Indiana requires a home improvement contract to be in writing whenever the price exceeds $150, and to be handed to you before you sign it. That is a threshold most states set in the thousands. Vehicle emissions testing reaches two counties only, Lake and Porter, on a two-year cycle, with the four most recent model years exempt. Both rules are narrow, and both are easy to get wrong in the direction that costs money.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateIndiana average | $123 per hour |
| Attorney hourly rateIndiana average | $242 per hour |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Ind. Code section 24-5-11 requires a home improvement contract to be in writing and given to the consumer before signing whenever the contract price exceeds one hundred and fifty dollars. Section 24-5-11-10 sets out what the writing has to contain: the consumer's name and address, the supplier's contact details, a description of the work, approximate start and completion dates, the price, and signature lines.
The figure is what makes this unusual. States that impose a writing requirement tend to set it somewhere between five hundred and several thousand dollars. At one hundred and fifty, almost any job a homeowner hires out crosses the line, which means the absence of a written contract in Indiana is itself the signal.
One caution about the wording. The Attorney General's consumer materials and a 2024 Court of Appeals decision both quote section 24-5-11-4 with the same figure, but the decision renders the defined term as a real property improvement contract where the older codified text says home improvement contract. The section number and the amount are identical across both. The label is the part that has moved.
The Department of Environmental Management and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles agree on the boundary. Vehicles registered in Lake and Porter counties undergo emissions tests and tampering inspections every two years. Nowhere else in Indiana does. The four most recent model years are exempt, and the BMV adds that vehicles manufactured in odd-numbered years are tested in odd-numbered years and even in even.
Those two counties sit at the north-west corner of the state. A car registered in Indianapolis or Fort Wayne never sees a test.
The table above carries the two Indiana figures with a per-state source: shop labor for auto repair, and attorney time. Shop labor sits below the national figure, attorney time close to the national median. Outside Lake and Porter counties there is no emissions test adding to the cost of keeping a car on the road.
Get the contract in writing on almost anything. At one hundred and fifty dollars the statute reaches jobs most people would settle with a handshake, and the writing is what later gives the description of the work and the completion date something to be measured against.
Check that the writing contains what the statute asks for, not only a price. A one-line invoice is not a home improvement contract, and the missing parts are usually the dates.
Ask which city or county issues the permit for this work, and who will pull it. That is the local question the state statute does not answer for you.
If your vehicle is registered in Lake or Porter county, ask a repair shop whether the work touches anything the tampering inspection looks at, before it is done rather than after.
Whenever the contract price exceeds $150. Ind. Code section 24-5-11 requires the writing, and requires it to be given to the consumer before signing.
Section 24-5-11-10 requires the consumer's name and address, the supplier's contact details, a description of the work, approximate start and completion dates, the price and signature lines.
Lake and Porter only. The Department of Environmental Management and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles both state that vehicles registered there are tested every two years.
The four most recent model years are exempt. The BMV also states that vehicles manufactured in odd-numbered years are tested in odd-numbered years, and even in even.
A 2024 Court of Appeals decision quotes section 24-5-11-4 as defining a real property improvement contract, where the older codified text says home improvement contract. The section number and the $150 figure are the same in both.