Siding, windows and decks in Montgomery County, PA: 62 municipalities, rentals and a local fraud case
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
What is distinctive about Montgomery County for exterior work?
Its size and its mix. With 350,351 housing units in the Census Bureau's estimate, it is a large county spread across 62 local governments, and a sizable share of them are rentals and units in multi-unit buildings. That mix matters, because the state's home improvement law and the EPA's lead rule treat owners, landlords and condominium owners differently. The county was also the setting for one of the Attorney General's recent home improvement prosecutions.
What does the housing look like?
The Census Bureau's profile puts 16.0 percent of the county's homes as first built in 1939 or earlier, against 25.0 percent statewide, and 8.1 percent as built since 2010. Single-family houses, detached or attached, make up 73.1 percent of units, and 26.1 percent are in multi-unit buildings. Of occupied homes, 71.4 percent are owner-occupied and 28.6 percent rented. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $436,700. The county's own numbers page gives "353K+ housing units" and 62 townships, boroughs and municipalities.
Does the state law protect a landlord or a condo owner?
Partly, and the details are in the act. The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act covers work on a "private residence", which it defines as a single-family home, a building of no more than two units, or a single unit in a larger building, including condominium and cooperative units. So a condo owner replacing the windows of a unit is covered; work on a whole apartment building is not.
The act also limits who counts as an "owner". A person who owns three or more private residences in Pennsylvania is treated as an owner only for the primary residence and homes used for personal recreation. An investor with several rental houses therefore has less of the act's protection on the rentals than a homeowner has on the family home, and should not assume its contract and deposit rules apply.
What do landlords owe tenants on older buildings?
Lead-safe work. The EPA says its renovation rule generally does not apply to homeowners working on their own pre-1978 homes, but does apply if you rent all or part of the home, and that landlords must comply when work disturbs paint in a pre-1978 rental. Window replacement is covered at any size. For a Montgomery County landlord hiring a window or siding crew for an older rental, the firm must be EPA-certified; for a tenant, the EPA says a suspected violation can be reported to the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-5323.
Who issues permits?
Your municipality. With 62 local governments, the answer for the same job can differ from one side of a township line to the other. Labor and Industry says over 90% of the state's municipalities enforce the Uniform Construction Code themselves or through a certified third-party agency. The state regulation exempts window and door replacement with only a minor framing change and new vinyl or aluminum siding on an existing house, in each case unless a local ordinance says otherwise, and needs no permit for an uncovered deck whose floor is no more than 30 inches above grade.
What does the Pottstown case show?
In March 2025 the Attorney General announced that a Montgomery County judge had sentenced a Pottstown-based contractor to three to six years in state prison, plus two years of probation, for failing to complete work for victims who lost more than $156,000. According to the Attorney General's release, between 2021 and 2022 he contracted with four homeowners, took payments up front and gave another contractor's license information; he had no registration of his own. One homeowner paid $108,747 in total and sold the house at a loss.
The office's advice in that release is a checklist in itself: do your research, check references, be wary of high-pressure tactics, get more than one estimate, get a written contract with start, finish and cancellation dates, and do not sign a completion certificate until all the contracted work is done to your satisfaction.
How do you check a contractor here?
Look the registration number up yourself on the Attorney General's contractor search, filtered to Montgomery County, and make sure the business name matches the one on your contract. Remember that the Attorney General says registration is not an endorsement of honesty or skill. The state rules on contracts, deposits and cancelling are in what Pennsylvania requires, and businesses serving the county are on the Montgomery County exterior remodeling page.
Sources
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- Montgomery County by the Numbers, Montgomery County
- Pottstown-Based Home Improvement Contractor Jailed at Least 3 Years for Taking More than $156K for Jobs he did not Complete, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
- 2008 Act 132 (Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act), Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: Contractors, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- 34 Pa. Code 403.1. Scope., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
- 34 Pa. Code 403.62. Permit requirements and exemptions., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
- Uniform Construction Code, Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry
- Home Improvement Contractor Search, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
- Home Improvement Contractor Verification, Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General