HB 1798 — An Act providing for bonding requirements for contractors performing work on adjoining properties; and imposing penalties.

PRINTER'S NO.   2212

                   THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                        HOUSE BILL
                        No. 1798
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY GALLAGHER, GIRAL, PIELLI, HOHENSTEIN, CIRESI,
        NEILSON, SANCHEZ, DONAHUE, KENYATTA AND GREEN,
        AUGUST 11, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT,
        AUGUST 13, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Providing for bonding requirements for contractors performing
 2      work on adjoining properties; and imposing penalties.
 3      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 4   hereby enacts as follows:
 5   Section 1.   Short title.
 6      This act shall be known and may be cited as the Contractor
 7   Bonding for Adjoining Properties Act.
 8   Section 2.   Definitions.
 9      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
10   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
11   context clearly indicates otherwise:
12      "Adjoining property."    Real property which is physically
13   connected to the adjacent real property in which construction
14   work is being performed and which is zoned residential or dual-
15   use by a municipality or municipal authority.
16      "Contractor."   A person that owns and operates a home
17   improvement business or who undertakes, offers to undertake or
 1   agrees to perform any home improvement. The term includes a
 2   subcontractor or independent contractor who has contracted with
 3   a home improvement retailer, regardless of the home improvement
 4   retailer's net worth, to provide home improvement services to
 5   the home improvement retailer's customers. The term does not
 6   include any of the following:
 7          (1)   A person for whom the total cash value of all of
 8      that person's home improvements is less than $5,000 during
 9      the previous taxable year.
10          (2)   A home improvement retailer having a net worth of
11      more than $50,000,000 or an employee of that retailer that
12      does not perform home improvements.
13      "Home improvement."     The following:
14          (1)   The term includes all of the following done in
15      connection with land or a portion of the land adjacent to a
16      private residence or a building or a portion of the building
17      which is used or designed to be used as a private residence
18      for which the total cash price of all work agreed upon
19      between the contractor and owner is more than $500:
20                (i)    Repair, replacement, remodeling, demolition,
21          removal, renovation, installation, alteration,
22          conversion, modernization, improvement, rehabilitation or
23          sandblasting.
24                (ii)    Construction, replacement, installation or
25          improvement of driveways, swimming pools, pool houses,
26          porches, garages, roofs, siding, insulation, solar energy
27          systems, security systems, flooring, patios, fences,
28          gazebos, sheds, cabanas, landscaping of a type that is
29          not excluded under paragraph (2)(vi), painting, doors and
30          windows and waterproofing.

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 1              (iii)    Without regard to affixation, the installation
 2        of central heating, air conditioning, storm windows or
 3        awnings.
 4        (2)   The term does not include:
 5              (i)    The sale of goods or materials by a seller that
 6        neither arranges to nor performs, directly or indirectly,
 7        any work or labor in connection with the installation or
 8        application of the goods or materials.
 9              (ii)    The sale of services furnished for commercial
10        or business use or for resale, if the service takes place
11        somewhere other than at a private residence.
12              (iii)    The sale of appliances, including stoves,
13        refrigerators, freezers, room air conditioners and others
14        which are designed for and are easily removable from the
15        premises without material alteration.
16              (iv)    Any work performed without compensation by the
17        owner of the owner's private residence or residential
18        rental property.
19              (v)    Any work performed by a landscaper certified by
20        the Department of Agriculture under the act of December
21        16, 1992 (P.L.1228, No.162), known as the Plant Pest Act,
22        except to the extent that the work involves any of the
23        following at a private residence:
24                     (A)   The construction, replacement, installation
25              or improvement of buildings, driveways, swimming
26              pools, porches, garages, roofs, siding, insulation,
27              solar energy systems, security systems, flooring,
28              patios, nondecorative fences, doors, lighting
29              systems, concrete walkways and windows.
30                     (B)   The placement of retaining walls, fountains

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 1                  or drainage systems.
 2                  (vi)    Emergency work under section 7 of the act of
 3            December 17, 1968 (P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair
 4            Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
 5                  (vii)    The conversion of existing commercial
 6            structures into residential or noncommercial structures.
 7      "Home improvement retailer."        A person that sells materials
 8   for use in home improvement contracts.
 9   Section 3.     Bonding requirement.
10      (a)   Surety bond.--A contractor performing a home improvement
11   project or a new home construction project on adjoining property
12   shall purchase a surety bond of $500,000 for each property
13   adjoining the property on which the home improvement project or
14   a new home construction project is being performed. The bond
15   shall only be used to cover damages to a property caused by a
16   home improvement project or a new home construction project on
17   an adjoining property.
18      (b)   Proof.--Proof of bonding must be submitted to the
19   municipality in which the home improvement project or a new home
20   construction project is being performed at the time of issuance
21   of a building permit.
22   Section 4.     Violation and penalties.
23      If a contractor is found to be in violation of section 3, the
24   contractor shall be subject to the following:
25            (1)   A civil penalty of $10,000 for the first offense.
26            (2)   A civil penalty of $20,000 for each subsequent
27      offense.
28   Section 5.     Effective date.
29      This act shall take effect in 180 days.



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