Wisconsin law for contractor websites, phone lines, texts and email

Wisconsin has no single law for contractor websites. The rules that touch your site, phones and inbox are spread across the call-recording statute, a state telemarketing law, the home improvement trade practice rule, a consumer cancellation statute and the sales tax guidance for lawn work. This page walks through each one as it reads in October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. The federal rules for texts and email apply in Wisconsin too, and we cover them in our guides to text message marketing rules and recording business calls.

Can you record customer calls in Wisconsin?

Yes. Wisconsin is a one-party consent state. Under Wis. Stat. 968.31(2)(c), a person who is on the call, or who has the advance consent of someone on it, may record it unless the purpose is criminal, tortious or otherwise injurious. That covers a recorded business line, call tracking that stores audio, and an AI receptionist that keeps a recording or transcript of calls to your number.

The limit is who is calling. A caller from an all-party state may expect to be told. Put a short line at the start of the greeting ("calls may be recorded for quality") and the question goes away for everyone. If you use call tracking, our guide to call tracking setup covers where the recordings live.

Wisconsin's telemarketing law covers texts, not just calls

The state's telephone solicitation statute is Wis. Stat. 100.52, with detailed rules in Wis. Admin. Code chapter ATCP 127. Both define a telephone solicitation as an unsolicited call or text message meant to get someone to buy property, goods or services. So a cold text blast to a purchased list is inside the law, the same as a cold call.

Several parts matter to a home-service company:

• State do-not-call registry. No solicitation to a residential number on the state registry, which is the part of the national registry with Wisconsin area codes (ATCP 127.82). Registered callers must pull a fresh copy at least every 31 days.
• Business numbers. A business that has mailed a notice saying it does not want solicitations cannot be solicited, and you must give a mailing address for those notices on request (Wis. Stat. 100.52(4)).
• Prerecorded messages. Banned without the recipient's consent under the statute, and ATCP 127.83(2)(b) requires a signed written agreement that says signing is not a condition of purchase.
• Caller ID. You may not block it during a solicitation or send misleading information. The forfeiture for these two is $100 to $10,000 per violation under 100.52(10)(c).
• Identify yourself. The caller must name the solicitor at the start, and the seller if that is a different company (100.52(4)(d)).

The state's consumer protection agency, DATCP, summarizes the rule as barring calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (DATCP, Wisconsin's Telemarketing Sales Rule and Do Not Call Law). We did not find that time limit in Wis. Stat. 100.52 or in ATCP 127 subchapter V, and the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule uses the same window, so treat 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone as your outer limit and confirm with DATCP.

What falls outside it

Most of what a service company sends does not count as a solicitation. ATCP 127.80(10) leaves out calls or texts the person asked for, calls or texts to a current client, numbers listed in the current local business telephone directory, a single check on a former client whose contract may have lapsed by mistake, satisfaction checks that are not part of a sales plan, and calls needed to complete an existing contract. Appointment reminders, "we are on the way" texts and follow-ups to a customer you already serve fit those categories. A text promoting a spring special to a list you bought does not.

The statute also says the current-client exception does not reach a client of an affiliate only. If you run two companies, a customer of one is not automatically a current client of the other.

Registration applies to people who make the calls for you

Under ATCP 127.81, an employer that uses employees or contractors to solicit residential customers must hold a DATCP registration, which expires each November 30. DATCP's rule lists a $700 basic fee for the first year and $500 for later years, plus $75 per line when four or more lines are used, as listed in October 2026. A one-truck company that only contacts its own customers is unlikely to need it, but a company that pays a call center or a lead vendor to cold call Wisconsin homeowners should ask that vendor for its registration number. Covered callers must give the number to a residential customer who asks for it.

What a Wisconsin home improvement contract must contain

The home improvement rule is Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 110. It defines home improvement to include remodeling, repairing, painting and landscaping of residential property, and lists driveways, patios, fences, basements, and heating and air conditioning equipment. It excludes new residence construction.

Under ATCP 110.05, a written contract is required when the buyer must pay before the seller finishes, and when the seller started the deal by face-to-face solicitation away from its regular place of business, by mail or telephone solicitation, or by handbills or circulars left at residences. When a contract is required or signed, all parties sign it and it must include:

• the seller's name and address, and any salesperson's
• a description of the work, principal products and materials
• the total price, or the hourly rate and other price terms for time-and-materials work
• start and completion dates or a time period
• any mortgage or security interest tied to the financing
• any guarantee or warranty

The seller must hand the buyer a copy before starting work or taking any payment. Liquidated damages for the buyer's breach cannot exceed 10 percent of the contract price. If you quote online, the quote form can collect the details, but the signed contract has to carry them. Our custom CRM work builds estimate and contract templates around exactly this kind of required-fields list.

Claims on your website and truck

ATCP 110.02(4)(d) says that if a seller claims to be licensed, bonded or insured, it must give the buyer a written statement describing the specific license, bond or insurance. Treat a "Licensed and insured" banner as a claim you can back with paper. Wisconsin's state credential for dwelling contractors is issued by DSPS, and our Wisconsin contractor license guide explains which trades need it. ATCP 110.02 also bars advertising a free gift or bonus without its full terms, false "model home" or discounted-price claims, and bait selling, so check promo banners and ad copy against that list.

Two paperwork duties show up before signing. Sellers must disclose any building or installation permit fees, and under ATCP 110.025 they must give the buyer a separate written "Notice of Consumer's Right to Receive Lien Waivers" and keep proof that the buyer acknowledged it. If the buyer asks, you provide lien waivers from your subcontractors and suppliers. A contract template that bundles this notice into the fine print does not satisfy the separate-document requirement.

The three-day cancellation right for door and phone sales

Wisconsin's consumer act gives customers a separate cancellation right. Under Wis. Stat. 423.202, a customer can cancel a consumer approval transaction until midnight of the third business day after the merchant gives the required notice. Section 423.201 defines that transaction as one started by in-person solicitation away from your regular place of business, or by mail or phone solicitation aimed at a specific customer, and completed away from your place of business, that involves credit or a cash price over $25.

The notice is two copies of a typed notice in at least 12-point boldface under the caption "CUSTOMER'S RIGHT TO CANCEL" (423.203). The customer's notice can be any written statement and is treated as given when mailed. The right does not apply where the customer decides a three-day delay would endanger health, safety or property, where the customer signs a separate dated personal waiver, or where the merchant in good faith has substantially begun performance before the notice is given. This matters if your sales staff sells at the door or by phone, and for work booked from a mailer that you then close at the kitchen table. Confirm with DATCP how it applies to your sales process.

Sales tax on invoices: lawn care yes, snow plowing no

The Department of Revenue's Publication 210 says landscaping and lawn maintenance services, including mowing, edging, fertilizing, weed spraying, sod and tree and shrub trimming, are subject to sales and use tax unless an exemption applies, residential or commercial. The same publication lists plowing or removing snow among services that are not landscaping services. For your website, that means an online booking or payment page for a year-round property package needs separate line items, one taxable and one not. A single seasonal package price makes it hard to show which part carried tax. Our state sales tax comparison shows how other states treat the same work.

On card payments, we found no Wisconsin statute on credit card surcharges in the sources we checked. We did find Wis. Stat. 422.422, which stops card issuers from prohibiting a merchant from offering a discount for paying by cash, check or similar means. Card network rules still apply, so read your processor's terms before adding a fee to an invoice.

What this means for your setup

For your website, keep license, bond and insurance claims to what you can document, list the contract items from ATCP 110.05 in your estimate flow, and show tax separately on lawn lines. For your business phone line, a recording notice in the greeting covers out-of-state callers, and texts to customers you already serve stay inside the current-client exception. If you plan promotional texts to people who are not customers, get written consent and treat the state and federal rules as the floor. An AI receptionist that answers in your name should open with the recording notice and your business name, and it should not send marketing texts to a caller who only asked for a quote. For email, Wisconsin's telemarketing law does not cover email, so the federal CAN-SPAM rules are the main layer. Rules change, so confirm with DATCP, DSPS and the Department of Revenue before you act.

Frequently asked questions