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Your rights

Vermont

Vermont · home improvement

Your rights in Vermont

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If they sold it at your home, in person or by phone

Cancel by midnight of the third business day (weekends don't count). No special form needed; money back within 10 days.

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

The 3 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • Emergency: you asked for the goods or services without delay because of an emergency, the contractor in good faith began substantial work before you cancelled, and your request was handwritten and signed by you (for goods, they also cannot be returned in substantially the same condition).
  • Sales made after earlier negotiations during your visit to a retail business with a fixed, permanent location where the goods are displayed or the services are offered for sale on a continuing basis.
  • Visits you started and specifically asked for, to repair or maintain your personal property. Anything extra sold on that visit, beyond the parts needed for the repair, can still be cancelled.
Read the full rule

When it applies

Home solicitation sales of $5 or more: the sale is personally solicited or completed at your home (or your workplace, or a seller's temporary location such as a hotel room), or by phone while you are at home or work. Business days do not include Saturdays, Sundays or state holidays.

If a contractor sells you the job at your home, in person or by phone, you can cancel until midnight of the third business day after you sign (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not count). Your notice needs no special form, and a mailed notice counts on the day you mail it. Unless you asked for emergency work right away, the contractor must give you a written cancellation notice, and must return your payments within 10 days of a cancellation. If you never got the notice, the three days have not started.

9 V.S.A. § 2454 · read on legislature.vermont.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

Check it before you sign

Contractors working directly for you on a home job over $10,000 must register with the Office of Professional Regulation.

Read the full rule

A Vermont contractor who contracts directly with you for a home job over $10,000 (labor and materials together) must be registered with the Office of Professional Regulation, carry liability insurance and give you a written contract before taking a deposit or starting work. Smaller jobs do not require registration, and licensed plumbers and electricians working within their licence are exempt. Check the registration in OPR's online lookup before you sign.

Who needs one: Anyone who contracts directly with a homeowner to build, demolish or alter a home, or a building with four or fewer dwelling units, for more than $10,000 in labor and materials combined. This includes renovation and repair, painting, paving, roofing, weatherization, and heating, plumbing, solar, electrical, water or wastewater work.

Who doesn't

  • Employees of a registered business working within the scope of their employment
  • Professional engineers, licensed architects, and tradespeople licensed, registered or certified by the Department of Public Safety (such as plumbers and electricians) working within that credential, and businesses whose work is done mainly by or under the direct supervision of such employees
  • Delivery or installation of consumer appliances, audio-visual equipment, telephone equipment or computer network equipment
  • Landscaping
  • Work on a structure that is not attached to a residential building
  • Emergency work, if the person applies for registration within a reasonable time afterward
  • Subcontractors hired by another contractor rather than by the homeowner (OPR FAQ)
  • People working on property they own (OPR FAQ)

Issued by: Vermont Secretary of State, Office of Professional Regulation (OPR)

26 V.S.A. ch. 106 · read on legislature.vermont.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: VT law

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

  • Written before a depositJobs over $10,000: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Be in writing before the contractor takes a deposit or starts work, when labor and materials are estimated at more than $10,000 (a duty of registered residential contractors).

  • Price, one of three waysMaximum price, or time and materials: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    State the price in one of three ways: a maximum price for all work and materials; time and materials up to a stated maximum price; or time and materials with no maximum price.

  • Start & finish datesWhen work begins and is mostly done: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Give estimated start and completion dates.

  • 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.

  • How changes are approvedAny change, in a signed writing: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Explain how and when changes may be approved and documented; any change to the contract must be put in a signed writing.

  • 3-day cancel notice & formIf they sold it at your home: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the sale is made at your home (in person or by phone): give you a completed copy when you sign, showing the transaction date and the seller's name and address; carry a boldface statement of your three-day right to cancel next to your signature; and, unless you asked for emergency work without delay, attach an easily detachable Notice of Cancellation filled in with the cancellation deadline. The seller must also tell you about the right out loud.

On signing day

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

Notes from our check

  • Deposit: depositCap is null on purpose. Vermont does have a down-payment rule, but it does not fit the app's cap shapes. Under 26 V.S.A. § 5509(c), a registered residential contractor's contract with a maximum price (or time and materials up to a maximum) may require a down payment of up to one-half of the cost of labor or one-half of the price of materials, whichever is greater. A time-and-materials contract with no maximum price may require a down payment 'as negotiated by the parties'. The limit depends on how the price splits between labor and materials, not on a fixed share of the total, and it binds only registered contractors. The app may describe the rule in words, citing https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/26/106 (OPR's FAQ and sample contract repeat it), but must not compute a dollar ceiling or show a percentage of the total price.
  • The Attorney General's home improvement checklist (https://ago.vermont.gov/home-improvements) says quotes should show a payment timeline, 'ideally' with a deposit of no more than 10-30%. That is advice, not law, and must not be shown as a legal limit.
  • 9 V.S.A. § 4005a makes money an owner pays a contractor for an improvement an express trust for claims of those who supplied labor and materials (no separate account required). § 4006 says the construction-contracts chapter does not prohibit advance payments. Neither is a deposit cap (https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/09/102).
  • Threshold wording differs: the statute says registration and a written contract apply above $10,000 ('more than $10,000.00', 26 V.S.A. §§ 5501(a) and 5509(b)(1)). OPR's FAQ, homeowner page and poster, and the AG page say '$10,000 or more', and OPR's January 2023 presentation uses both. The app should say 'over about $10,000' and point to OPR.
  • The written-contract and down-payment rules in § 5509 bind registered residential contractors. A contractor exempt from registration (for example a licensed plumber working within the licence) is not covered by those two rules. Home-solicitation disclosures under 9 V.S.A. § 2454 apply regardless of registration.
  • Registration number: no statute or OPR page was found that requires the OPR registration number on contracts or advertising. OPR's optional sample contract has a 'License #' field. numberMustAppearOn is empty because no requirement was found, not because one was ruled out.
  • Business name: OPR's FAQ says a contractor may only do business and sign contracts under names (corporate and DBA) registered both with the Secretary of State's business services and with OPR, and that using an unregistered name on a contract is unauthorized practice. A homeowner can compare the name on the contract with OPR's lookup (https://sos.vermont.gov/residential-contractors/residential-contractor-faqs/).
  • Registration is not a skills test. 26 V.S.A. § 5503 says it guards against fraud, deception and breach of contract, not workmanship. Registrants must carry liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate (§ 5509(a)). OPR says it cannot award money damages, mediate disputes or inspect quality; complaints beyond its reach go to the AG's Consumer Assistance Program. OPR's statutes and rules page lists its 'Proposed Administrative Rules' as 'coming soon', so no adopted rules (including the voluntary certifications § 5503(b) allows) were found there.
  • Cancellation refund timing differs: 9 V.S.A. § 2454(c)(1) says payments must be returned 'within 10 days' after cancellation, while the statutory Notice of Cancellation form in § 2454(b)(2) says '10 business days'. refundWithinDays uses the statute body (10). § 2454(d)(7) says a seller who performed services before a cancellation gets no compensation for them.
  • Cancellation exceptions are taken from 9 V.S.A. § 2454(a)(5) and § 2451a(4). The repair-visit exclusion speaks of the consumer's 'personal property'; whether it covers repairs to the house itself was not determined. Other exclusions in § 2451a(4) (mail-only sales, unsigned sales under $25, real estate, insurance, securities, utilities) are omitted because they rarely fit contractor jobs. Vermont has its own law, so the federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule is not used here.
  • Home improvement fraud (13 V.S.A. § 2029) is a crime. Act 165 of 2026 (Sec. 40b; the act took effect on passage and was signed June 18, 2026) amended it, and Vermont Statutes Online still shows the older wording. As amended, it covers a contract, agreement or change order of $1,000 or more with an owner (or several totalling $2,500 or more with more than one owner) that the person knowingly enters into, where the person knowingly promises performance they do not intend to perform or know will not be performed, misrepresents a material fact, uses an unfair or deceptive practice to get or change the contract, or, during a declared emergency, charges more than twice the average price without a cost reason. The amendment struck the old 'fails to perform and then neither refunds nor makes an agreed completion plan' test. Convicted contractors are listed on the AG's Home Improvement and Land Improvement Fraud Registry (https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Docs/ACTS/ACT165/ACT165%20As%20Enacted.pdf).
  • Electrical: 26 V.S.A. § 910(6) says no electrician licence is required for electrical work in a building used for dwelling purposes with no more than two dwelling units. DFS's 2025 Electrical Safety Rules say the same. The app must not tell Vermont homeowners that a state electrician licence is legally required for work in a one- or two-family home. A licence is required in buildings with three or more units and other 'complex structures'.
  • Plumbing: 26 V.S.A. § 2198(a) requires all plumbing and specialty work in Vermont to be done by licensed persons (owners working on their own owner-occupied single-family home are exempt). DFS's plumbing page separately says the plumbing code rules do not cover owner-occupied single-family homes that are not on public water or sewer. That limits which code applies, not who needs a licence.
  • HVAC was left out of both trade lists. DFS certifies gas appliance and oil-burning equipment installers and says everyone installing or servicing LP or natural gas systems must be certified. Hydronic heating needs a plumbing Heating System Specialist licence. DFS also lists a C3 Refrigeration and Air Conditioning electrical specialist licence, but § 910(6) means no electrical licence is needed in one- and two-unit homes. No state licence was found for air-conditioning or heat-pump work in such homes, and the fire-safety rules under 20 V.S.A. § 2729(c) exclude owner-occupied single-family houses. Whether the gas and oil certifications are enforced inside such homes was not confirmed.
  • Vermont Statutes Online (legislature.vermont.gov) calls itself an unofficial copy and says it includes the 2025 session's actions. The legislature's 2025-2026 'Acts Affecting VSA Sections' list (https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/acts-affecting-statutes/2026, read 2026-10-04) shows no 2025 or 2026 act amending 26 V.S.A. chapters 15, 19, 39, 97, 106 or 107, 9 V.S.A. §§ 2451a or 2454, 9 V.S.A. chapter 102, or 20 V.S.A. § 2729. It shows Act 165 of 2026 amending 13 V.S.A. § 2029 (see the fraud note) and Act 178 of 2026 amending 6 V.S.A. § 1112, which changes only fee labels and exam-retake rules and leaves the power to require applicator certification unchanged.
  • Independent verification on 2026-10-04: every listed page was fetched directly and read, and all loaded. Web search was unavailable, so no search excerpts were relied on. 20 V.S.A. § 2900 (accessibility definitions) was dropped from the sources because it supports no claim in this entry.

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

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