Your contractor wants to start Monday and has given you nothing in writing

If a contractor offers to start on a handshake, stop and ask for the paper first. New York law expects a written, signed contract for home improvement work over a set dollar line, and a driveway counts. The paper protects you, and it is also where the things that decide whether concrete lasts get written down.

General Business Law Article 36-A covers home improvement, and its definitions name driveways and patios. A home improvement contract, under section 770, is an agreement where the total price for labor, services and materials goes over $500. Most concrete jobs clear that without trying.

So a small patch may fall under the line and a driveway will not. Ask the contractor up front whether the job is in the written-contract range, and if there is any doubt, ask for the paper anyway. A contractor who resists putting a driveway price in writing has told you something.

Section 771 says the contract and every change to it must be in a writing signed by all parties. The writing must give start and completion dates, describe the work and materials, and state the price.

That is the legal floor. Read it as a checklist, then add the items that matter to concrete. Hold the contract up against these:

• Start and finish dates, with anything that could move them.
• The work and the materials described, not just a total.
• A payment schedule, if you pay in stages, tied to stages of the work.
• A notice that you can cancel in writing up to the end of the third business day after signing.

Your next step is simple. Before you sign, check each line against the paper in front of you. If one is missing, ask for it to be added and initialed.

New York's Department of State says plainly that contractors for home improvement get no state license. Some places do, such as New York City, but its list of those places does not name Onondaga County or the City of Syracuse. Another locality could still have its own rules, so ask your town or village office.

So do not expect a state license number for concrete work here. Do not accept a made-up number or a badge that sounds official. Ask instead for things you can check: a written scope, a signed contract, the permit where one applies, and references you can call.

Be careful with websites that claim a statewide registration for concrete. That contradicts the state's own position. We never claim a license for any contractor. If someone shows you a license number, ask which office issued it and check it with that office.

The statute asks for a description of the work and materials. For flatwork in Syracuse, make the description specific. A line that reads "pour new driveway" is not enough, because it hides every choice that decides how the slab ages.

1. The mix. Air-entrained concrete, with the air content and the strength written in. The Residential Code of New York State asks for 5 to 7 percent air in the severe case for garage floors and steps. NRMCA recommends 6 percent for slabs made with three-quarter or one inch stone.
2. The pour date. A date, plus what happens if a cold night is forecast. Cold weather by the ACI standard means 40F or below during the protection period.
3. The protection plan. How the slab is covered, and for how many days. The ACI standard lists 2, 3 or 6 days by case.
4. The preparation. Soft spots removed, base compacted, slope for drainage, and no pour on frozen ground.
5. The joints. Where the saw cuts go and where isolation joints separate the slab from steps and the garage.
6. The cleanup. Who hauls the old concrete, and where the forms and covers go.

Ask for the quote with these written in, then compare quotes line by line. A lower number that leaves out the air content is not a lower price. It is a different slab.

You will meet several strength figures. NRMCA recommends 4,000 psi for exterior slabs that stay wet and see de-icers, and the New York residential code table gives 3,500 psi for severe weathering. Do not try to pick a winner. Ask which figure the quote uses, and write it in.

If your driveway apron sits in the right of way of a county road, Highway Law section 136 requires a county permit for work there. Onondaga County asks for a Work in the Right of Way permit for changes to existing driveways, including widening and repaving. Fines under the law run from $25 to $1,000 for each day of violation. Ask the county which permit fits your job before you book.

Ask the contractor two things: who pulls the permit, and whose road it is. Roads in the county are owned by towns, villages, the city, the county and the state, and neighbors can be under different offices. Write down the answer in the contract, with the permit number once there is one.

If you pay in stages, the contract must list each payment as a dollar amount tied to a stage of the work. Each payment should bear a reasonable relationship to the work done or the materials bought. A request for most of the money before any concrete is poured does not fit that test, so ask why.

The cancellation notice matters if you sign at the kitchen table. You can cancel until the third business day after you sign ends, and the notice must be in writing. Give notice in writing, and keep a copy of what you send.

Changes need paper too. If the contractor finds a soft base or a blocked culvert, the fix and the cost go in a signed change, not a phone call. That is also what the statute asks for, since it covers amendments.

• Is the contract signed by all parties, and does it name the contractor?
• Does the scope name the mix, air content and strength?
• Is there a pour date, a cold-night plan and a protection plan?
• Is the permit named, and who pulls it?
• Does the payment schedule match the stages of work?
• Does the contract carry the cancellation notice the statute calls for?

Our role is the step before the contract. We help you work out what to ask for, then introduce you to an independent contractor to quote the work. Your contract is with that contractor, so read it the way you would read any other, and ask for what is missing.