Every contractor here is licensed by the Village.

What the license is

A Village contractor license is a registration with the Building Department plus a surety bond, renewed on a schedule the Village sets. The Village publishes the list of currently licensed contractors by trade, with phone numbers and expiration dates, and that report is what populates every Find a contractor page here. Contractors apply and renew at riverforest.onlama.com.

Categories are the Village’s own: HVAC, Mechanical, Electrical with and without EV installer certification, Masonry, Concrete, Excavation, Flood Control, Waterproofing, Forester, Roofer, Siding, and so on. There is no Painting category; painters appear under Drywall Contractor or Carpenter if at all. Gutters have no category either, so the gutter list on this site is matched by company name.

Who is exempt

Plumbers. Illinois licenses plumbers at the state level, through the Illinois Department of Public Health, and the Village licensing page says plumbers are not required to obtain a Village license but must meet additional requirements to get a permit: the application is signed by a registered supervising plumber with a current State of Illinois plumbing license. That is why plumbing records in the directory show no expiration date. A plumber who excavates in the parkway or street does need the Village excavation license, plus a $25,000 surety bond naming excavation or sewer and drain work and a certificate of insurance on file.

How to check a contractor

• Ask for the company’s Village license, then find the name on the Village list or the Find a contractor page for that trade. If it is not there, call Building & Zoning at (708) 714-3552 before you sign.
• Ask for a certificate of insurance, general liability and workers’ compensation, sent from the agent rather than photocopied.
• For plumbers, ask for the Illinois plumbing license number and check it with the Illinois Department of Public Health plumbing license lookup (dph.illinois.gov, under Plumbing). For tree work, ask whether an ISA Certified Arborist will be on site. For pre-1978 painting, ask for the EPA lead-safe certification.
• Confirm who pulls the permit. A licensed contractor pulls their own; one who asks you to pull it is telling you something.

What it does not tell you

The license shows that a company registered and posted a bond. It says nothing about the quality of the work, how long they have been in business, whether they will answer the phone in February, or what their last ten customers thought. That is what the researched profiles on each Find a contractor page and the buying guides are for.