What a Painting Contract Should Say

The estimate is the conversation; the contract is the promise. In California, home-improvement contracts are not left to the contractor’s taste. State law lists what they must contain, and a painting contract that is missing those parts is not a careful document, however professional it looks.

What follows is a homeowner’s tour of those required parts, then the painting-specific terms that make a contract useful on the job itself. It is not legal advice. The Contractors State License Board publishes the current requirements, and its guidance is the place to confirm any detail.

What does California require in the contract?

A written contract with the contractor’s name, business address and license number; the name of any salesperson involved; a description of the work and the materials; an approximate start date and completion date; the contract price, the down payment and the schedule of progress payments; a notice of your right to cancel; a mechanics lien warning; and a notice about the licensing board. Changes must also be written and signed.

The required parts, one by one

Who you are contracting with

The contractor’s business name, address and license number belong on the contract, and they should match the board’s record exactly. If a salesperson rather than the contractor sold the job, the salesperson’s name belongs on it too. Lemoon’s Painting’s license is 1120008, classification C-33 Painting and Decorating, issued to Lemoon’s Painting Inc, and that is the name to expect on your contract. Ebenezer handles the estimate and the job himself.

What will be done, with what

The law asks for a description of the work and of the materials and equipment to be used. On a painting job this is where the estimate’s detail should carry across intact: the surfaces, the preparation steps, the products and the coats. A contract that says only “paint house” meets the letter of very little.

When it will start and finish

The contract must give an approximate start date and an approximate date the work will be substantially complete, and describe what counts as the work starting. For a home, painting typically runs between one and ten days, and the honest version allows for weather, especially in the short winter rainy season.

How payment works

The contract states the total, the down payment and the schedule of progress payments. California caps the down payment at a small amount relative to the job, and progress payments are not supposed to get ahead of the work completed. There should be no surprises in this section: you should be able to see what work each payment follows. If you are using financing, which Lemoon’s Painting offers, the financing paperwork is separate and should be read on its own terms.

Your right to cancel

When you sign at home, you can cancel until midnight of the third business day, and the contract must include a notice explaining that right, with a form you can use. If you are 65 or older, the window runs to the fifth business day. A contractor should never start work in a way designed to make cancelling awkward.

The mechanics lien warning

This notice explains that anyone who supplies labor or materials to your project and is not paid can, in some circumstances, place a lien on your property, even if you paid the contractor. It reads as alarming, but it is standard and required. On a painting job the materials usually come from a paint store account, so it is reasonable to ask how suppliers are paid.

Changes in writing

Extra work and change orders must be in writing and signed before the extra work is done, describing the change and how it affects the price and schedule. This is the part of the law that most directly protects a homeowner mid-job.

If you negotiated in Spanish

Ask for the contract in Spanish before you sign. California’s translation rules have exceptions that can leave home-improvement contracts out, so do not count on the law to hand you one; ask the contractor directly, and if you are unsure what applies, ask the CSLB. You should be able to read every line in the language you discussed it in. Ebenezer does the whole job in Spanish if you prefer, from the estimate to the final walk-through.

The painting terms worth adding

The law sets the floor. A useful painting contract also says:

1. Surfaces, one by one. Body, fascia, eaves, trim, doors, garage door, gates, railings; inside, each room and whether ceilings, closets and trim are included.
2. Preparation, in order. Wash, repair check, crack and wood repair, spot-priming, caulking, masking.
3. Products, sheens and coats for each surface, by maker and product line.
4. Colors and approvals. How many colors, and, in an HOA community, that work begins after the committee approves.
5. Exclusions. What a reasonable person might assume is included and is not.
6. Site practicalities. Water and power access, sprinklers off, vehicles moved, pets kept in, which gate stays closed.
7. Clean-up and the final walk-through. What “finished” looks like, checked together.
8. The guarantee. What happens if something is not right afterwards. Here, if something is not right, Ebenezer comes back and repairs it; the guarantee page says it in those words.

On older homes, such as the Mission and Spanish Revival houses common in La Mesa, item two deserves extra lines, because profiled trim and old wood are hand work. On the post-war stucco of Chula Vista, crack repair should be named, not implied.

Before you sign

Read the whole document at the kitchen table, not on a clipboard in the driveway. Check the license number against the board’s site, compare the scope with the estimate you were given, and ask for anything vague to be rewritten. There is a separate guide to reading a painting estimate line by line.

Ebenezer keeps clear boundaries because they protect you as much as him, and he will walk you through every line before you put a pen to it. Ask for a free estimate and see what a precise one looks like, or read more about exterior painting first.