Many Home Improvement Contractors do not want you to know about the following. We offer this as we not only have nothing to hide we want you to understand your rights as a consumer (customer) so it makes the process easier, and may prevent you from getting into a bad situation with another company that may not follow the law.
All Home Improvement Contractors ("HIC") in MA must register with the Board of Building Regulations and Standards and pay into what is called the MA Guaranty Fund.
What others may not tell you (which is also the law in MA) is that you are not entitled to money from the Guaranty Fund if you choose to pull your own permits.
While this sounds scary what it means is that you may not be able to recover up to $10,000.00 from the state if a contractor has messed up your work, and you have tried all other avenues available to you before petitioning the state for $10,000.00 MAXIMUM for any work performed!
We work with you every step of the way so you undestand what it all means for you.
MA is very strict on what must be listed on all home improvement contracts.
First, contracts must have a physical address for a physical office location, or list the address that is registered with the local town (DBA) or state (LLC/INC etc). This is the law in MA. It is strongly recommended in NH.
Additionally, you are not required to pay anything more than 1/3 the cost of the contract up front (except if special orders require more than 1/3 of cost. It is recommended not to pay more than 1/2 of the contract in NH.
Also you must never be pressured to signed a contract, and it must state on teh contact that you should not sign any contact that contains blank spaces.
Next, contractors must list either either EIN (Federal Tax ID) or Social Security Number as well as MA Registration / Construction Supervisiors License #.
If you are told this is not the case we recommend not signing the contract and consulting an attorney.
Many customers have told us that they were pressured to sign a contract and pay for services either in full up front, or on an "accelerated" schedule.
You are legally allowed (at least in MA and Excelsior Follows this for all contracts in all states unless they required longer!) 72 hours (3 days) to review and cancel your contract after has been signed or any reason if you sign anywhere OTHER THAN the company's place of business.
You DO NOT have to provide the reason to the company. The contractor has 10 BUSINESS DAYS (ideally 2 weeks) to return all monies paid back to you.
Excelsior waits the 72 hours before we even order equipment so we can refund all of your money without any hassles if you feel something is not right and would like to cancel.
It is also the law in Massachusetts and must clearly state this on all contracts over $1,000.00.
Jodi - Wilmington, MA
"We're so happy with the work you did. It looks great and we can't wait to start using the new space."
Chauncey - Wilmington, MA
"Glad we hired you made things easy. Looking forward to having you do more for us."
Shawn - Pelham, NH
"Great work, had others before and can see the difference in quality."