How to Get a Contractor License or Registration in Illinois

Start by accepting that the state licence you are looking for is not there

Most states answer "how do I get a contractor licence" with one agency and one application. Illinois does not, and the fastest way to waste a month here is to keep hunting for the page that issues it. IDFPR, which the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity describes as "the main licensing agency for the State of Illinois for most professions", publishes an alphabetical list of every profession and industry it regulates. That list runs from Acupuncturist to Veterinarian and includes Architect, Professional Engineer, Structural Engineer, Land Surveyor, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, Home Inspection, Alarm and Locksmith. It does not include a general contractor, an electrician, an HVAC or mechanical contractor, a carpenter or a painter.

What it does include, in the construction column, is exactly two entries: "Roofing Contractor" and "Qualifying Party Roofing Contractor". Everything else you might expect to find is either administered by a different state agency or is not a state licence at all.

Read that correctly. The absence of a statewide general contractor licence is not permission to work unlicensed, and it is not a gap you can plan around. It means the licence that actually decides whether you can pull a permit is issued by the municipality where the job is, and that the state-level obligations you do carry are scattered across four or five agencies rather than bundled into one application. The rest of this guide walks the pieces in the order they bite.

• IDFPR: roofing contractors, and the qualifying party who tests for them.
• IDPH: plumbers, apprentice plumbers, plumbing contractors and irrigation contractors.
• Office of the State Fire Marshal: fire sprinkler contractors and fire sprinkler inspectors.
• Your municipality: general contracting, and in Chicago electrical, mason, elevator, crane and more.
• No state agency: a general "contractor licence" covering framing, drywall, painting, siding, concrete or remodelling.

Official sources: IDFPR: Professions and Industries Regulated by IDFPR; Illinois DCEO: Step by Step Guide; IDPH: Plumbing; Office of the State Fire Marshal: Fire Sprinkler Contractor Information; City of Chicago: Chicago Trade License Information Center

If you touch a roof, you need the state licence, and it is a real one

The Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act is unusually broad in what it captures. 225 ILCS 335/9 makes it unlawful for any person to engage in the business of providing professional roofing services, or to hold themselves out as a roofing contractor, "without having been duly licensed or accepted by the Department", and adds that no work involving "the construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of any kind of roofing or waterproofing may be done except by a roofing contractor or a qualifying party licensed or credentialed under this Act". Waterproofing is in that sentence, which catches a number of businesses that do not think of themselves as roofers.

The licence comes in two scopes and the line between them is a unit count. 225 ILCS 335/2 defines a limited roofing licence as one "made available to contractors whose roofing business is limited to roofing residential properties consisting of 8 units or less", and an unlimited licence as one that "includes roofing on residential, commercial, and industrial properties". Pick against the largest job you intend to sell, because upgrading later means another examination: IDFPR's qualifying party application offers a separate Commercial and Industrial exam specifically "for individuals who already possess a Limited Roofing license and want to upgrade to an Unlimited Roofing license".

The bond scales with the scope. 225 ILCS 335/3(2)(d) requires evidence of a continuous bond "in the amount of $10,000 for a limited license and in the amount of $25,000 for an unlimited license", alongside public liability and property damage insurance "in such amounts and under such circumstances as may be determined by the Department", workers' compensation cover for roofing or approval as a self-insurer, and an unemployment insurance employer account number with no delinquent payments. Section 3.2 then makes the bond a live obligation rather than a filing: a licence "shall be cancelled without hearing on the termination date of the roofing contractor's bond" unless a new bond takes effect the same day.

Every roofing licence also needs a human attached to it. Section 3(1) requires a company licence to designate one individual as the qualifying party, who takes the examination and must be "actively engaged in day to day activities of the business organization"; Section 3(3.5) adds that the qualifying party must be a compensated employee under supervision with proper withholding and workers' compensation, and specifically not someone paid on a Form 1099. IDFPR states that a licence "will become INOPERABLE if there is no active qualifying party", that the licensee has 30 business days to name a replacement, and that if the replacement has not passed the examination within seven months the licensee must designate someone who has.

Official sources: 225 ILCS 335/9 (licensure requirement); 225 ILCS 335/2 (definitions); 225 ILCS 335/3 (application for roofing contractor license); 225 ILCS 335/3.2 (bond); IDFPR: Licensed Roofing Contractor application packet (DPR-RF); IDFPR: Roofing Contractors Qualifying Party Examination application (RF-QP)

The roofing numbers you can actually rely on, and the one we will not give you

IDFPR's Licensed Roofing Contractor application packet, stamped "PACKET UPDATED 10/2/24", sets out the money and the calendar. The application fee is "$125.00 in the form of a U.S. check or money order made payable to IDFPR or payment online", it is not refundable, and IDFPR asks applicants to allow eight business weeks before making an inquiry about status. The expiry is fixed rather than rolling: "the license will expire on December 31st of each odd numbered year regardless of when it is issued", so a licence granted in the autumn of an odd year is short-lived.

The examination is not run by the Department. IDFPR's RF-QP packet states that the qualifying party examination is administered by Continental Testing Services, that the fee must be a certified check or money order payable to that company or paid by card on its site, and lists an application fee of $226.00 for each of the three exam types: Residential Roofing, Commercial and Industrial Roofing, and Residential, Commercial and Industrial Roofing. The packet is blunt that all fees are non-refundable and that the test fee "is not transferrable from one exam date to another".

Here is the figure we are not going to invent for you. 225 ILCS 335/7 provides that the fees for administering the Act, "including, but not limited to, original certification, renewal, and restoration of a license", shall be set by rule rather than by statute, and 225 ILCS 335/6(a) likewise leaves the expiration date and renewal period to Department rule. The application packet publishes the initial $125 and the odd-year December 31 expiry; no reachable official page in this pass published the renewal fee amount. Ask IDFPR before you budget it. The Department publishes 1-888-473-4858 and 800.560.6420 on the roofing pages.

Official sources: IDFPR: Licensed Roofing Contractor application packet (DPR-RF); IDFPR: Roofing Contractors Qualifying Party Examination application (RF-QP); 225 ILCS 335/7 (fees); 225 ILCS 335/6 (expiration and renewal); IDFPR: Roofing Contractor

Plumbing runs through IDPH on a completely separate track

If your business does plumbing, IDFPR is the wrong agency. The Illinois Department of Public Health licenses plumbers under the Illinois Plumbing License Law and registers the contracting businesses they work for. IDPH states that a plumber licence requires a minimum of four years employment as a licensed apprentice plumber, at least two years of high school or equivalent, completion of an approved course of instruction, and a passing score on the state examination, and that licences "must be renewed by April 30th following the date of issuance". Licensed plumbers also carry an annual continuing education requirement.

The business-side registration is where the numbers live, and they are specific. 225 ILCS 320/13.1 requires plumbing contractor registration applications to be filed with the Department "each year, on or before the last day of September", with registrations expiring September 30. The same section requires general liability of $100,000 per occurrence with a minimum $300,000 aggregate for bodily injury, property damage cover of $50,000 or a minimum $300,000 combined single limit, workers' compensation with $500,000 employer's liability, and "an indemnification bond in the amount of $20,000 or a letter of credit in the same amount". It also requires that all employees of a registered plumbing contractor who engage in plumbing work be licensed plumbers or apprentice plumbers, which forecloses the idea of a labourer doing pipe work under loose supervision.

The registration fee itself we will not state, because 225 ILCS 320/30 provides only that the Department shall "by rule, establish a schedule of fees for examination, registration, and licensure", and IDPH's public plumbing page says contractors must register annually and pay a fee without publishing the amount. Ask IDPH before you file. What we can tell you is what the Act does to people who skip it: 225 ILCS 320/29.5 authorises a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each offence of practising as an unlicensed plumber or contractor, and escalates to $10,000 plus suspension or revocation where a registered contractor allows unregistered work.

Official sources: IDPH: Plumbing; 225 ILCS 320/13.1 (plumbing contractors registration); 225 ILCS 320/3 (licensing requirements); 225 ILCS 320/30 (fee schedule); 225 ILCS 320/29.5 (civil penalties)

The licence that actually lets you pull a permit is usually municipal

Chicago is the clearest illustration of how Illinois really works, and it is worth reading even if you never intend to work there, because it is the model your own municipality may be following in miniature. The City's Department of Buildings requires a general contractor licence "to perform most types of building construction, alteration, repair, and demolition work within the City of Chicago", and the trigger is broad: preparing or submitting a bid, undertaking a regulated activity directly or through others, hiring or supervising people carrying one out, or exercising control over the means and methods all require the licence before you start.

There are five classes, and they are sized by project value with a matching insurance floor. Class A carries unlimited project value at $5 million per occurrence; Class B tops out at $20 million of project value at $3 million per occurrence; Class C at $10 million and $2 million; Class D at $4 million and $2 million; and Class E at $500,000 of project value at $1 million per occurrence, with no demolition activity allowed at all. For calendar year 2026 the City publishes licence and renewal fees of $3,500 for Class A, $1,800 for Class B, $1,300 for Class C, $900 for Class D and $300 for Class E, plus a $100.00 reinstatement fee per year or fraction of a year expired. A licence is valid for one year from issuance and is automatically inactivated if the associated insurance policy expires.

Chicago also licenses far more than general contracting, and it does not fold the trades into the GC licence. The City lists trade licences covering electrical work, elevator and conveyance device work, mason work, plumbing and sewer work, boiler and steam engine operation, construction crane operation and specialty work, and states that a general contractor licence does not authorise work requiring a board-up, crane operator, drain layer, electrical contractor, elevator mechanic contractor, mason contractor or plumbing contractor licence. It says outright that "additional licenses issued by the State of Illinois may be required" on top of its own. A state-registered plumbing contractor still needs the Chicago plumbing contractor licence to work inside the city.

That layering is authorised by the state statutes themselves rather than being an act of municipal overreach. 225 ILCS 335/11 provides that nothing in the Roofing Act "limits the power of a municipality, city, county, incorporated area, or school district to regulate the quality and character of work" through permits and inspections, and 225 ILCS 320/16 lets a municipality of 500,000 or more run its own board of plumbing examiners on requirements substantially the same as the state Act, which is exactly what Chicago does.

Official sources: City of Chicago: General Contractor License; City of Chicago: Chicago Trade License Information Center; 225 ILCS 335/11 (application of Act); 225 ILCS 320/16 (local regulation by large municipalities)

The duties nobody licenses you for, and that apply from your first job

A contractor who concludes from all of the above that Illinois has no rules for them is about to make an expensive mistake. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act binds anyone doing residential repair or remodelling in Illinois regardless of licensure. Section 15 requires a written contract or work order for work over $1,000 stating "the total cost, including parts and materials listed with reasonable particularity", any charge for an estimate, and the business name and address. Section 20 requires the consumer to be given the pamphlet "Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights" before the contract is signed, with a signed and countersigned acknowledgment for contracts over $1,000.

Section 25 is the one that surprises people, because it is an insurance mandate with no licence attached to it. It requires a person engaged in home repair and remodelling to maintain public liability and property damage insurance of "$100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence of bodily injury and $50,000 per occurrence for property damage", plus $10,000 per occurrence for work not in conformance with applicable State, county or municipal codes, with the only escape being a demonstrated net worth over $1,000,000 on financial statements from the preceding 13 months. If you carry nothing because nobody asked you for a certificate, you are already out of compliance.

Both trades Illinois does license statewide carry advertising duties on top. 225 ILCS 335/5 requires a licensed roofing contractor to affix the licence number and the name as it appears on the licence to all contracts and bids, to display the licence in a conspicuous place at the principal place of business, and to include the number and name in advertising; violations are a Class A misdemeanour carrying $1,000 fines, with each advertisement run and each day of violation counted separately. 225 ILCS 320/5 puts a parallel duty on plumbing, requiring the licence number in advertisements and on vehicles, on the same Class A misdemeanour footing.

Official sources: 815 ILCS 513/15 (written contract); 815 ILCS 513/20 (consumer rights brochure); 815 ILCS 513/25 (insurance required); 225 ILCS 335/5 (display of license number; permits; advertising); 225 ILCS 320/5 (advertising)

Check the official page yourself before you file or sign

Illinois spreads contractor rules across more agencies than most states: IDFPR for roofing, IDPH for plumbing, the Office of the State Fire Marshal for fire sprinkler work, the Illinois Department of Revenue for tax registration, IDES for unemployment insurance, the Secretary of State for entity filings, your county clerk for an assumed name, and your own municipality for the licence that actually lets you pull a permit. No single page carries all of it, and each one changes on its own schedule.

Two practical consequences. First, before you file an application or sign a contract, open the specific agency page for your trade, confirm the figure you are relying on, and keep a dated copy of what you read. Second, call your municipality before you assume it has no rules: Illinois has more units of local government than any other state, and the absence of a state licence for your trade tells you nothing about whether your village requires one. DCEO runs a Business Information Center on 800.252.2923 for exactly this kind of question.

Official sources: Illinois DCEO: Begin Here; Illinois DCEO: Step by Step Guide