California rules for your website, business phone and email

What does this page cover?

California has more state rules touching a contractor's website, phones and inbox than most states. Here are the ones with a specific, sourced requirement as of October 2026. Federal rules apply in California exactly as they do everywhere: the TCPA for calls and texts, and CAN-SPAM for commercial email. The TCPA guide and the call recording guide cover the federal layer. Below is what California adds.

General information only. Confirm anything you act on with the agency or a California attorney, because statutes and board guidance change.

Where does the CSLB license number have to appear?

Business and Professions Code section 7030.5 requires a licensed contractor to include the license number in all construction contracts, in subcontracts and calls for bid, and in all forms of advertising as the Registrar of Contractors prescribes. The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) has said plainly what that covers. In its September 2020 industry bulletin 20-21, the board reminded contractors to put the number on advertisements, "including online sales postings and websites," as well as newspaper, radio and television ads, and on business cards, contracts and promotional materials.

That bulletin adds three more points that matter for a website:

• Advertise only within your license classification. A contractor may not advertise for construction work outside the trades the license covers.
• The board says contractors are not allowed to advertise that they are bonded, because it can suggest more protection than exists. Check your homepage and Google Business Profile for the word "bonded" and ask the CSLB before keeping it.
• The civil penalty for violating the contractor advertising laws ranges from $100 to $5,000, according to the same bulletin.

Practically, put the number in the site footer so it appears on every page, repeat it on the contact page and in the header of every quote and contract template, and add it to social profiles and directory listings. If you are unsure whether your work requires a license, our California contractor license guide covers the $1,000 threshold.

California needs everyone's consent to record

Penal Code section 632 makes it a crime to record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties. A first violation carries a fine of up to $2,500 per violation, up to a year in jail, or both. If the person has a prior conviction under the state's privacy statutes, the fine rises to up to $10,000 per violation. A "confidential communication" is one carried on in circumstances that reasonably show a party wants it kept between those involved, and the definition excludes situations where the parties could reasonably expect to be overheard or recorded.

Customer calls to a contractor are the classic case, so treat every call as confidential. The usual fix is an announcement at the start of the call. Put it at the very start, so your voicemail, your recorded phone line and an AI receptionist all say it before anything else. A line such as "This call may be recorded for quality and scheduling" lets the caller continue or hang up, which counts as consent. If an AI receptionist transcribes or records calls, the same rule applies, and our guide to the AI receptionist explains what to ask a provider.

What California adds to text and phone marketing

Two state provisions sit on top of the federal TCPA.

Text message advertisements. Business and Professions Code section 17538.41 generally bars a business in California from sending a text message advertisement to a mobile number belonging to a California resident. The statute has exceptions, including texts from a business that has an existing relationship with the recipient and offers a way to opt out. A text to someone who hired you last year, with "Reply STOP to opt out" in it, is the kind of message that exception is written for. A text blast to a purchased list is not. A bill introduced in 2026 (AB 1865) would have added a ban on text ads between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m., even to people with an existing relationship. The Legislature's bill status shows its last action as May 14, 2026, when it was held under submission in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. It has not become law. Even so, sending marketing texts only in daytime hours is a cheap habit, and you should check the bill status page before you plan around it.

Telephone solicitation. Section 17592 bars telephone solicitors from calling numbers on the national do-not-call list, using a list obtained from the FTC within the prior three months. Its exceptions, as printed in the code, include calls under a signed written agreement, calls to a person with an established business relationship (a purchase within the past 18 months), and calls a principal of a small business of five or fewer workers makes personally to people within 50 miles of its location. Read the full exceptions before you rely on one. For most contractors the practical rule is the same as federal: call past customers, and scrub cold lists.

Contracts, down payments and the right to cancel

The CSLB states that a home improvement project over $500 in combined labor and materials needs a written contract. The contract has to name the contractor, address and license number, include a written payment schedule, and describe the work, permits and completion date. Any price or scope change needs a written change order signed by both sides.

The down payment cannot exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, and payments cannot run ahead of the work completed. This matters for any online booking flow. A "pay 50 percent to reserve your date" button on a home improvement quote conflicts with that cap.

The CSLB also explains the right to cancel. Buyers generally have three days to cancel in writing, five days for buyers 65 and older. The right does not apply when the contract is negotiated at the contractor's place of business, and service and repair contracts under $750 for work needed right away can be labeled as such and fall outside it. Where you sign the deal affects which rules apply, so ask a California attorney how your online quote and e-signature flow is treated. Our service contract guide lists what belongs in the document itself.

Sales tax on invoices depends on the contract type

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) explains in Publication 9 (February 2025) that construction contractors are generally the consumers of the materials they install, and always are on a lump sum contract. Tax applies to the contractor's cost of materials, not to a charge added to the customer's bill. A lump sum contract does not turn into a time and material contract just because the invoice separately states materials, labor or tax. A contractor becomes the retailer of materials under a time and material plus tax contract, or one that transfers title to materials before installation and states their price separately. Your quote template and your invoice wording decide which contract you have. See also our broader guide to sales tax on services.

Card fees and the honest pricing law

Civil Code section 1748.1 says a retailer in a sales or service transaction may not impose a surcharge on a cardholder who pays by credit card. It allows discounts for paying by cash, check or another non-card method if the discount is offered to everyone. A willful violation that the retailer does not repay within 30 days of a certified-mail written demand can cost three times actual damages plus attorney's fees. In Italian Colors Restaurant v. Becerra (2018), the Ninth Circuit held the ban unconstitutional as applied to the five plaintiff businesses and narrowed the injunction to them and to the practice they described, one sticker price with a card fee added. The statute remains on the books for everyone else, so a "3.5 percent card fee" line on your invoice is a legal risk that a cash discount avoids.

Separately, SB 478, the honest pricing law (Civil Code section 1770(a)(29)), took effect July 1, 2024. The Attorney General's FAQs say a price you advertise or list has to include the required fees and charges, apart from government taxes and shipping. The FAQs answer the percentage question directly: a business cannot list one price and separately state that an additional percentage fee will apply, and it cannot add a variable service fee later in the transaction. The law covers goods and services bought for personal use, which includes homeowner jobs. If you publish "starting at" prices or run an online booking page, build mandatory fees such as trip charges into the displayed price. Fees for optional services or features can stay separate. The FAQs also say the law does not cap what you charge, so building the fee into the price is allowed.

Privacy law and email

The California Consumer Privacy Act covers a for-profit business doing business in the state that meets any one of three tests. The first is annual gross revenue above $26,625,000, the amount the California Privacy Protection Agency set effective January 1, 2025 (the Attorney General's FAQ page still shows the original $25 million). The second is buying, selling or sharing the personal information of 100,000 or more California residents or households. The third is earning 50 percent or more of annual revenue from selling California residents' personal information. Most small service companies fall below all three.

The California Online Privacy Protection Act is lower-threshold. Business and Professions Code section 22575 applies to an operator of a commercial website that collects personally identifiable information from California consumers, which a quote or contact form likely does. You must conspicuously post a privacy policy that lists the categories of information collected and the categories of third parties it may be shared with, and states an effective date. An operator violates the section only after failing to post the policy within 30 days of being notified.

For email, section 17529.5 prohibits commercial email advertisements with falsified header information or a subject line you know would likely mislead a reasonable recipient. Recipients, email service providers and the Attorney General can sue; liquidated damages are $1,000 per email, up to $1,000,000 per incident, and a violation is also a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both. Our email marketing guide covers the federal opt-out rules.

What this means for your setup

• Website: license number in the footer, header of every quote form and on contact and service pages; no "bonded" claim; no services outside your classification; all-in prices; a privacy policy linked from every form.
• Business phone line: recording notice before any recorded call; written quotes that follow the $500 rule; deposit amounts that respect the down payment cap.
• AI receptionist: the greeting should state that the call is recorded or transcribed, before the caller says anything personal.
• Email and texts: text only people who contacted or hired you, with an opt-out line; honest subject lines and a working unsubscribe; no purchased lists.

Our website and phone system work builds these in, but the rules above apply whoever builds yours. Confirm details with the CSLB, the CDTFA or a California attorney before you rely on this page.

Frequently asked questions