What you can and cannot rely on here.

What this site is

The 60305 is an independent reference site written by one River Forest homeowner. It is not affiliated with the Village of River Forest, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any contractor named on it. Nothing here is an offer, a quote, or a contract.

The information is checked against Village documents and public records and is believed to be reliable when published. It may still contain errors, and it goes out of date. Permit rules, program amounts, prices and contractor licensing all change.

The guides, cost ranges and tools

The buying guides, cost estimates, timelines, checklists and the printable brief are general information for planning purposes. They are not engineering, legal, financial, insurance or contracting advice, and they are not a substitute for having a qualified person look at your actual house.

Price ranges describe recent work on pre-war houses in River Forest and the near-west suburbs. They exist so you can tell an ordinary number from a surprising one. They are not quotes, nobody is bound by them, and your job may legitimately fall outside them.

Hire a Village-licensed, insured contractor, and where the work calls for it, an architect or a structural engineer. Anything touching gas, electrical service, structure or sewer needs a qualified professional regardless of what a guide here says.

The contractor lists and profiles

A listing is not a recommendation, a vetting, a license check, or a warranty of anybody’s work. No company’s work has been inspected, and no guarantee is made about any company’s performance, pricing, timeliness, insurance or conduct.

Company profiles summarize public sources and each company’s own published claims. Where a profile reports a certification, a founding date or a service area, that is the company’s statement, not a verified fact.

License dates come from the Village licensed contractor report as captured on the date shown. The site flags dates that have passed and never asserts that a license is currently valid. Verify licensing and insurance with the Village Building Department and with the company before you hire anyone. Companies listed without a license date have not had their licensing verified at all.

Whatever you agree with a contractor is between you and them. This site is not a party to it.

Paid placements

Paid placements may appear on this site. Wherever one does, it is labeled as a paid placement on that page.

A payment never buys a listing in a directory, a higher position in any list, the removal of another company, or any change to the Village license data shown in a row. Lists are alphabetical and stay that way. The buying guides and the Village data are not for sale and are not shown to advertisers before publication.

Corrections and removal

If you are a business listed here, you can have an error corrected or the listing removed. Write to steve@26characters.com and say which. There is no charge either way, and no payment is required to be corrected, removed, or left alone.

Names, addresses and license dates in the directory are reproduced from a public Village record. Company profiles restate claims each company published about itself. If either is wrong about you, it will be fixed on request.

Village rules, permits and programs

Descriptions of permit requirements, reimbursement programs, historic designations and licensing are written to help you know what to ask about. They are not the ordinance. The Village’s own documents and staff govern, and program amounts and eligibility change without notice. Confirm anything that matters with the Village Building Department or Public Works before you rely on it.

The newsletter

The newsletter is narrated by Old Man Thatcher, a fictional character. He does not exist, he is not a real person living or dead, and nothing written in his voice claims that any real property is haunted. The information he delivers is reported and checked the same way the rest of the site is.

Signing up happens on a form hosted by Constant Contact, the email service that keeps the list and sends each issue. It stores your email address and, if you give it, your first name. The list is never sold, rented or shared, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link. Ask for your record to be deleted and it will be.

Liability

You use this site at your own discretion and risk. The 60305 accepts no liability for decisions made, money spent, or work performed in reliance on anything published here, to the fullest extent the law allows.

Local schools, universities, parks, businesses and landmarks are mentioned as community references. Those mentions do not imply any endorsement or affiliation in either direction.

The words and illustrations on this site are the site’s own work. Quote a paragraph with a link back if it is useful to you; please do not republish the guides or the contractor data wholesale.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute arising from this site belongs in the state or federal courts sitting in Cook County, Illinois.

Changes and contact

These terms can change, and the date below will change with them. Continuing to use the site after a change means accepting the revised terms.

Questions, corrections, removal requests and anything else: steve@26characters.com.

These terms were last updated September 17, 2026.