N.Y. General Business Law § 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.