska.gov and the DEC pesticide pages return HTTP 403 (a JavaScript bot check) to automated fetches. The researcher read both in a browser on 2026-10-04, and the verifier read them again in a browser the same day. The CBPL ContractorStatutes.pdf (Rev. 09/21/2023) downloaded normally, and the regulation text was cross-checked against the current 12 AAC 21 on akleg.gov.
  • The DOLWD homeowner brochure (labor.alaska.gov Hiring_a_contractor.pdf) dates from March 2015, based on its file metadata. It was used only for the 'put changes in writing' item, and its handyman figure ($10,000) matches current statute.
  • Verifier change (2026-10-04): 'cleaning' was removed from notCoveredTrades. No official page says cleaning falls outside contractor registration. The contractor definition in AS 08.18.171(4) does not mention cleaning, but 12 AAC 21.270(4) lists 'concrete restoration and cleaning' as concrete and paving contractor work, and 12 AAC 21.430(a)(1) lists sand blasting as painting surface preparation. Some services the app may group under cleaning are therefore registrable trade work, so the slug is left out of both lists.
  • Municipal requirements (for example in Anchorage or Fairbanks) were not checked. Under AS 08.18.061, a city may not require a state-registered contractor to post a bond for a similar local license.

General information from official Alaska sources. For your situation, ask the state's consumer protection office or a lawyer.

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