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Your rights

Delaware

Delaware · home improvement

Your rights in Delaware

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If sold at home or away from their office ($25+)

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day (weekends don't count). Two cancel forms; money back in 10 business days.

Some sales are excepted, such as emergency work you ask for in a signed waiver.

The 5 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • You started the contact, need the work for a genuine immediate personal emergency, and give the contractor a separate signed and dated statement in your own handwriting that describes the emergency and gives up the 3-day right.
  • You started the contact and asked the contractor to your home to repair or maintain your "personal property" (the law's term); extra goods or services sold during that visit (other than replacement parts used in the repair) are still covered.
  • 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 the whole transaction was done by mail or telephone.
  • The transaction already gives you the federal Truth in Lending right of rescission (15 U.S.C. 1635).
Read the full rule

When it applies

A door-to-door sale of $25 or more: the contractor personally solicits the job (even after you invite them) and you agree to it somewhere other than the contractor's place of business, such as your home. A sale the contractor solicits and closes by telephone also counts. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays are not business days.

If a contractor sells you the job at your home or anywhere other than its place of business and the price is $25 or more, you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after the sale (Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays do not count), unless one of the exceptions applies. The contractor must give you two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form and refund your payments within 10 business days of getting your notice.

6 Del. C. ch. 44 · read on delcode.delaware.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

Check the state registry before you sign

Every contractor doing construction, repair or maintenance work in Delaware must register with the Department of Labor before starting.

Read the full rule

Every contractor doing construction, repair or maintenance work in Delaware must register with the Delaware Department of Labor before starting, and must also hold a Delaware contractor business license from the Division of Revenue. Electrical, plumbing and HVAC work also needs a state-licensed electrician, master plumber or master HVACR licensee. Look the contractor up on the state contractor registry (contractorregistry.delaware.gov) before you sign.

Who needs one: Every contractor and subcontractor that performs construction services or maintenance for another person for profit in Delaware, on private or public work, before starting work. The law sets no dollar threshold; the Department of Labor lists repair and remodeling, demolition, landscaping and tree removal, and trades such as carpentry, painting, electrical, HVAC and plumbing as covered.

Issued by: Delaware Department of Labor, Office of Contractor Registration (Division of Industrial Affairs)

6 Del. C. ch. 44 · read on delcode.delaware.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: DE law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 12 in writing before you sign.

  • Work, materials, price & terms: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing and describe in a meaningful way the work and materials you are buying, the contract price with any financing or credit terms, and every other material term you agreed to.

  • Every term filled inBefore you're asked to sign: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Have all relevant final terms filled in before you are asked to sign, and not be set up so that you must sign or agree to a proposal before it binds the contractor.

  • Name, address, phone & emailCheck it on the signed contract: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's name, address, telephone number, website (if any) and email address.

  • Completion date, or noneWhen the work should be done: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Give an approximate completion date, or clearly say that no completion date is provided. The work must be finished by that date unless delayed by events beyond the contractor's control or you agree in writing to a later date.

  • DOJ summary of your rightsGiven to you before you sign: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Come with the Delaware Department of Justice's summary of your home improvement rights, given to you before you sign.

  • 3-day cancel notice & formsIf sold away from their office: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If sold at your home or anywhere away from the contractor's place of business: be dated, be in the same language as the sales pitch, carry the 3-business-day cancellation statement in bold type near your signature, and come with two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form. It may not include a confession of judgment or a waiver of your right to cancel.

  • Warranties & their limitsWhat is and isn't covered: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include every promise or description that counts as an express warranty. Any limit on a warranty or on your remedies must be clear and conspicuous and initialed by you, and the contract must clearly say so if a warranty covers only the product and not its installation or delivery.

  • Delivery & installment chargesAll of them disclosed: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Disclose all delivery and installment charges.

  • Cost-plus terms explainedIf priced on a cost-plus basis: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If priced on a cost-plus basis, say so clearly, explain how added costs are calculated and give a good-faith estimate of the final price.

  • No-oral-promises pageAny such statement on its own page: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Put on a separate page any statement that the contractor's spoken promises are not binding.

  • Fair liquidated damagesNot one fixed amount at any stage: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Not set liquidated damages that stay the same no matter how much of the work has been done.

  • Add-ons in a signed writingAny change, in a signed writing: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Put any added product or service in a written document signed by both of you, along with the Department of Justice summary.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources28 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • No deposit or down-payment cap. Neither the Delaware Code nor the Department of Justice's Home Improvement Services regulation (6 DE Admin. Code 106, effective November 1, 2023; the current Administrative Code page shows no amendment after 27 DE Reg. 254) limits how much a contractor may take up front. The regulation only makes it unlawful to mislead you into thinking the down payment is the full amount you will owe (section 3.1.29). depositCap is null: the app must not state a Delaware cap, and must not borrow one from another state.
  • Not a cap: under 6 Del. C. 3502 to 3505, all money a contractor receives under a contract to build, alter or repair a building is held in trust, and the contractor may not use it for anything else until the workers and suppliers on that job have been paid. Not paying their claims within 30 days of receiving the money is prima facie evidence of misuse, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 3 years in prison, or both. This rule does not limit the size of a deposit.
  • Proposed, not law: House Bill 57 (153rd General Assembly) would cap deposits at 10 percent of the contract price (or 33 percent of the cost of materials and professional services needed to begin), require permit applications within 30 days, and create a 3-business-day cancellation right for home improvement contracts over $500 (5 business days for buyers 62 or older or with a disability). On 2026-10-04 the legislature's page showed its status as 'House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce 3/6/25 (Tabled in Committee)'. An earlier version (HS 1 for HB 427, 152nd General Assembly) ended in that committee when the 2023-2024 session closed. Re-check before relying on this.
  • Scope of the Department of Justice regulation: it covers home improvement (any alteration, repair, addition, modification or improvement to a dwelling or the property it sits on, including driveways, pools, roofs, siding, windows, kitchens, bathrooms, heating and air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work), but not new construction of a single-family home or rebuilding all or substantially all of one (sections 1.2 and 2.0; DOJ FAQ 3).
  • Cancellation comes from the Home Solicitation Sales Act (6 Del. C. ch. 44), which covers door-to-door sales of consumer goods or services, not every home improvement contract. The DOJ regulation (section 3.1.6) and its summary say a home improvement contract sold door to door must include the cancellation notice. The refund deadline is 10 business days (refundWithinDays = 10). Current law gives no longer period for older buyers.
  • Door-to-door sellers who knock on doors must also wear a Department of Finance door-to-door salesperson ID card showing the seller's Delaware business license number, and may solicit at homes only between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. (6 Del. C. 4405 and 4406). Invited visits and phone, mail or online solicitation are excepted.
  • Registration: the Delaware Contractor Registration Act (19 Del. C. ch. 36, section 3604) requires every contractor to register with the Department of Labor before performing construction services or maintenance. No dollar threshold or exemption appears in the Act or its regulations (19 DE Admin. Code 1329), so exemptions is an empty list. Neither requires the registration number on contracts or advertising, so numberMustAppearOn is also empty. This is a labor-law registration, not a skills test. The Department of Labor's current pages place contractor registration with the Office of Construction Enforcement in the Division of Industrial Affairs; the Act and the registration brochures name the Office of Contractor Registration.
  • Contractors also need a Division of Revenue contractor business license (30 Del. C. 2502, $75 a year plus a gross-receipts fee), which must be obtained before or when a contract is signed. It is a tax license, not a skills test, so it is not shown as the registration.
  • The Division of Professional Regulation's list of professions (dpr.delaware.gov) has no general or home improvement contractor license. Its construction-related licenses include electrician, plumber, HVACR, home inspector and manufactured home installation. A homeowner may do some work on their own home without a trade license: electrical work under a homeowner's permit (24 Del. C. 1417), and plumbing or HVACR work other than gas piping (24 Del. C. 1807(c)(2) and 1820(c)(2)).
  • Licensed electricians must show the words 'Licensed Electrician' and their license number on their work vehicles in letters at least 3 inches high (24 Del. C. 1406(b)).
  • Home improvement fraud is a crime (11 Del. C. 916). It covers a contractor who, with intent to defraud, uses false promises or misstatements, or takes money for labor or materials and does not use it for that purpose. Not complying with the home solicitation law (6 Del. C. ch. 44) on the contract is prima facie evidence of that intent; it is not by itself the crime. Penalties are higher when the buyer is 62 or older, an impaired adult or a person with a disability.
  • The last contractMust item (a written, signed document plus the DOJ summary for any added product or service) comes from the Department of Justice FAQ (question 7), not the regulation text. The FAQ (question 9) also says the summary may be built into the contract or given separately, in the format the Department publishes.
  • Regulation wording: section 3.1.8 says 'delivery and installment charges', and the DOJ FAQ says they may be included in the total price or listed separately. The contract item keeps the regulation's wording.
  • Water treatment systems sold door to door have extra rules (6 Del. C. ch. 25B): the salesperson must wear an ID badge with the seller's name and business address, may not do precipitation or heavy-metal tests in your home, and any health-related water test must be done by a state-certified laboratory.
  • Open question, not used above: 6 Del. C. 3506 says each construction contract awarded by an owner must include a clause requiring payment within 30 days of the end of the billing period and an interest-penalty clause. Sections 3507 to 3509 expressly exclude alteration or repair of a single residential unit, but 3506 does not say so either way; whether it reaches homeowner contracts was not verified.
  • Verification (2026-10-04): every Delaware Code section above was read on delcode.delaware.gov. The regulations.delaware.gov Administrative Code pages are a JavaScript app, so regulations 106 and 1329 were read through that site's own data service (regulations.delaware.gov/api/AdminCode/regulation); regulation 106 matched the archived final text (27 DE Reg. 254). The AG summary and FAQ PDFs, the Department of Labor pages and brochures, and the legislature's bill pages and HB 57 text loaded directly.
  • environmental-testing (radon, lead) is left out of the trade lists: whether Delaware requires a state credential could not be confirmed from an official page.

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

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