§ 770. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms,
unless the context requires otherwise, shall have the following
meanings:

1. "Person" means a natural person.

2. "Owner" means any homeowner, co-operative shareholder owner, or
residential tenant, or any person who purchases a custom home as defined
in this section.

3. "Home improvement" means the repairing, remodeling, altering,
converting, or modernizing of, or adding to, residential property and
shall include, but not be limited to, the construction, erection,
replacement, or improvement of driveways, swimming pools, siding,
insulation, roofing, windows, terraces, patios, landscaping, fences,
porches, garages, solar energy systems, flooring, basements, and other
improvements of the residential property and all structures or land
adjacent to it. "Home improvement" shall also mean the construction of a
custom home, the installation of home improvement goods or the
furnishing of home improvement services. "Home improvement" shall not
include:

(a) the sale or construction of a new home, other than a custom home
as defined in this section;

(b) the sale of goods by a seller who neither arranges to perform nor
performs, directly or indirectly, any work or labor in connection with
the installation or application of the goods;

(c) the sale or installation of appliances, such as stoves,
refrigerators, freezers, room air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes
washers or dryers, which are designed to be removable from the premises
without material alteration thereof;

(d) the sale or installation of decorative goods or services, such as
draperies and carpets; or

(e) the performance of repairs, replacements, or other services
pursuant to an express or implied warranty, or a maintenance agreement
as defined in section three hundred ninety-five-a of this chapter.

4. "Home improvement goods or services" means goods and services which
are bought in connection with home improvement. Such home improvement
goods and services include burglar alarms, texture coating, fencing, air
conditioning, heating equipment, and any other goods which, at the time
of sale or subsequently, are to be so affixed to real property by the
home improvement contractor as to become a part of real property whether
or not severable therefrom.

5. "Home improvement contractor" means a person, firm or corporation
which owns or operates a home improvement business or who undertakes,
offers to undertake or agrees to perform any home improvement for a fee
and for whom the total cash price of all of his home improvement
contracts with all his customers exceeds one thousand five hundred
dollars during any period of twelve consecutive months. Home improvement
contractor does not include a person, firm, corporation, landlord,
cooperative corporation, condominium board of managers, joint tenant or
co-tenant that owns, in whole or in part, the property to be improved.

6. "Home improvement contract" means an agreement for the performance
of home improvement, between a home improvement contractor and an owner,
and where the aggregate contract price specified in one or more home
improvement contracts, including all labor, services and materials to be
furnished by the home improvement contractor, exceeds five hundred
dollars.

7. "Custom home" means a new single family residence to be constructed
on premises owned of record by the purchaser at the time of contract,
provided that such residence is intended for residential occupancy by
such purchaser and the contract of sale is entered into on or after the
first day of March, nineteen hundred ninety.

8. "Roofing contractor" means a person, firm or corporation, including
but not limited to, a person that is a nonresident roofing contractor,
independent contractor, day laborer or subcontractor engaged in the
business of roofing, gutter, downspout or siding services for a fee or
who offers to engage in or solicits roofing-related services, including
construction, installation, renovation, repair, maintenance, alteration
or waterproofing. This definition shall not include a person engaged in
the demolition of a structure or the cleanup of construction waste and
debris that contains roofing material, nor a person engaged in building
a new home or housing development. "Roofing contractor" shall not
include:

(a) an owner or farm property owner who physically performs, or has
employees who perform repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, or
modernizing of, or adding to, their own dwelling or another structure
located on the property owned by the person without the assistance of a
roofing contractor.

(b) any authorized employee or representative of the United States
government, the state of New York, or any political subdivision
performing the repairing, remodeling, altering, converting, or
modernizing of, or adding to, government property.