ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Illinois licensing requirements

Is There anyone from Illinois, Specifically the Chicago area that could give me some information on what their licensing requirements are and if they have reciprocal agreements with other states? Thanks. Sparko

Illinois doesn't have a statewide license.

There are individual municipalities that offer licensing. There exams are usually based on whatever their adopted version of the NEC is, plus any local modifications to the Code. And residency is usually not required; just enough Code knowledge and field experience to pass the exam and background qualifications, the exam and license fees, and a certificate of insurance.

EC tickets are usually reciprocal between other communities... as long as "Town A" EC's will be honored in "Town B", "Town B" EC's will be honored in "Town A". Every once in a while you'll see towns get into a "peeing contest" due to minor Code changes that the other doesn't agree with, but (thankfully) those are much fewer than in the old days.

There are some AHJ's that, while they don't license EC's, they only allow EC's that hold licenses from those "third party" towns to pull permits.

[Edited to add] Just a quick list of some N. IL AHJ's offering EC tickets (from Streamwood, IL)

Village of Buffalo Grove
City of Chicago
City of Elgin
City of Elmhurst
Village of Elmwood Park
City of Glenview
Village of Hinsdale
City of Naperville
City of North Chicago
City of Northlake
Village of Orland Park
Village of Schaumburg
City of Waukegan
City of Wood Dale
City of Woodstock

Lots of town reference the licenses issued by the above AHJ's as being "licensed" as an EC. If you are issued from another AHJ, you might have to take a Code competency exam, or sign an affadavit attesting to yor knowledge.

Usually a community that is on the list will allow an EC from another community to register (for a buck or two) as an EC in that town; or they'll let them pull permits without having a license for that specific community.

As far as other states and Illinois community EC tickets, there are many municipalities that only have a reference to "licensed EC's" in their ordinances (without mention of a specific state), and usually accept licensure from other states... as long as you seem to know what you're doing when the inspector comes around.

[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 05-21-2004).]

Speaking from the city of Chicago and the suburbs west and south,the Chicago license will usually get you a permit in most suburbs. There are two or three with good resi licenses and tests that are accepted in other towns for resi work(Naperville, Downers Grove). There is even one town that I know of that is it's own POCO, with it's own wire, poles, etc(Naperville). The most cited requirement is insurance and bond$.

Chicago has on their web their requirements and application to test out and be licianced.

They told me in Chicago:
They don't accept liciances from other towns in Illinois.
To test out they want you to have 2 years working under another chicago liciance holder and have them sign off to it. They will make exceptions if you can prove your qualified to take their test. But "it never seems to work out for EC that come to the city".
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_EDITORIAL/Electrician_1.pdf



Does anyone know chicago to accept anything but a chicago liciance?

Once licianced a good number of villages you need to pay a fee around $50 for the privlage to work there. Many also want a bond made out to them which costs about $50 too.

What I hate is you don't know what to expect going from town to town in Illinois. Some are 2004 nec, some write there own book added to the nec, while other inspectors don't remember what year nec they use but it's somewhere from the 80's.

Tom

I don't think I can add much, Sparko. I passed the exam in the City of Woodstock which accepts registered electricians from other communities. I call the building departments of other communities to see if they have registration requirements or bond requirements. I suspect that Chicago, in essence, is requiring that you apprentice through the union.

To answer your question, I suspect no state would allow the lic. from another state, except perhaps in the East where states are smaller and closer together, or where a city or community bridges across two states.

Dave

Thanks resqcapt19.

Tom

Found an update on which villages are currently testing. The source is this website : http://www.lmccdupage.org/electric....or_municipalities_in_Northeast_Illinois_

I went through to pick out which villages are testing and providing licenses. I came up these:

Village of Buffalo Grove
Village of Downers Grove
City of Elgin
City of North Chicago
City of Waukegan
City of Woodstock


I can only imagine that DougW's list is of villages that at one time tested, so if you hold a current license from there, it will be accepted. As I understand the six listed above are where you have to go if you don't have a license yet. I don't know how current it is, but the website looks like a good resource. I cut and pasted and saved.

Edit: after looking again it looks as if that site only references IBEW 701 jurisdiction? So the list Doug pasted may still be good. the only edits I would make to his list is Naperville doesn't test and Downers Grove does.

[This message has been edited by Jps1006 (edited 04-29-2005).]

Chicago is testing. Did Schaumburg stop testing?

The joke here is most all villages want the EC to be licenced from passing a test. But only a few out of hundreds of places give a test. Most want to charge you a fee + bond to work in each village. Once in a while you get the run around how they don't accept another villages liciance.

Illinois seems like it's one of only a few states with no state electric code, licencing, testing, or regulation. They were working on a state wide program that would not include Chicago but don't know what happened.

Tom