Illinois · Roofing licensing · official-source guide
Illinois licenses roofing contractors at the state level through IDFPR under the Roofing Industry Licensing Act. Contractors need a Limited (residential, 8 units or fewer) or Unlimited (residential, commercial, industrial) license, a qualifying party who passes a Continental Testing Services exam, minimum insurance, a surety bond, and renewal every two years by December 31 of odd years.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-09-18. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Illinois licenses roofing contractors at the state level. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, working through its Division of Professional Regulation, administers the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act and issues the Roofing Contractor license. This is a business entity license: the roofing company itself, not each individual worker, holds the license, and every licensed roofing business must have a designated qualifying party who has passed a state examination. The requirement applies to anyone who contracts to install, repair, maintain, or replace roofing systems in Illinois, whether the work is residential, commercial, or industrial. Illinois is one of the few states that regulates roofing as its own licensed trade rather than folding it into a general contractor or home improvement registration, though the city of Chicago layers its own general contractor licensing on top of the state requirement for most permit-triggering construction work performed inside city limits. IDFPR's roofing program page lists the license type, the required forms, the governing statute and administrative rules, board information, and a complaint process, and the department maintains a searchable online license lookup so a customer can confirm a company's status before signing a contract. Because the license attaches to the business rather than to individual employees, a roofing company can employ crews who have not personally taken the state exam, provided the company keeps an actively licensed qualifying party on file. If that qualifying party leaves and is not timely replaced, the license becomes inoperable and the company must stop offering or performing roofing services until a new qualifying party is designated and processed.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Illinois issues two classifications of roofing contractor license: Limited and Unlimited. A Limited Roofing License authorizes a contractor to perform residential roofing work only, defined by IDFPR to include residential properties of eight units or fewer. An Unlimited Roofing License authorizes roofing work that is unlimited in nature, covering residential, commercial, and industrial properties, including larger multi-unit buildings and non-residential structures. A contractor who wants to move from the Limited tier up to the Unlimited tier does not automatically upgrade; under the roofing administrative rules cited on the application, a Limited license holder who wants an Unlimited license must file a new application under the Unlimited licensure provisions and meet its requirements, including designating a qualifying party who has passed the higher-level examination. Both license types are issued to the business entity named on the application, whether that entity is a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or professional limited liability company, and both require the same core supporting documents: a completed qualifying party designation, a certification of insurance, and a bond form matched to the license type, using the BD-LRF form for Limited licenses and the BD-URF form for Unlimited licenses. The choice of license type should match the scope of work a contractor actually intends to perform, since a company holding only a Limited license is not authorized to contract for commercial or industrial roofing jobs, and performing work outside a license's scope risks the same enforcement exposure as operating with no license at all.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Every roofing contractor license in Illinois, Limited or Unlimited, must be tied to a designated qualifying party. IDFPR defines the qualifying party as the individual, whether a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, an officer of a corporation, a trustee of a business trust, or a comparable principal of another legal entity, who is legally authorized to act for the business in all matters connected with its roofing contracting operations, who has the authority to supervise roofing installation work, and who is actively engaged in the day-to-day activities of the business. For a sole proprietorship, the qualifying party must be the owner of the business. The qualifying party is also the person who must sit for and pass the state examination; a roofing business cannot hold an active license without one. IDFPR limits how many licenses a single person can qualify: no one may serve as qualifying party for more than one licensee, except that the same person may also qualify a second licensee of the same license type if the two entities share at least 25 percent common ownership, or if one entity is a subsidiary of the other with at least 25 percent ownership. When a qualifying party's relationship with a licensee ends, both the departing qualifying party and the licensee must notify IDFPR in writing within 30 business days, and the licensee then has 30 business days to name a replacement. If the newly named qualifying party has not passed the examination within seven months of being designated, the licensee must name someone who has already passed it, or the license becomes inoperable.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
The qualifying party exam for Illinois roofing contractors is administered by Continental Testing Services, Inc., a third-party testing vendor, not by IDFPR directly. Applicants file the Application for the Roofing Contractors Qualifying Party Examination together with a nonrefundable test fee, and IDFPR's own reference sheet lists that fee at 226 dollars for each of the three exam categories: the Residential Roofing exam, the Commercial and Industrial Roofing exam, and the combined Residential, Commercial and Industrial Roofing exam. A contractor who already holds a Limited license and wants to upgrade to Unlimited can sit for the Commercial and Industrial exam alone rather than repeating the residential portion. Test fees must be paid by certified check or money order made out to Continental Testing Services, or paid online through the vendor's own registration system, and the fee is separate from and in addition to IDFPR's licensing fee. Candidates can also apply for accommodations and must disclose personal history information, including any criminal convictions, on the examination application itself. Once an applicant passes the exam, Continental Testing notifies IDFPR, and the roofing business can then be formally licensed or can update its license record with the newly qualified individual. IDFPR's instructions warn applicants to allow about three weeks from mailing an examination application before contacting the department about its status, and separately warn that a qualifying party has only three years from the date of the roofing company's application to pass the exam before the application fee is forfeited and the company must reapply under whatever requirements are then in effect.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
IDFPR reviews an applicant's criminal history as part of qualifying party licensure, but the department's own published guidance on this point is more permissive than many contractors expect. According to IDFPR's roofing contractor criminal conviction FAQ, there is no conviction that results in an automatic bar to obtaining a roofing contractor qualifying party license. Instead, the department considers a defined and fairly narrow list of serious offenses, most of them violent or sexual felonies such as murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated battery, and offenses involving consumer fraud or deceptive business practices, along with any offense requiring registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act. Those offenses must be disclosed on the application and may be weighed by the department, but even then, they do not automatically disqualify an applicant. IDFPR states that for the several years before the FAQ was published, more than 95 percent of applicants with a qualifying conviction who were not barred by law and who accurately disclosed the conviction on their application went on to obtain a license. Convictions the department does not weigh against an applicant at all, though they still must be disclosed, include cannabis possession or sale, traffic offenses, trespass, and vandalism. Convictions that have been expunged, sealed, vacated, or reversed by a court, along with juvenile adjudications, do not need to be disclosed at all. Applicants with a disclosed conviction should expect the department may follow up with a request for more information or schedule an informal conference before deciding on the application, rather than issuing an automatic denial.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Unlike some skilled trades, the Illinois roofing contractor application materials IDFPR publishes do not state a minimum number of years of hands-on roofing experience, a required apprenticeship, or a specific educational credential as a precondition to sitting for the qualifying party exam or to holding a roofing contractor license. The path to licensure documented on IDFPR's own application and examination forms is exam-based: a qualifying party must pass the appropriate Continental Testing Services examination for the license type sought, and the business must submit the required insurance and bond documentation. The examination itself is presumed to test the trade knowledge that would ordinarily come from experience in the field, since Continental Testing publishes exam content outlines for its trade tests, but IDFPR's forms do not require an applicant to document prior employment history, hours worked, or completed coursework before registering to test. This is a meaningful difference from states that require a documented number of years working under a licensed roofer before an individual can apply. Contractors relocating to Illinois from a state with a documented apprenticeship or hours requirement should not assume that experience alone transfers into an Illinois qualifying party designation, since passing the Illinois-specific exam is what IDFPR's own materials describe as the operative requirement. Because the governing statute and administrative rules were not accessible for direct review when this page was researched, this section describes only what IDFPR's published application and examination materials state, and it does not rule out additional requirements that could exist elsewhere in the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act or its administrative rules.
An Illinois roofing contractor license application carries a fee of 125 dollars, payable by U.S. check or money order made out to IDFPR, or paid online through the department's ePay portal. IDFPR's application instructions describe this as a non-exam licensure method fee, since the fee covers processing of the business license itself, separate from the qualifying party's 226 dollar examination fee paid to Continental Testing Services. The completed application, along with the bond form and certification of insurance matched to the license type sought, and any supporting business formation documents, is mailed to the Division of Professional Regulation at IDFPR's Springfield post office box. Corporations, limited liability companies, and professional limited liability companies must include a filed copy of their Articles of Incorporation, Certificate of Authority, or Articles of Organization from the Illinois Secretary of State, and out-of-state entities must also include a filed copy of their home-state formation documents. Sole proprietors must include documentation of an assumed name filing with the county clerk if operating under a business name other than the owner's own legal name, and general partnerships must include a signed partnership agreement or a written statement confirming none exists. IDFPR asks applicants to allow about eight business weeks after submission before checking on an application's status, and warns that an application remains active for three years from the date IDFPR receives it. Fees paid to IDFPR under this application are stated as non-refundable regardless of whether the application is ultimately approved.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Every Illinois roofing contractor applicant must carry, and certify, both property damage and liability insurance before IDFPR will issue a license. The department's Certification of Insurance form for roofing contractors states the applicant must hold property damage insurance of at least 250,000 dollars for each occurrence of property damage, and liability insurance of at least 500,000 dollars for each occurrence of personal injury or bodily harm. This certification must be completed jointly: the applicant fills out identifying information and signs a statement, under penalty of perjury, confirming the coverage is in place, and the applicant's own insurance agent or company then completes a separate section confirming the policy, the insurer's name, and the policy number. IDFPR states this insurance certification form is the only proof of liability and property damage insurance the department will accept in support of an application or a renewal. The form must also indicate whether it supports a Limited or Unlimited license, since the underlying insurance policy needs to match the scope of work the license authorizes. A roofing business whose policy lapses after an initial filing can resubmit the same certification form to re-certify current coverage without having to redo the entire license application. Separately, if a roofing business has employees, it must also demonstrate compliance with Illinois workers' compensation law, either through a certificate of insurance for workers' compensation coverage specific to roofing, proof of approved self-insured status from the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, or, for an out-of-state business, an equivalent out-of-state policy that extends coverage to Illinois accidents under Illinois benefit rules.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Illinois requires every roofing contractor applicant to submit a surety bond as part of licensure, using a bond form specific to the license type: the BD-LRF form for a Limited Roofing License and the BD-URF form for an Unlimited Roofing License. IDFPR's application instructions state that the bond form must be completed by a bonding company licensed to do business in Illinois, that applicants should not alter the language on the form, and that the same bond documentation is required whether the filing is an initial application or a renewal. The bond functions as a financial guarantee, giving the state and the contractor's customers a source of recovery if the licensed business fails to meet its obligations under the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act. The specific dollar amount of the required bond for a Limited license and for an Unlimited license is set in the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act and its administrative rules rather than on the application form itself, and that statutory and rules text could not be retrieved from the Illinois General Assembly's website during the research for this page due to a persistent connection failure, so this page does not publish a bond amount. Contractors should confirm the current required bond amount directly with IDFPR, with the text of the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act, or with a bonding company that writes Illinois roofing contractor bonds, before assuming any specific figure quoted by a bonding agency or an industry blog is current, since bond minimums set in statute can change through legislative amendment.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
Illinois roofing contractor licenses do not run on an anniversary schedule tied to the date a license was issued. Instead, IDFPR's application instructions state plainly that the license will expire on December 31 of each odd-numbered year, regardless of when during the two-year cycle it was originally issued, which means every licensed roofing business in the state renews on the same calendar date. IDFPR offers an online renewal portal, with separate published instructions for individual and business renewals, and the department asks licensees to allow two to four business days after renewing for the license record to update in its system. If a licensee misses the renewal window and the online portal no longer accepts a late renewal, IDFPR directs the licensee to request a reinstatement application rather than simply resubmitting the standard renewal. Because the license is tied to an active qualifying party, renewal alone does not keep a license operable if the qualifying party has left the business; IDFPR's materials warn that a license becomes inoperable, and the business is prohibited from offering or performing roofing services, whenever there is no active qualifying party associated with it, independent of where the business stands in its renewal cycle. The IDFPR materials reviewed for this page do not describe a continuing education requirement, such as required hours of coursework, as a condition of renewing a roofing contractor license, in contrast to some other IDFPR-regulated professions that do have stated continuing education mandates. This page does not state a specific renewal fee amount, since IDFPR's published roofing application packet addresses the initial application fee but does not separately confirm whether the renewal fee is the same figure.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
IDFPR's published roofing contractor materials, including the program page, the license application, and the qualifying party examination application, do not describe a reciprocity or endorsement pathway that would let a roofing contractor licensed in another state skip Illinois's own qualifying party examination. The qualifying party examination application does allow an out-of-state business to apply, and it accommodates out-of-state workers' compensation and insurance arrangements, but the underlying licensure route documented on IDFPR's forms is still the standard Illinois qualifying party exam administered through Continental Testing Services, not an automatic recognition of another state's roofing license or exam result. A roofing company based outside Illinois that wants to hold an Illinois Limited or Unlimited license therefore appears, based on the materials available, to need an Illinois-based qualifying party who has passed the applicable Illinois exam, along with Illinois-compliant insurance certification and a bond from a company licensed to do business in Illinois. Because the governing statute and administrative rules could not be retrieved directly from the Illinois General Assembly's website during this research, this page cannot rule out a narrower reciprocity provision that might exist in the statute or rules but is simply not reflected on the application forms themselves. Contractors who hold an active roofing license in another state and want to expand into Illinois should contact IDFPR's Division of Professional Regulation directly to confirm whether any credit toward the Illinois exam, or any waiver, is available based on their existing license, rather than assuming that out-of-state licensure alone will satisfy Illinois's qualifying party requirement.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov 1idfpr.illinois.gov 2idfpr.illinois.gov 3
IDFPR treats the roofing contractor license as a condition of doing business in the trade, and the department's own application forms tie continued licensure directly to compliance with related Illinois labor and tax law. The roofing contractor application cites 20 ILCS 2105/2105-15(g-5) directly on its certification page, which the form quotes as requiring IDFPR to refuse the issuance or renewal of a license to, or to suspend or revoke the license of, any individual, corporation, partnership, or other business entity found by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission or the Illinois Department of Insurance to have failed to secure required workers' compensation coverage or to pay a related fine in full. The same application asks applicants to certify they are not delinquent on a child support order and not delinquent in filing Illinois state taxes, since state law separately bars IDFPR from issuing or renewing a license to an applicant who is delinquent on either. IDFPR maintains a public complaint process, including both an online form and a downloadable PDF form specific to its Professional Regulation division, which covers roofing contractors, so a customer, a competitor, or a subcontractor can report suspected unlicensed roofing activity or misconduct by a licensed contractor. The statutory penalty structure for performing roofing work in Illinois without a license, including whether unlicensed practice is treated as a criminal offense, a civil violation, or both, is set out in the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act itself, and that text could not be retrieved from the Illinois General Assembly's website during this research, so this page does not state a specific penalty classification or fine amount for unlicensed roofing work.
Sourcesidfpr.illinois.gov
The materials IDFPR published for roofing contractors that were accessible during this research, including the program page, the license and examination applications, and the criminal conviction FAQ, do not spell out a specific advertising mandate, such as a requirement to print a license number on trucks, signage, written estimates, or a company website, or a stated penalty for omitting one. Because the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act and its administrative rules could not be retrieved from the Illinois General Assembly's website during this research due to a persistent connection failure, this page does not publish a specific advertising or license-display rule, and any such requirement that exists in the statute or rules should be confirmed directly with IDFPR or with the statute text before a contractor relies on it. What IDFPR does provide, and what this page can confirm directly, is a public tool for verifying a roofing contractor's license before hiring one. IDFPR's eLicense Online lookup system lists Roofing Contractor as a searchable license type alongside the department's other regulated professions, and a customer can search by license number, business name, doing-business-as name, or location to confirm whether a company holds an active Limited or Unlimited roofing license. IDFPR's own check-license page states that this lookup has been approved for use as a primary source for license verification by outside accreditation bodies, and that the underlying data is updated daily for single license searches. Given the absence of a confirmed statutory advertising mandate, a homeowner's most reliable way to confirm a roofing company is actually licensed in Illinois is this lookup tool rather than any claim printed in the company's own marketing material.
Illinois regulates roofing contractors and public insurance adjusters as two separate, distinctly licensed activities, and the distinction matters most after a hail storm or other event that triggers an insurance claim. The Illinois Department of Insurance, a separate agency from IDFPR, licenses public adjusters, defined as professionals who do not work for any insurance company but instead work for the policyholder, for a fee or a percentage of the settlement, to help prepare, present, and settle an insurance claim. According to the Department of Insurance's own consumer guidance, a public adjuster must be licensed with the department, and Illinois law requires any public adjuster to provide the policyholder a written contract that has been approved by the Director of Insurance, spelling out the services to be provided and the fee or commission to be charged. That contract is binding once signed but can be canceled by the policyholder through certified mail within five business days of signing. Illinois law also restricts when a public adjuster can solicit a policyholder: solicitation is prohibited while a loss-producing occurrence, such as an active fire, is still happening, or while fire department personnel are still on scene, and is prohibited outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. A roofing contractor who inspects storm damage, writes an estimate, and helps a homeowner document damage for an insurance claim is performing roofing work, not public adjusting, but a contractor who negotiates directly with an insurer on a homeowner's behalf for a fee tied to the settlement amount risks acting as an unlicensed public adjuster. Homeowners can verify a public adjuster's license status by contacting the Illinois Department of Insurance directly, separately from checking a roofing contractor's IDFPR license.
Sourcesidoi.illinois.gov
Holding an IDFPR roofing contractor license does not, by itself, authorize a contractor to perform permit-triggering roofing work inside the city of Chicago; the city layers its own licensing on top of the state requirement. The City of Chicago's Department of Buildings requires a General Contractor license for most building construction, alteration, repair, and demolition work performed in the city, and Chicago's own published rules describe a general contractor license as required before submitting a bid for, or undertaking, any activity that needs a building permit, a demolition permit, or a sign permit from the Department of Buildings, among other regulated activities. Chicago's general contractor license page does not list roofing contractors among the trades that are separately licensed and therefore exempt from needing a general contractor license, unlike board-up companies, drain layer contractors, electrical contractors, elevator mechanic contractors, plumbing contractors, and mason contractors, each of which holds its own dedicated city trade license instead. A roofing company working as a subcontractor under the supervision and control of a licensed general contractor does not need its own Chicago general contractor license for that job, but a roofing company contracting directly with a property owner for permit-triggering work does. Chicago issues five classes of general contractor license, Class A through Class E, distinguished by the maximum dollar value of project the class may undertake and by minimum commercial general liability insurance requirements that range from 1 million dollars per occurrence for the smallest class up to 5 million dollars per occurrence for the unrestricted Class A license, with increased minimums for Class C and D licenses taking effect January 1, 2026. A homeowner or general contractor working in Chicago should confirm both the state roofing license and, where the job requires a permit, the appropriate Chicago general contractor classification.
Sourceschicago.gov
These are common details other guides publish about Illinois, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
Yes. IDFPR licenses roofing contractors statewide under the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act, and the license is issued to the business, which must have an active qualifying party who has passed the state exam.
A Limited Roofing License covers residential properties of eight units or fewer. An Unlimited Roofing License covers residential, commercial, and industrial roofing with no such property-size restriction.
The qualifying party is the owner, officer, or partner who is legally authorized to act for the business, supervises roofing installation work, and is the individual who must pass the state exam for the license to stay active.
IDFPR's reference sheet lists the Continental Testing Services exam fee at 226 dollars for the Residential exam, the Commercial and Industrial exam, and the combined Residential, Commercial and Industrial exam.
The license application fee is 125 dollars, payable to IDFPR by check, money order, or online through the department's ePay portal, separate from the qualifying party's exam fee.
IDFPR requires certified property damage insurance of at least 250,000 dollars per occurrence and liability insurance of at least 500,000 dollars per occurrence for personal injury or bodily harm.
Yes. Applicants must submit a bond, using the BD-LRF form for a Limited license or the BD-URF form for an Unlimited license, completed by a bonding company licensed in Illinois; the required bond amount was not confirmed from a source we could verify.
All Illinois roofing contractor licenses expire on December 31 of each odd-numbered year, regardless of when during the cycle the license was originally issued.
The IDFPR roofing application and renewal materials reviewed do not describe a continuing education requirement, unlike some other IDFPR-licensed professions that do have stated coursework mandates.
IDFPR's published forms do not describe a reciprocity or endorsement path; the documented route is for the business to designate an Illinois qualifying party who passes the Illinois exam.
Use IDFPR's eLicense Online lookup, which lists Roofing Contractor as a searchable license type and lets a consumer search by license number, business name, or location.
Negotiating and settling an insurance claim for a fee tied to the settlement is public adjusting, which requires a separate license from the Illinois Department of Insurance; a roofing contractor is not automatically authorized to do this.
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