Need to fix up your home? Protect yourself before hiring a contractor.

Summer is prime time for home improvements.

But before you hire a contractor to fix up your home, it’s essential to understand what’s required of a home contractor today.

Frankly, current protections for homeowners in New Jersey are anemic compared to other states.

And while new safeguards are coming, they’re not here yet.

That’s not the fault of the Division of Consumer Affairs, which can only follow current law. Indeed, the agency said it issued 103 final orders that assessed $2.6 million in civil penalties and consumer restitution against contractors last year.

The problem is that there are delays in getting the new protections up and running.

The state passed a law in 2024 after an NJ Advance Media investigation — Hire at your own risk — showed how the current requirements for contractors to work in the state legally aren’t nearly as rigorous as they are in other fields.

To hang out a shingle and call yourself a contractor, you only need a Home Improvement Contractor registration, which anyone can get by paying a $110 fee and showing proof of liability insurance.

Current requirements don’t ask contractors to display skill, experience or expertise. Compare that to manicurists and hairdressers, who need to complete hundreds of hours of training before they can legally give services in the state.

The new contractor law is supposed to change all that.

It established a board to create requirements for a new license, including a code of ethics and standards for the industry, and education and experience requirements for contractors. While some current contractors would be grandfathered under the law, newer professionals would need to pass an exam to test their knowledge of the field and related state law, complete a training or apprenticeship program and meet other requirements. The license will also require contractors to show they have the financial means to make things right if a job goes wrong.

But the board itself is slow-going. Gov. Phil Murphy was nine months late in appointing board members. The group was supposed to meet within 60 days of its appointment, but that hasn’t happened either, several people with knowledge of the board said.

Slow-going, indeed.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond with additional relevant information.

So for now, your best advocate will be you.

When you look for a contractor, start by asking friends and neighbors for references. If they were happy with a project, it’s a good start.

Next, check out the contractor with Consumer Affairs to make sure they have a valid Home Improvement Contractor registration. You can check that online or call (800) 242-5846. You can also call to see if any complaints have been filed with the agency.

If the contractor has the registration and is complaint-free, take a whirl online to see if there are reviews or complaints worth considering. Just remember to take both the rave reviews and the mega-negative ones with a grain of salt, especially if the reviews are anonymous.

When you’re ready to call contractors for estimates — and you should get three — remember that jobs costing more than $500 require a written contract that must include the contractor’s legal name and business address, the start and end dates for the project, a description of the work and the total price.

The contractor must also give you a copy of their commercial liability insurance policy and phone number. Check to make sure the policy is in good standing.

Don’t allow a contractor to pressure you to sign a contract on the spot. But if you do, remember you have a right of rescission — three business days during which you can cancel a contract without penalty.

Also make sure any payment schedule is reasonable and never fully pay upfront. And give yourself a paper trail. If the contractor offers a “cash discount,” there’s a good chance they’re trying to skip out on paying income taxes on the job. Instead of cash or money transfer apps like Venmo, use a check or credit card to make payments.

Disputes with contractors are always near the top of the list of complaints to the Division of Consumer Affairs, the agency said. So to help consumers avoid pitfalls, it launched an educational campaign called “Nail It!” earlier this month.

“The ‘Nail It!’ campaign advances our mission by educating and empowering homeowners to become their own best protectors against home improvement fraud,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said in an announcement about the effort.

It includes a social media campaign, the release of a new brochure and an info page at njconsumeraffairs.gov/nailit.

If you encounter a problem with a contractor that you can’t resolve on your own, file a complaint with Consumer Affairs and send Bamboozled an email at kpricemueller@njadvancemedia.com.

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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on X at @KPMueller.