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Your rights

Louisiana

Louisiana · home improvement

Your rights in Louisiana

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If sold at your home, or they phoned you first

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day. Your payments come back within 10 days.

Some sales are excepted, such as emergency work you ask for, once it has begun.

The 2 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • Emergency: if you asked the seller to provide goods or services without delay because of an emergency, you cannot cancel once the seller has in good faith made a substantial start on the work (and, for goods, they cannot be returned in substantially as good condition).
  • Not a home solicitation sale: a sale made after earlier negotiations at the seller's fixed place of business, or a sale you started by contacting the seller at its place of business (by phone or in person).
Read the full rule

When it applies

A home solicitation sale. The seller personally asked for the sale somewhere other than its place of business (for example at your home) and you agreed or offered to buy there, or the seller phoned you first and you agreed from home. A cash sale must be $25 or more; credit sales are also covered.

If the contractor sold you the job at your home (or phoned you first and you agreed from home), you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after you sign. The seller must return your payments within 10 days. It may keep a cancellation fee of up to 5 percent of the cash price, but never more than your cash down payment.

Louisiana Revised Statutes · read on legis.la.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

License number

On the contract

Home improvement work above the state's job-size threshold needs an LSLBC license or home improvement registration.

Read the full rule

A Louisiana contractor doing home improvement work above the state's job-size threshold needs an active license or home improvement registration from the State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC). The license number must be on your contract. Check the number with the LSLBC contractor search before you sign.

Who needs one: Anyone who bids on or does improvements or repairs to an existing home where the job's total value (labor, materials and other costs, no matter who pays them) is $7,500 or more. Jobs under $50,000 with no structural work need at least a home improvement registration. Jobs of $50,000 or more, structural work (foundations, load-bearing walls, roofing systems) and new homes of $50,000 or more need a residential license. Roofing work of $7,500 or more needs the Residential Roofing or Residential Construction classification.

Who doesn't

  • Homeowners who personally do the work on their own residence
  • Licensed residential contractors (they do not also need the home improvement registration)
  • People who work only in landscaping, or only in interior painting or wall covering
  • Subcontractors working for a residential or building construction license holder, except for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, mold remediation, asbestos or hazardous materials work
  • Electrical, mechanical and plumbing licensees working only within their license classification
  • Dewatering or water mitigation work
  • Service, warranty, repair or home improvement work on manufactured homes mounted on a chassis and wheels
  • People doing residential contractor work in areas or towns that have no building permit procedure

Where the number must appear

  • the contract

Issued by: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC)

Louisiana Revised Statutes · read on legis.la.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: LA law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 9 in writing before you sign.

  • Complete written agreementWhenever the job needs a license: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing whenever the job needs a state license or registration. It must set out the complete agreement and clearly describe any other documents that are part of it.

  • Names, addresses & license #: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the full names, the addresses and the contractor's LSLBC license number.

  • In their licensed nameNo trade names or DBAs: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in the contractor's name as it appears on its LSLBC license or registration and the board's records (the board does not recognize trade names or DBAs).

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

    In the rule's words

    Describe the work to be done.

  • Total price, or an estimate: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State the total price. For a cost-plus or time-and-materials job, it must give an estimate of what you are expected to pay.

  • Signed & dated by everyoneBefore any work begins: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be signed and dated by everyone, and everyone gets a copy of the signed contract when it is signed. No work may begin before everyone has signed.

  • Insurance certificatesWorkers' comp and liability coverage: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include current insurance certificates showing workers' compensation coverage and the amount of liability coverage, for a contractor whose license requires insurance (LSLBC requires it of home improvement registrants and residential licensees).

  • Consumer's right to cancelIf they sold it at your home: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the job was sold at your home, include the 'CONSUMER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL' notice with the seller's name and mailing address, and use the date you sign as the transaction date.

  • Itemized estimate firstIf an insurance claim pays for it: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the job is paid through a property insurance claim, the contractor may not give you an agreement authorizing the repairs without a good-faith, itemized estimate of the costs of services and materials. It may not interpret your policy or act as your public adjuster.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources35 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • All figures were read directly on 2026-10-04 from statute pages on legis.la.gov, LSLBC pages and PDFs on lslbc.gov, and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) landscaping page on ldaf.la.gov. No page failed to load. legis.la.gov says its laws are updated through the 2025 First Extraordinary Session; its update list (last updated 2026-09-15) shows Titles 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 19 brought up to the 2026 Regular Session, but not Title 37. The site also says its text is not official or authoritative.
  • Title 37 was checked against LSLBC's compiled Contractors Licensing Law (marked 'Updated 8/1/2026'). The $7,500, $10,000 and $50,000 figures and the R.S. 37:2159 contract contents match the legislature's text. The compilation also contains changes that are not in the legislature's text (presumably from the 2026 Regular Session; not confirmed on legis.la.gov): a new R.S. 37:2156.5 for water wells, a ban on contractors soliciting or accepting assignment of property insurance benefits in R.S. 37:2159.1, wording in R.S. 37:2159.1(A)(3) that the itemized estimate must come 'prior to' the repair agreement, and R.S. 37:2157(A)(15)(b) listing only residential licensees as exempt from home improvement licensure (the legislature's text also lists building construction licensees, and the LSLBC FAQ says building construction license holders are exempt from the home improvement registration up to $50,000). The compilation also renumbers the paragraphs of R.S. 37:2150.1; citations here use the legislature's numbering.
  • Deposit: no Louisiana statute was found that limits deposits or down payments on residential home improvement contracts, so depositCap is null. The Title 37 Chapter 24 table of contents on legis.la.gov has no deposit section. The app must not state a Louisiana cap. Related rules that are not caps: (1) under R.S. 14:202.1(A)(1), a contractor who does no work for 45 days or more after receiving payment (unless the contract allows longer) can be inferred to have committed residential contractor fraud; (2) R.S. 14:202 makes it a crime to knowingly fail to apply construction payments to the labor and material claims they were paid for; (3) R.S. 9:3540(C) lets a home solicitation seller keep a cancellation fee of 5 percent of the cash price, up to the cash down payment.
  • Threshold wording differs. The statute (R.S. 37:2150.1, whose history line ends with Acts 2025, No. 422) says $7,500 or more, and a home improvement contractor covers projects of at least $7,500 but less than $50,000. The LSLBC brochure and FAQ say 'exceeding $7,500' and 'not in excess of $50,000' (the FAQ's subcontractor list says '$7,500 or more'). LSLBC's own rule text in the August 2026 compilation (LAC 46:XXIX §303 and §305) still says residential construction starts above $75,000 and home improvement is limited to $75,000. The app should state no dollar threshold, or at most say 'about $7,500'.
  • Project value counts all labor, materials, rentals and other direct and indirect costs, no matter who pays them. The board treats a job split into parts to avoid licensing as one job (R.S. 37:2150.1(3), 37:2158(B)(1)).
  • The contract must be 'signed and dated by all parties' under R.S. 37:2158(A)(20); R.S. 37:2159(A)(5) itself requires only the signature of all parties. The name rule is R.S. 37:2158(A)(21); the DBA wording is from the LSLBC FAQ. The insurance-certificate duty in R.S. 37:2159(A)(6) applies 'for any licensee for which insurance is a requirement'; R.S. 37:2156.1(E) and the LSLBC brochure require workers' compensation and liability insurance of residential, home improvement and mold remediation applicants.
  • R.S. 37:2175.1 and the other former residential-contractor sections (R.S. 37:2167 through 37:2175.6) show only 'Repealed by Acts 2022, No. 195' on legis.la.gov, so their former content was not verified. No roof-insurance cancellation right was found in the current Chapter 24 text. Do not tell homeowners one exists.
  • Cancellation is Louisiana's own home solicitation law (R.S. 9:3538-3541), not the federal rule. It covers cash sales (R.S. 9:2711.1) and credit sales (R.S. 9:3516(20)). The credit-sale definition reads 'other than motor vehicles, farm equipment, or services', which could be read to leave out services sold on credit; this check did not resolve that wording. Until the seller provides the required notice, you may cancel by any means (R.S. 9:3539(C)). A notice that follows the FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) or Regulation Z counts as compliance (R.S. 9:3539(D)). After you cancel, the seller is entitled to no payment for services already performed except the cancellation fee (R.S. 9:3541(C)).
  • There are two wording conflicts on cancellation. The notice R.S. 9:3539(B) requires says 'the seller must return all of your cash down payment', but R.S. 9:3540(C) lets the seller keep the 5 percent cancellation fee (and the seller loses that fee if it fails its own duties under that section). Also, 'business day' is not defined in these sections or in R.S. 9:3516. Unlike Connecticut, there is no verified rule on whether Saturday counts.
  • Name of the credential: the statute calls every LSLBC credential a 'license' (R.S. 37:2150.1(12) says the term includes registration), and the contract must show the 'license number' (R.S. 37:2159). LSLBC's brochure and FAQ call the lower tier a 'Home Improvement Registration' and its holders 'registrants'. Both wordings are official.
  • Plumbing needs two credentials. A State Plumbing Board license is required for plumbing work at any job size (R.S. 37:1367). An LSLBC plumbing license is also required for plumbing work of $10,000 or more (R.S. 37:2150.1(16); LSLBC FAQ).
  • Landscaping: people who work only in landscaping are exempt from LSLBC home improvement licensure (R.S. 37:2157(A)(15)(c)(i)), but landscaping is still licensed statewide by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry. R.S. 3:3804 makes landscape horticulturist, landscape irrigation contractor and arborist regulated professions that need a license issued by the commissioner of agriculture and forestry (Horticulture Commission of Louisiana), and LDAF's page says a Landscape Horticulturalist License is needed for bed preparation, plant and sod installation, pruning, fertilizing and landscape maintenance, and a Landscape Irrigation Contractor License for irrigation work. Lawn cutting, edging and hand-weeding need no license. outdoor_landscaping is therefore listed as statewide-credentialed, not as not covered.
  • The Attorney General's consumer protection page (ag.louisiana.gov/ConsumerProtection, which now redirects to ag.louisiana.gov/Division/PublicProtection) was checked. It links no home improvement or door-to-door guidance, so nothing from it is used here.

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

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