How to File a Complaint Against a Contractor in Texas

Contractor disputes are one branch of the consumer law described in the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. This article covers the practical routing question: which office accepts the complaint, what that office can and cannot do about it, and what a homeowner has to do before a construction defect claim can be filed in court.

Which Texas agency takes the complaint

Texas regulates contractors by trade, not by the general job title. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses and disciplines a defined list of building and mechanical occupations, including air conditioning and refrigeration, electricians, elevators and escalators, industrialized housing and buildings, mold assessors and remediators, boilers, and code enforcement officers. A complaint against a person working in one of those trades goes to TDLR, which can investigate and act against the license.

Two examples show where the line falls. Under the department’s air conditioning and refrigeration program, “[c]ontractors who install, repair, or maintain systems related to air conditioning, refrigeration, or heating must have a TDLR license,” according to the agency’s ACR program page. The electrical program is broader still: “nyone who performs, or offers to perform, non-exempt electrical work in the state of Texas must be licensed and perform that work through a licensed electrical contractor,” per the electricians program page. General remodeling, roofing, foundation, and home-improvement work does not appear on that list. A remodeler who is not also performing a licensed trade holds no state license, which means no state board has a license to suspend or revoke. Complaints about that kind of work go to the Attorney General, to a local building department if a permit was involved, or to court. [important type="note"] Municipal building departments enforce permits, inspections, and local trade registration. A city inspector can red-tag unpermitted work and require correction even when no state agency has jurisdiction over the contractor. [/important] ## How to file a TDLR complaint TDLR accepts complaints through an online intake form and by mail. The department publishes both routes on its complaints page, which links the online form and a printable paper complaint form for people who prefer to submit documents by post. [steps] [step title="Confirm the trade is regulated"] Check the program list on the TDLR complaints page against the work performed. Air conditioning, electrical, elevator, boiler, mold remediation, and industrialized housing work are covered. General carpentry, painting, roofing, and remodeling are not. [/step] [step title="Gather the contract and payment records"] The department evaluates what was promised and what was delivered. Signed contracts, change orders, invoices, cancelled checks, permit numbers, and dated photographs of the work carry the factual weight in an agency file. [/step] [step title="Identify the license holder, not just the company"] Enforcement runs against the licensed individual or the licensed company. The license number appears on permits, on the contract in many cases, and in TDLR’s public license search. [/step] [step title="Submit the complaint"] The online form takes the narrative and attachments in one session. The mail-in option uses the paper complaint form linked from the same page. [/step] [/steps] A TDLR investigation is an enforcement matter between the state and the license holder. The department can impose administrative penalties and license sanctions. It does not award refunds or damages to the person who complained, and the complainant is not a party to the case. ## Filing a consumer complaint with the Attorney General The Office of the Attorney General accepts consumer complaints about deceptive business practices through its consumer complaint portal. The office asks for the business’s full address including zip code, a detailed description of the complaint, transaction dates and amounts, contract information, and payment information. Three limits on that process matter before filing. First, the office states plainly that it “cannot give you legal advice.” Second, under Texas law the complaint is open to the public. Third, the confirmation number returned after submission “does not indicate that any decision has been made regarding the merits of the complaint and does not reflect that the OAG has a case or investigation pending.” The office uses complaint volume to identify patterns and to build enforcement actions in the state’s name. What happens to an individual file after submission is covered in more detail in what happens after a Texas attorney general complaint. [important type="warning"] Filing an agency complaint does not pause any deadline for filing a lawsuit. Limitations periods run on their own schedule while an agency reviews a file. [/important] ## The 60-day notice before a construction defect suit Residential construction disputes carry a statutory pre-suit procedure that agency complaints do not satisfy. Chapter 27 of the Texas Property Code, the Residential Construction Liability Act, governs “any action to recover damages or other relief arising from a construction defect,” and it prevails over conflicting law, including the Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.002[/statute]. The notice itself is specific. Under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.004(a)[/statute], a claimant must give written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the contractor’s last known address before the 60th day preceding the date the action is initiated, specifying the construction defects in reasonable detail and providing discoverable evidence of the defect, including expert reports, photographs, and recordings. During the 35-day period after the contractor receives the notice, the contractor may request a reasonable opportunity to inspect and may conduct up to three inspections. The contractor’s response window runs alongside it. Not later than the 60th day after receiving the notice, the contractor may make a written offer of settlement, which can include an agreement to repair the defect at the contractor’s expense or at a reduced rate. Repairs under an accepted offer are due not later than the 60th day after the contractor receives written acceptance. An offer not accepted before the 25th day after the claimant receives it is considered rejected. [important type="deadline"] A claimant who rejects a reasonable offer, or who denies a reasonable opportunity to inspect or repair, may not recover more than the fair market value of the contractor’s last settlement offer, and may recover only costs and attorney’s fees incurred before the offer was rejected ([statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.004(e)[/statute]). If the contractor fails to make a reasonable offer, that cap does not apply. [/important] Two related provisions come up often. A written contract subject to Chapter 27 must carry a boldface notice describing the certified-mail requirement, and a contract missing that notice exposes the contractor to a civil penalty of $500 in addition to other remedies under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.007[/statute]. Once suit is filed over a defect claim greater than $7,500, either side may move to compel mediation, and the motion must be filed not later than the 90th day after the date the suit is filed. ## What the DTPA adds to a contractor dispute Chapter 27 controls where it conflicts with the DTPA, but the DTPA still supplies the cause of action for misrepresentation, unconscionable conduct, and warranty breach in transactions that fall outside a covered construction defect. It also carries its own notice rule. Under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.17.htm"]Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.505(a)[/statute], a consumer must give written notice at least 60 days before filing suit, describing the specific complaint in reasonable detail along with the amount of economic damages, mental anguish damages, and expenses including attorney’s fees. Damages under the statute scale with the defendant’s state of mind. A prevailing consumer recovers economic damages found by the trier of fact; if the conduct was committed knowingly, the trier of fact may award mental anguish damages and not more than three times the amount of economic damages under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.17.htm"]Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.50(b)(1)[/statute]. The filing window is short. All actions under the DTPA subchapter must be commenced within two years after the deceptive act occurred, or within two years after the consumer discovered or should have discovered it, with a 180-day extension available where the plaintiff proves the delay was caused by the defendant’s conduct calculated to induce a postponement ([statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.17.htm"]Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.565[/statute]). ## Taking the dispute to justice court Money claims against a contractor that fit within the justice court limit can be filed without an attorney. Texas justice courts have original jurisdiction over civil matters in which the amount in controversy is not more than $20,000, exclusive of interest, under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.27.htm"]Tex. Gov’t Code § 27.031(a)(1)[/statute]. Justice courts have no jurisdiction over suits for trial of title to land or for enforcement of a lien on land, so a dispute that turns on clearing a lien from the property belongs in a different court. A contractor who claims to be unpaid frequently records a lien against the home, which changes the shape of the dispute and adds its own calendar; those filing windows are set out in Texas mechanics lien deadlines and filing requirements. Where a construction defect claim proceeds under Chapter 27, the certified-mail notice described above comes first regardless of which court hears the case. [faq] [q]Does Texas license general contractors?[/q] [a]No statewide license exists for general home-improvement or remodeling contractors. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses specific building and mechanical trades, including air conditioning and refrigeration, electricians, boilers, elevators, mold assessors and remediators, and industrialized housing. Cities may separately require registration or permits for work performed inside their limits.

Will TDLR get my money back? No. A TDLR complaint opens an administrative enforcement matter against the license holder. The department can pursue penalties and license sanctions. Recovery of money paid to a contractor runs through a civil claim, which for amounts of $20,000 or less can be filed in justice court under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.27.htm"]Tex. Gov’t Code § 27.031(a)(1)[/statute].

Do I have to send the certified-mail notice if the contractor already refuses to talk? The notice requirement in [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.004[/statute] does not depend on the contractor’s cooperation. A court or arbitration tribunal shall abate an action if it finds the claimant failed to provide the notice or failed to give a reasonable opportunity to inspect. The statute excuses notice only where filing earlier is necessary to prevent expiration of the statute of limitations or where the complaint is asserted as a counterclaim.

What if the defect is dangerous right now? Chapter 27 handles that separately. A contractor who receives written notice of a defect from the contractor’s own work that creates an imminent threat to the health or safety of the inhabitants shall take reasonable steps to cure it as soon as practicable. If the contractor fails to cure within a reasonable time, the owner may have the defect cured and recover the reasonable cost of repairs plus attorney’s fees and costs ([statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.004(m)[/statute]).

Can a homeowner and contractor agree to waive Chapter 27? No. An attempted waiver of the chapter’s provisions in a contract subject to it is void under [statute url="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm"]Tex. Prop. Code § 27.009[/statute]. The parties may agree in writing to extend any time period the chapter describes, which is a different thing from waiving the procedure.

Is a complaint to the Attorney General public? Yes. The office’s consumer complaint page states that under Texas law the complaint is open to the public. The same page notes the office cannot give legal advice, and that a complaint’s reference number does not indicate a pending case or investigation. [/faq]