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Your rights

Minnesota

Minnesota · home improvement

Your rights in Minnesota

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If they solicited it and you agreed away from their office

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day (weekends don't count). Money back within 10 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 contacted the contractor for a genuine, immediate personal emergency and gave them a separate signed, dated statement (not a form they supplied) describing the emergency and waiving your right to cancel. This applies only if the contractor in good faith has substantially begun the work before you cancel and, for goods, only if they cannot be returned in substantially as good condition as when you received them.
  • You contacted the contractor and asked them to come to your home to repair or maintain your property. Anything extra they sell you during that visit, beyond replacement parts used in the repair, can still be cancelled.
  • You contacted the contractor yourself (orally, by phone or in writing, not on a form they supplied), asked them to visit to negotiate buying the specific goods or services, and gave them a separate dated, signed statement in your own handwriting waiving your right to cancel.
  • The sale follows earlier negotiations during your visit to the seller's permanent retail store where the goods or services are offered.
  • Sales of insurance, securities or real property, and sales at public auction.
Read the full rule

When it applies

A home solicitation sale: the contractor (or someone acting for them) personally solicited the sale, the price is more than $25, the purchase is mainly for personal, family or household use, and you agreed to it somewhere other than the contractor's place of business, for example at your home. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays do not count as business days.

If a contractor solicited the sale and you agreed to it away from their place of business (for example, at your home), you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after the sale. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not count. The contractor must return your payments within 10 days. Separately, a roofing contract to be paid by insurance can be cancelled within 72 hours after your insurer denies the claim.

Minn. Stat. 325G.06 and following · read on revisor.mn.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

License number

On the contract, permits and ads

Contractors offering two or more kinds of work, or any roofing, need a DLI license (BC, CR or RR). An IR number isn't a license.

Read the full rule

A Minnesota contractor who offers you two or more kinds of work (the state's 'special skills'), or any roofing, must hold a DLI license (numbers start with BC, CR or RR), and the contract must say so and show the number. A registration number starting with IR is not a license. Check the license with DLI before you sign.

Who needs one: Anyone who contracts or offers to contract with an owner to build or improve a home for one to four families (including detached garages) by providing two or more of the state's eight 'special skills' (residential building contractor or residential remodeler license), and anyone contracting with an owner to do residential roofing, even if roofing is the only skill (residential roofer, building contractor or remodeler license).

Who doesn't

  • Specialty contractors who offer only one of the eight special skills (roofing is the exception: roofers must be licensed)
  • Contractors whose gross annual receipts from work that would need the license do not exceed $15,000 and who hold a DLI certificate of exemption
  • Mechanical contractors (heating, ventilating, cooling, plumbing, refrigeration and similar systems)
  • Plumbers, electricians and others licensed statewide, when doing the work of that license
  • Employees of a licensed contractor
  • Owners building or improving a home they live in or will keep as a rental (not for resale or speculation)
  • Material suppliers, manufacturers or retailers who do not install or attach what they sell
  • Architects and professional engineers in their professional practice
  • School districts, technical colleges, and Habitat for Humanity and Builders Outreach Foundation with their volunteers

Where the number must appear

  • the contract, which must also state that the contractor is licensed
  • building permits and building permit applications
  • business cards
  • all advertising, including signs, vehicles, published display ads, flyers, brochures, websites and internet ads

Issued by: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), Construction Codes and Licensing Division

Minnesota DLI: Tips for hiring a contractor · read on dli.mn.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

What the contract should include

Source: MN 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 8 in writing before you sign.

  • Signed & dated, with a copyBids and change orders too: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing, including proposals, estimates, bids and change orders, and be signed and dated by you and the licensed contractor; you get a signed copy free when you sign.

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

    In the rule's words

    Give a detailed summary of the work, the specific materials to be used (or a list of standard features), and the total price or how the price will be calculated.

  • Performance guidelinesGiven to you before you sign: show the rule's own words

    In the state's guidance

    Include or refer to written performance guidelines for the work, which the contractor must give you before you sign.

  • "Licensed" & DLI license #: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State that the contractor is licensed and show the DLI license number.

  • Mechanic's lien noticeIf subs or suppliers are used: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If subcontractors or suppliers will be used, include the mechanic's lien notice in 10-point bold type or capitals: anyone who supplies labor or materials and is not paid can file a lien on your property, and you may pay them directly or hold back what they are owed until 120 days after completion unless the contractor gives you their lien waivers.

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

    In the rule's words

    If the sale was solicited away from the contractor's place of business, show the transaction date and the seller's name and address, put the three-business-day cancellation statement in 10-point bold type near your signature, and attach two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form; the contractor must also tell you about the right out loud.

  • Insurance-claim rulesIf an insurance claim pays for it: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If a licensed contractor's repair work will be paid from an insurance claim, the agreement must come with an itemized, detailed good-faith estimate, and the contractor must give you written notice of the state's insurance-claim rules with its first estimate; for a roofing contract paid by insurance, the contractor must give you, before you sign, a bold-type statement of your right to cancel within 72 hours after the claim is denied, with two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form attached to the contract.

  • Statutory warrantiesThey still apply if left out: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include the state's statutory home-improvement warranties in writing as part of the contract, along with the warranty exclusions, the contractor's right to inspect and offer to repair, and the home warranty dispute resolution process; if they are left out, the warranties still apply.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources37 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • No deposit or down-payment cap. None appears in Minn. Stat. 326B.801 to 326B.89 (residential contractor licensing), 325G.06 to 325G.11 (home solicitation sales) or Minn. R. ch. 2891, all read on revisor.mn.gov. An exact-phrase search of the 2025 Minnesota Statutes for 'down payment' (revisor.mn.gov search) returned 30 sections, none limiting home-improvement deposits; the hits were unrelated, such as motor vehicle dealers (168.27), contracts for deed (559A.04) and the trade-in return rule in 325G.09. DLI's consumer guide says a down payment 'should not be more than a modest percentage', and the Attorney General's brochure says a token down payment should be 'a small percentage'. Both are advice, not legal limits. depositCap is null, and the app must not state a Minnesota cap or borrow one from another state.
  • Cancellation figures were read in the statute text: 325G.07 gives the right to cancel until midnight of the third business day; 325G.06 subd. 6 defines business days as excluding Saturday, Sunday and holidays; 325G.06 subd. 2 sets the over-$25 threshold and lists the exclusions (a motor vehicle exclusion is left out of the exceptions as irrelevant here); 325G.09 subd. 1 requires refunds within ten days. The required notice form in 325G.08 says payments are returned within 'ten business days'. The app should say 'within 10 days' and cite 325G.09. Under 325G.08 subd. 2, until the seller gives the required notices the buyer may cancel by any means. Under 325G.09 subd. 6, a seller who performed services before a cancellation is entitled to no compensation.
  • DLI's tips page describes the three-day right as applying when the contractor made the first contact with the homeowner. The statute's test is personal solicitation by the seller with the agreement made away from the seller's place of business, plus the listed exclusions. The appliesWhen and exceptions fields follow the statute.
  • Roofing paid by insurance (326B.811): the homeowner may cancel within 72 hours after being notified that the insurer denied the claim, and payments must be returned within ten days. The contractor may keep compensation for emergency services already performed. This is a separate right from the three-day right, so it is not put in extendedDays. Under 325E.66, a residential contractor doing insurance-paid repair work may not, as an inducement, advertise or promise to pay any part of the insurance deductible or offer compensation for an inspection, a claim or a referral. Under 325E.67, a post-loss assignment of insurance benefits to a residential contractor can be cancelled within ten business days, with payments and deposits returned within ten business days; the statute starts the ten days differently in two places (after the insurer receives the scope of work in subd. 2(4), and from the later of signing or receiving a copy in the required notice), so the app should not give a start date.
  • The license number requirements are from 326B.87. DLI's FAQ adds notices and statements about mechanic's liens to the list, which was not checked against a statute. License number prefixes (BC, CR, RR) and the warning that IR registration numbers are not licenses come from DLI's tips page and FAQ.
  • $15,000 exemption wording differs: 326B.805 subd. 6(5) says receipts that 'do not exceed $15,000' and requires a certificate of exemption, while DLI's licensing page says 'less than $15,000'. The app should not draw a line at exactly $15,000.
  • The 326B.809 written-contract rules and the 326B.87 license-number rules bind licensees. A specialty contractor exempt from licensing is not covered by them. The mechanic's lien notice (514.011), the home solicitation rules (325G) and the statutory warranty (327A) apply regardless of license status.
  • Statutory warranty: 327A.08(c) requires the chapter 327A warranties to be set out as written warranty instruments included in the construction contract, and the exclusions (327A.03), the right to inspect and offer to repair (327A.02 subds. 4 and 5) and the home warranty dispute resolution process (327A.051) to be given to the owner in writing; under 327A.08(d) the warranties apply even if they are not written. 327A.02 subd. 3 sets the terms: one year for faulty workmanship and defective materials, two years for faulty installation of plumbing, electrical, heating or cooling systems, and ten years for major construction defects on work involving major structural changes or additions. The 327A.01 definition of home improvement excludes detached garages, driveways, walkways, patios, landscaping, fences and similar items.
  • Local licensing: 326B.835 bars cities and counties from requiring a separate local license or licensing fee from a person licensed under 326B.802 to 326B.885, except for on-site sewage treatment work. DLI's FAQ says this covers work within the state license and that cities and counties may license certificate-of-exemption holders, specialty contractors, and work outside the state license such as HVAC. The AG brochure notes that Minneapolis licenses contractors. Local licensing was not researched.
  • HVAC: DLI says there is no state license for mechanical contractors, but a contractor doing gas, heating, ventilation, cooling, air conditioning, fuel-burning or refrigeration work must file a $25,000 bond with DLI (326B.197), and cities may require licenses or competency cards. The bond filing is not treated as a license or registration here.
  • environmental-testing is left out of tradeCoverage: a Minnesota Department of Health license is required for anyone paid to test for or mitigate indoor radon (144.4961 subd. 5), but other kinds of environmental testing (for example mold) were not checked, so the slug as a whole could not be determined.
  • Left out of tradeCoverage because whether the residential license applies depends on whether the job spans two or more special skills: windows_doors, carpentry, insulation (roof insulation counts as roofing), masonry-concrete, foundation-waterproofing (waterproofing and drain systems are in the masonry and concrete skill), pools (in-ground work usually adds excavation), chimney-fireplace, outdoor_landscaping (grading is the excavation skill), fencing, restoration and handyman. smart-home is also left out because low-voltage 'technology circuits' fall under DLI power limited technician and contractor licensing (326B.33 subd. 7 and 14), and its reach for consumer smart-home installs was not determined. appliance-repair is left out because gas appliance work can fall under the 326B.197 bond.
  • Only the Attorney General's Home Building and Remodeling PDF was used from ag.state.mn.us. The AG brochure gives Contractor Recovery Fund limits of $75,000 per claimant and $300,000 per contractor, while DLI's FAQ gives $550,000 per licensee, so the brochure may be out of date on that point. No Recovery Fund figure is used in this entry. The statute pages read were the 2025 edition of Minnesota Statutes.

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

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