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Your rights

Hawaii

Hawaii · home improvement

Your rights in Hawaii

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If they solicited it in person, by mail or by phone

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day (weekends don't count). Money back within 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
  • The sale followed earlier negotiations during your visit to a retail business at a fixed, permanent location where the goods or services are offered for sale on a continuing basis.
  • You contacted the seller for a bona fide immediate personal emergency and gave the seller a separate, dated, signed statement in your own handwriting describing the emergency and waiving the 3-business-day right to cancel.
  • The sale was made and completed entirely by mail or telephone, with no other contact before delivery or before the work was done.
  • You contacted the seller and asked them to come to your home to repair or maintain your personal property. Anything extra sold during that visit, other than replacement parts used in the repair, is still covered.
  • Sales to a business, and sales under $5 (or under $25 for merchandise that can be delivered at one time).
Longer in some cases

30 instead of 3, for door-to-door sales by a seller who does not hold the Hawaii contractor license the work requires (30 calendar days, not business days).

Read the full rule

When it applies

A door-to-door sale under Hawaii's Door-to-Door Sales law: the seller solicited the sale in person, by mail or by telephone (including a contract solicited in person and signed somewhere other than the seller's business address shown on the contract), or used an ad offering a gift, prize or similar inducement to get you to visit its place of business. Repairs, alterations and improvements to your home count as services. Saturdays, Sundays and state or federal holidays are not business days.

If a contractor solicited the job in person, by mail or by phone (for example, a door-to-door pitch), you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after the transaction date. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not count. The contractor must refund your payments within 10 business days of getting your notice. In such a sale, if the contractor does not hold the Hawaii license the work requires, you have 30 calendar days to cancel.

HRS ch. 481C · read on capitol.hawaii.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

License number

On the contract, permits and ads

Jobs over $1,500, or any job needing a building, electrical or plumbing permit, need a license in the right classification.

Read the full rule

A Hawaii contractor must hold a Contractors License Board license in the right classification for any job over $1,500 in labor and materials, or any job that needs a building, electrical or plumbing permit. The license number and classification must be on your contract. Electrical and plumbing contractors must use electricians and plumbers licensed by the state to do the actual work.

Who needs one: Anyone who offers, advertises or undertakes to build, alter, repair, improve or demolish a building or other structure, or to improve real property, when labor and materials together cost more than $1,500 or the job needs a building, electrical or plumbing permit at any price. The license must be in the classification that covers the work: general engineering ('A'), general building ('B') or a specialty ('C') classification. Splitting a job into smaller contracts to stay under $1,500 does not avoid the license.

Who doesn't

  • Jobs where labor and materials total $1,500 or less and no building permit is needed, unless the job is part of a larger project or was split up to evade the license law (RICO says this handyman exemption does not apply to electrical or plumbing work)
  • People who sell or install finished products that are not built into and do not become a permanent, fixed part of the structure, or who build or repair personal property
  • Employees whose only pay is wages
  • Registered architects and professional engineers acting only in their professional role
  • Owners or lessees who register as owner-builders to build or improve residential or farm buildings on their property for their own use or for their grandparents, parents, siblings or children, not for sale or lease; electrical and plumbing work still has to be done by licensed people unless the owner holds that license

Where the number must appear

  • the contract
  • advertising
  • building permit applications

Issued by: Contractors License Board, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Professional and Vocational Licensing Division

Hawaii DCCA: Hire a licensed contractor · read on cca.hawaii.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: HI law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 11 in writing before you sign.

  • Signed by both of youBefore any work starts: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing and signed by you and the contractor before any work starts.

  • Name, address, license & class: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's name, address, license number and license classification(s).

  • Exact amount you'll owe: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State the exact dollar amount you will owe under the contract.

  • Start date & days to finishWhen work begins and is mostly done: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Give the date work will start and the number of days to finish.

  • Work & materials describedWhat work and materials are included: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Describe the work to be done and the materials to be used.

  • Subcontracted share & namesTheir names and license numbers: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Give the approximate percentage of the work that will be subcontracted, with the names and license numbers of any subcontractors.

  • Sales-rep payment warningIn capitals, next to your signature: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Carry a clear statement of the risk of losing any payment you make to a sales representative, printed in distinct capital letters next to your signature line.

  • Lien rights & bond optionAlso explained to you out loud: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Explain the lien rights of everyone working on the project (the contractor, subcontractors and material suppliers), and your option to demand that the job be bonded, how a bond would protect you and its approximate cost. The contractor must also explain these to you out loud.

  • Warranty termsWhat is and isn't covered: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State the terms of any warranty offered.

  • Contractor Repair Act noticeTheir right to fix defects before a suit: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include a notice of the contractor's right to try to fix alleged construction defects before any lawsuit is filed (Hawaii's Contractor Repair Act).

  • 3-day cancel notice & formsIf sold door to door, by phone or mail: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the job was sold to you door to door or through phone or mail solicitation: include, in bold type next to your signature, a statement of your right to cancel by midnight of the third business day, plus two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources29 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • Deposit: no statute or board rule limiting deposits or down payments on residential home improvement contracts was found. The homeowner-contract statute (HRS 444-25.5) and the board's rules (HAR 16-77-79 and 16-77-80) list required disclosures and contract terms but set no deposit limit, and a text search of every section of HRS chapter 444 and all of HAR chapter 16-77 found no deposit or down-payment rule. depositCap is null: the app must not state a Hawaii cap, and must not borrow one from another state.
  • Payment advice, not law: DCCA's RICO brochures advise a payment schedule that follows the work completed, holding back 5 to 10 percent until the job is done, and never paying all the money up front. A web-search summary on 2026-10-04 wrongly described the 5 to 10 percent holdback as required by HRS 444-25.5 and HAR 16-77-80. Both texts were read and neither contains it. The app may present it only as state-agency advice.
  • Roofing: under HRS 444-25.7, a roofing contract that promises a workmanship guarantee of more than seven years must be backed by a surety bond, and the contractor must give you written evidence of the bond and its conditions before the contract is signed. This is a bond rule, not a deposit cap.
  • Cancellation comes from Hawaii's Door-to-Door Sales law (HRS chapter 481C), not the federal FTC rule. Its 'business day' excludes Saturday, Sunday and state or federal holidays (HRS 481C-1), unlike the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, whose business day excludes only Sundays and federal holidays (16 CFR 429.0). refundWithinDays is 10 business days (HRS 481C-2(7)). extendedDays (30) is in calendar days (HRS 481C-2.5), not business days, and applies only to a door-to-door sale by a seller without the license chapter 444 requires.
  • A case note on the official HRS 481C-1 page (110 H. 248) records that a court found a roofer did not 'solicit' a homeowner who approached the roofer at a home show and asked for a home visit, so the cancellation law did not apply. Whether a sale was solicited depends on the facts. The app should say the right applies when the contractor solicited the sale.
  • Under HRS 481C-4, a seller who breaks the door-to-door rules cannot enforce the contract and faces fines of $500 to $2,500 per violation in a suit brought by the Office of Consumer Protection.
  • Contract scope: HAR 16-77-80(c) says the homeowner-contract rules do not cover service-type work (for example maintenance by electrical and plumbing contractors) that needs no county permit. Under HRS 444-25.5(d), a violation is an unfair or deceptive practice under HRS chapter 480. Case notes on the official 444-25.5 page report courts holding a contract void and unenforceable when the lien disclosures were not given (111 H. 349 (2006)). That is case-law detail, so the app should not promise a homeowner that outcome.
  • License threshold wording: the statute (HRS 444-2(4), current text) exempts jobs of 'not more than $1,500' with no building permit. The DCCA PVL page says a license is needed for jobs 'exceeding $1,500' or needing a building, electrical or plumbing permit, and RICO's 'Hire a Licensed Contractor Because' brochure (rev. 2026-01-23) says 'not more than $1,500.00'. RICO's 'Top 10 Tips' brochure says 'less than $1,500' in both the rev. 2019 copy and the rev. 2026-01-23 copy now linked from the PVL page. The app should say 'more than $1,500'.
  • Electrical and plumbing: an electrical or plumbing contractor whose responsible managing employee is not personally licensed under HRS chapter 448E must employ 448E-licensed individuals to do the actual work, and at least half of the people doing electrical or plumbing work on a job site for that contractor must be 448E-licensed (HRS 444-9.5; the board may waive the half rule in a county short of licensed workers). RICO's brochure says electricians and plumbers are licensed by the Board of Electricians and Plumbers, and that the handyman ($1,500) exemption does not apply to electrical or plumbing work.
  • Contractors Recovery Fund (HRS 444-26): owners or lessees who contracted with a licensed contractor for work on their own residence may recover up to $12,500 per contract by court order. This is not available if the license was suspended, revoked, forfeited, terminated or inactive when the contract was signed. Wording differs: RICO's general brochures say the fund is only for consumers who hired a 'licensed general contractor', while the statute and RICO's fund brochure say 'duly licensed contractor' and 'licensed contractor'. The app should follow the statute.
  • HAR chapter 77 (compiled 4/15/04; Exhibit A specialty classifications dated May 23, 2003) was read from the PDF linked on the Contractors License Board's 'Licensing Laws and Rules' page (har_77-c2.pdf). The file har_77-c1.pdf at the same upload path is byte-identical. The board's 'Description of Contractor License Classifications' PDF lists the same 96 'C' codes.
  • capitol.hawaii.gov returned HTTP 403 to the first researcher's automated fetches on 2026-10-04. The verifier fetched every HRS section cited here directly from capitol.hawaii.gov the same day (HTTP 200) and read the text. cca.hawaii.gov pages and PDFs and the eCFR text of 16 CFR Part 429 were also fetched directly.
  • Other HRS 444-2 exemptions (government employees on duty, court-appointed receivers and trustees, joint ventures whose members are all licensed, board-determined and public-works cases) are not listed in registration.exemptions.
  • Trade coverage: Hawaii licenses all construction contracting through one board. A trade listed in statewideCredentialedTrades needs a license for jobs over $1,500 or needing a permit, not for every job. Handyman, cleaning, junk removal, home inspection, locksmith, appliance repair, window treatments, chimney sweeping, smart-home, water treatment, restoration and environmental testing are left out of both lists. For these, coverage depends on the specific work (for example, the 444-2(3) exemption for finished products and personal property, or the C-33c surface treatment classification for power washing) and was not decided trade by trade. notCoveredTrades is empty because HRS 444 has no trade-level exemption: its exemptions depend on the activity and the dollar amount.
  • Landscaping and painting are named in the statute itself as specialty contracting (HRS 444-7(d)). Whether routine yard maintenance or mowing counts as landscaping contracting was not verified.

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

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