Home Improvement Work Scope and Contract Requirements
What the law treats as "home improvement"
Maryland's Home Improvement Law sits in the Business Regulation Article (Title 8) and is administered by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission (MHIC). "Home improvement" means building, altering, repairing, replacing, or adding to residential real property, and it expressly reaches work such as roofs, siding, decks, fences, driveways, patios, swimming pools, insulation, and landscaping. New single-family home construction is generally handled under the separate Home Builder Registration framework rather than MHIC, and an owner working on their own home needs no license.
Contract content MHIC expects
- Contractor name, address, and MHIC license number, plus the owner's name and the property address.
- A specific description of the work and materials - "bathroom remodel" alone is not enough.
- Total price and payment schedule; start and completion dates.
- Notice that the contractor is licensed by MHIC, and the owner's cancellation rights.
- Signature of both parties, with a copy to the owner.
Two hard rules ride along: a deposit may not exceed one third of the contract price, and an arbitration clause is enforceable only if it is set apart and separately initialed by the owner. Contracts solicited at the home carry a three-business-day right to cancel.
Worked example
A contractor signs a $9,000 deck contract and asks for $4,000 down. One third of $9,000 is $3,000, so the deposit demand is a violation before a shovel moves; MHIC can act on the contract alone, even if the owner agrees to pay. The compliant version: $3,000 down, progress payments tied to stated milestones, balance on completion.
Traps
- Treating an estimate or handshake as the contract - a nonconforming contract is itself a violation.
- Burying an arbitration clause in fine print.
- Letting the owner sign away cancellation rights; those rights cannot be waived.