How to Hire a Sewer Contractor in Illinois

Who licenses sewer contractors in Illinois

The Illinois Department of Public Health licenses plumbers and registers plumbing contractors statewide under the Illinois Plumbing License Law, with Chicago operating its own examining board whose licenses are good anywhere in the state. The law defines plumbing as ending five feet outside the foundation and says in so many words that it does not include installing, repairing or extending building sewers. A sewer contractor therefore need not hold a plumber's license for the lateral alone. Local licensing fills the gap. Chicago issues a drainlayer license through the Department of Buildings, and since 2022 a registered plumbing contractor can obtain a courtesy drainlayer license to pull sewer permits. Many other cities require a bonded sewer contractor registration. Plumbing contractors registered with IDPH carry liability coverage and a twenty-thousand-dollar indemnification bond by statute. Check a plumber in the IDPH Plumbing License Verification tool and ask the municipality whether the firm holds its local sewer license.

Permits and inspections

In Chicago, the Department of Buildings issues the sewer permit, required for connecting to, repairing, lining, televising or abandoning a sewer, and only a licensed drainlayer may apply. The Department of Water Management inspects the work, the Chicago Department of Transportation permits any opening in the public way, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District may require its own permit for larger connections. In-kind replacement of up to twenty feet may start before the permit is in hand. Suburban Cook County towns issue the lateral permit through their building or engineering departments, with MWRD as co-permittee on new local sewers. Downstate, Rockford, Peoria and Springfield route the work through public works, and sanitary districts set tap standards. Call JULIE, the Illinois one-call system, before excavating. The drainlayer or plumber pulls the permit.

Who owns the pipe under the street

Across most of Illinois the property owner owns the lateral from the house to the public main, including the part under the sidewalk and street. A 2013 survey of central Illinois agencies found every one placed right-of-way ownership on the owner, though Urbana, Peoria and Springfield reimburse some or all pavement restoration. Chicago is the exception: the city's Private Drain Program repairs a broken drain under the public way, from the sidewalk to the center of the street, at no charge for residences of four units or fewer, provided a licensed sewer contractor has rodded or televised the line and arranged a city sewer inspector's review. A few suburbs, Schaumburg and Addison among them, maintain the right-of-way segment. Illinois has no point-of-sale lateral inspection law.

What is under Illinois, and why it shapes the bid

Illinois sits on glacial till and lake clay, and both drive the cost of a lateral. Chicago bungalows from the 1910s through the 1950s have six-inch vitrified clay drains with roots in every joint, often eight to twelve feet deep because the city's combined sewers run deep. That depth, plus clay walls that slump, makes trench boxes or lining the norm. Post-war suburbs in DuPage and Lake counties used clay and some Orangeburg; 1970s and later tracts are PVC. Downstate, Peoria and Springfield have expansive clays that shear joints, while Rockford's sandier ground drains but shifts. Frost reaches four feet. Combined sewers in older cities mean a failed lateral backs up with stormwater, and MWRD overhead-sewer rules influence how a replacement is designed.

For the lining methods themselves, the Sewer Pipe Lining Illinois pipe lining guide goes into what fails in the ground here and which method fits.

What a Illinois sewer bid must include

• The Chicago Department of Buildings sewer permit number and the drainlayer license it was pulled under, or the local equivalent.
• The IDPH plumber license or plumbing contractor registration number for any work inside the five-foot line.
• A CDOT public-way permit for Chicago street work, or the city or village right-of-way permit elsewhere, with restoration scope.
• Depth of the existing drain and the shoring method assumed, since Illinois clay drains run deep.
• A post-repair or post-lining camera recording, and confirmation the Department of Water Management or local inspector saw the open trench.

The full checklist, for any state, is on what a sewer bid should include.

Red flags in Illinois

• A Chicago bid from a company with no drainlayer license, or a suburban bid with no local sewer contractor registration.
• A plumber number that does not come back in the IDPH Plumbing License Verification tool.
• A claim that no permit is needed because the law excludes building sewers from plumbing.
• Chicago street work with no CDOT permit, or any Illinois dig without a JULIE ticket.

A vetted sewer contractor in Illinois

Sewer repair, lining, bursting and replacement in Illinois are performed by Illinois trenchless crews based in DeKalb, covering Chicagoland, the collar counties and northern Illinois. They are listed in the CIPP Verified Installer directory, which means licensing, completed work and equipment were checked before the listing went live, and every bid starts with a recorded camera inspection.

Estimates are free. Call now. (815) 827-6647

Where Illinois property owners ask for help most

The rules above apply statewide; the communities below are the ones that generate the most questions.

Illinois sewer contractor questions

Does a sewer contractor in Illinois need a plumbing license?

Not for the lateral alone. The Illinois Plumbing License Law excludes building sewers from its definition of plumbing. Work inside the five-foot line does need an IDPH-licensed plumber, and most Illinois cities, Chicago especially, require a local drainlayer or sewer contractor license to pull the permit.

Who fixes a sewer under a Chicago street?

For Illinois homes of four units or fewer inside Chicago, the Private Drain Program repairs breaks under the public way, sidewalk to street center, at no cost. You must first have a licensed sewer contractor rod or televise the line and schedule a city sewer inspector. Breaks on your lot are yours.

What is a drainlayer license in Illinois?

It is Chicago's license for anyone who builds, repairs, rods or cleans underground sewer and drain systems, issued through the Department of Buildings. Only a drainlayer, or a plumbing contractor holding a courtesy drainlayer license, can obtain a Chicago sewer permit. Other Illinois cities use their own registrations.

Who owns the lateral in suburban Illinois?

Usually you do, to the main. Downstate cities such as Urbana and Springfield reimburse part or all of the pavement restoration, and a few suburbs like Schaumburg maintain the right-of-way portion. Ask your Illinois village or sanitary district in writing before paying for street work.

Why are Chicago lateral repairs so deep?

Chicago's combined sewers were built deep, so laterals from older bungalows often sit eight to twelve feet down in clay that will not stand unsupported. That drives shoring and restoration cost, which is why lining is common. Elsewhere in Illinois, frost sets the depth near four feet.

The short version for Illinois

In Illinois, get a camera recording before anything else. In Chicago, find out whether the break is under the public way, because the city may repair that part for free. Confirm the local sewer license and, for interior work, the IDPH registration. Compare bids that name the same permits, depth, method and restoration. Insist on the inspection before backfill and a video afterward.

Estimates are free. Call now. (815) 827-6647

Sources checked for this page: ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1343 · www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bldgs/provdrs/permits/svcs/sew... · www.chicago.gov/PrivateDrainRepair · www.city.urbana.il.us/_Agendas_-_Packets_-_Minutes/Agendas_2... · dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/environmental-health-protec...