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B&P §7191(a) requires an arbitration provision in a contract for work on residential property of four or fewer units to be clearly titled 'ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES' and, in a printed contract, set in at least 10-point roman boldface — or in contrasting RED print in at least 8-point roman boldface. In a typed contract it must be in capital letters. (a) is the trap: 8-point boldface is permitted only when the print is a contrasting red, never in ordinary black. (c) invents an approval step; the Registrar does not review private contract forms. (d) inverts §7191(c): a non-compliant clause is unenforceable against everyone EXCEPT the licensee, so it is the owner who escapes it, not the contractor, and both parties still initial a compliant one.

B&P §7164(b) lists what a contract to build a single-family dwelling must contain: the contractor's name, address and license number; the approximate dates work will begin and be substantially completed; a legal description of the site; the statutory Mechanics Lien Warning; and a commercial general liability insurance statement with a check box. The downpayment cap of $1,000 or 10 percent belongs to §7159.5(a)(3), the payment schedule in dollars and cents to §7159.5(a)(4), and the three-business-day cancellation notice to §7159(e) and Civil Code §1689.7 for home-solicited contracts. All three are real California rules; none of them is what §7164 requires.

Civil Code §896 sets out the standards the Right to Repair Act covers, and the prelitigation chapter at §910 et seq. makes the homeowner serve written notice of the claim on the builder and let the statutory inspection and repair process run before filing. Suing immediately is barred while that process is available. A mechanics lien is the remedy of a person who furnished work or materials under Civil Code §8400, not of a homeowner with a defect. And a CSLB complaint is licence discipline: it neither starts nor satisfies the §910 process.

A flow-down clause incorporates the prime contract's obligations into the subcontract to the extent they reach the sub's scope, so the sub owes the general what the general owes the owner on that work - schedule, quality, indemnity, dispute resolution. It does not create privity, so the sub neither becomes a party to the prime contract nor gains a contract claim against the owner for non-payment; its remedies there are the lien and stop payment notice. And the clause works the opposite way from the last reading: terms not restated still bind.

A waiver of subrogation stops the sub's carrier, once it has paid a covered loss, from standing in its insured's shoes and suing the prime to recover what it paid. It does not change how much insurance is available — that is what the limits and additional-insured status do. It does not touch the indemnity clause, which is a contractual duty that survives regardless of what the carrier pays. And it says nothing about whose policy responds first; that is the primary and non-contributory wording.

B&P §7159(e) requires the home improvement contract to carry, in immediate proximity to the space for the buyer's signature, the 'Three-Day Right to Cancel' notice — captioned 'Five-Day Right to Cancel' if the buyer is a senior citizen, and seven business days for a contract to repair damage from a declared disaster — together with a detachable Notice of Cancellation in duplicate, in the language of the sales presentation. (c) shortens it to 24 hours, which is not a California period at all. (b) sends the owner to the wrong body: CSLB licenses and disciplines contractors, it does not inspect work or clear payments; the building department inspects. (a) inverts §7159.5(a)(5) — the contractor may not demand payment exceeding the value of work performed, but the owner gains no statutory right to hold the whole price until permit final. Worth knowing what else sits by the signatures: §7159(c)(6) requires a notice that the owner has the right to require the contractor to furnish a performance and payment bond.

B&P §7159(c)(5) makes a change-order form part of a home improvement contract only if it is in writing and signed by the parties prior to the commencement of any work covered by the change order; §7159(d)(13) requires the contract itself to say so under the heading Note About Extra Work and Change Orders. A daily job log is the contractor's own record, not the owner's signature. The CSLB licenses and disciplines contractors; it does not pre-approve change orders. And no percentage of the contract price lets a contractor change the work unilaterally - that is the practice §7159 was written to stop.

§7191(b) requires that, immediately after the arbitration provision and immediately before the space where the parties initial their assent, the contract carry the statutory NOTICE in capital letters, telling the owner that agreeing to arbitration gives up the right to a court or jury trial, to discovery and to appeal, and that the agreement is voluntary. (b) makes that notice optional; it is mandatory whenever the clause appears. (a) invents a filing step — CSLB does not review or file private contracts. (c) invents a forum mandate; §7191 regulates how the clause is presented, not who arbitrates. A clause that does not comply is unenforceable against anyone other than the licensee (§7191(c)) — the contractor stays bound either way.

B&P §7159(d)(10) and (d)(11) make the approximate start and completion dates required contract terms, so failing to start within a reasonable time is a breach of the contract itself — a material one that supports rescission, and conduct the CSLB may also pursue as abandonment under §7107 or failure to complete under §7113. Nothing requires a consumer to wait six months to complain, or to wait out the original completion date when the contractor never started. And the Registrar disciplines licensees; restitution comes through a disciplinary order, the license bond or a court, not on request.

By its terms §7191 regulates 'a provision for arbitration of a dispute'. The special title, the 10-point roman boldface (or 8-point contrasting red), the capitalized NOTICE and the separate initials all attach to arbitration, because arbitration is what waives the owner's right to a court or jury trial, to discovery and to appeal. A mediation clause waives none of that — mediation is a non-binding settlement conference — so no §7191 formatting attaches to it. (a) is the usual misreading, treating the rule as covering any alternative-dispute clause. (b) invents a filing step; the Board does not review private contracts. (d) invents a signature rule; §7191(b) speaks of the parties to the contract, not of everyone on title.

Civil Code §941(a) sets the outside limit for a Right to Repair Act claim at 10 years after substantial completion. Inside that window §896 gives many defect types their own shorter period — 4 years for plumbing and sewer, 5 years for paint and stains, 1 year for landscaping and irrigation, 2 years for noise transmission — so the answer is layered, not a single number. (a) is the PRE-SB 800 framework of Code of Civil Procedure §337.15, which still governs projects outside the Act but is not the §896 scheme this question asks about. (b) confuses the limitations period with the separate one-year express fit-and-finish warranty a builder must give under Civil Code §900. (c) applies the general three-year discovery rule for injury to real property (CCP §338(b)), which SB 800 displaced for covered residential construction.

Civil Code §910 requires the homeowner to give the builder written notice describing the claimed violation of the §896 standards in reasonable detail. The builder then has inspection rights under §916 (initial inspection within 14 days of acknowledgment, a second inspection within 40 days) and may make a repair offer under §917; skipping the §910-§938 procedure generally bars or stays the suit under §930. (a) invents a Registrar function — CSLB investigates complaints and disciplines licensees, it does not issue defect opinion letters as a precondition to suit. (b) inverts the statute of repose: §941's ten years is the OUTSIDE limit, so waiting for it to run destroys the claim rather than ripening it. (d) sends the owner to the wrong agency; the Department of Real Estate regulates real estate licensees, not builders or contractors.

B&P §7159(d) is explicit: a home improvement contract 'and any changes to the contract' must be in writing and signed by the parties BEFORE the work covered by the change order begins. §7159(e)(3) requires the contract itself to warn the buyer that extra or change-order work is unenforceable unless the change order states in advance and in writing the scope of the work, the amount added to or subtracted from the contract, and the effect on the progress payments and completion date. (a) is the common-law answer, and it is the wrong body of law — §7159 displaces oral assent for home improvement work. (c) invents a de minimis exception; the only relief §7159.5(a)(8) gives turns on furnishing a performance and payment bond, not on the size of the change. (d) invents an 'incidental work' exemption; moving tile from $4 to $9 a square foot changes both scope and price. The contractor also risks discipline under §7159.5 and §7160.

B&P §7159.5(a)(5) says that except for a downpayment, the contractor shall neither request nor accept payment that exceeds the value of the work performed or material delivered - the 'no payment ahead of the work' rule. Its companion is §7159.5(a)(3): if a downpayment is charged it may not exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less. A 50 percent milestone, a flat 10 percent a month and invoice-driven payments appear nowhere in the section; each would let the owner's money run ahead of the work, which is the precise harm the statute addresses, and a violation is a misdemeanour as well as grounds for discipline.

Civil Code §1689.6(a)(2) gives the buyer of a home improvement contract written under B&P §7151.2 until midnight of the THIRD business day after receiving a signed and dated copy of the contract to cancel, and B&P §7159(e) requires the contract to carry a 'Three-Day Right to Cancel' notice plus a detachable Notice of Cancellation in duplicate, in the language of the sales presentation. Each distractor is a real California deadline attached to a different fact pattern. (a) Seven business days is the period for a contract to repair damage from a disaster for which a state of emergency has been declared — and, under §1689.6(b), for a personal emergency response unit. (d) Five business days is the extension §1689.6(a) gives senior citizens; this buyer is 42. (c) is the service-and-repair rule of §1689.6(a)(3) and B&P §7159.10, which applies only when the buyer initiated the call and the price is $750 or less.

California courts read a 'pay-when-paid' clause as fixing a reasonable TIME for payment, not as a condition precedent. Wm. R. Clarke Corp. v. Safeco Ins. Co. (1997) 15 Cal.4th 882 held a true 'pay-if-paid' clause unenforceable because it waives the subcontractor's constitutionally protected mechanics lien remedy. So the prime still owes the sub under B&P §7108.5 (within 7 days of receiving a progress payment) and Civil Code §8814 (within 10 days of receiving retention), with a 2-percent-per-month penalty on amounts wrongfully withheld. (b) is the pay-if-paid reading Clarke rejected. (c) invents a public/private split; §7108.5(e) applies to all private works AND all public works except those under Public Contract Code §10262. (d) overstates: the clause is not void, and §7108.5(a) expressly lets the parties agree in writing to a different progress-payment interval. What they cannot do is move the owner's insolvency onto the sub.

Under B&P §7159, a home improvement contract and any changes to it must be in writing whenever the aggregate contract price, including labor and materials, exceeds $500.

B&P §7151 defines home improvement as repairing, remodeling, altering, or adding to residential property, including pools, fences, driveways, and patios. New commercial construction is not a home improvement.

B&P §7159 requires that a home improvement contract be signed by both parties and a copy given to the owner before any work is performed. Starting work first is a violation.

Under B&P §7159, the down payment on a home improvement contract may not exceed $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less. Ten percent of $6,000 is $600, which is less than $1,000.

The down payment cannot exceed $1,000 or 10% of the price, whichever is LESS. Ten percent of $40,000 is $4,000, but the $1,000 cap is lower, so $1,000 is the maximum.

A home solicitation home improvement contract may be canceled by the buyer within three business days after signing, under California's home solicitation cancellation law (Civil Code §1689.5 et seq.).

For a buyer who is a senior citizen (65 years of age or older), California extends the home solicitation right to cancel to five business days rather than three.

B&P §7159.5(a)(5) bars the contractor, downpayment aside, from requesting or accepting payment exceeding the value of the work performed or material delivered, so 'as work proceeds' is lawful only if the amounts actually track the work. §7159.5(a)(4) is the companion requirement: where payments fall due before completion, the contract must carry a schedule of payments in dollars and cents specifically referencing the work or services to be performed and the materials and equipment to be supplied. A schedule saying only 'as work proceeds' fails that on its face. (c) and (d) invent arithmetic the statute never uses — there is no minimum instalment and no thirds rule. (a) is the opposite error: nothing requires the contractor to finance the job, and progress payments up to the value in place are exactly what the statute allows.

B&P §7159 requires a home improvement contract to contain a Mechanics Lien Warning, informing the owner that those who supply labor or materials and are not paid may record a lien against the property.

B&P §7159(d)(10) requires the heading 'Approximate Start Date' followed by the approximate date work will commence, and §7159(d)(11) requires the estimated completion date to be referenced — both of them — and §7164(b)(2) requires the same pair in a contract to build a single-family dwelling. 'Sometime soon' and 'when done' are not approximations but the absence of a term, and §7159(a)(5) makes that cause for discipline. (d) keeps half the requirement, which is how this violation usually looks in practice. (c) invents a dollar threshold; the only threshold in the article is the $500 that makes it a home improvement contract at all. (b) reads 'approximate' as 'optional', when the statute has already made its concession by asking for an approximate date rather than a firm one.

B&P §7159 requires the contract to include the contractor's name, business address, and license number, among other elements. The homeowner's SSN and notarization are not required.

B&P §7161 makes it a prohibited act (and cause for discipline) to cause a buyer to sign a contract containing blank spaces to be filled in after signing.

B&P §7159 requires the contractor to furnish the buyer a fully completed, signed copy of the contract before any work is performed.

B&P §7159 requires that any change to a home improvement contract be in writing and signed by both the contractor and the owner before the extra work is done.

Under B&P §7159.10, a service and repair contract may be used only when, among other conditions, the buyer initiated contact to request the work and the price is $750 or less.

B&P §7159.10 limits a service and repair contract to a total price of $750 or less; larger jobs require a full home improvement contract.

B&P §7159.10 requires that under a service and repair contract, no payment is due and none may be collected until the work is complete. Down payments are not permitted on these contracts.

The down payment cap is $1,000 or 10%, whichever is less. Ten percent of $15,000 is $1,500, but the $1,000 cap controls, so $2,500 is over the legal maximum.

B&P §7152 defines a home improvement salesperson as a person employed by a licensed contractor to solicit, sell, negotiate, or execute home improvement contracts. Such persons must be registered with the CSLB.

B&P §7153(a) makes it a misdemeanor to engage in the occupation of home improvement salesperson without a current and valid registration issued by the registrar at the time of the sales transaction, and §7154 requires the employing contractor to notify the registrar in writing before the salesperson begins work. The registration is not a licence: it authorises soliciting, selling, negotiating and executing contracts only for the licensed contractor or contractors behind it. (a) and (b) describe becoming a CONTRACTOR — the salesperson sits no trade or law examination and holds no licence. (c) borrows a bond from the licensing side and uses a superseded figure besides; the contractor's licence bond under B&P §7071.6 is $25,000, and a salesperson posts none. Note §7155.5: the salesperson's violations are cause for discipline against the contractor whether or not he knew of them.

B&P §7159.5(a)(4) requires that where payments are to be made before completion, the contract include 'a schedule of payments in dollars and cents specifically referencing the amount of work or services to be performed and any materials and equipment to be supplied.' Two elements, both mandatory: the figure in dollars and cents, and the work it buys. (a) gives the figure without the work, and percentages are exactly what the statute displaced — an owner cannot check '30 percent' against anything on site. (b) is unlawful under §7159.5(a)(5), which bars requesting or accepting any payment exceeding the value of the work performed or the material delivered, whatever the contractor now thinks the schedule should say. (d) describes a lump-sum-on-completion contract, which needs no schedule but also permits no progress payment.

B&P §7159(e) requires the contract to carry, near the buyer's signature, a notice captioned 'Three-Day Right to Cancel' — 'Five-Day' for a senior citizen, seven business days for repairs after a declared disaster — stating the transaction date, the date by which a cancellation must be sent and where to send it, plus a detachable Notice of Cancellation form in duplicate, in the language of the sales presentation. (a) is a lien document: Civil Code §8200 makes preliminary notice a precondition to a lien, a stop payment notice or a payment bond claim, and it can arrive up to 20 days after the claimant starts work. (c) is the owner's recorded notice, which shortens a subcontractor's lien deadline from 90 days after completion to 30 days after recording (Civil Code §8414). (b) is the building department's sign-off that the structure may be occupied.

California's home solicitation law requires the seller to give the buyer two copies of a completed Notice of Cancellation form, so one can be mailed while the buyer retains a copy.

Under the home solicitation cancellation law, upon cancellation the seller must return any payments made by the buyer within 10 days of receiving the notice of cancellation.

The three business-day cancellation period runs from the date the buyer signs the home solicitation contract, not from when work begins or a permit issues.

The three-business-day right comes from Civil Code §1689.6 and B&P §7159(e), and the only route out of it is Civil Code §1689.13: a buyer-initiated contract for emergency or immediately necessary repairs, plus a SEPARATE dated statement signed by the buyer describing the situation and expressly waiving the three-, five- or seven-day right. A waiver pre-printed in the contractor's own form satisfies none of that. Putting it there is worse than ineffective — B&P §7161 makes a false or misleading statement used to induce a home improvement contract a public offense, and §7160 gives the owner damages plus a $500 penalty and fees. (a) and (c) invent thresholds; the right does not scale with price, and a home improvement contract is residential by definition. (b) treats the buyer's initials as the separate statement §1689.13 demands, which is precisely the shortcut that section forecloses.

B&P §7159 requires that the home improvement contract be written in the same language (for example, Spanish) that was principally used in the oral sales presentation or negotiation.

B&P §7159.5(a)(5) is the prohibition: 'Except for a downpayment, the contractor shall neither request nor accept payment that exceeds the value of the work performed or material delivered', and the bar extends to advance payment in whole or in part from any lender or financier. The other three options are all lawful. Billing after a phase is finished is precisely what the §7159.5(a)(4) payment schedule contemplates. A $1,000 downpayment is the ceiling itself on any job of $10,000 or more, because §7159.5(a)(3) takes the LESSER of $1,000 and 10 percent. Final payment on completion is the ordinary close. Collecting ahead of the value in place is the only unlawful act among the four, and it is how most §7159 discipline cases begin.

A joint control, or funding control, is a neutral third party that holds the construction funds and releases them to the contractor against verified progress. B&P §7159.5(a)(8) is why it matters: a contractor who furnishes a joint control APPROVED BY THE REGISTRAR covering full performance and payment is exempt from the downpayment cap, the dollars-and-cents payment schedule, and the bar on accepting payment ahead of the value in place, and may take payment before completion. Two conditions travel with it — the registrar's approval, and the contractor holding no financial or other interest in the control. (b) describes joint checks, the different protection the Mechanics Lien Warning recommends to owners. (d) describes permit inspections, which verify code compliance, not payment. (a) describes unlawful licence sharing.

B&P §7159.5(a)(8) exempts a contractor who furnishes a performance and payment bond, a lien and completion bond, an approved bond equivalent, or a JOINT CONTROL approved by the registrar covering full performance and payment, from paragraphs (3), (4) and (5) — the $1,000-or-10-percent downpayment cap, the dollars-and-cents payment schedule, and the bar on accepting payment beyond the value in place. Such a contractor may accept payment before completion, and the matching §7159 notices may be omitted. The security replaces the statutory cash controls. Two conditions are easy to miss: the joint control must be REGISTRAR-APPROVED, and the contractor may hold no financial or other interest in it. (d) reads the exemption out of the statute; (a) and (b) invent arithmetic the statute never performs.

B&P §7159 requires the contract to contain the heading 'Home Improvement' in at least 10-point boldface type at the top of the first page.

B&P §7159 requires the contract to state the total contract price and, if financing is involved, to disclose the amount of any finance charge separately from the cash price.

B&P §7030(b) requires every licensee to include, in at least 12-point type, in all home improvement contracts and service and repair contracts, the 'Information about the Contractors State License Board (CSLB)' notice: that CSLB is the state consumer protection agency that licenses and regulates contractors, that the owner can contact it about disclosable complaints, disciplinary actions and civil judgments, that a complaint filed within the legal deadline (usually four years) can be investigated, and that a buyer who uses an unlicensed contractor may have no remedy but a civil suit — plus CSLB's website, telephone number and address. §7030(c) makes omitting it cause for discipline. It sits alongside the §7159(e) notices: commercial general liability, workers' compensation, the Mechanics Lien Warning and the cancellation notice. (a) is what a licence conspicuously does NOT do, which is why the contractor must separately disclose whether he carries commercial general liability insurance. (c) inverts the workers' compensation notice, which requires the contractor to state either that he carries coverage for all employees or that he has no employees and is exempt. (b) invents a rate-approval role; CSLB licenses and disciplines, it does not price jobs.

B&P §7159.10(a) allows a service and repair contract only when four things are all true: the contract amount is $750 or less, the buyer initiated contact to request the work, the contractor does not sell goods or services beyond those reasonably necessary to take care of the particular problem that caused the buyer to call, and no payment is due or accepted until the work is completed. (a) breaks the fourth condition outright — a deposit on a service and repair job is prohibited, not merely capped by the home improvement rule of $1,000 or 10 percent. (b) and (c) both break the third. The consequence matters: under §7159.10(b), the moment any condition fails the full §7159 home improvement requirements apply to the contract regardless of price, cancellation rights included.