InstaBidsInstaBids
Skip to content
InstaBids
Menu
Use your AIAdd InstaBids to your assistantHow InstaBids works
Use your AIStart my request

How soon does a contractor have to start work after taking your deposit?

Check the contract’s start date and the applicable state provision before deciding what to do next. Florida, New Jersey and Massachusetts provisions are quoted below. Keep the payment record, permit information and written correspondence together when documenting a delay or preparing a notice.

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.

For homeowners.

By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Sources read: 22 October 2026 Updated 2026-10-22

InstaBids assistantAI · builds your written scope with you

What home job do you need done in your home? Describe it once to start your written scope.

Start from a common job
You choose who gets your number
  1. Describe it onceBy chat, or through your own AI assistant, and add photos.
  2. Post it and send itContractors bid in writing on that scope.
  3. Compare line by lineEvery quote is written against the same scope.
  4. You chooseContact details stay hidden until you pick and they confirm.

Use with your AI

Add InstaBids to your assistant

Key facts

What Florida start deadlines and notice steps does the statute describe?

Fla. Stat. 489.126(2)(a) is quoted here in its own words, with its permit item and its exceptions: "A contractor who receives, as initial payment, money totaling more than 10 percent of the contract price for repair, restoration, improvement, or construction to residential real property must:" Item 1: "Apply for permits necessary to do work within 30 days after the date payment is made, except where the work does not require a permit under the applicable codes and ordinances, and" Item 2: "Start the work within 90 days after the date all necessary permits for work, if any, are issued," The paragraph ends: "unless the contractor has just cause for failing to apply for the necessary permits, starting the work, or refunding the payment, or unless the person who made the payment agreed, in writing, to a longer period to apply for the necessary permits or start the work or to longer periods for both."

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

Send the contractor a written demand letter, mailed the way the statute names. Fla. Stat. 489.126(2)(b) says the contractee must make written demand to the contractor in the form of a letter; that sentence and the one after it are quoted here. “If a contractor fails to comply with the requirements of paragraph (a), the contractee must make written demand to the contractor in the form of a letter that includes a demand to apply for the necessary permits, to start the work, or to refund the payment sent via certified mail, return receipt requested, mailed to the address listed in the contracting agreement. If there is no address for the contractor listed in the contracting agreement, or no written agreement exists, the contractee must mail the written demand letter to the address listed for licensing purposes with the department or the local construction industry licensing board, if applicable.” "It may be inferred that a contractor does not have just cause if the contractor fails to apply for the necessary permits, start the work, or refund payments within 30 days of receiving written demand to apply for the necessary permits, start the work, or refund the payment from the person who made the payment."

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

Subsection (4) of the same section opens, in its own words: "Any violation of subsection (2) or subsection (3) must be prosecuted in accordance with the thresholds established in this section and the following:" One of the items that follows: "In a prosecution for a violation of this section, the fact that the person so charged intended to return the money owed is not a defense."

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

Can a Florida contractor start and then stop for months?

Fla. Stat. 489.126(3) says a contractor who receives money in excess of the value of the work performed may not fail or refuse to perform any work for any 90-day period or for any period that is mutually agreed upon and specified in the contract; the subsection is quoted here. "A contractor who receives money for repair, restoration, addition, improvement, or construction of residential real property in excess of the value of the work performed may not fail or refuse to perform any work for any 90-day period or for any period that is mutually agreed upon and specified in the contract." The same subsection sets its own written-demand inference: "It may be inferred that a contractor does not have just cause if the contractor fails to perform work, or refund the money received in excess of the value of the work performed, within 30 days after receiving a written demand to perform the work, or refund the money received in excess of the value of the work performed, from the person who made the payment."

Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

What does New Jersey's rule say about a missed start date?

N.J.A.C. 13:45A-16.2(a) names failing to begin or complete work on the date or within the time period specified in the home improvement contract, with listed exceptions; it is quoted here from the Cornell Legal Information Institute's online copy (not the official code): its opening words and items 7.ii and 7.iii. The opening words: "utilization by a seller of the following acts and practices involving the sale, attempted sale, advertisement or performance of home improvements shall be unlawful hereunder." Item 7.ii: "Fail to begin or complete work on the date or within the time period specified in the home improvement contract, or as otherwise represented, unless the delay is for reason of labor stoppage; unavailability of supplies or materials, unavoidable casualties, or any other cause beyond the seller's control. Any changes in the dates or time periods stated in a written contract shall be agreed to in writing; or" Item 7.iii: "Fail to give timely written notice to the buyer of reasons beyond the seller's control for any delay in performance, and when the work will begin or be completed."

Source: N.J.A.C. 13:45A-16.2, Unlawful practices, in the Cornell Legal Information Institute's online copy (not the official code), read 22 October 2026.

The same rule's item on permits and its list of contract terms each speak to the start, in these words. Item 10.i: "No seller contracting for the making of home improvements shall commence work until he is sure that all applicable state or local building and construction permits have been issued as required under state laws or local ordinances; or" Item 12.iv, one of the terms a written contract must set forth: "The dates or time period on or within which the work is to begin and be completed by the seller;"

Source: N.J.A.C. 13:45A-16.2, Unlawful practices, in the Cornell Legal Information Institute's online copy (not the official code), read 22 October 2026.

Does a Massachusetts contract have to name a start date?

Yes, for the agreements the section covers. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 142A, s. 2(a) and its item (3) are quoted here in their own words. "Section 2. (a) Every agreement to perform residential contracting services in an amount in excess of one thousand dollars shall be in writing and shall include the following documents and information:" "(3) the date on which the work under the contract is scheduled to begin and the date on which said work is scheduled to be substantially completed;"

Source: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 142A, s. 2, Residential contracting agreements; requirements (Massachusetts Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

Two more sentences of the same section, quoted here, concern when work may begin and what a missing term does to the contract. “At the time of signing, the owner shall be furnished with a copy of the contract signed by both the contractor and the owner. No work shall begin prior to the signing of the contract and transmittal to the owner of a copy of such contract.” "Contracts which fail to comply with the requirements of this section shall not be invalid solely because of noncompliance."

Source: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 142A, s. 2, Residential contracting agreements; requirements (Massachusetts Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

How can you set a start date before paying a deposit?

Put the start date, the permit step and what happens if either slips into the signed contract, and keep a dated record of every payment and every promise about timing. This is practical reasoning, not legal advice and not a finding from any agency.

  1. Ask for a written start date, or a start window, and a date the work should be substantially done, before you sign.
  2. Ask who applies for the permits and by when, and ask for a copy of each permit once it is issued.
  3. Keep any agreement to a different start date in writing.

    Source: Fla. Stat. 489.126, Moneys received by contractors (The Florida Legislature), read 22 October 2026.

  4. Keep the receipt for the deposit with the date you paid it, so you can count the days from it.
  5. If the date passes, ask in writing for a new start date and the reason for the delay, and keep proof of how and when you sent it.
  6. If you still get no start date, ask your state attorney general's consumer protection office or a lawyer what your state's law requires before you pay anything more.

Who sees your contact details when you post on InstaBids?

Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, live-page excerpts, read 22 October 2026.

Post your job on InstaBids, and contractors can bid in writing on one written scope.

Homeowners anywhere in the US can post a job; once you send it, InstaBids finds contractors to bid on it.

Start my request

Sources for the facts on this page

Start my requestUse your AI