Cancellations and Refunds

The estimate costs nothing

We come out, measure, look at the subfloor and give you a written quote. There is no charge for the visit, we do not ask for a deposit to produce a quote, and there is nothing to cancel and nothing to refund if you decide not to go ahead. Call (916) 425-1361, send a message on WhatsApp, or email essentialflooring16@gmail.com and tell us. No explanation needed.

Your three day right to cancel

Almost every job we sign is signed in the customer's home, which under California law makes it a home solicitation contract. That gives you the right to cancel it, for any reason or none, until midnight of the third business day after you signed.

• Five business days if you are 65 or older. The law gives seniors two extra days, and we apply it automatically.
• You do not have to give a reason. Nobody will ask you for one.
• Your contract comes with the form. California requires us to hand you two copies of a Notice of Cancellation, already dated, when you sign. Sign one, send it back, and you are done. Any clear written notice by the deadline works just as well.
• We refund everything within ten days. That is the deadline the law sets, and it covers every payment you have made.
• Materials already delivered. If we have dropped anything off, we may ask for it back within twenty days, and we collect it from you rather than asking you to carry it anywhere. If we do not ask within twenty days, it is yours to keep and you owe nothing for it.
• Work already started. If we began before the three days were up and you then cancel, the law says we are entitled to nothing for it. That is not a concession, it is the rule, and it is a good reason not to let any contractor rush you into starting early.

What we may ask for up front

California law puts a hard ceiling on the down payment for home improvement work, and it is lower than most people expect.

After the down payment, we may not ask for or accept a payment larger than the work already done and the materials already delivered. Your contract sets out the payment schedule in dollars and cents, tied to specific stages of the job, so at every point you can see what you are paying for.

Canceling later than three days

Once the cancellation period has passed, a signed contract is a contract. If your plans change anyway, tell us as early as you can and we will settle it fairly rather than argue about it. In practice that means you pay for the work already carried out and for materials bought or cut specifically for your job that cannot be returned, and anything you have paid beyond that comes back to you. We put the arithmetic in writing before we settle, with the supplier receipts attached.

If there is a particular arrangement you want, for example a fixed cancellation fee or a deadline for confirming a material choice, ask for it to be written into the contract before you sign. Then it is in black and white for both of us.

If we are the ones who cancel

Sometimes a job cannot go ahead: a subfloor turns out to need work outside a flooring license, a material is discontinued, a schedule collapses. If we cancel, you get every payment back in full, within the same ten days, and we tell you why in writing. We return money the way you paid it wherever we can, and by check or bank transfer where we cannot.

If you are not happy with the finished work

Call us first. We would far rather come and look at it than have you take it anywhere else, and most things are quicker to put right than to argue about. If we cannot sort it out between us, California gives you a route that does not depend on our goodwill.

• The Contractors State License Board. CSLB is the state agency that licenses and regulates contractors, and it investigates complaints against them. Write to Contractors State License Board, P.O. Box 26000, Sacramento, CA 95826, call 800-321-CSLB (2752), or start at cslb.ca.gov.
• The deadlines. A complaint about something you can see has to reach CSLB within four years of the work. For a hidden structural defect the window is ten years.
• Our bond. We hold the $25,000 contractor bond the state requires, with Western Surety Company. It exists so a homeowner who is harmed by a licensed contractor has something to claim against, and it is listed on our CSLB license record, along with every complaint the board is allowed to publish.

What this page is

A plain summary, so that you know what to expect before anyone knocks on your door. It is not the contract and it is not legal advice. The contract you sign contains the terms for your project, including the payment schedule, the cancellation notice and the mechanics lien warning. Where this page and your contract differ, your contract governs, and neither one can take away a right California law gives you.

Questions before you sign anything are always welcome. Call (916) 425-1361, Monday to Saturday, 7 AM to 7 PM.