To check an Illinois roofer, search IDFPR’s License Look Up for a Licensed Roofing Contractor record and confirm it reads Active, in the same business name that is on your contract. Illinois licenses roofing contractors at the state level through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), and every license depends on one person, the qualifying party, who has passed the state roofing exam.
In IDFPR’s Professional Licensing data (updated October 23, 2026), 5,043 roofing contractor licenses were active, and every one expires December 31, 2027. By our count, about 1 in 8 licenses up for renewal on December 31, 2025 was not renewed, and 8.3% of active licenses carry a flag showing discipline at some point in their history.
At a glance: the license rules from IDFPR and what the state data showed on October 24, 2026.
| Item | Illinois roofing contractor license |
|---|---|
| Issued by | IDFPR, Division of Professional Regulation (contractor license numbers start with 104) |
| License types | Limited: residential roofing, including residential properties of 8 units or less. Unlimited: residential, commercial and industrial |
| Bond | Continuous bond of $10,000 (limited) or $25,000 (unlimited) |
| Insurance certified to IDFPR | Property damage at least $250,000 per occurrence; liability at least $500,000 per occurrence; workers’ compensation if the business has employees |
| Renewal | Every license expires December 31 of odd-numbered years; the next date is December 31, 2027 |
| Active licenses | 5,043; 11.4% list an address outside Illinois |
| Not renewed at the 2025 deadline | About 12.6% of licenses up for renewal (our estimate) |
| Ever-disciplined flag | 8.3% of active licenses |
How to check an Illinois roofing contractor
- Open the IDFPR License Look Up (linked from IDFPR’s roofing contractor page) and search by business name or license number.
- Pick the Licensed Roofing Contractor record. A qualifying party holds a separate individual license, which starts with 105.
- Read the status. Illinois law says a roofing contractor whose license is expired or inactive shall not practice in the state (225 ILCS 335/6(e)).
- Ask whether the license is limited or unlimited, and match it to the building. A limited license covers residential roofing up to 8 units; commercial, industrial and larger residential jobs call for unlimited.
- Check the discipline flag, then search IDFPR’s enforcement actions by name to read any order.
- Compare the license number and name with the bid, contract, ads and truck. Under Public Act 97-0235, roofers must show the license number and the licensee’s name as it appears on the license on contracts, bids, advertisements and commercial vehicles.
The qualifying party behind every roofing license
IDFPR’s roofing contractor application packet (updated October 2, 2024) explains why the person matters as much as the company:
- Who it is: the sole proprietor, partner, officer or other person legally qualified to act for the business, with authority to supervise roofing installation and active in its day-to-day work.
- Which exam: the Illinois Residential exam for a limited license, or the Residential, Commercial and Industrial exam for an unlimited license.
- One company at a time: a person can serve as qualifying party for one licensee, plus one more of the same type only with at least 25% common ownership or a licensed subsidiary.
- When the qualifying party leaves: the company and that person notify IDFPR within 30 business days, and a newly named person who has not yet passed has 7 months to pass the exam.
- No qualifying party, no work: the packet says a license becomes inoperable when no active qualifying party is associated with it, and the company may not offer services until a replacement is processed.
So ask the roofer who its qualifying party is and look up that person’s license too. In the state data, 18 roofing contractor records currently read Inoperative.
What 5,043 active Illinois roofing licenses show
We downloaded every roofing contractor record from the IDFPR Professional Licensing data on October 24, 2026: 34,098 records, including qualifying party licenses and licenses closed decades ago. These are our calculations. The file lists status, dates, address and a yes/no discipline flag; license type, bond, insurance and complaint details are left to the lookup and IDFPR.
- About 1 in 8 lapsed at the last deadline: 655 licenses that expired December 31, 2025 now read Not Renewed, against 4,548 active licenses first issued before that date. That is about 12.6% of the licenses up for renewal, by our estimate. At the December 31, 2023 deadline, 437 lapsed.
- Many are recent: 559 active licenses (11.1%) were first issued in the past 12 months, and 2,217 (44%) since 2020. The median first issue year is 2018.
- The discipline flag builds up with age: 418 active licenses (8.3%) are flagged as ever disciplined, including 200 of 1,253 (16.0%) first issued before 2010 and 19 of 2,217 (0.9%) issued since 2020. The flag tells you to look up the order; the order says what happened.
- Recent actions: among roofing contractor records last changed in the past five years, 24 are revoked, 14 suspended, 15 refused renewal and 4 on probation.
- Out-of-state roofers: 574 active licenses (11.4%) list an address outside Illinois, led by Missouri (149), Indiana (97), Iowa (73) and Wisconsin (66). Among licenses issued in the past 12 months, the share is 17.4% (97 of 559). IDFPR’s packet requires an out-of-state business with employees to carry workers’ compensation that covers Illinois accidents under Illinois benefits.
- Where in Illinois: Cook County has 1,316 active licenses (26.1%), followed by DuPage (340), Lake (239), Kane (238) and Will (215).
- Qualifying party licenses: the data lists 12,243 active qualifying party licenses, more than twice the number of contractor licenses, with no field linking a person to a company. The company’s own record and the roofer’s answer are where to make that link.
Checklist before you hire an Illinois roofer
- Licensed Roofing Contractor record Active in the IDFPR lookup, in the business name on your contract.
- License type that fits the building: limited for residential up to 8 units, unlimited for anything larger or commercial.
- License number and name printed on the bid, contract and truck, matching the lookup.
- Qualifying party named, with an active license of their own.
- Discipline flag checked, and any order read on IDFPR’s enforcement page.
- A current certificate of insurance, and workers’ compensation for a crew with employees.
- For a job that runs into 2028, a renewed license after December 31, 2027.
- The local roofing permit pulled before work starts, and a final inspection when it ends.
Before the roof goes on, our roof replacement permit check covers the permit side, and our analysis of roof permits with no final inspection shows how often that last step is missed. For other states, see our contractor license lookup guide.
Counts are our calculations from IDFPR’s Professional Licensing data on data.illinois.gov (license type Roofing Contractor, updated October 23, 2026, downloaded October 24, 2026). The renewal figure compares two groups in the current data and is an estimate. IDFPR’s roofing page and application packet, the renewal rule (68 Ill. Adm. Code 1460.40), 225 ILCS 335/6 and Public Act 97-0235 checked October 24, 2026.