Storm contractor rules in Pennsylvania: price gouging, door-to-door sales and contractor licensing

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The wider picture is on the storm contractor rules page. Every row is statute or regulation text. None of the sections read names tree work or storms, and no official page on Pennsylvania's price gouging rule was read for this page on October 10, 2026.

The sections in one table

Section	What it says
Act 132 section 2, home improvement	Repair, replacement, remodeling, demolition, removal, renovation, installation, alteration, conversion, modernization, improvement or rehabilitation done on land next to a private residence, or on the residence, where the total cash price agreed is more than US$500. The list of included work names driveways, pools, porches, garages, roofs, siding, patios, fences, sheds and landscaping of a type not excluded. Tree work is not named
Act 132 section 2, who is a contractor	Anyone who owns and operates a home improvement business or undertakes or offers to undertake home improvement. A person whose home improvements totalled less than US$5,000 in cash value in the previous taxable year is not a contractor under the act
Act 132 section 2, exclusions	Excluded from home improvement: new home construction, sale of goods without labour, appliances, work by an owner without pay, and emergency work under section 7 of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Work by a landscaper certified by the Department of Agriculture under the Plant Pest Act is excluded except for listed construction items such as buildings, driveways, porches and retaining walls
Act 132 section 3 and 5, registration	No person may hold himself out as a contractor or perform home improvement without first registering with the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Office of Attorney General. The fee is US$50 and renewal is every two years. The bureau keeps a toll-free number for checking whether a contractor is registered
Act 132 section 4, insurance	An applicant provides proof of liability insurance covering personal injury of at least US$50,000 and property damage of at least US$50,000
Act 132 section 6, registration number	A contractor includes its registration number in all advertisements distributed in the Commonwealth and on all contracts, estimates and proposals
Act 132 section 7, contract	A home improvement contract is not valid or enforceable against an owner unless it is in writing, legible, carries the registration number, and is signed by the owner and the contractor or a salesperson. It sets out the date, the contractor's name, address and telephone number, start and completion dates, the work and materials, the price, any down payment, known subcontractors, the insurance clause and a notice of the right to rescind
Act 132 section 7(b), rescission	A person signing a home improvement contract may rescind it without penalty, wherever it was signed, within three business days of signing. The exception is the emergency provision in section 7 of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law
Act 132 section 9, deposit	For a contract with a total price of more than US$5,000, a deposit above one-third of the price, or one-third plus the cost of designated special-order materials, is a prohibited act, with an exception for a home improvement retailer that posts a letter of credit. Demanding or receiving any payment before the contract is signed is also listed
Act 132 section 8, fraud	Home improvement fraud means acting with intent to defraud or injure, for example by taking an advance payment and failing to perform when the contract specifies. It is a felony of the third degree where the amount exceeds US$2,000 and a misdemeanor of the first degree at US$2,000 or less. The grade rises by one where the victim is 60 or older. A second offence is a felony of the second degree. The court may revoke or suspend the certificate

The emergency exception

Section 7 of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law gives a buyer of goods or services of US$25 or more, sold in connection with a contact at the buyer's residence in person or by telephone, the right to avoid the contract by written notice within three full business days. Subsection (j.1) says the right may be waived only through an emergency authorization form, where the buyer made the contact and the work is needed to remedy a bona fide emergency on the buyer's residential property. The seller must give the buyer the form, on a preprinted card at least four inches by six inches in 10-point boldface, and a written estimate. The same subsection lets a seller contacted in an emergency take immediate preliminary steps against a clear and immediate danger that may cause death or serious bodily injury without the form. The text does not say how a storm-damaged tree fits.

The federal rule beside it

The Federal Trade Commission's cooling-off rule in 16 CFR Part 429 covers door-to-door sales of consumer goods or services of US$25 or more made at the buyer's residence. Its definition leaves out a sale where the buyer started the contact, needs the work for a bona fide immediate personal emergency, and gives the seller a separate dated, signed statement in the buyer's own handwriting that describes the situation and waives the right to cancel within 3 business days.

Tree work and the storm record

Act 132 turns on the cash price of home improvement work done at or next to a private residence. The text read does not say whether taking down a tree is home improvement. The list in section 2 names landscaping but not tree removal or pruning, and the Plant Pest Act exclusion is for landscapers certified by the Department of Agriculture. For how other states treat tree work, see contractor licences for tree work. The scam warnings that attorneys general issue after storms are on the storm tree scams page.