Answers
Short answers to the questions contractors ask most, each naming the statute that governs it and linking to the guide that develops it. Reviewed by Jayson R. Elliott. Where a deadline appears below, treat it as a reason to check your own dates rather than as advice about them — several of the deadlines in California construction law are shorter than a normal business response cycle.
Licensing and CSLB compliance
Business and Professions Code sections 7107, 7109 and 7110 account for most contractor exposure — abandonment of a project without legal excuse, willful departure from accepted trade standards or from approved plans, and willful or deliberate disregard of building, safety and labor laws. Section 7109 splits into two subdivisions with different elements. See the discipline guide.
The prevailing understanding is that willfulness under Business and Professions Code sections 7109 and 7110 requires only a general intent to perform the act, not a specific intent to violate the law. The term is not defined in the statute and appellate treatment has not been uniform, so a contractor facing a charge should not assume either reading applies to their facts.
Only partly. Business and Professions Code section 7109(a) excepts a departure from accepted trade standards where the departure accorded with plans prepared by or under the direct supervision of an architect. That exception does not appear in section 7109(b) or section 7110, so architect plans do not answer a charge that the work violated building law.
Yes. Business and Professions Code section 7028(a)(2) makes it a misdemeanour to perform covered work under a licence suspended for failure to pay a civil penalty, comply with an order of correction under section 7090.1, or resolve outstanding final liabilities under section 7145.5. The provision treats a suspended licence the same as no licence.
Business and Professions Code section 7091 requires a complaint alleging patent acts or omissions within four years, and allows ten years for latent acts that may be grounds under section 7109(a) regarding structural defects as defined by regulation. The disciplinary action itself must follow within that period or within 18 months of the complaint filing, whichever is later — so an old job is not automatically safe.
No. Business and Professions Code section 7031(a) bars any action to collect compensation for work requiring a licence without alleging licensure at all times during performance, regardless of the merits. Section 7031(b) separately lets the customer recover all compensation already paid.
Only within limits. Business and Professions Code section 7044 caps the exemption at four or fewer single-family structures intended or offered for sale in a calendar year, unless the owner contracts with a general contractor. Proof of sale of one structure within a year of completion creates a rebuttable presumption it was built for sale; five or more creates a conclusive presumption.
Payment, liens and collections
Absent a recorded notice of completion or cessation, Civil Code sections 8412 and 8414 give 90 days after completion. Where a valid notice of completion or cessation is recorded, the deadline becomes the earlier of those 90 days and the notice window — 60 days after the notice for a direct contractor, 30 days for every other claimant. Because it is the earlier of the two, a late-recorded notice does not extend anything. Note that the mechanics lien statutes were renumbered in 2012 — material citing the Civil Code section 3082 series is out of date.
Civil Code section 8204 requires preliminary notice not later than 20 days after the claimant first furnishes work. The trigger is first furnishing work, not contract signing or first invoice, so the clock often starts before the paperwork is processed.
Yes, and that is why it matters so much. Civil Code section 8200 makes preliminary notice the step required before recording a lien claim, giving a stop payment notice, or asserting a claim against a payment bond — so a single missed notice can forfeit all three at once.
Sometimes. Civil Code section 8200 requires a claimant in a direct contractual relationship with the owner to give notice only to the construction lender, if there is one. That is a narrowing of who must be served, not an exemption — on a lender-financed project the direct contractor must still serve the lender.
Civil Code section 8460 requires an action to enforce the lien within 90 days after recording, failing which the lien expires and becomes unenforceable. Recording starts a new deadline rather than completing the process.
Worse than with a lien. Civil Code section 8550 provides that if no action is commenced in time, the notice ceases to be effective and the person withholding the funds shall release them — the money leaves rather than the remedy merely lapsing.
Possibly. Civil Code section 8612(b) allows a claimant who did not give preliminary notice to enforce a bond claim by written notice to the surety and the bond principal within 15 days after recordation of a notice of completion, or 75 days after completion if none was recorded. No comparable saving route exists for a lien or a stop payment notice.
Yes, where a notice of completion is recorded — though it operates as a ceiling rather than an extension. Civil Code section 8412 requires a direct contractor to record before the earlier of 90 days after completion or 60 days after the notice, and section 8414 applies the same structure to other claimants with 30 days. A supplier who contracted directly with the owner is still not a direct contractor for this purpose.
Construction defect claims
Civil Code sections 895 through 945.5 apply to new residential construction — single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums — where the original close of escrow occurred on or after January 1, 2003. The Act does not apply to commercial construction or to condominium conversions.
Civil Code section 913 requires written acknowledgment within 14 days of receipt, and section 915 releases the claimant from the prelitigation process entirely if that is missed. Note that a letter from a homeowner listing defects can be a section 910 claim notice even if it is not styled as one.
The claimant is released and may sue immediately. Civil Code section 915 covers failure to acknowledge, section 916(d) failure to inspect within the time limits, and section 920 failure to make an offer to repair or otherwise strictly comply. Section 920 says “strictly,” not substantially.
Code of Civil Procedure section 337.15 sets a ten-year absolute statute of repose for latent construction defects regardless of when they were discovered. That is an outer boundary, not a limitations period — a claim filed inside ten years still has to be timely under whatever rule governs the theory pleaded.
Outside the Right to Repair Act, generally yes. Aas v. Superior Court (2000) 24 Cal.4th 627 bars negligence recovery for construction defects that have not caused actual property damage or personal injury. Inside the Act the position reverses — its building standards are actionable without proof of resulting damage.
Possibly. A subsequent purchaser with no contract must proceed in tort and faces two independent hurdles: a duty analysis under the Biakanja v. Irving factors, and the economic loss rule. Both must be cleared, and a defence addressing only one leaves the other open.
Possibly, and it is a separate question from licensing. Business and Professions Code section 7044 answers whether a licence was required; Civil Code sections 895 through 945.5 answer whether the Right to Repair Act governs a defect claim. Qualifying for the owner-builder exemption does not put a spec builder outside the Act.
Contracts, change orders and disputes
Business and Professions Code section 7159(b) applies where the aggregate contract price exceeds five hundred dollars, measured across one or more improvement contracts. The definition reaches oral agreements and agreements with tenants as well as owners.
Yes. Business and Professions Code section 7159(d) requires a home improvement contract and any changes to it to be in writing and signed by the parties prior to the commencement of the work covered. There is no exception for small or urgent changes.
Possibly. Business and Professions Code section 7159.6(a) makes an unpapered change order unenforceable against the buyer as a contract term, but section 7159.6(c) provides that non-compliance does not preclude recovery of compensation based on legal or equitable remedies designed to prevent unjust enrichment. Section 7159.6(b) also bars a buyer from requiring extra work without written authorization.
Business and Professions Code section 7159.5(a)(3) caps a down payment at one thousand dollars or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less. On a twenty-five thousand dollar job the cap is one thousand dollars, not two thousand five hundred.
It should be a documented decision, not an impulse. Business and Professions Code section 7107 makes abandonment of a project without legal excuse a cause for disciplinary action. Non-payment may be a legal excuse on particular facts, but that is decided later on the record that existed at the time.
Yes, in defined circumstances. Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2(c) applies where a party is also in a pending action with a third party on the same transaction with a possibility of conflicting rulings — the standard construction fact pattern — and the court may then refuse to enforce the agreement and order joinder instead.
Code of Civil Procedure section 116.220 and related provisions set $12,500 for a natural person and $6,250 for a business or other entity. Only the defendant may appeal a small claims judgment, and that appeal is heard de novo — a complete new trial at which attorneys are permitted.
Liability from past work
It depends on duty, on the category of loss claimed, and on whether the Right to Repair Act applies. A buyer with no contract must establish a duty of care and then clear the economic loss rule, which bars negligence recovery for defects that have not damaged anything else.
Not directly. Civil Code section 1102.1 provides that the transfer disclosure obligations are not waived by an as-is sale, and an as-is clause is between the buyer and the seller — a contractor is not a party to that contract and does not take its benefit.
The disclosure obligations under Civil Code section 1102 and following run to the seller. A contractor who performed the work years earlier is generally not a party to that transaction; any exposure arises from the contractor’s own conduct rather than from the seller’s disclosure duty.
The permit obligation comes from local building law rather than the licence law, with Business and Professions Code section 7110 supplying the disciplinary consequence for disregarding it. Timing runs under section 7091, and the ten-year window there is tied to section 7109(a) grounds — so the common assumption that unpermitted work always carries ten years should not be taken at face value.
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