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Your rights

Washington

Washington · home improvement

Your rights in Washington

Information, not legal adviceRules checked Oct 4, 2026

3 business days to cancel

If you sign at home, or away from their office

Cancel by midnight of the third business day (Saturday counts). Money back within 10 business days. This is the federal rule.

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

The 7 exceptions, in the rule's words
  • You made the deal after first negotiating it on a visit to the seller's permanent store or showroom.
  • You started the contact for a bona fide immediate personal emergency and gave the seller a separate dated, signed statement in your own handwriting describing the emergency and waiving the right to cancel.
  • You asked the seller to come to your home to repair or maintain your personal property (the rule's words); anything extra sold on that visit beyond the parts needed for the repair is still covered.
  • The sale was made entirely by mail or telephone, with no other contact before delivery or performance.
  • The transaction already carries the federal Truth in Lending right of rescission (for example, credit secured by your home).
  • Sales or rentals of real property, insurance, or securities.
  • Goods or services bought mainly for business use rather than for personal, family or household use.
Read the full rule

When it applies

Federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429): a seller personally sold you goods or services for personal, family or household use, and you agreed to buy at your home for $25 or more, or at another place that is not the seller's place of business (such as a home show, hotel room or fairground) for $130 or more.

Washington's Attorney General points door-to-door buyers to the federal Cooling-Off Rule: if a seller signs you up at your home ($25 or more) or somewhere else away from the seller's place of business, such as a home show or hotel ($130 or more), you can cancel until midnight of the third business day after the sale (Saturday counts; Sundays and federal holidays do not). The seller must refund your payments within 10 business days of getting your notice.

Washington AG: Cancellation rights · read on atg.wa.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

Registration number

On estimates, bids and ads

Contractors must be registered with L&I, with a bond and insurance, before advertising, bidding or doing the work.

Registration
Read the full rule

A Washington contractor must be registered with L&I, which requires a surety bond and liability insurance, before advertising, bidding or doing the work. Registration is not a skills test; electricians and plumbers also need their own state licenses or certificates. Check the contractor with L&I's Verify tool before you sign.

Who needs one: Anyone who, as an independent business, offers, bids on or does work to build, alter, repair, improve or demolish a building or other improvement attached to real estate, including floor covering, roofing, siding, tree removal and cabinet installation. There is no general dollar threshold: only casual or minor jobs under $500 in total labor and materials are exempt, and that exemption does not apply to anyone who advertises as a contractor.

Who doesn't

  • Casual, minor or inconsequential work on one project totaling less than $500 in labor and materials, unless it is part of a larger job, split up to evade the law, or done by someone who advertises or holds out as a contractor
  • People working on their own property or personal residence (not when doing contractor work on it to sell, demolish or lease it)
  • Employees of a registered contractor paid only wages
  • Licensed architects and engineers acting only in their professional capacity, and Washington-certified electricians or plumbers working within the scope of their certificate
  • Sellers of finished products that are not built into the structure, and people who only furnish materials, supplies or equipment
  • Government agencies and regulated public utilities doing work incidental to their own business

Where the number must appear

  • advertising, including business cards and print and internet ads (broadcast ads, vehicle signs and on-premises signs are excluded)
  • materials used to solicit business directly from homeowners, which L&I says includes estimates and bid proposals
  • the Notice to Customer disclosure statement given before work starts

Issued by: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), Contractor Registration

RCW 18.27 · read on app.leg.wa.gov · checked Oct 4, 2026 (official source, opens in a new tab)

The contract must include

Source: WA law

An estimate isn't the contract. Ask for all 5 in writing before you sign.

  • Notice to CustomerJobs of $1,000+, signed before work: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    For a home with four or fewer units and a bid or contract price of $1,000 or more, the contractor must give you a Notice to Customer disclosure before work starts and have you sign it. It shows the registration number, the bond amount and the registration expiration date, warns that the bond may not cover your claim, says you may withhold a percentage of the contract as retainage, and warns that unpaid suppliers or subcontractors can put a lien on your property.

  • Name & address as registeredCheck it on the signed contract: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's name and address exactly as registered with L&I.

  • Registration # on the estimateRequired on estimates and bids: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    Show the contractor's current registration number on the estimate or bid.

  • Registration status updatesIf it lapses before the job ends: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    On a job that needs the Notice to Customer, the contractor must tell you if its registration expires or is suspended or revoked before the job is finished.

  • 3-day cancel notice & formsIf you sign at home: show the rule's own words

    In the rule's words

    If the sale is covered by the federal Cooling-Off Rule (for example, you sign at your home), the contract or receipt must be in the same language as the sales pitch, be dated, show the seller's name and address, carry the three-business-day cancellation statement in bold type of at least 10 point near your signature, and come with two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form.

On signing day

  • Keep a signed copy
  • Find the cancel notice
Sources26 official pages · checked Oct 4, 2026

Notes from our check

  • Deposit: the full text of RCW chapter 18.27 (the contractor registration law) contains no limit on a deposit or down payment for home improvement work. Every use of 'deposit' there refers to the contractor's bond or security deposit, or to depositing money or mail, never to a customer's down payment. L&I's Hire Smart page gives advice only: pay a 'reasonable down payment', then pay as phases are completed, and be wary of contractors who require large deposits or the entire cost upfront. depositCap is null, so the app must not state a Washington cap or infer one from another state.
  • Cancellation: this entry is the federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429, read on eCFR). On its Cancellation Rights page the Washington Attorney General points to the FTC rule for door-to-door sales. Washington's own RCW 63.14.154 covers only retail installment transactions. RCW 63.14.010 defines these as credit purchases under a retail installment contract, retail charge agreement or lender credit card agreement, either with a service charge or with no service charge but more than four installments; 'services' include repairs, alterations or improvements to real property. The state right applies when the deal is solicited in person or by commercial telephone solicitation away from the seller's address on the contract. The buyer cancels by certified mail, return receipt requested, posted by midnight of the third day after signing (Sundays and holidays excluded; the AG page calls it three business days, regardless of the amount). The seller must refund all deposits, including any down payment, within 10 days. It does not apply to motor vehicles. Because it is not a general home-solicitation right, it is not the cancellation entry.
  • Conflicting wording: the AG page says the FTC rule covers door-to-door sales 'of more than $25'. The current regulation (16 CFR 429.0(a), as amended in 2015) says $25 or more at the buyer's home and $130 or more at other locations away from the seller's place of business. The entry uses the regulation's figures.
  • refundWithinDays is 10 business days under 16 CFR 429.1(g). Business day under the FTC rule means any calendar day except Sunday and federal holidays (16 CFR 429.0(f)).
  • The emergency and repair-visit exclusions come from the federal rule's definition of a door-to-door sale. The repair exclusion speaks of the buyer's 'personal property', so the app should not tell a homeowner that a home repair job is excluded. The business-use exclusion comes from the rule's definition of consumer goods or services (16 CFR 429.0(b)) and from the AG page ('non-household purposes').
  • Registration exemptions are a selection of the 17 in RCW 18.27.090, the ones relevant to homeowners. Certified electricians and plumbers are exempt from contractor registration only within their certificate. Electrical contractors still need an L&I electrical contractor license (RCW 19.28.041), and since January 1, 2021 contractors employing plumbers must hold an L&I plumbing contractor license (RCW 18.106.020).
  • Bond and insurance: the registration bond is $30,000 for general contractors and $15,000 for specialty contractors (RCW 18.27.040; the L&I registration page and publication F625-084-000 agree). RCW 18.27.050 requires $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to one person and $200,000 for injury to more than one person; L&I states this as $200,000 public liability plus $50,000 property damage, or $250,000 combined single limit.
  • Other homeowner protections in RCW 18.27: an unregistered contractor cannot sue to collect payment for work that requires registration (RCW 18.27.080). A contractor cannot bring a lien claim without proving it gave the Notice to Customer (RCW 18.27.114(4)). From July 1, 2026, owner-occupants of a single-family home or a building of four or fewer units (not condominiums) who hold an unpaid court judgment on a bond claim on their primary residence, and who have first gone against the bond, may apply to L&I's homeowner recovery program within 90 days after the court case ends (RCW 18.27.410). Payments depend on available funds, are discretionary, and are capped at $25,000 per contractor per parcel or the unpaid judgment amount, whichever is less.
  • Handyman: L&I's handyman specialty must be one individual working alone, limited to minor existing-residential maintenance and repair under $2,000 with no permit work (WAC 296-200A-016(26)). Handymen still must register.
  • Contract contents: Washington's contractor law requires the Notice to Customer, the registered name and address, and the registration number on solicitation materials; it has no general list of required contract terms. L&I's Hire Smart page advises (not a legal requirement) that all contracts should include, at a minimum: the price including sales tax, payment terms (such as paying as work is completed) and the completion date, permit fees, the specific work, a list of materials, major suppliers and subcontractors, and the warranties and the process for change orders. The app may present these as L&I's advice, never as required terms.
  • Service calls: L&I's rule says a service company does not have to give the Notice to Customer before taking payment for a service call unless there is a bid or contract; for an annual service contract it may give the notice when the contract is signed (WAC 296-200A-300(2)).
  • Trade coverage: L&I publication F625-084-000 (10-2024) says registration is not required for gutter cleaning, pruning or lawn care, or window washing, while landscapers are a registered specialty. 'cleaning' is left out of both lists. WAC 296-200A-016(10) says janitorial services need no registration, but 'Pressure washing' of residential structures is an L&I registration specialty (WAC 296-200A-016(43)), and the app's cleaning trade includes pressure washing, so no single answer is correct. smart-home, appliance-repair, restoration, junk-removal and environmental-testing are also left out of both lists. Their coverage depends on the exact work (for example, RCW 19.28.041 lists limited-energy-system and appliance-repair electrical contractor specialties), and the pages read did not settle it.
  • Verification (2026-10-04): an independent check opened every source above at its official URL: the RCW and WAC pages on app.leg.wa.gov, the Attorney General and L&I pages, the L&I PDF, and the eCFR part (also read through eCFR's own rendering service). Web search was unavailable. RCW 18.27.010 shows a 2026 amendment (2026 c 77), and the page served on 2026-10-04 showed a single current version.

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

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