Illinois law and your website, your phones and your email

Most of what a service business does online or on the phone is governed by federal rules that apply in every state. Illinois adds a handful of its own. This page covers the ones with a specific Illinois statute behind them, as read on the state's legislative site and agency pages in October 2026. For the federal baseline, see our guides on texting rules under the TCPA and recording business calls. For starting the business itself, see starting a service business in Illinois.

Does Illinois require a license number on a roofer's website and ads?

Yes, for roofers. Illinois licenses roofing contractors statewide through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and the Roofing Industry Licensing Act spells out where the number goes. Under 225 ILCS 335/5, a licensed roofing contractor must put the license number and the licensee's name, as it appears on the license, on all contracts and bids. Subsection (d) goes further: no licensee may advertise roofing services unless the advertisement includes the number and name.

The statute says "advertisement" and does not list media. A website, a Google Business Profile, a truck wrap and a mailer are all ads in any ordinary reading, so the safe habit is to print the number in your site footer and in the header of every landing page, and to include it in any ad copy you write. The statute does protect publishers: a publisher does not have to verify the number you give it. It does not protect you if the number you hand over is wrong.

The penalty is not trivial. A person who knowingly leaves the number off, gives a publisher a false number, or lets someone else use the license commits a Class A misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine, and each day an ad runs counts as a separate offense. The same section tells cities and counties that issue building permits to put the number on each permit application and refuse a permit to a roofer without proof of current state licensure. Holders of a limited roofing license may pull permits only for residential buildings of eight units or fewer.

If you do other work, the state's broader picture is different. Plumbers are licensed through the Department of Public Health and pesticide applicators through the Department of Agriculture, and electrical and general contracting are mostly local. Our Illinois contractor license guide covers who licenses what. This page found no equivalent statewide advertising-number rule for those trades in the statutes it checked, so confirm with the agency that issues your license.

Can I record customer calls in Illinois?

Only with everyone's knowledge. Illinois eavesdropping law, 720 ILCS 5/14-2, makes it an offense to use a recording device in a surreptitious manner to record a private conversation you are part of unless all other parties consent. "Surreptitious" is defined in 720 ILCS 5/14-1 as obtained by stealth or deception, or through secrecy or concealment. A "private conversation" is one where a party intended it to be private under circumstances that reasonably justify that expectation.

The sentence is heavy. Under 720 ILCS 5/14-4, a first eavesdropping offense is a Class 4 felony and a repeat is a Class 3 felony. Because the offense turns on secrecy, an announcement at the start of the call is the cleanest fix: "This call may be recorded for quality and scheduling." Put the same line in your voicemail greeting and in the script of any AI receptionist or call-tracking number that records. Missing the notice on a few calls is a gap an opposing lawyer can use; a standing announcement closes it.

What do Illinois's telephone solicitation laws add to federal rules?

Illinois has two separate statutes, and which one applies depends on whether a person or a machine is calling.

The Telephone Solicitations Act covers live operators. 815 ILCS 413/15 bars solicitation calls between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. and requires the operator to state a name, the business and the purpose at once, ask at the start whether the person consents to the pitch, and stop calling anyone who asks to be removed. A customer injured by a violation can recover three times actual damages plus attorney fees under section 25, and violations are unlawful practices the Attorney General can enforce. Unlike the autodialer law, the Act's exemption sections do not carve out existing customers, so a "just checking in" call to a past customer to sell a new service is still a solicitation.

The Automatic Telephone Dialers Act covers recorded sales messages. 815 ILCS 305/15 bars those calls between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m., requires the dialer to disconnect within 30 seconds after the call ends, and bars dialing by successive numbers. Section 20 exempts calls made in response to an express request and calls to someone with a prior or existing business relationship. Under section 30, a consumer can recover treble actual damages plus $500 per violation, and the Attorney General can seek the same $500 per recipient.

Neither statute mentions text messages in the sections read for this page, so texting stays under the federal TCPA. Illinois does not make that easier: the $500-per-violation figure in its autodialer law sits next to the TCPA's own per-message damages. Use the TCPA guide for consent and quiet hours, and keep prerecorded marketing calls to customers who asked for them.

Does the Biometric Information Privacy Act affect an AI receptionist?

It can. The Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14, lists a voiceprint among its biometric identifiers, and "private entity" includes any individual, LLC or partnership. There is no size threshold, so a five-person crew is covered the same as a national company. A recording or a transcript is not on the statute's list. A voiceprint, meaning data used to identify a person by voice, is.

Whether your phone system or AI receptionist creates voiceprints depends on the product. Most call-answering tools transcribe speech and do not identify speakers. Features such as "recognizes repeat callers by voice" or voice-based verification would change that. Before you turn one on, ask the vendor in writing what it collects. If it does collect voiceprints, section 15 requires, before collection, written notice of the purpose and length of term and a signed written release, plus a public retention and destruction policy.

The stakes are why this deserves a sentence in your vendor checklist. Section 20 gives any aggrieved person a right to sue, with liquidated damages of $1,000 for a negligent violation or $5,000 for an intentional or reckless one, plus attorney fees. A 2024 amendment, Public Act 103-769, limits a person to one recovery when the same method collects the same identifier repeatedly from them. Our AI receptionist service page explains how an answered call works; the point here is to choose settings that do not collect voice identity data you do not need.

What must an Illinois online quote or booking say?

The Home Repair and Remodeling Act's written-contract rule applies once the work is over $1,000. Before starting, 815 ILCS 513/15 requires a written contract or work order for the customer's signature stating the total cost, parts and materials with reasonable particularity, any charge for an estimate, and your business name and address. If you use a post office box or mail-receiving service, the contract must also give your residence address. Section 20 adds a handout: give the customer the state pamphlet "Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights" before the contract is signed and collect a signed acknowledgment. On jobs of $1,000 or under the pamphlet is still required, but no signed acknowledgment is.

A click-to-accept online quote can carry all of this, as long as the page shows the total, the parts and the business address and records the acknowledgment. A booking form that only takes a time slot is not a contract, but it is where you can link the pamphlet and state the estimate fee, so the customer reads both before the job.

A separate rule, 815 ILCS 505/2B, gives a consumer three full business days to cancel a sale of $25 or more made by a seller physically present at the consumer's residence. The contract must carry a Notice of Cancellation form. The section does not apply to sales made entirely by mail or telephone, or when the consumer initiated contact and asked for a visit to repair or maintain personal property. Any added services or goods sold on that visit fall back inside the cancellation right. If your crew sells add-on work at the door, give the cancellation form with the paperwork.

What does an Illinois invoice have to show for sales tax?

Illinois does not tax the service itself. The Department of Revenue's Publication 113 says the service component of a sale of service remains nontaxable, and the taxed part is tangible personal property transferred with the job, such as parts left with the customer. A business that does this is a serviceperson, and one with a physical presence in Illinois registers with the department, collects the Service Occupation Tax on that property and files Form ST-1.

The publication also describes de minimis rules for servicepersons whose materials are a small share of receipts. Whether you are inside that rule depends on your numbers. Our state sales tax comparison shows how Illinois differs from states that tax the labor. In practice, keep labor and parts on separate lines of every invoice and online payment page, so the taxable part is plain to you, the customer and the auditor.

Putting the Illinois rules into your site, phones and inbox

• Website: If you roof, put the license number and licensee name in the footer and on each landing page. Link the home repair pamphlet from quote and booking pages, and show the business address.
• Phone line: Add a recording announcement to the greeting and the voicemail. Make outbound sales calls only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., and ask permission at the start.
• AI receptionist: Have it state that the call is recorded. Ask the vendor whether it creates voiceprints, and get the answer in writing.
• Email and text: Federal CAN-SPAM and TCPA rules apply in every state. This page found no Illinois law that changes the email rules, so follow the federal ones.

This is general information, not legal advice. Statutes change; confirm current text with the Illinois General Assembly or the agency that licenses your trade before you rely on it.

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