Kitchen remodel contracts and lien waivers in Illinois

Two laws shape a kitchen remodel contract in Illinois. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act (815 ILCS 513) sets what a contract and a homeowner's paperwork must contain. The Mechanics Lien Act (770 ILCS 60) protects the people who supply labor and materials, and gives the homeowner tools of their own. Both were read from the Illinois General Assembly's pages.

The Home Repair and Remodeling Act

What it covers

The Act names kitchens in its list of covered work: it includes the construction, installation, replacement or improvement of driveways, swimming pools, porches, kitchens, bathrooms, basements and more, other than maintenance, service or repairs under $500 (815 ILCS 513/10). A kitchen remodel on a house is inside the Act.

The Act covers a single-family home or a multiple-family home with 6 or fewer apartments, condominiums, town houses or dwelling units. It does not apply to original construction of single-family or multi-family residences, or to repairs to dwellings with more than 6 apartments or family units (815 ILCS 513/10).

The written contract

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

Section 15 does not itself require start or completion dates. The Attorney General's home repair page and the pamphlet text printed in the statute both list "starting and estimated completion dates", a schedule and method of payment with down payment, subsequent payments and final payment, and a description of the work to be performed as terms a contract should include. Treat those as what the state recommends, and ask for them (815 ILCS 513/20(c)).

The pamphlet also says never to sign a contract with blank spaces or one you do not fully understand.

Arbitration and jury trial waivers

If a contract has a clause that requires you to use binding arbitration or waives a jury trial, the company must tell you before the contract is accepted and executed. The clause is void if it is not accepted or rejected, and signed, by you (815 ILCS 513/15.1(a) and (c)).

The consumer rights pamphlet

For any contract over $1,000, the company must give you a copy of the pamphlet "Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights" before the contract is executed. You sign and date an acknowledgment form. The company keeps the original and you keep the duplicate inside the pamphlet (815 ILCS 513/20(a)). No written acknowledgment is required for a contract of $1,000 or under (815 ILCS 513/20(b)). The Attorney General publishes the pamphlet in English, Spanish and Polish.

Insurance

Home repair companies must carry public liability and property damage insurance in the amount of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence of bodily injury and $50,000 per occurrence for property damage, unless the company has a net worth of at least $1,000,000. A second paragraph requires $10,000 per occurrence for work not in conformance with applicable State, county or municipal codes (815 ILCS 513/25). The statute does not say the company must show you a certificate. The pamphlet tells you to determine whether the contractor has the proper insurance.

Your right to cancel

• 3 business days, at-home sales. Under Section 2B of the Consumer Fraud Act (815 ILCS 505/2B), a consumer may avoid a contract by notifying the seller within 3 full business days when the seller was physically present at the consumer's residence and the sale was $25 or more. The Attorney General applies this to home repair contracts. It lists exclusions: an emergency you started and waived in a signed handwritten statement, and terms you negotiated during an earlier visit to the seller's place of business. The pamphlet adds that the contractor cannot deprive you of this right by starting work, selling your contract to a lender or any other tactic.
• 15 business days, age 65 or older. A person 65 or older who buys home repair or remodeling services from an uninvited solicitor may cancel by notifying the company within 15 full business days after the contract was signed, if the agreement was made at the purchaser's home (815 ILCS 513/22). It does not cover every senior in every sale.
• Insurance claim jobs. A home repair company may not advertise or promise to pay or rebate an insurance deductible as an inducement to the sale. A customer whose contract is paid from an insurance claim may cancel within the statutory window if the insurer denies the claim (815 ILCS 513/18(b) and (e)).

If a company breaks the Act

A violation of the Act counts as a violation of the Consumer Fraud Act (815 ILCS 513/35(b)). A person who suffers actual damage can bring an action under Section 10a of the Consumer Fraud Act (815 ILCS 513/30). That action must start within 3 years after the cause of action accrued, and the court may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing party (815 ILCS 505/10a). For a contract signed on or after August 1, 2025, a one-way attorney fee clause in a home repair contract is read to permit the award of fees to all parties to the contract (815 ILCS 513/31).

Separately, the Home Repair Fraud Act (815 ILCS 515) is a criminal law that also names kitchens. Misrepresenting a material fact about the terms of the contract is home repair fraud, a Class 4 felony when the contract is more than $1,000 (815 ILCS 515/3 and 515/4).

The Attorney General's preferred way to file a complaint is its online form. Its consumer fraud hotlines are 1-800-386-5438 in Chicago, 1-800-243-0618 in Springfield and 1-800-243-0607 in Carbondale, and 1-866-310-8398 for Spanish.

The Mechanics Lien Act

What a lien is

A contractor who is not paid can have a lien on the whole lot or tract of land and the building (770 ILCS 60/1(a)). Subcontractors have a lien for the value of what they furnished (770 ILCS 60/21(a)). Subcontractors and suppliers have the same right, so a lien can come from someone other than the company you hired.

The sworn statement

The Act's main protection for homeowners is the sworn statement. Before you pay the contractor, it is the contractor's duty to give you, and your duty to require, a statement in writing, under oath or verified by affidavit, of the names and addresses of all parties furnishing labor, services, material, fixtures, apparatus or machinery, and of the amounts due or to become due to each (770 ILCS 60/5(a)).

For an owner-occupied single-family home, the contractor must give you a notice in at least 10-point boldface type before your first payment. It begins "THE LAW REQUIRES THAT THE CONTRACTOR SHALL SUBMIT A SWORN STATEMENT OF PERSONS FURNISHING LABOR, SERVICES, MATERIAL, FIXTURES, APPARATUS OR MACHINERY, OR FORMS OR FORM WORK BEFORE ANY PAYMENTS ARE REQUIRED TO BE MADE TO THE CONTRACTOR" (770 ILCS 60/5(b)(i)).

Lien waivers: what the law says and does not say

The Mechanics Lien Act does not define "lien waiver" in one place, and neither does the Attorney General's pamphlet. We therefore do not define the term for you or tell you which kind of waiver to sign. This is what the two documents say.

• The Subcontractor Notice to Owner printed in the Act says: "A lien waiver will be provided to your contractor when the subcontractor is paid, and you are urged to request this waiver from your contractor when paying for your home improvements" (770 ILCS 60/21(c)).
• That notice also warns owners that before any payment is made to the contractor, the owner should receive a waiver of lien executed by each subcontractor who has furnished labor, services or materials (770 ILCS 60/21(c)).
• The pamphlet printed in the Home Repair Act says: "You should also obtain lien waivers from all contractors and subcontractors if appropriate," and "You should consult with an attorney to learn more about your rights and obligations under the Mechanics Lien Act" (815 ILCS 513/20(c)).

Three related rules protect owners and subcontractors. An agreement to waive lien rights made in anticipation of getting a contract is against public policy and unenforceable (770 ILCS 60/1(d)). A contractor who, with intent to defraud, gets a subcontractor to sign a lien waiver by promising payment and then willfully fails to pay in full within 30 days commits a Class A misdemeanor (770 ILCS 60/21.01), and money collected for a waiver is held in trust (770 ILCS 60/21.02(a)). An owner can serve a written demand that a lien claimant sue within 30 days or the lien is forfeited (770 ILCS 60/34(a)), and a claimant who does not release a paid lien after written demand can be liable to the owner for $2,500 (770 ILCS 60/35(a)).

Deadlines, and why to ask a lawyer

The Act sets several deadlines, and they apply to different people at different times. Do not treat any one of them as the deadline for your job.

• Against other creditors and buyers, a contractor must sue or record a claim for lien within 4 months after completion, or after the last extra work or delivery (770 ILCS 60/7(a)).
• As to the owner, the claim can be recorded up to 2 years after completion, and a suit to enforce must start within 2 years after completion (770 ILCS 60/7(a) and 60/9).
• On an owner-occupied single-family home, a contractor must give the owner written notice within 10 days after recording a lien. This does not apply to subcontractors (770 ILCS 60/7(d)).
• A subcontractor on an owner-occupied single-family home must notify the occupant within 60 days of first furnishing labor or materials. A notice after 60 days still preserves the lien, but only to the extent the owner has not been prejudiced by earlier payments (770 ILCS 60/21(c)).
• Subcontractors generally must send the owner written notice within 90 days after completion, by registered or certified mail, a nationally recognized delivery company with tracking, or personal service (770 ILCS 60/24(a)).

Because these clocks differ by who is filing, the Act sets deadlines and a homeowner with a lien question should ask a lawyer.

What a homeowner can ask for

This is a plain list of what the two Acts and the state pamphlet let you ask a company for. Our printable checklist turns it into tick boxes.

• A written contract before work starts on a job over $1,000, with total cost, materials listed, any estimate charge and the business name and address.
• The state pamphlet before you sign, and a signed acknowledgment form on a contract over $1,000.
• Starting and estimated completion dates, a payment schedule and a description of the work, which the state recommends in a contract.
• Notice of any binding arbitration clause or jury trial waiver, with the choice to accept or reject each.
• A sworn statement of everyone who furnished labor or materials and the amounts due, before you pay.
• Lien waivers from contractors and subcontractors, if appropriate, as the pamphlet urges.
• Proof of insurance, which the statute does not require the company to show you but which the Attorney General lists as a warning sign if refused.

More questions are in questions to ask a kitchen remodeler. Price context is in the cost guide. To find a company, choose a city such as Chicago, Aurora or Peoria, or browse every city.