You signed a $475,000 gut renovation contract for your Bay Ridge two-family last spring. The contract was two pages long, printed on the contractor's letterhead, with no cancellation notice, and a $200,000 deposit due on signing. Six months later the project is 40% complete, the deposit is spent, and your contractor stopped answering the phone. What most homeowners don't realize is that this two-page contract almost certainly violates GBL Article 36-A — and that violation is

You moved into your renovated Forest Hills colonial last spring. Eight months later, water is staining the dining room ceiling, the basement floor has hairline cracks running wall to wall, and the new bathroom tile is lifting. Your contractor stopped returning calls in October. Now you're staring at repair estimates that approach what you paid for the original work, and you're wondering whether a construction defect claim in New York is worth pursuing. It usually is — if you