How to Hire a General Contractor in Chicago (and Not Get Burned)

To hire a general contractor in Chicago, check four things before you sign anything: the City license for the work, proof of insurance, a written contract that states the total cost, and who is pulling the permit. A contractor who is happy to show you all four is usually a contractor worth talking to. One who dodges any of them is telling you something.

This guide walks the whole hiring process in order. It covers who actually needs a license, how to verify one, what Illinois law says about the contract, how to compare estimates, which red flags matter, and what your options are if a job goes sideways.

If you only read one part, read this:

1. Match the license to the work. Most building work in Chicago needs a City general contractor license. Masonry, roofing, electrical and plumbing have their own.
2. Look the license up yourself. Do not accept a photo of a card or a number read over the phone.
3. Get a written contract before work starts when the job is over $1,000, with the total cost and the materials listed.
4. Know who pulls the permit, and be suspicious of any contractor who asks you to do it for them.

Everything below explains the why behind those four, and what to do when a contractor pushes back.

Which license does your contractor actually need?

Chicago does not have one "contractor license." It has several, and the right one depends on the work. Start with the general contractor license, because it covers the most ground.

A Chicago general contractor license is required for most building construction, alteration, repair and demolition work, including work that is exempt from a building permit. Only one general contractor is allowed on a project at a time (Department of Buildings). The license comes in classes, A through E, sized by the value of the project. The classes also differ on demolition: the smallest class does not allow it. Each class carries its own insurance minimum, and the insurer must be rated B+ or better (Department of Buildings). Rules and class limits change, so confirm the current ones with the Department of Buildings.

A few details owners find useful:

• The GC license covers the consumer protections of a home repair license. A licensed GC does not need a separate Chicago home repair license (Department of Buildings). If the work needs a building permit, a GC license is required instead of the home repair license (Trade License Information Center).
• Trades have their own licenses. The City licenses electrical, plumbing, elevator and mason contractors, among others (Trade License Information Center). A GC does not replace them, and those trades can work within their own license without a GC.
• Masonry needs a mason contractor license. It applies to work in stone, concrete, terra cotta (including clay brick) or structural tile. The business must own or employ a person who passed the City mason exam, and only employees, not 1099 workers, work under the license (Chicago mason license rules). We explain it in who can legally lay your brick.
• Roofing needs an Illinois roofing license. It is unlawful to provide professional roofing services or hold yourself out as a roofing contractor without a state license from IDFPR. Roofing contractors can only subcontract roofing to other licensed roofers (Illinois roofing license). There are limited licenses, for residential properties of eight units or less, and unlimited ones (IDFPR license types).

For a deeper read on the GC side, see who needs a Chicago GC license and who doesn't.

How do you check a contractor's license?

Do it yourself, and do it before the estimate meeting is over. The City's Department of Buildings runs a contractor license lookup for general contractors, mason, plumbing and electrical contractors. A separate permit professionals lookup covers expediters and architects, and the state's IDFPR lookup covers architects, engineers and roofers (Department of Buildings).

Here is what to check on the screen:

• The name on the license matches the name on the estimate and the contract. A license under a different company name is not your contractor's license.
• The license is active, and the class fits the size of your job.
• For roofing, the person or company holds the Illinois roofing license, not just a City license.
• For masonry, a mason license is on file for the company doing the brick work.

Take a screenshot and put it in the project folder. Our five-minute walkthrough is in how to check a Chicago contractor's license, and the printable version is the contractor hiring checklist.

If a contractor says "I'm licensed" and can't give you a business name to search, stop there. Honest contractors give you the legal name, the address and the license number in the first conversation, in English or in Spanish.

What should the insurance look like?

Ask for a certificate of insurance, and ask for it to come from the insurer or the broker, not from the contractor's phone. Then read two things: the coverage types and the name of the insured.

Illinois sets a floor for home repair businesses. Under the Home Repair and Remodeling Act, a person in the home repair business must carry public liability and property damage insurance of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury, and $50,000 per occurrence for property damage, unless the business has a net worth of at least $1,000,000 (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act). Chicago's GC classes add their own insurance minimums, and the insurer must be rated B+ or better (Department of Buildings). Roofers need liability and workers compensation insurance to get their state license (IDFPR).

Why it matters in practice: a brick mason falls off a scaffold, a dumpster cracks a neighbor's sidewalk, a torch starts a fire in a roof assembly. Without coverage, the claim lands on you. We cover this in what insurance a Chicago contractor should carry. Policies lapse, so ask for a current certificate, not last year's.

What does Illinois law say about the contract?

This is the part most owners skip and the part that protects them most. The Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act applies to a residence of one to six units. Before starting home repair or remodeling work that costs more than $1,000, the contractor must give you a written contract or work order to sign. It has to state the total cost, with parts and materials listed with reasonable particularity and any charge for an estimate, plus the business name and address (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act).

Three more things to know about the Act:

• The pamphlet. For contracts over $1,000, the contractor must give you the pamphlet "Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights" before you sign, and you sign and date a Consumer Rights Acknowledgment Form, in duplicate (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act). For jobs of $1,000 or under, the pamphlet is still given, but no signed acknowledgment is required.
• What counts as covered work. The Act excludes maintenance, service or repairs under $500, original construction, and dwellings with more than six units. The listed examples include driveways, porches, chimneys, garages, fences, roofs and windows (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act). A six-flat is inside the Act. A seven-unit building is outside it.
• The remedy. A person who suffers actual damage from a violation may sue under Section 10a of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The Attorney General or a State's Attorney can sue to stop a pattern or practice of violations (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act). For a legal decision on your own situation, talk to an attorney.

A contract that meets the Act is a floor, not a ceiling. Good contracts also say what the work is, where it starts and stops, how payments are tied to progress, who cleans up, and how changes get priced. We break the required parts down in what your Illinois home repair contract must say.

Who pulls the permit, you or the contractor?

The contractor, in almost every case where a contractor is doing the work. The permit is tied to licenses. A masonry permit requires a licensed mason contractor, unless an owner qualifies as an owner-contractor (Department of Buildings). A reroofing permit requires a Chicago-licensed general contractor unless the owner qualifies, and the GC or the roofing subcontractor must hold a valid Illinois roofing license (Department of Buildings).

When a contractor says "you pull the permit, it's cheaper," that is the sentence to stop on. An owner can act as their own contractor only for a primary residence of no more than three stories and six units. The owner takes on responsibility for worker safety, scheduling inspections and code compliance, and the Express Permit pages require a form plus government ID showing the owner lives at the property (Department of Buildings). If you are not the one actually doing the work, you should not be putting your name on it.

That doesn't mean every job needs a permit. The City lists exemptions, and it also says the work must still follow the codes (Department of Buildings). For the full picture, see who pulls the permit, you or your contractor, what the owner-contractor rules allow, and when to hire a permit expediter. Expediters in Chicago are licensed through BACP, and a plan-based permit application has to be started by an Illinois-licensed architect or structural engineer, or a City-licensed expediter (Department of Buildings).

How do you compare contractor estimates?

Get at least a few, in writing, and make them comparable before you compare prices. Two numbers that look alike can describe very different jobs.

Put each estimate through the same questions:

• Scope. What exactly is included? How many feet of wall, which parts of the roof, which stairs? If it says "repair porch," ask what repair means.
• Materials. What kind, what brand or grade, and who supplies them? The Act wants materials listed with reasonable particularity for a reason (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act).
• Permit and licenses. Who pulls the permit, and is the permit cost in the number?
• Cleanup and protection. Dumpster, debris, gangway and landscaping protection, and what happens with the neighbor's access.
• Exclusions. What happens if the crew opens a wall and finds rot? How is extra work priced and approved?
• Payment. What is due when, and tied to what?

The cheapest estimate often leaves out something the others included. We go through this in how to compare contractor estimates in Chicago and give you a question list in questions to ask a Chicago contractor before you sign. On cost, think in drivers, not benchmarks: access, height, condition of what is underneath, the permit path, and how much of the building is touched. A contractor who gives you a number without seeing the building has not priced your building.

What about deposits and payments?

We have not found a City or State source that sets a deposit percentage, so we won't quote one, and you should be wary of anyone who quotes a rule of thumb as if it were law. What you can do is control the structure. Ask for the payment schedule in the contract, tie each payment to a stage of finished work, and keep the final payment for after the work passes inspection, where an inspection applies.

Never pay in cash with no receipt. Pay by check or another traceable method, and keep a record of every payment. Our deposit explainer covers the questions to ask, and the red flags section below covers what a rush for cash usually means.

What are the red flags?

Most bad hires announce themselves early. The usual patterns in Chicago:

• The door-knocker. Someone appears after a storm or a City notice, says they were "in the neighborhood" and can start tomorrow. Real contractors have a business address and a schedule.
• Cash only, no paper. If there is no written contract on a job over $1,000, that alone is a problem under the Act (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act).
• A license that doesn't check out. The name, class or trade doesn't match what you find in the lookup (Department of Buildings).
• "You pull the permit." See above. Unlicensed roofing is also illegal under state law, and a permit applicant using an unlicensed roofer is not eligible for Express reroofing (Illinois roofing license).
• Pressure. A price that "expires today," or a demand for most of the money upfront.
• No physical address or insurance on request. Insurance and a real business name come together or not at all.
• Vague scope. "Fix the back" is not a scope.

If you recognize two or three of these, walk away. Our longer list is in Chicago contractor red flags.

Does the contractor speak your language, and does it matter?

For a lot of Chicago owners, yes, and it is more than convenience. A contract, a scope and a change order only protect you if you understand them. A contractor who speaks Spanish can walk you through the Home Repair and Remodeling Act pamphlet, the payment schedule and what a permit inspection will look at, in your own words, before you sign.

What to ask: does the whole crew communicate in your language, or just the salesperson? Are written documents available in the language you read best? Can you reach a person on the phone who can answer for the work? We wrote what to ask a Spanish-speaking contractor in Chicago for exactly this.

Akats is a family-operated, minority-owned Chicago contractor, licensed and insured in Illinois, with a BBB A+ rating, and we work in English and Spanish. That is not a reason to hire us. It is a list of things you should be able to verify about anyone you hire, and we are glad to be checked.

What if the contractor takes the money and quits?

Don't assume it's hopeless, and don't assume you can fix it with a text message. Start by gathering the paper: the contract, estimate, receipts, photos of the work as it stands, and every message. Then check the license in the City lookup (Department of Buildings), and send a written notice describing the problem and what you want done.

Illinois law gives you a remedy path. A person who suffers actual damage from a violation of the Home Repair and Remodeling Act may sue under Section 10a of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and the Attorney General or a State's Attorney can sue to stop pattern or practice violations (Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act). Whether you have a claim and how to bring it is a question for an attorney. Our overview of your options is in what to do when a contractor abandons the job in Illinois.

Meanwhile, protect the building: if the work was left half done, a tarped roof or open wall needs attention before the next storm.

How do you pick the right contractor for the actual work?

Once the basics are covered, match the contractor to the job. A general contractor coordinates the project, and specialty work needs specialty skill:

• Mortar and brick: Chicago tuckpointing and brick and masonry repair.
• Porches: the porch repair and rebuild guide.
• Flat roofs and shingles: the Chicago roof guide.
• Concrete, steps and sidewalks: Chicago concrete and sidewalk repair.
• Demolition: house demolition in Chicago.
• Violation work: Chicago building violations, where the fix has to satisfy the City, not just look good.
• Drawings and design: the design-build guide, if your project needs plans.

A contractor that has the trades in house, masonry, concrete, roofing, porch, demolition, excavation, tuckpointing, expediting, violations, design-build and architectural services, means fewer handoffs and one party responsible. Akats works that way. Whichever firm you hire, ask who is actually on your building, who is responsible when two trades overlap, and who talks to the inspector.

When you are ready for a straight read on your building, call us for a free estimate. We will tell you what needs doing, what can wait, and what you can leave alone.

Common questions

This article explains general rules and common situations in Chicago. It is not legal advice, and City rules change. For a specific property, check with the Chicago Department of Buildings or a licensed professional.