Contractor Gone · Arizona

Contractor gone in Arizona: where the money can come from

Arizona is one of the best states to be in. The Registrar of Contractors takes the complaint itself, can order the contractor to fix or refund, and its Recovery Fund pays up to $30,000 per residence on licensed work once there is an order. File the ROC complaint first; the fund claim hangs off it. The pool-builder failures of the last two years have run through exactly this process.

Run the free check for Arizona

The four paths in Arizona

Card chargeback	Same in every state. Dispute for services not rendered within 120 days of the promised completion, no later than 540 days after the payment. Each payment has its own clock.
State fund	Residential Contractors' Recovery Fund, Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC). Cap: $30,000 per residence; $200,000 per contractor license. Precondition: Licensed residential contractor; ROC complaint and order, or a court judgment. Deadline: file with ROC within two years of the order (confirm). verified Agency page
Bankruptcy claim	If the company filed, a proof of claim (Official Form 410) with the court by the bar date. A deposit for personal or household services is a priority claim up to $3,800 for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025 (11 U.S.C. 507(a)(7)); the rest is general unsecured.
Lien exposure: Mostly protected	Arizona bars subcontractors and suppliers from liening an owner-occupied home unless they contracted with you directly (A.R.S. 33-1002). If it is your residence, a sub's lien threat is mostly noise; say so in writing.

Is the contractor licensed?

Licensed by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors. Look up the license. Pool builders need an ROC license. Check it before anything else; the fund only pays on licensed work.

Deposits and the contract

No cap on deposits, but abandoning a job and failing to refund are grounds for ROC discipline. confirm

Small claims

Justice Court, small claims division (regular Justice Court civil up to $10,000), generally up to $3,500 as of 2025; confirm the current limit on the court's site before filing. Above the cap, the regular civil docket, where a lawyer is optional but usual. confirm

In order

Pull the contract, every receipt, and your card or bank statements. The contract page shows where each number lives.
Check the license at the link above. Licensed opens the fund; unlicensed means small claims and a report to the licensing body.
If you paid by card, call the issuer today and open a dispute for services not rendered. The window closes; everything else waits.
Send the demand letter by certified mail. It starts the clock the licensing body and the court will want to see.
File the complaint with Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC). The fund claim hangs off it.
Search PACER for the company. A bankruptcy filing stops the letters and the lawsuit and replaces them with a proof of claim.
Answer any subcontractor notice in writing with proof of what you paid. Arizona bars subcontractors and suppliers from liening an owner-occupied home unless they contracted with you directly (A.R.S. 33-1002). If it is your residence, a sub's lien threat is mostly noise; say so in writing.

The paperwork, done

The Contractor Gone kit, $39, fills every letter and form above with your facts: the chargeback script, the demand letter with Arizona's deposit rule cited, the licensing complaint, the fund application, the lien-defense letter, the proof of claim worksheet, and a checklist for hiring the contractor who finishes the job. What's in it, or run the check first; the answers carry into the kit.

Page written 2026-09-07. Rows marked verified were read on the agency page or statute on the date shown in the data; rows marked confirm are from general knowledge and should be checked with the agency. Spot an error? Email jon@homestillworks.com and it gets fixed the same day.