NY Gen Bus L § 770 (2021)
2021 New York Laws GBS - General Business Article 36-A - Home Improvement Contracts 770 - Definitions.

§  770.  Definitions.  As  used  in this article, the following terms, unless  the  context  requires  otherwise,  shall  have  the   following meanings:   1. "Person" means a natural person.   2.  "Owner"  means  any  homeowner, co-operative shareholder owner, or residential tenant, or any person who purchases a custom home as defined in this section.   3. "Home  improvement"  means  the  repairing,  remodeling,  altering, converting,  or  modernizing  of, or adding to, residential property and shall include, but  not  be  limited  to,  the  construction,  erection, replacement,  or  improvement  of  driveways,  swimming  pools,  siding, insulation, roofing, windows,  terraces,  patios,  landscaping,  fences, porches,  garages,  solar energy systems, flooring, basements, and other improvements of the residential property  and  all  structures  or  land adjacent to it. "Home improvement" shall also mean the construction of a custom   home,  the  installation  of  home  improvement  goods  or  the furnishing of home improvement services. "Home  improvement"  shall  not include:  (a)  the  sale or construction of a new home, other than a custom home as defined in this section;  (b) the sale of goods by a seller who neither arranges to perform  nor performs,  directly  or indirectly, any work or labor in connection with the installation or application of the goods;  (c)  the  sale  or  installation  of  appliances,  such   as   stoves, refrigerators,  freezers,  room  air  conditioners, dishwashers, clothes washers or dryers, which are designed to be removable from the  premises without material alteration thereof;  (d)  the sale or installation of decorative goods or services, such as draperies and carpets; or  (e) the  performance  of  repairs,  replacements,  or  other  services pursuant  to  an express or implied warranty, or a maintenance agreement as defined in section three hundred ninety-five-a of this chapter.   4. "Home improvement goods or services" means goods and services which are bought in connection with home improvement.  Such  home  improvement goods and services include burglar alarms, texture coating, fencing, air conditioning,  heating equipment, and any other goods which, at the time of sale or subsequently, are to be so affixed to real  property  by  the home improvement contractor as to become a part of real property whether or not severable therefrom.   5.  "Home  improvement contractor" means a person, firm or corporation which owns or operates a home improvement business  or  who  undertakes, offers  to undertake or agrees to perform any home improvement for a fee and for whom the total  cash  price  of  all  of  his  home  improvement contracts  with  all  his  customers  exceeds  one thousand five hundred dollars during any period of twelve consecutive months. Home improvement contractor does not  include  a  person,  firm,  corporation,  landlord, cooperative  corporation, condominium board of managers, joint tenant or co-tenant that owns, in whole or in part, the property to be improved.   6. "Home improvement contract" means an agreement for the  performance of home improvement, between a home improvement contractor and an owner, and  where  the  aggregate  contract price specified in one or more home improvement contracts, including all labor, services and materials to be furnished by the  home  improvement  contractor,  exceeds  five  hundred dollars.   7. "Custom home" means a new single family residence to be constructed on  premises  owned  of record by the purchaser at the time of contract, provided that such residence is intended for  residential  occupancy  by  such  purchaser and the contract of sale is entered into on or after the first day of March, nineteen hundred ninety.   8. "Roofing contractor" means a person, firm or corporation, including but  not  limited to, a person that is a nonresident roofing contractor, independent contractor, day laborer  or  subcontractor  engaged  in  the business  of  roofing, gutter, downspout or siding services for a fee or who offers to engage in or solicits roofing-related services,  including construction,  installation, renovation, repair, maintenance, alteration or waterproofing. This definition shall not include a person engaged  in the  demolition  of a structure or the cleanup of construction waste and debris that contains roofing material, nor a person engaged in  building a  new  home  or  housing  development.  "Roofing  contractor" shall not include:  (a) an owner or farm property owner who physically  performs,  or  has employees  who  perform  repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, or modernizing of, or adding to, their own dwelling  or  another  structure located  on the property owned by the person without the assistance of a roofing contractor.  (b) any authorized employee or representative  of  the  United  States government,  the  state  of  New  York,  or  any  political  subdivision performing  the  repairing,   remodeling,   altering,   converting,   or modernizing of, or adding to, government property.