What Pennsylvania requires of your site, phone lines and texts

The TCPA (texts and autodialed calls) and CAN-SPAM (email) reach Pennsylvania as they reach every state; our TCPA guide and recording guide cover them. What follows is the Pennsylvania layer, as of October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice.

Does Pennsylvania require your registration number on your website?

If you must register as a home improvement contractor, yes. Section 517.6 of the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act says a contractor must include its registration number in all advertisements distributed in Pennsylvania and on all contracts, estimates and proposals with owners. Section 517.2 defines an advertisement as a statement promoting home improvement services in print, on signs, letterhead and business cards, or in announcements to the public on radio, television or the Internet. Promotional clothing, pens and notepads are excluded, as is sponsorship recognition for civic events.

Registration is with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection. The Attorney General's page says contractors who perform at least $5,000 of home improvements a year must register, and lists the fee as $100 every two years. Your number arrives in the approval email. Put it in the footer of every page, the header of every estimate template, and on social profiles that promote your work. Section 517.3 bars anyone from holding himself out as a contractor without registering, so a website that advertises home improvement work with no number invites trouble. Our Pennsylvania contractor licenses guide covers who must register.

What must an online quote or contract say?

Section 517.7 says no home improvement contract is valid or enforceable against an owner unless it is in writing, is legible, and contains the performing contractor's registration number. It must be signed by the owner and by the contractor or a salesperson, hold the entire agreement, carry the date, and give your name, address (a post office box alone does not count) and telephone number. It also needs approximate start and completion dates, a description of the work and materials, the total price or a time-and-materials provision, any down payment listed separately, subcontractor names known at signing, and your insurance amounts (at least $50,000 for personal injury and $50,000 for property damage), plus a toll-free number and a notice of the right of rescission.

Under the same section an individual signing a home improvement contract may rescind it without penalty within three business days of signing, wherever it was signed. You must hand the owner a completed copy at signing. For the Act, home improvement means work at a private residence where the total cash price is more than $500, which is a low line compared with other states.

Online signing is where small companies slip. If your CRM or booking tool sends a proposal that skips any item above, the contract may be unenforceable against the owner. Build one template with every element and lock it. Our custom CRM can generate it from the job record.

What does all-party consent mean for recorded lines and AI answering?

Pennsylvania requires every party's consent. Under 18 Pa.C.S. 5703, intercepting a phone call or conversation is a third-degree felony, and the exception in 5704(4) applies only when all parties have given prior consent. A recorded greeting that says calls may be recorded, followed by the caller continuing the conversation, is the usual way businesses document consent, but ask counsel how your notice is worded.

That affects an AI receptionist, a call-tracking number that records, and a crew member who records a walkthrough on a phone. Announce recording at the start of every call, and make the receptionist say it in its first line. The call recording laws by state table shows how Pennsylvania compares with neighbors.

What did Pennsylvania change for sales calls and texts in 2026?

Senate Bill 992 became Act 47 of 2026 when the Governor approved it on July 20, 2026. It amends the Telemarketer Registration Act, and section 5 of the bill text says the act takes effect in 90 days, which counts to October 18, 2026 from the approval date. Until then the older 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. window still governs, so check the Attorney General's page before you change a calling schedule.

• A telephone solicitation now means a call, voicemail, ringless voicemail or text message to a residential, business or wireless subscriber to induce a sale of consumer goods or services.
• Initiating a solicitation on a Sunday, on a legal holiday, after 7 p.m. or before 9 a.m. is prohibited. The old limit was 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
• Robocalls to residential, business or wireless lines need the called party's prior express written consent. The consent must identify the number, clearly disclose that signing means agreeing to solicitations including robocalls and texts, state that consent is not a condition of purchase, and be signed, electronically if you like.
• A subscriber can stop texts by replying STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE, and you may not text again after that.
• Calls and messages made with the subscriber's prior express written consent, about an existing contract or payment, or to someone you have had an established business relationship with in the last 12 months, are outside the definition.

The practical result for a contractor is that a reminder to a customer about their booked job is outside the definition, and a seasonal offer to a past customer from the last 12 months is too. A promotion to a purchased list is inside it. Separately, the state do-not-call list covers residential, wireless and business numbers that enrolled, and a telemarketer may not solicit them once the quarterly list that contains them has been out 30 days. The Act also has a registration requirement for telemarketers, so ask the Attorney General's office before starting a calling campaign.

Which invoices need sales tax?

More than in most states. The Pennsylvania Business Hub says residential and commercial building cleaning services are taxable. Revenue regulations at 61 Pa. Code 60.1 list window cleaning, chimney cleaning and siding or exterior cleaning of a building, including pressure washing, as taxable, while painting and plumbing repairs are not taxable building services. Lawn care is taxable under 61 Pa. Code 55.6, including mowing, trimming, edging, fertilizing, aerating and dethatching, but planting, removing or pruning trees and shrubs is not. Pest control is also taxable under 61 Pa. Code 60.3.

The state rate is 6 percent, plus 1 percent in Allegheny County and 2 percent in Philadelphia. You apply for a sales tax license through myPATH, and the state lists no fee to apply. For your website, the point is that an online payment or quote tool must separate taxable and non-taxable line items and use the customer's address for the local rate. See sales tax on home services by state.

What this means for your setup

• Website: Registration number in the footer, on estimate pages and on the booking form. See our website service.
• Phone line: Use a spoken recording notice on every line that records. See business phone systems.
• AI receptionist: Have it announce recording first, and send a contract link only after the job details are confirmed. See AI reception.
• Email and texts: Track each customer's last job date against the 12-month line, and honor every listed stop word.

Rules change and agencies interpret them. Confirm with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Department of Revenue before you rely on anything here.

Frequently asked questions