Ohio Code 4722.03 – Prohibited acts
(A) No home construction service supplier shall do any of the following:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 4722.03
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Cost-plus contract: means a contract entered into between an owner and a home construction service supplier under which payment to the supplier is based on the cost of a product plus the supplier's rate for labor to install the product plus an agreed percentage of profit or a stipulated fee. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Home construction service: means the construction of a residential building. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Owner: means the person who contracts with a home construction service supplier. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Property: means real and personal property. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Residential building: means a one-, two-, or three-family dwelling and any accessory construction incidental to the dwelling. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- supplier: means a person who contracts with an owner to provide home construction services for compensation and who maintains in force a general liability insurance policy in an amount of not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars. See Ohio Code 4722.01
- Workmanlike manner: means the home construction service supplier has engaged in construction that meets or exceeds the minimum quantifiable standards promulgated by the Ohio home builders association. See Ohio Code 4722.01
(1) Prior to commencing work related to the home construction service, fail to enter into a written contract that complies with this chapter;
(2) After entering into a contract with an owner and prior to commencing any work that is related to an excess cost, fail to provide an estimate of the excess costs as this chapter requires;
(3) After entering into a contract with an owner, do any of the following:
(a) Fail to disclose, prior to the owner’s acceptance of any goods or work related to an excess cost, that in failing to approve an excess cost, completion of the work may not be possible and a charge may be imposed for any disassembly, reassembly, or partially completed work, which shall be directly related to the actual labor or parts involved;
(b) Charge for any excess cost that the owner has not approved;
(c) Represent that repairs or work have been performed when such is not the fact;
(d) Fail to perform the home construction service in a workmanlike manner;
(e) Fail to tender to the owner, within a reasonable time and upon the owner’s request, any replaced parts, unless the parts are to be rebuilt or sold by the home construction service supplier, or returned to the manufacturer in connection with a warranted repair or service, and the intended reuse or return is made known to the owner prior to commencing any repair or services;
(f) Fail to provide a full refund within a reasonable time period for any goods or services that the home construction service supplier has failed to deliver in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract required by section 4722.02 of the Revised Code and for which the supplier has received payment;
(g) Fail to provide to the owner, within a reasonable time and upon the owner’s request, a written, itemized receipt for any item of goods that is left with, or turned over to, the home construction service supplier for repair or services. The receipt shall include all of the following:
(i) The identity of the person who will perform the repair or services;
(ii) The name and dated signature of the person or representative who actually accepts the goods;
(iii) A description, including make and model number or other features that will reasonably identify the goods that are turned over, and the repair or services that are to be performed.
(4) Make the performance of any home construction service contingent upon an owner’s waiver of any rights this chapter provides;
(5) Represent that repairs, services, or work is necessary to comply with the residential building code when such is not the fact;
(6) Represent that an item of goods or any part thereof that is being inspected or diagnosed for a home construction service is in a dangerous condition, or that its continued use may be harmful, when such is not the fact;
(7) Intentionally understate or intentionally misstate the estimated cost of the home construction service;
(8) Intentionally misrepresent any aspect of the transaction or the nature or the quality of the work or materials;
(9) Fail at the time any owner signs or initials any document to provide the owner with a copy of the document within a reasonable time period;
(10) Fail to disclose to the owner prior to the commencement of any repair or service that any part of the repair or service will be performed by a person other than the home construction service supplier or employee of the supplier if the contract disclaims any warranty of the repair or service that the other person performs;
(11) Represent that repairs or services must be performed away from the property on which the home construction service is being performed when that is not the fact.
(B) A home construction service supplier who enters into a cost-plus contract with an owner for a home construction service need not comply with the requirements regarding excess costs provided in this section.