What Are Illinois's Contractor Licensing Rules?

Is a contractor license required in Illinois?

There's no statewide general contractor license and no statewide home improvement contractor registration. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act looks like it might be one, but it's a consumer-protection law: for a residential repair or remodeling job over $1,000, it requires a written contract, specific consumer-rights disclosures, and minimum liability insurance — it doesn't license or register who's allowed to do the work. Plumbing and roofing are the two real exceptions, each licensed statewide but through entirely separate laws and agencies. Electrical and HVAC contracting have no statewide license at all; whatever licensing exists for those trades is purely local, with Chicago being the most prominent example.

Which agency regulates it?

Plumbing is licensed by the Illinois Department of Public Health, assisted by the State Board of Plumbing Examiners — not by IDFPR, which is where most other Illinois professional licenses live. Roofing, by contrast, is licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act isn't administered by a licensing board at all; it's enforced as consumer protection, by the Illinois Attorney General or a county State's Attorney. There's no state agency for electrical or HVAC contracting, because Illinois doesn't license those trades at the state level.

Where can you find the actual laws?

The Home Repair and Remodeling Act is 815 ILCS 513 — the written-contract threshold is § 15 and the insurance requirement is § 25. Plumbing licensing is the Illinois Plumbing License Law, 225 ILCS 320 — the Board of Plumbing Examiners is created under § 7, contractor registration is § 13.1, and criminal and civil penalties are §§ 29 and 29.5. Roofing licensing is the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act, 225 ILCS 335 — the qualifying-party role and its exam are §§ 3 and 3.5, the one-business-at-a-time rule is § 4.5, what happens when a qualifying party leaves is § 4.6, and penalties are §§ 9.8 and 10a. The Roofing Act was substantially rewritten by Public Act 104-0427, effective August 15, 2025, which also pushed the Act's scheduled repeal date out to January 1, 2031. IDFPR and the Illinois Department of Public Health each publish their own current licensing instructions directly.

What does it take to get licensed?

Plumbing runs through a long apprenticeship: a prospective plumber typically spends 48 to 72 months working under a licensed plumber before sitting for the state exam. Once licensed, a plumbing business separately registers as a plumbing contractor with the health department, and that registration has to name a licensed plumber who is an owner, partner, or corporate officer of the business — not just any licensed employee on staff. Registration renews every year on September 30th. Roofing works differently: the business itself holds one of two license types, limited (residential, including buildings of eight units or fewer) or unlimited (residential, commercial, and industrial), and it has to name an individual qualifying party who passes the licensing exam, is bonded for $10,000 (limited) or $25,000 (unlimited), and is genuinely employed by the business — paid through payroll with taxes withheld, not paid as a 1099 contractor.

What are the penalties for operating without a license?

Real on both the criminal and civil side for plumbing and roofing, though at different levels. Acting as an unlicensed or unregistered plumber is a Class B misdemeanor carrying a $500 fine on a first offense, stepping up to a Class A misdemeanor and a $1,000 fine for any later violation, with each day treated as a separate offense — on top of that, a separate civil penalty of up to $5,000 per offense can apply. Roofing carries heavier exposure: unlicensed roofing work is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to $2,500 on a first offense, but a second or later violation is a Class 4 felony with a fine up to $25,000, and the department can separately impose civil and disciplinary penalties of up to $15,000 per violation. Violating the Home Repair and Remodeling Act isn't a licensing penalty at all — it's treated as a violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, opening the door to the Attorney General or a State's Attorney pursuing it as consumer fraud rather than unlicensed contracting.

Does Illinois have reciprocity with other states?

Not in any meaningful interstate sense, for either trade. For plumbing, the health department's only published reciprocity arrangement runs toward the City of Chicago's own licensed plumbers, not toward any other state — an applicant coming from outside Illinois generally has to apply as a new applicant and meet Illinois's own requirements. Roofing has no published state-by-state reciprocity list either; an out-of-state roofing license doesn't carry over automatically, and the qualifying party still has to pass Illinois's own exam.

Is it legal to rent or lease a license in Illinois?

Roofing and plumbing answer this differently, because they're built on two different kinds of relationships. Roofing has a named "qualifying party" role built directly into the business license: that person has to pass the exam, actually be employed by the business on its payroll rather than paid as a 1099 contractor, and be genuinely engaged in supervising the business's day-to-day roofing work. A qualifying party generally can't be named for more than one roofing business at a time — the one narrow exception is a second business of the same license type where there's common ownership or management of at least 25% across both, such as a licensed subsidiary of the same parent. When a qualifying party leaves, both the business and that individual have to notify the department in writing within 30 business days, and the business's license goes inoperative as soon as that relationship ends, with a window set by rule to bring on a replacement and requalify. Plumbing doesn't use a separate "qualifying party" credential at all — instead, a plumbing contractor's registration has to name a licensed plumber who holds a real stake in the business, as an owner, partner, or corporate officer. Simply hiring a licensed plumber as an ordinary employee, with no ownership or officer role, doesn't satisfy that requirement. What the plumbing statute doesn't clearly resolve either way is whether the same licensed owner, partner, or officer can fill that role for more than one business at once — that's genuinely unaddressed rather than clearly allowed or barred.

How do you find a qualifier or a business in Illinois?

findQualifier.com is a public, searchable board of licensed professionals advertising their availability to work as a qualifier, by state and trade. Browse available qualifiers in Illinois, browse Illinois businesses looking to hire, or post a listing.