What to check before anyone starts on a West Orange roof

New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs runs a mandatory registration program for home improvement contractors. Its FAQ says anyone who makes or sells home improvements for a living registers, whether person, company or partnership, and that registration is annual unless an exemption applies. The state's rule adds that nobody may advertise as a contractor in New Jersey without being registered.

The FAQ never calls registration a license, so the number answers one question: is this business on the state's list. Contractors are required to show the number in ads, on business cards and vehicles, and on business documents. The Division's phone is 1-888-656-6225, and its online License Verification System lets a visitor search for a business, home improvement contractors included.

On home improvement jobs priced above $500, a New Jersey regulation asks for a signed written contract in plain language. A contract has to carry the seller's legal name, its business address and a plain account of the job along with its main products and materials. It also states the full price with any finance charges, when work begins and ends, any mortgage or security interest the seller takes, and any promise the seller makes about the work.

Every change to the terms or the dates has to be written down and signed by all parties. A signed certificate of completion, or the final payment, cannot be demanded before the work is finished, and the seller cannot lead the buyer to believe the down payment is the entire price.

Buyers get until midnight of the third business day after the sale to cancel certain purchases covered by the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule. Saturdays count; Sundays and federal holidays do not. The rule applies to sales at the buyer's home or workplace and at a seller's temporary location, and the seller has to explain the right when the sale is made.

There are exceptions. A sale made to meet an emergency is outside the rule, and so is one that began with the buyer asking the seller to stop by for a repair or maintenance job, although anything added beyond that request is covered. Two cancellation forms and a dated contract or receipt are part of what the buyer is supposed to receive.

Section 5:23-2.7 of New Jersey's administrative code lists a class of work called ordinary maintenance that can start without filing an application or giving notice to the construction official. A Department of Community Affairs alert, effective 5 March 2018, spells out the roofing entry. It names repair or replacement of existing roof covering where the building is a detached one- or two-family dwelling, whether that is a few shingles or the entire roof. The state's Spring 2025 code newsletter says the same about replacing the covering on such a house.

Limits apply. The rule describes its own list as incomplete, says exemption from a permit does not excuse the work from the building code, and rules out anything touching structural or fire safety. Only detached one- and two-family dwellings are named, which leaves an attached townhouse or an apartment building as a question for the local office.

West Orange's handout, Building & Remodeling in West Orange, separates ordinary repairs from work that needs a permit and a later inspection. It treats replacing less than 25 percent of roofing or siding with the same material as an ordinary repair, says a whole new roof needs a permit, and caps roofing at two layers. Gutters and leaders are ordinary repairs.

The state rule is wider for detached one- and two-family houses, since it covers any amount of roof covering. Neither source explains the gap. A call to the construction office, (973) 325-4112, settles it for one address, and the answer is worth writing down.

The township also publishes two figures for skipped inspections: penalties starting at $500 on its permit and penalty page and at $2,000 on its code enforcement page. Inspection requests go in on a form, not by phone, with the permit number ready.

In West Orange, any work that affects the exterior of a property in a historic district is submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission, the handout says. Some ordinary repairs need review there too, such as painting exterior surfaces or replacing windows and doors in existing openings, and an applicant hears within 15 days if more information is needed. The Llewellyn Park Historic District is one such district, and a state grant page describes its 1857 Gatehouse. Exterior work in the downtown Special Improvement District also goes to the Downtown West Orange Alliance.

Millburn has its own Historic Preservation Commission. Its page says the commission advises the planning and zoning boards on applications affecting designated districts and sites, with a Minor Work Review Committee for smaller jobs.

New Jersey's Department of Banking and Insurance lists the steps for a storm claim. Tell the agent or insurer about the loss promptly. Photograph damaged property before anything is discarded. Temporary repairs that protect the property come next, with the receipts saved. The insurer sends an adjuster to examine the damage and decide on coverage, and the company is to provide a copy of its damage estimate. The department says the policyholder has no obligation to use the contractor the company recommends.

A dispute goes to the insurer first, then to the department's consumer hotline at 1-800-446-7467, which answers weekdays between half past eight in the morning and five in the afternoon. The department's page says nothing about storm chasers, door-to-door repairers or deductibles.

After a major storm, ARMA relays the NRCA's warning that out-of-area crews can arrive in numbers. The traits it lists for a contractor are a permanent business location, recent references and a written proposal. The article advises caution about anyone asking for payment up front.

New Jersey's contract rule backs that up on one point: a seller may not ask for final payment before the home improvement is completed. A written proposal is where the price, the materials and the dates get pinned down.

A job leaves records. Keep the signed contract and any written change to it, the permit number if the town issued one, the invoice with its date and materials, and photographs from before, during and after. The state's contract rule says the seller hands over inspection certificates when the work is complete and before final payment is due.

The same rule keeps a seller from beginning work until all the construction permits the state or town requires have been issued, and from misleading the buyer about charges left out of the price, such as financing and permit fees. File everything with the house papers: the next owner will want the date the roof went on.