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Your rights

South Dakota

South Dakota · home improvement

Your rights in South Dakota

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

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

Cancel in writing by midnight of the third business day (Saturday counts). Money back within 10 business days.

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

The 7 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • You started the contact because of a real, immediate personal emergency, and you gave the seller a separate, dated and signed statement in your own handwriting that describes the emergency and expressly waives the three-day right.
  • You started the contact and asked the seller to come to your home to repair or maintain your personal property. Anything extra sold during that visit, beyond the replacement parts needed for the repair, is still covered.
  • The deal followed earlier negotiations during your visit to a retail business with a fixed, permanent location where the goods or services are offered for sale on a continuing basis.
  • The sale was made and completed entirely by mail or telephone, with no other contact before delivery or performance.
  • The transaction already carries the federal right of rescission under the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1635).
  • Sale, lease or repair of motor vehicles, metal buildings, farm machinery or implements, or mobile homes by a dealer that has a fixed, permanent place of business in South Dakota where those goods and services are offered on a continuing basis.
  • Sale or rental of real property, sales of insurance, and sales of securities or commodities by a registered broker-dealer.
Read the full rule

When it applies

A sale, lease or rental of goods or services of $25 or more (under one or several contracts) that the seller personally solicits, including after you invited them, where you agree to buy at a place other than the seller's place of business, such as your home (a door-to-door sale under South Dakota law). Saturday counts as a business day. Sunday does not, and neither do the ten holidays the law lists: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Native American Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If you agree to the job at your home or anywhere other than the seller's place of business, you can cancel in writing until midnight of the third business day after the transaction date. You can mail or hand-deliver the notice or send it electronically. Saturday counts as a business day. Sunday and the holidays the law lists do not. The seller must refund your payments within 10 business days of getting your notice. A written storm-damage contract for residential roofing can also be cancelled within 72 hours of signing, or within 72 hours of being told your insurer denied the claim in whole or in part. You may still owe the supplier's documented restocking fee and the cost of any emergency repairs already done.

South Dakota Consumer Protection: Door-to-door · read on consumer.sd.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: SD law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 6 in writing before you sign.

  • A dated copyIf sold 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 seller's place of business, you must get a completed copy of the contract or receipt when you sign. It must show the transaction date and the seller's name and address.

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

    In the rule's words

    Next to your signature line, in bold type of at least 10 point, a statement that you may cancel at any time before midnight of the third business day after the transaction date.

  • Two cancel forms attachedIf sold away from their office: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Two completed copies of an easily detachable form titled 'NOTICE OF CANCELLATION', filled in with the seller's name and business address, the transaction date and the last day you may cancel.

  • Told out loud; no waiversIf sold away from their office: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    The seller must also tell you out loud, when you sign, that you have the right to cancel. The contract may not contain a confession of judgment or any waiver of your right to cancel.

  • Roofing: 72-hour cancel noticeStorm-damage roofing contracts: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    For a written storm-damage residential roofing contract, the contractor must give you two things before you sign: a statement of your 72-hour right to cancel in bold 10-point type, and two copies of an attached, easily detachable 'NOTICE OF CANCELLATION' form.

  • Roofing: no deductible rebatesSuch a contract is void: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    A residential roofing contractor may not advertise or promise to pay or rebate any part of your insurance deductible. A contract made in violation of this rule is null and void.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources47 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • The cancellation right comes from South Dakota's own door-to-door sales law, not the federal FTC rule. SDCL 37-24-1(2) defines a business day, and SDCL 37-24-5.1 to 37-24-5.6 cover the right, the notice and the refund. The statute text was read on sdlegislature.gov through the legislature's statute service. An independent verifier read it again on 2026-10-04. The cited sdlegislature.gov/Statutes pages are the legislature's official section pages.
  • The Attorney General's door-to-door page (consumer.sd.gov) agrees with the statute on the 3-business-day right but differs in three places: (1) It says the refund is due within 'ten (10) days'; the statute says ten business days. (2) It says to cancel by mailing the notice with a copy of the receipt; the statute also allows hand delivery or electronic notice. (3) It lists 'items purchased at home parties' as not covered, which does not appear in SDCL 37-24-5.2. The entry follows the statute.
  • Alternative compliance: under SDCL 37-24-5.7, a door-to-door sale is treated as meeting the notice requirements if the contract or receipt clearly states, on the front or back, that you may cancel at any time, refuse delivery without owing anything, or return the goods for a full refund. A contract that gives this broader right may lawfully leave out the bold three-day statement and the Notice of Cancellation form. The app should not call such a contract non-compliant.
  • The repair-visit exception in SDCL 37-24-5.2(5) refers to repairing or maintaining the buyer's 'personal property'. Whether it covers repairs to the house itself was not verified. The app should not tell a homeowner that asking for a repair visit removes the three-day right.
  • Storm-damage roofing (SDCL 37-24-49 to 37-24-51): the 72-hour right covers any written storm-damage repair contract for residential roofing goods and services. The contractor duties apply to residential building contractors or remodelers who provide roofing services and to residential roofers. You cancel by written notice to the contractor's address in the contract, and a mailed notice takes effect when it is posted. Cancelling is still subject to the roofing supplier's reasonable documented restocking fee and the cost of emergency repairs already done. The section is inconsistent on refund timing: the required form says ten business days, while the closing paragraph says within ten days. The app should say 'about 10 days' for roofing refunds.
  • Deposit: no South Dakota statute limiting deposits or down payments on residential home improvement contracts was found, so depositCap is null and the app must not state a South Dakota deposit limit. The original researcher checked all of SDCL chapter 37-24, chapters 10-46A and 44-9, and the chapter lists of Titles 36, 37 and 44. On 2026-10-04 the verifier searched every section of chapters 37-23, 44-9, 44-9A, 53-1, 53-8, 53-9, 53-11, 54-3A, 11-10 and 9-34 for 'down payment', 'deposit' and 'advance payment' and found no limit. SDCL 54-3A-6 says only that nothing in that consumer-installment section prohibits a down payment. The 2026 session-law list has no deposit rule. The Attorney General's Construction & Home Improvement page says only 'Try to limit your down payment' and refers consumers to the Division of Consumer Protection (1-800-300-1986), with no figure. Web search was unavailable, and sdlegislature.gov has no full-text statute search of its own, so the whole code was not text-searched. A person should confirm with the Division of Consumer Protection.
  • Related, but not a deposit cap: SDCL 44-9-13 was amended in 2026 (SL 2026, ch 180). Under it, a contractor, subcontractor or supplier who receives money or other property for an improvement to real estate is guilty of theft if, intending to defraud, they use it for anything other than paying for that job's labor, skill or materials.
  • Registration is null: South Dakota has no statewide general or home-improvement contractor license or registration. Title 36 (Professions and Occupations) has licensing chapters for electricians (36-16), plumbers (36-25) and home inspectors (36-21C), among others, but none for general or home-improvement contractors. SDCL 9-34-12 lets a municipality license, tax and regulate residential contractors, so a city may require its own contractor license. The Attorney General's contract checklist asks for a license number only 'if required'.
  • Tax license, deliberately not used as the registration (an orchestrator decision point): SDCL 10-46A-1 taxes the gross receipts of prime contractors on realty improvement contracts at 2 percent. Every contractor whose receipts are subject to that tax must apply to the Department of Revenue for a contractor's excise tax license (SDCL 10-46A-15). Doing business without one is a Class 1 misdemeanor (10-46A-13.1). Where a local building permit is required, the license number must be posted with it (10-46A-12.1, 10-46A-12.2). The Department of Revenue page says anyone who contracts for construction services, or who builds, installs or repairs fixtures to real property, must have the license. It is a tax license, not proof of skill, insurance or bonding. The Attorney General's door-to-door page tells consumers to ask to see the seller's current South Dakota tax license.
  • Quote reading: SDCL 10-46A-12 (as amended by SL 2026, ch 55) lets a South Dakota contractor list the contractor's excise tax and any use tax as a separate line item on contracts and bills, and that line can be collected. A line of about 2 percent for excise tax on a quote is therefore lawful. The Department of Revenue page describes a 2.041 percent bid factor, which lets the contractor collect the full tax.
  • South Dakota has no general statute on what a home improvement contract must contain. contractMust lists only the statutory duties for door-to-door sales (SDCL 37-24-5.3 to 37-24-5.5) and storm-damage roofing contracts (37-24-50, 37-24-51). The Attorney General's Construction & Home Improvement page recommends, but the law does not require, that a contract include: the contractor's name, address, phone and license number (if required); start and completion dates; a payment schedule; who gets permits; how change orders work; a detailed materials list; warranties; cleanup; and any oral promises.
  • Local licensing: SDCL 9-34-12 allows municipalities to license, tax and regulate plumbers, electricians, residential contractors and heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors. SDCL 36-16-35 allows stricter local electrical rules. SDCL 36-25-16 allows municipal plumbing ordinances that meet state minimums. SDCL 46-6-9.4 refers to mechanical contractors 'licensed under municipal ordinances'. No city or county rules were checked.
  • Owner exemptions, electrical (SDCL 36-16-15): no state electrical license is needed to wire your own residence (a detached owner-occupied single-family dwelling, including its accessory structures and lot), your own farmstead, a single-family home you are building to live in, or private non-habitable property you own that is not used in a business. Some of that work still needs a state inspection and fee.
  • Owner exemptions, plumbing (SDCL 36-25-17): if the work meets the State Plumbing Commission's minimum standards, no plumbing license is needed for plumbing on premises you own and live in, plumbing on a single-family home you are building to live in, or plumbing repair work on your own property.
  • Plumbing scope: as written, the state plumbing license requirement in SDCL 36-25-17 covers plumbing on property connected to a public water or sewer system. The Plumbing Commission may also issue restricted licenses limited to rural areas and towns under 1,500 people (36-25-17.1). The app should not tell a homeowner on a private well and septic system that their plumber must hold the state plumbing license; it should tell them to ask. Septic work itself needs the on-site wastewater installer license (36-25-17.3).
  • dlr.sd.gov/plumbing returned HTTP 503 on 2026-10-04 and again when re-checked. The plumbing facts come from SDCL chapter 36-25 and ARSD article 20:53 on sdlegislature.gov.

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

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