What New Hampshire law actually gives you
New Hampshire takes contractor fraud seriously, and the statutory framework is more consumer-friendly than most homeowners realize. Two interlocking laws do the work.
N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 21:34-a requires that any person performing home improvement work for a fee be licensed by the New Hampshire Home Improvement Board and provide a written contract containing specific disclosures: the contractor's name, address, and license number; a description of the scope of work and materials; the total price and payment schedule; and the start and completion dates. Consumers also have a 3-day right to cancel any home improvement contract, and the written contract must disclose that right. A contractor who skips the written contract, omits required terms, or performs work without a license has not just made a business mistake. Under N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 358-A:2, each of those omissions is an unfair or deceptive act.
That matters because the Consumer Protection Act gives you a private right of action. Under N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 358-A:10, a consumer injured by an unfair or deceptive act may bring a civil action and recover actual damages, court costs, attorney's fees, and a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. If your contractor collected a deposit and disappeared, performed shoddy work, or never held a valid license, the amount you can claim is not just the money lost on the job. It includes the statutory penalty on top.
The licensing rule has a sharp edge that many homeowners overlook. An unlicensed contractor is barred from recovering any compensation for work performed in New Hampshire. If your contractor is unlicensed, they cannot sue you for unpaid amounts. That fact belongs in your demand letter.
How long you have to act
New Hampshire's statute of limitations depends on whether your agreement was in writing.
If you have a signed written contract, N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 556:15 gives you 6 years from the date of breach to bring a legal action. Six years is generous, but it is not forever, and waiting erodes your evidence. Photos of abandoned work degrade. Witnesses move. Contractors dissolve LLCs and form new ones.
If you hired the contractor on a handshake or with only a verbal agreement, the limitations period drops to 3 years. In that situation, acting promptly matters even more because the short timeline compounds the weaker evidence position you already have without a written contract.
One important nuance: the Consumer Protection Act claim runs from when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the deceptive act. For a contractor who collected a deposit and never started work, that date is obvious. For defective work that produced hidden structural damage, the discovery clock may start later. When in doubt, send the demand letter now rather than waiting to determine the exact limitations date.
What you can actually recover
Your recoverable damages in a New Hampshire contractor dispute stack up across several categories, and knowing each one lets you put an accurate number in the demand letter.
Actual damages. The concrete money you lost: deposits paid for work not performed, amounts paid for work done so poorly it must be redone, cost to complete the job with a replacement contractor, and repair costs for damage the contractor caused.
Diminution in value. If the contractor's defective work reduced the value of your property, the difference in market value before and after is recoverable. Get a contractor estimate or an appraiser's opinion in writing before you send the letter.
The CPA civil penalty. Up to $10,000 per violation. A contractor who lacked a license AND failed to provide a written contract AND accepted a deposit on unstarted work has committed at least three separate violations. You do not have to pick one. Each independently supports a penalty claim.
Attorney's fees and costs. These are recoverable under § 358-A:10 in a successful CPA action. Courts in New Hampshire have awarded full attorney's fees in contractor CPA cases. Naming them in the demand letter, even before litigation, signals that the contractor's total exposure grows if the dispute reaches court.
The evidence that makes a demand letter work
A demand letter without documentation is easy to ignore. A demand letter with a clear evidence record attached is harder to dismiss. Before you draft a single word, gather the following.
The contract, or proof there was none. A written contract that violates the disclosure requirements of § 21:34-a is itself the violation. If there is no written contract at all, that absence is evidence of a statutory violation. Either way, document it.
License verification. Search the New Hampshire Home Improvement Board's public license lookup. Print the result, with the date. If your contractor's license was expired, suspended, or never issued, that screenshot becomes the cornerstone of your CPA claim.
Payment records. Every check, ACH transfer, credit card charge, Venmo payment, and cash receipt. The demand letter needs a specific dollar figure, and the contractor should not be able to dispute the amount you paid.
Work condition photos. Dated photos of the current state of the job site, incomplete framing, unfinished tile, exterior left open to weather, whatever applies. Photographs are the most credible evidence you can bring into a small claims hearing, and they support the demand letter before you ever get to court.
Written communications. Every text message, email, voicemail transcript, and letter between you and the contractor. Screenshots are fine. Print them in chronological order. A chain of messages where the contractor repeatedly promises to return and never does is strong circumstantial evidence of abandonment.
Contractor estimates for remediation. Get two or three written quotes from licensed New Hampshire contractors to complete or repair the work. Attach the lowest one to your demand letter as the basis for your actual-damages figure.
Writing the New Hampshire contractor demand letter
The demand letter is not a complaint. It is a formal notice that puts the contractor on record, cites the exact statute they violated, states the exact amount you are demanding, and sets a clear deadline before you file. Tone matters. Factual, specific, and statute-cited letters get paid. Emotional letters get filed in a drawer.
Your letter should open with the facts: your name, the address of the property, the date you entered into the agreement, what the contractor was hired to do, the total amount paid, and what has or has not been delivered. One short paragraph. No adjectives.
Next, cite the law. Name N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 21:34-a and describe which required disclosures were missing from the contract, or state that no written contract was provided. If the contractor is unlicensed, cite § 21:34-a:4 and note the Board's licensing lookup result. Name § 358-A:2 as the vehicle converting those violations into unfair or deceptive acts.
Then state your damages with specificity. Actual losses itemized line by line, the CPA civil penalty per violation, and attorney's fees. Round to a clean number. Courts take round numbers seriously when they are backed by receipts.
Set a response deadline. Fourteen calendar days from receipt is standard and reasonable. Note that if no payment or written resolution is received by that date, you will file in New Hampshire Circuit Court, District Division, for actual damages, the full CPA penalty, attorney's fees, and costs.
Send the letter via USPS Certified Mail. Keep the tracking number. Print the delivery confirmation when it arrives. That delivery record is proof of notice and starts the clock running.
Two things to leave out: threats that aren't legal remedies you're actually prepared to pursue, and any mention of the contractor's personal character. Keep it to facts and statutes.
If the demand letter doesn't produce results
Most contractors respond when the Consumer Protection Act is cited by name, because $10,000 per violation is not a small number and the statute explicitly awards attorney's fees on top. But if the deadline passes without a response or a credible offer, file a New Hampshire small claims case against your contractor as the next step.
New Hampshire's small claims cap is $10,000, which covers most residential contractor disputes and aligns exactly with the per-violation CPA penalty. Circuit Court filing fees are modest, hearings are scheduled within a few weeks of filing, and the contractor cannot hire an attorney to represent them at the small claims hearing. The procedural advantage is yours.
What to expect after the letter goes out
USPS Certified Mail typically delivers within 2 to 3 business days anywhere in New Hampshire. Once you have delivery confirmation, the contractor's 14-day response window is running.
The most common outcomes, in roughly the order they happen:
The contractor calls within a few days. This is a good sign. Answer the call, listen to what they propose, and get any offer in writing before you respond. A verbal promise to return and finish the work is not a settlement. A signed written agreement with a specific completion date and a payment-if-incomplete clause is.
The contractor makes a partial payment offer. Consider whether the offer reflects your actual damages. If the contractor skipped the CPA penalty entirely in their offer, you are not obligated to accept a number that doesn't account for your full statutory exposure. Respond in writing with your counter.
No response arrives by the deadline. Don't send a second letter. File. The demand letter has already done its job of establishing notice. A second letter just extends the contractor's opportunity to move assets before a judgment is entered.
The contractor responds with a dispute of the facts. That's fine. Courts decide disputed facts. What matters is that you have documentation and they may not. Reply once, briefly and factually, and then file if they don't make a concrete offer.
Whatever happens, keep records of everything after the letter goes out: calls, texts, emails, payments, broken promises. Post-letter communications are often the most damning evidence at a hearing, because they show what the contractor did after they had formal written notice of the statutory violation.