What has to be in your kitchen contract

The headings the law puts on the page, and what each one protects.

A kitchen contract in California is not a blank page the contractor fills in however they like. The law names what has to appear on it, how big the type has to be, and where. If a heading below is missing from the paper in front of you, the contract does not meet the law.

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First, it has to be written and signed

Any home improvement job whose total runs past five hundred dollars has to be in a written contract. The five hundred is added up across every contract for the same work, so breaking one kitchen into three smaller agreements does not slip under the line.

And it has to be signed by both of you before the work starts. Before anyone lifts a cabinet, the contractor owes you a copy that you and they have both signed and dated. That copy is not a formality. Receiving it is the moment your right to cancel starts counting, which is why the date you signed has to sit on the first page.

The headings the law puts on the page

This is the part almost nobody selling kitchens will show you. Section 7159 lists the headings a home improvement contract has to carry. Read down the contract you are handed and find each one. A heading that is missing is a question you get to ask before you sign, not after.

Home Improvement: A boldface heading naming the kind of agreement. It sounds like nothing. It is the law's way of stopping a kitchen job being papered as some other kind of deal that dodges these protections.
Contract Price: The whole price, in dollars and cents. Not a range, not "to be determined". If the number is not on the page, there is nothing holding them to it later.
Description of the Project and the Significant Materials: The longest heading in the section and the most useful line in the contract. This is where the cabinets, the counter material, the sink, the hood and the appliances get named. Vague wording here is where most disputes start.
Downpayment: A space for the actual deposit, sitting under a bold line that states the cap. What that cap is, and the one exception to it, is on deposits and progress payments.
Schedule of Progress Payments: Every payment after the deposit, each one in dollars and cents and each tied to a phase of the work it pays for.
Approximate Start Date and Approximate Completion Date: Two dates, plus a plain statement of what counts as actually starting. A job with no completion date on paper is a job with no agreed end.
Note About Extra Work and Change Orders: The rule that a change only becomes real once it is written down, priced, and signed by both of you before that new work begins.

Source Business and Professions Code 7159

Two sentences the law makes them print in bold

Two of these are not headings but exact wording. The statute says they have to appear in at least 12 point boldface, word for word. If your contract softens them or leaves them out, the contract is wrong, not the law.

You are entitled to a completely filled in copy of this agreement, signed by both you and the contractor, before any work may be started.

IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A CONTRACTOR TO COLLECT PAYMENT FOR WORK NOT YET COMPLETED, OR FOR MATERIALS NOT YET DELIVERED. HOWEVER, A CONTRACTOR MAY REQUIRE A DOWNPAYMENT.

The notices that ride along with it

A home improvement contract also has to carry a set of notices. They are easy to skim past because they are long and they are the same on every contract, but each one is telling you something you are allowed to know before you sign.

Insurance, stated plainlyThe contract has to say whether the contractor carries commercial general liability insurance, is self insured, or carries none, and whether they carry workers compensation. You do not have to ask. It is already on the page.
Your right to require a bondClose to the signatures, a line telling you that you may require the contractor to carry a performance and payment bond. Most people never read it. It is a real right, and it connects to the one deposit exception.
Mechanics Lien WarningA full page warning that an unpaid subcontractor or supplier can put a lien on your home even after you have paid the contractor in full. Preliminary notices can arrive up to twenty days after work starts. A joint check is one way to protect yourself.
The cancellation noticeThe Three-Day Right to Cancel, or Five-Day for a senior citizen, in 12 point boldface beside a signature line. This is the one nobody else on this valley's search results shows you. How the cancel clock works.

What a missing heading actually means

Leaving out the required information, notices or disclosures is grounds for the state board to discipline the contractor. And if the cancellation notice in particular is missing from your contract, the law says plainly that you may file a complaint with the Contractors State License Board.

So a contract that skips these headings is one the state can act on. Before you sign, the useful move is simple: match the paper in front of you against the list above, and against the contractor's license record. When you want a quote to hold up against this list, start with one call about your Canyon Country kitchen.

Source Business and Professions Code 7159

Keep reading before you sign

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