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Spring work begins in January with paperwork. New Jersey regulates residential home improvement through the Consumer Fraud Act, the Home Improvement Practices regulations, and the Home Improvement Contractors Registration Act. These rules set who may perform the work, what must appear in the contract, what disclosures are mandatory, and how changes must be documented. Courts enforce these requirements strictly. Noncompliance exposes contractors to treble damages and fee shift

A contractor who responds to a midnight call must still reduce the work to writing once the scene is safe. For jobs over a modest dollar threshold, New Jersey requires a written contract that identifies the parties, the business address, the contractor’s New Jersey registration number, the scope of work in plain language, the total price or a firm method of calculation, and estimated start and completion dates.