In their original news report, the I-Team reports that Lowes violated the MA Home Improvement law: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/10/lowes-home-improvement-contracts-pay-in-full-deposit-wbz-i-team/. The follow up report: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/10/11/lowes-policy-violates-mass-law/.
The main takeaway is that for home improvement jobs over $1000 in Massachusetts, deposits cannot exceed 1/3 of the total contract price before work begins (excluding the cost of any custom orders). In response to the I-Team investigation, Lowe's updated their home improvement contract policy to comply with the law. This goes to show that it's not always best to hire the big chain stores for home improvement jobs; depending on the job, you may be better off hiring local, independent contractors. Especially since in this particular case, subcontractors were hired to do the job anyway.
The main takeaway is that for home improvement jobs over $1000 in Massachusetts, deposits cannot exceed 1/3 of the total contract price before work begins (excluding the cost of any custom orders). In response to the I-Team investigation, Lowe's updated their home improvement contract policy to comply with the law. This goes to show that it's not always best to hire the big chain stores for home improvement jobs; depending on the job, you may be better off hiring local, independent contractors. Especially since in this particular case, subcontractors were hired to do the job anyway.
