California Home Improvement Contract System (Attorney-Crafted)
$1,950.00
This flat-fee service is designed for California contractors who perform residential improvement work and want a contract system that actually complies with California law and protects their ability to get paid.
California’s Home Improvement Contract Act is broad and unforgiving. It applies to most residential improvement projects, including remodeling, repairs, additions, and many projects involving ADUs and landscaping or hardscape work. If your contract does not comply, the homeowner may gain powerful leverage to challenge the agreement, avoid payment, or limit what you can recover, even if you performed the work.
We hear it all the time: “I’ve been doing my contracts like this for 20 years.” That may be true, and many contractors go years without a major problem. In our experience, it only takes one dispute, one unhappy owner, or one collections issue for the risk to become very real. A non-compliant contract can turn a straightforward payment issue into a much bigger and more expensive problem.
This package provides a complete, attorney-crafted, California-compliant home improvement contract system designed to be used from contract signing through changes in scope and final payment. The goal is simple: reduce legal risk, preserve your leverage, and make it harder for a customer to use technical compliance issues as a weapon against you.
What This Service Includes
This flat-fee service includes a complete, attorney-crafted form set designed for California residential improvement projects covered by the Home Improvement Contract Act. The system is built to be used throughout the life of a project, not just at signing.
The form set includes a California-compliant home improvement contract with the required statutory structure and disclosures, along with supporting forms such as a change order form, a general contract addendum template for scope or term changes, and the statutory conditional and unconditional waiver and release forms for progress and final payments. The package may also include standard exhibits such as a payment schedule or scope of work attachment, depending on how your work is typically structured.
These are attorney-crafted forms, configured to your business and the type of residential work you perform, and designed to work together as a system rather than as isolated documents.
How It Works
After you engage us, you will complete a guided intake about your business, the type of residential work you perform, and how you typically structure projects and payments. We will prepare and configure the full home improvement contract form set for your use. Once the forms are ready, we will provide the completed system to you with instructions on how the pieces fit together and how they are intended to be used during a project.
This is a form system designed for repeated use on future projects, not a one-off document.
Why This Matters
California’s home improvement contract laws are technical, detailed, and heavily enforced. When a contract does not comply, owners often gain leverage they would not otherwise have, including arguments that can make collection more difficult or reduce what a contractor can recover. Many contractors operate for years without a serious issue, until one dispute exposes the weakness in their paperwork. This system is designed to reduce that risk and put you in a stronger position before a problem arises.
What This Service Does Not Include
This service does not include negotiation with customers, project management, dispute resolution, lien work, collections, or litigation. It also does not include custom drafting for unusual or highly specialized projects, commercial projects, or multi-party or developer-style agreements. Those situations may require a separate engagement. This package is focused on providing a compliant, repeatable contract system for typical California residential improvement work.