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Your rights

Rhode Island

Rhode Island · home improvement

Your rights in Rhode Island

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

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

Mail a written notice by registered or certified mail by midnight of the third day. Money back within 20 days.

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

The 6 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • The sale follows negotiations you made at the contractor's permanent business establishment where the goods are regularly sold.
  • A bona fide immediate personal emergency: you started the contact and gave the contractor a separate, dated, signed statement in your own handwriting describing the emergency and waiving the 3-day right.
  • The sale was made entirely by mail or telephone, with no other contact before the goods were delivered or the work was done.
  • You started the contact and asked the contractor to visit to repair or maintain your personal property. Anything extra sold during that visit, beyond replacement parts needed for the repair, is still covered.
  • Transactions where you have a right of rescission under the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. section 1635).
  • Sales or rentals of real property, sales of insurance, sales of securities or commodities by a registered broker-dealer, and arts and crafts sold at fairs or places such as shopping malls, civic centers and schools.
Read the full rule

When it applies

The contractor personally solicits a sale of $25 or more (even if you invited them), and you agree to it at your home or another place that is not the contractor's regular place of business. Saturday counts as a day; Sundays and holidays without mail delivery do not.

If you agree to a sale of $25 or more at your home (or anywhere other than the contractor's regular place of business), you can cancel by mailing a written notice by registered or certified mail by midnight of the third day after you sign. Sundays and holidays without mail delivery do not count. The contractor must return your payments within 20 days and may keep a cancellation fee of no more than $5. If you are 60 or older, a separate contractor law also gives you 3 days to cancel a contract that came from a contractor's solicitation at your home, including by phone or online. This does not apply if you started the contact (answering an ad counts) or if it is an emergency.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-28-3 · read on webserver.rilegislature.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

On the contract, proposals and invoices

Contractors and subcontractors paid to build, remodel or repair your home must hold a current CRLB registration.

Read the full rule

Contractors and subcontractors paid to build, remodel or repair your home must hold a current registration with Rhode Island's Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board. Small casual jobs under $500 by someone who does not advertise as a contractor are exempt. The registration number must be on your contract, proposals and invoices. Electricians, plumbers and HVAC/mechanical contractors are licensed by the state Department of Labor and Training instead.

Who needs one: Anyone who, as an independent business, offers, bids on or does work to build, alter, repair, improve, move or demolish a residential or commercial structure or its appurtenances (such as garages, porches, patios, decks, fences, driveways, retaining walls and swimming pools). This includes subcontractors. Casual, minor or inconsequential work on one structure or project totaling under $500 is exempt, unless the person advertises as a contractor.

Who doesn't

  • Employees of a contractor
  • A person working on their own personal property, on a single-dwelling property they own, or on their own residence (this does not cover work done as a business with intent to sell the property)
  • Casual, minor or inconsequential work on one structure or project totaling under $500, unless the person advertises or holds themselves out as a contractor
  • People who only supply materials, supplies or equipment and do not install them
  • State-licensed businesses that employ licensed tradespeople (electricians, plumbers, septic system installers, hoisting engineers and mechanical trades such as HVAC) while working within their license; they must still carry the insurance the contractor law requires
  • Work on structures on federal sites
  • Manufacturers of mobile homes built to federal standards, and certain movers of narrow modular buildings or owner-moved structures

Where the number must appear

  • the contract
  • proposals
  • invoices
  • advertising
  • building permits

Issued by: Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB), Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation

R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-65-3 · read on webserver.rilegislature.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: RI law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 8 in writing before you sign.

  • Written contractJobs over $1,000: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing for any job over $1,000 in labor and materials.

  • CRLB registration #: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board registration number. The number must also be on proposals and invoices.

  • Possible mechanic's lien noticeIn the wording set by law: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include the 'Notice of Possible Mechanic's Lien' in the wording set by law, with your name and the job address.

  • Your right to cancelYour right to cancel, in writing: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Include a notice of your right to cancel, as Rhode Island consumer-protection law requires.

  • Insurance in effectWhether all proper insurance is in effect: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State whether all the proper insurance is in effect for the job.

  • Notice to buyer & cancel formIf you sign away from their office: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If you sign at your home or anywhere other than the contractor's office: be signed and dated by you. It must also carry the 'Notice to buyer' in 10-point bold type or larger directly above your signature (do not sign with blank spaces; you get a copy when you sign; how to cancel), plus a 'Notice of Cancellation' with the transaction date and the name and address to mail it to.

  • 60+ cancel noticeIf you're 60+ and didn't start it: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If you are 60 or older and the contract came from a solicitation at your home, by phone or online that you did not start: include a 'Notice of Cancellation' explaining your 3-day right.

  • "What Homeowners Should Know"Given when work begins: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    The contractor must also give you the Board's written summary of the contractor law ('What Homeowners Should Know') when work begins.

On signing day

  • No blank spaces
  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources44 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • Independently re-verified on 2026-10-04. Every statute section in sources was read on webserver.rilegislature.gov (R.I. Gen. Laws chapters 5-65 and 6-28 plus the trade-licensing sections). The CRLB pages and both PDFs were read on crb.ri.gov with a standard browser user agent, after the default automated fetcher had been refused with HTTP 403 earlier that day. The CRLB rules (440-RICR-10-00-1 and -2, and the proposed -7) were read on rules.sos.ri.gov, along with the DLT professional-regulation page. dbr.ri.gov (including the CRLB enforcement-decisions page) was not read. Web search was unavailable, so pages were reached from statute indexes and links on official pages.
  • No deposit cap: no section of chapter 5-65 or 6-28 limits deposits. The CRLB consumer page (crb.ri.gov/consumer) says Rhode Island does not set a legal limit on deposits. That same page goes on to mention a 10-30% guideline from other states; that is not Rhode Island law, and the app must not present it as a Rhode Island figure. The CRLB 'Beneficial Information to Consumers' sheet only advises homeowners to question the deposit amount. Related rules that are NOT caps: (1) the CRLB hearing officer may order a deposit returned if no work has started (440-RICR-10-00-1 section 1.9.2(F)(2)(b)), and deposits ordered returned when no services or supplies were received are not treated as a monetary award (R.I. Gen. Laws 5-65-10(a)(10)); (2) under 6-28-4(d), if a door-to-door agreement does not conform to the statute and the buyer cancels by registered mail, the seller must return any deposit within 20 days or face double damages.
  • Cancellation: Rhode Island has its own Door-to-Door Sales Act (R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 6-28), so the federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule is not used for this entry. Notice must be mailed by registered or certified mail. Section 6-28-4(a) says 'third calendar day ... excluding Sunday and any holiday', while 6-28-4(c) and 6-28-3 say 'three (3) business days' / 'three (3) days ... excluding Sunday and any holiday'. Section 6-28-2(1) defines a business day as any day except Sunday or a legal holiday without mail delivery, so all of these wordings count Saturday. Section 6-28-3 speaks of a 'door-to-door sale or lease of merchandise'. However, the definition in 6-28-2(3) covers goods or services, 6-28-7(c) deals with services performed before cancellation, and the CRLB 'Beneficial Information to Consumers' sheet applies 6-28-4 to contractor contracts signed outside the place of business. Section 6-28-5(c) caps the seller's cancellation fee at the least of 5% of the cash price, $5, or the cash down payment. Under 6-28-7(c), a seller who did work before the cancellation gets nothing beyond that fee and must restore any altered property.
  • Elderly right (R.I. Gen. Laws 5-65-27): consumers age 60 or older (defined in 42-66-4.1) have 3 days to cancel a contractor contract that came from an 'in-home solicitation'. That term covers transactions at the consumer's primary residence, including by phone or online, except those the consumer started. Answering an advertisement is not an in-home solicitation. Emergencies are excepted. This right is not modeled as extendedDays because it is the same 3 days; it widens who is covered rather than adding time.
  • R.I. Gen. Laws 5-65-3(p) requires every contract to carry a notice of the right of rescission 'as stipulated in all pertinent Rhode Island consumer protection laws and/or 5-65-27, if applicable'. CRLB rules list a missing rescission clause as grounds for a Notice of Violation (440-RICR-10-00-1 section 1.12.2(A)(12)).
  • Section 5-65-3(o) also requires 'consumer disclosures and information required pursuant to regulations promulgated by the board'. The CRLB rule parts read here list only one specific item: the registration number on contracts, proposals and invoices (440-RICR-10-00-1 section 1.6.3(C)). The statute imposes the same duty in 5-65-22. Section 1.12.2(A)(25) lists 'failure to comply with the disclosure requirements' as a violation without saying what those requirements are. contractMust therefore lists no other board-required disclosures. The CRLB consumer page advises (as guidance, not statute) that the contract spell out the scope of work, total cost and payment schedule, and timeline; for that reason those items are not in contractMust.
  • Contractor duties that are not contract contents: before work starts, the contractor must make sure any building permits the state building code requires are obtained for the owner, and the registration number must be on the permit (5-65-3(m)). CRLB-registered contractors must carry at least $500,000 combined single limit of liability insurance, plus workers' compensation as required by law (5-65-7; the CRLB FAQ says workers' compensation applies to applicants with employees). Registrations are valid for one year (CRLB FAQ).
  • Upcoming change: chapter 5-65.4 (P.L. 2025, ch. 421) creates residential contractor licensing. From January 1, 2028, nobody may supervise construction of a new residential structure, or structurally remodel an existing one, without a CRLB license. A 'residential structure' is a building of one to four dwelling units (5-65.4-2). The CRLB page names these the Home Builder and Structural Remodeler licenses, and regulations are due by January 1, 2027. The CRLB filed a proposed rule (440-RICR-10-00-7) on 2026-10-02, with public comment open through 2026-11-01. It is not yet adopted and was not used for this entry. Nonstructural home-improvement work stays registration-only (5-65.4-3(a)). This entry describes the law as of 2026-10-04 and should be re-verified once the regulations are adopted.
  • Written-contract threshold: the statute says work 'in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000)', and the CRLB pages say 'over $1,000' / 'exceeding $1,000'. These wordings agree.
  • Insulation contractors covered by R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 6-38 must also give a written contract before installation. It must state the insulation type, manufacturer and brand; the resistance factor per inch and the thickness; flammability; the area in square feet; the installation method; ventilation and vapor barrier; expected settling; any structural changes and their cost; restoration of the work area; warranties; and the firm's name, address and owner. Set warnings are required for urea-formaldehyde and polyurethane products. This is trade-specific, so it is not in contractMust.
  • Electrical open question: R.I. Gen. Laws 5-6-2(a)(1) clearly requires a DLT license to engage in the business of electrical installation. However, 5-6-2(b) ends with a proviso that 'the provisions of this section ... shall not apply to owner-occupied, single-family homes'. Separately, 5-6-29(c) says the electrician chapter does not forbid the owner of a single-family or two-family dwelling who lives there, or is about to, from doing electrical work on those premises. No official interpretation of how far the 5-6-2(b) proviso reaches was found. The app should not say a homeowner's own electrical work needs a license, and should not read the proviso as excusing an electrical contractor from licensing.
  • Trade coverage choices: electrical, plumbing and HVAC are exempt from CRLB registration under 5-65-2(a)(10) because the Department of Labor and Training licenses them. They are therefore listed only in statewideCredentialedTrades and deliberately left out of notCoveredTrades. notCoveredTrades is empty because no slug is explicitly exempted from registration without another credential. outdoor_landscaping was left out of both lists: hardscape installers and retaining walls are covered (5-65-3(i)(12); 440-RICR-10-00-2 section 2.4), but whether planting or lawn work is covered was not stated. cleaning was left out because power washers who work on structures must register (5-65-3(i)(13)). windows_doors, garage-doors, foundation-waterproofing and similar slugs were left out because no official page names them, even though the general definition of contractor (altering or repairing a structure) likely reaches them. solar is listed because 5-6-2(a)(1) covers 'apparatus ... for ... generating electricity'; no official page that names solar panels specifically was found.

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

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