Illinois home improvement contract requirements

Who the act covers

"Home repair and remodeling" means fixing, replacing, altering, converting, modernizing, improving or adding to a residence, other than maintenance, service or repairs under $500. The act names driveways, pools, porches, kitchens, bathrooms, basements, chimneys and liners, garages, fences, central air and heating, boilers, furnaces, wiring, sewers, plumbing fixtures, storm doors, windows, roofs and awnings. It leaves out carpet work, landscaping and appliances installed by the seller's own staff. A residence is a home or building with six or fewer units, and new construction is outside the act.

The written contract

Before you start work over $1,000, you must give the customer a written contract or work order to sign (815 ILCS 513/15). It must state the total cost, including parts and materials listed with reasonable particularity, and any charge for an estimate, plus your business name and address. If you receive mail at a post office box or mail service, the contract must also give your residence address.

The statutory pamphlet then tells homeowners what a contract should contain, so expect them to look for it: your full name, address and phone number; a description of the work; starting and estimated completion dates; the total cost; the schedule and method of payment, including the down payment; the grounds for termination by either side; and, for insurance work, the right to cancel if the insurer denies the claim.

The consumer rights pamphlet

• Every customer gets it. Section 20 requires you to give the pamphlet "Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights" to customers, as a separate document in at least 12-point type, with the exact text the statute prints.
• Over $1,000, they sign for it first. Before the contract is executed, the homeowner signs and dates the "Consumer Rights Acknowledgment Form", which reads: "I, the homeowner, have received from the contractor a copy of the pamphlet entitled 'Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights.'"
• You sign too. The acknowledgment carries your signature, the date and your business name and address. It's in duplicate inside the pamphlet: you keep the original, the homeowner keeps the copy.
• $1,000 or under, no signature. Hand over the pamphlet; no acknowledgment is required.

Arbitration and jury waivers

If your contract requires binding arbitration or waives a jury trial, section 15.1 makes you point it out before signing and let the homeowner accept or reject each clause separately. Proof is the homeowner's signature and the word "accept" or "reject" written in the margin next to each clause. Skip that and the clause is void, though the rest of the contract stands. A rejection counts as a counter-offer to go ahead without the clause, which you're free to refuse.

Three ways a customer can cancel

• Sales at the home. Under 815 ILCS 505/2B, a sale of $25 or more by a seller physically at the consumer's residence can be cancelled within 3 full business days. The contract carries a 10-point bold statement, "YOU, THE CONSUMER, MAY CANCEL THIS TRANSACTION AT ANY TIME PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT OF THE THIRD BUSINESS DAY AFTER THE DATE OF THIS TRANSACTION," and a detachable Notice of Cancellation in duplicate.
• Customers 65 and older. Someone 65 or older who buys from an uninvited solicitor, with the agreement made at their home, can cancel within 15 full business days after signing (513/22).
• Insurance-funded jobs. If the work is to be paid from a property insurance claim, the homeowner can cancel before midnight on the earlier of the fifth business day after the insurer says in writing the loss isn't covered, or the thirtieth business day after the insurer receives the proof of loss. The contract needs a 10-point bold statement of that right and a Notice of Cancellation form, and you refund within 10 days, keeping only the reasonable value of storm work the homeowner agreed in writing was needed (513/18).

Storm work and roofing

Section 18 also bars promising to pay or rebate an insurance deductible, renting your business name or license to an out-of-area contractor, filing or negotiating a claim for the homeowner, and climbing on a roof to inspect for damage without the insured's express permission. Roofing work needs an Illinois roofing license, and its name and number must appear on every roofing contract, bid and advertisement.

Insurance you must carry

Section 25 requires 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, plus $10,000 per occurrence for work that doesn't conform to state, county or municipal codes. A business with a net worth of at least $1,000,000, shown on a financial statement prepared within 13 months, is exempt.

Penalties

Any violation of the act is also a violation of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, so the Attorney General and State's Attorneys can enforce it with that act's remedies, and a homeowner who suffers actual damage can sue under its section 10a. For contracts signed from August 1, 2025, an attorney's-fees clause works both ways, whatever the contract says (513/31).

Signing it electronically

Illinois adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act in 2021 (see e-signature law in Illinois), so the contract itself can be signed electronically. The pamphlet is the exception to plan around: the statute calls for a separate document in "legible ink" with a duplicate acknowledgment form inside it, wording written for paper. The safe course is to hand over the printed pamphlet and use its form, or ask an Illinois lawyer whether an electronic version satisfies section 20. For notices required in writing, get the consumer's consent to electronic records first (15 U.S.C. § 7001(c)).

Setting it up in SignMaster

1. 1

   Itemize the contract

   Build a template with your business name and address and room to list parts and materials with reasonable particularity, plus a currency field for any estimate charge.

2. 2

   Make arbitration a real choice

   Next to each arbitration or jury-waiver clause, add a text field where the homeowner types accept or reject, and an initials field beside it.

3. 3

   Keep an insurance-job version

   Save a second template carrying the section 18 cancellation statement and Notice of Cancellation, for storm and roof work paid by a claim.

4. 4

   Sign after the pamphlet

   Hand over the pamphlet and get the acknowledgment signed, then open the contract with Sign in person. Everyone gets the signed PDF by email.