Pennsylvania gives a homeowner three business days to rescind a home improvement contract, regardless of where it was signed. Around that sit two dollar lines: a contract over $500 has to be in writing, and a contractor doing more than $5,000 of home improvement work a year has to register with the Attorney General. That registry is public and searchable, which makes it the first thing to check.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor ratePennsylvania average | $115 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.
The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act at 73 P.S. section 517.7(b) lets a signer rescind the contract without penalty regardless of where the contract was signed, within three business days of the date of signing. That is broader than the federal door-to-door rule, which turns on where the sale happened.
A home improvement contract over five hundred dollars has to be in writing, and a contractor whose total home improvement work exceeded five thousand dollars in the previous taxable year has to register with the Office of Attorney General. The registration exclusion sits in the Act's definition of contractor at section 517.2.
One note on citation, since it matters if you go looking. The Attorney General states the writing rule plainly on its own page, while in the Act the five hundred dollar figure attaches on the definition side rather than inside section 517.7. The rule is not in dispute; only where it is written down.
Section 517.8(c) makes home improvement fraud a third-degree felony where the amount exceeds two thousand dollars, and a first-degree misdemeanor at two thousand dollars or less, with enhancements where the victim is aged sixty or over. Pennsylvania is one of the states where the criminal grading turns on the size of the loss rather than on the conduct alone.
The table above carries the Pennsylvania figure for auto repair labor, the one cross-trade rate with a per-state source, and it sits below the national average. The state also runs an annual safety inspection statewide and an emissions test in twenty-five of its sixty-seven counties, grouped into the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, South Central and Northern regions.
Search the Attorney General's home improvement contractor registry before signing. Registration is not a competency test, but its absence on a contractor doing more than five thousand dollars of work a year is a compliance failure you can see for free.
Get the contract in writing above five hundred dollars and read the rescission notice inside it. Three business days is short, and it starts at signing rather than at the first day of work.
On deposits, the Attorney General's guidance describes one third of the contract price, or one third plus the cost of special order materials, as generally appropriate. That is guidance rather than a statutory cap, so treat a much larger demand as a question to ask rather than an automatic breach.
Within three business days of signing. 73 P.S. section 517.7(b) lets a signer rescind without penalty regardless of where the contract was signed, which is broader than the federal door-to-door rule.
Over $500, yes. The Attorney General states the rule plainly, and in the Act the figure attaches on the definition side at section 517.2 rather than inside section 517.7. The rule is not in dispute, only where it is written down.
Any whose total home improvement work exceeded $5,000 in the previous taxable year. Registration is with the Office of Attorney General and the registry is public and searchable.
The Attorney General's guidance describes one third of the contract price, or one third plus the cost of special order materials, as generally appropriate. That is guidance rather than a statutory cap.
Twenty-five of sixty-seven, in four regions. Philadelphia: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia. Pittsburgh: Allegheny, Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland. South Central: Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton and York. Northern: Blair, Cambria, Centre, Erie, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming and Mercer. Safety inspection is annual and statewide.