New Jersey remodeling contractor marketing that starts with your registration number

In New Jersey, an ad from an unregistered remodeler is a violation by itself. So the first job is simple. Put your Home Improvement Contractor number everywhere a homeowner meets you.

You may not advertise as a contractor in New Jersey until the Division of Consumer Affairs registers you, under the state's registration rule. The state's definition of advertising names the internet and computers alongside print and television. A Google ad, a Facebook post and a Houzz profile all count.

Once you are registered, the display rule puts the number in three kinds of places:

• every ad distributed in New Jersey
• your business documents and contracts
• letters and emails to homeowners

Your trucks carry it too. The 2004 registration law adds every commercial vehicle you register in New Jersey and use for home improvement work.

If the registration lapses, the number has to come off right away. The display rule says to strip it from vehicles, ads and anything else that shows it. An old number left on a directory listing is the one most firms miss.

Never let another company work under your number. Lending or transferring a registration carries a civil penalty of as much as $15,000 the first time and $25,000 after that, under the 2023 licensing law.

Everyone who clicks your ad ends up at a contract. New Jersey sets a good part of that contract, so your pages and proposals should already match it.

Any home improvement contract over $500 must be in writing, and so must every change to it, under the practices rule. The contract also names the make, model and size of the main products and fixtures. So a bath page selling a "designer vanity" should name the line you actually install. Swapping it later without the homeowner's consent is unlawful.

The homeowner may cancel for any reason until midnight of the third business day after getting a copy. The 2023 licensing law spells out that right. Notice goes by registered or certified mail, or by hand. Your contract prints it in at least 10-point bold type.

Build that window into your follow-up. A start date promised in an ad, a text or a proposal should leave room for it.

Older buyers may get longer. A pending Assembly bill, A3341, would give homeowners aged 60 or older five business days to cancel. It is not law yet.

Not legal advice. Confirm your contract wording with counsel.

Most kitchen leads go quiet between the design consult and the signature. Following up is fair game, but New Jersey has its own rules for how you do it.

A firm that cold-calls New Jersey homeowners to sell them a project must register with the Division of Consumer Affairs every year. That includes callers based outside the state, under the no-call law. A call to an existing customer, or to someone who asked in writing, is not unsolicited.

The 2005 amendments add three rules for every sales call:

• ring only from 8 in the morning to 9 at night where the homeowner lives
• your name, your company and the reason for the call within 30 seconds
• no blocked caller ID and no number that is not yours

The state law is written around phone calls, and whether it reaches texts is not settled. So treat texts by the federal standard. Under the FCC's consent rule, a homeowner who texts back "cancel", "end" or "unsubscribe" has withdrawn consent. You get no more than ten business days to act on it.

New Jersey lets one person on a call record it. A pre-filed bill, A1211, would require consent from everyone on the call, and it is not law. A Cherry Hill firm calling homeowners across the river should check Pennsylvania's rule as well.

Lead lists bring in the privacy law. New Jersey's Data Privacy Act applies once you handle data on 100,000 New Jersey consumers in a year, or 25,000 if you earn money from selling data. There is no revenue test. A firm that uploads years of past customers to ad platforms should count before assuming it is under the line.