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What is the Illinois Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights pamphlet, and must your contractor give it to you?

Read the Illinois pamphlet before signing a home repair contract. The Home Repair and Remodeling Act’s pamphlet and acknowledgment provisions are quoted below. Keep the pamphlet and acknowledgment with your contract so you can review the same documents when discussing the proposed work.

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

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By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Sources read: 22 October 2026 Updated 2026-10-22

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Key facts

What does Section 20 require a contractor to hand you?

A copy of the pamphlet on every covered contract, plus a signed receipt on the larger ones: Section 20 of the Illinois Home Repair and Remodeling Act is quoted below in its own words, first for contracts above its stated threshold and then for contracts at or below it.

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

Section 20(a) of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, 815 ILCS 513/20, read 22 October 2026, begins: "For any contract over $1,000, any person engaging in the business of home repair and remodeling shall provide to its customers a copy of the “Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights” pamphlet prior to the execution of any home repair and remodeling contract."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

Section 20(b) reads: "For any contract for $1,000 or under, any person engaging in the business of home repair and remodeling shall provide to its customers a copy of the “Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights” pamphlet." Its next sentence reads: "No written acknowledgment of receipt of the pamphlet is required for a contract of $1,000 or under."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

In our reading, the size of the contract changes only the paperwork you sign, so on a small job it is still reasonable to ask for the pamphlet. Whether a particular job or contract falls under the Act is a legal question, and this page does not answer it.

What does the acknowledgment form say, and who keeps it?

It is a short signed receipt kept in two copies, one by each side: the form's wording and the rule on who keeps which copy are quoted below from Section 20(a).

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

Section 20(a) says: "The consumer shall sign and date an acknowledgment form entitled “Consumer Rights Acknowledgment Form” that states:" and the form's sentence is: "I, the homeowner, have received from the contractor a copy of the pamphlet entitled 'Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights.'"

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

The contractor signs too. The same subsection says: "The contractor or his or her representative shall also sign and date the acknowledgment form, which includes the name and address of the home repair and remodeling business."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

On the copies, it says: "The acknowledgment form shall be in duplicate and incorporated into the pamphlet. The original acknowledgment form shall be retained by the contractor and the duplicate copy shall be retained within the pamphlet by the consumer."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

Your signature on that form says you received the pamphlet. Read the pamphlet before you sign the form, not after, so the receipt you sign matches what actually happened.

Which jobs count as home repair and remodeling in Illinois?

Section 10 of the Act sets the scope, and it is narrower than every job on a house: its definition, two of its exceptions and its meaning of residence are quoted below.

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/10, Definitions, read 22 October 2026.

The definitions section, 815 ILCS 513/10, read 22 October 2026, says: "“Home repair and remodeling” means the fixing, replacing, altering, converting, modernizing, improving, or making of an addition to any real property primarily designed or used as a residence other than maintenance, service, or repairs under $500."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/10, Definitions, read 22 October 2026.

The definition's exclusion sentence reads: “"Home repair and remodeling" does not include the sale, installation, cleaning, or repair of carpets; the repair, installation, replacement, or connection of any home appliance including, but not limited to, disposals, refrigerators, ranges, garage door openers, televisions or television antennas, washing machines, telephones, hot water heaters, satellite dishes, or other appliances when the persons replacing, installing, repairing, or connecting the home appliance are employees or agents of the merchant that sold the home appliance or sold new products of the same type; or landscaping.”

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/10, Definitions, read 22 October 2026.

The section also defines the kind of building: "“Residence” means a single-family home or dwelling or a multiple-family home or dwelling containing 6 or fewer apartments, condominiums, town houses, or dwelling units, used or intended to be used by occupants as dwelling places." It adds: "This Act does not apply to original construction of single-family or multi-family residences or repairs to dwellings containing more than 6 apartments or family units."

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/10, Definitions, read 22 October 2026.

What does the pamphlet itself tell you to do?

It is a short set of contract tips, warning signs and terms to look for in a contract; Section 20(c) writes its full text into the law, the Illinois Attorney General publishes a printed version, and a few lines of each are quoted below.

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.
Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

Section 20(c) sets the form: “(c) The pamphlet must be a separate document, in at least 12 point type, and in legible ink. The pamphlet shall read as follows:”

Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

The Illinois Attorney General's printed pamphlet, read 22 October 2026, lists contract tips that include: "Get all estimates in writing." Another reads: "Never sign a contract with blank spaces or one you do not fully understand." A third reads: "Do not sign a certificate of completion or make final payment until the work is done to your satisfaction."

Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

Under the heading Basic Terms to Be Included in a Contract, the printed version lists, among other items: "Description of the work to be performed." "Starting and estimated completion dates." "Total cost of work to be performed." "Schedule and method of payment, including down payment, subsequent payments and final payment."

Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

The printed version, marked "Rev. 10/2019", and the text in Section 20(c) are not word for word the same. Section 20(c) item (4) reads: "Remember, you have 3 business days (or as provided in Section 22 if you are age 65 or older) from the time you sign your contract to cancel any contract if the sale is made at your home." The printed version reads: "You have three business days from the time you sign your contract to cancel any contract if the sale is made at your home. Homeowners age 65 or older have up to 15 business days if they signed a contract with an uninvited solicitor in the home."

Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.
Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

If a line in the copy you were handed and the statute's text quoted above seem to differ on a point that matters to you, read both in full, and ask a lawyer before you rely on either one.

What should you do before you sign an Illinois home repair contract?

Treat the pamphlet as part of the paperwork you expect to see before any signature, and keep it with the contract once the job is agreed. This is practical reasoning, not legal advice and not a finding from any agency.

  1. Ask for the pamphlet when the written contract is offered, and read it before you read the signature page.
  2. Keep your copy of the acknowledgment with the pamphlet.

    Source: Illinois General Assembly, 815 ILCS 513/20, Consumer rights brochure, read 22 October 2026.

  3. Hold the contract against the pamphlet's list of basic terms. For example, the printed version lists: "Starting and estimated completion dates."

    Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

  4. Leave no blank spaces. The printed version says: "Never sign a contract with blank spaces or one you do not fully understand."

    Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

  5. Keep the pamphlet, your copy of the form and the signed contract together in one folder, with the date you received each.
  6. If something goes wrong, the printed version says: "If you think you have been defrauded by a contractor or have any questions, please bring your concerns to the attention of your state’s attorney or the Illinois Attorney General’s Office."

    Source: Illinois Attorney General, Home Repair: Know Your Consumer Rights (PDF, Rev. 10/2019), read 22 October 2026.

Who sees your contact details when you post on InstaBids?

Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, live-page excerpts, read 22 October 2026.

Post your job on InstaBids, and contractors can bid in writing on one written scope.

Homeowners anywhere in the US can post a job; once you send it, InstaBids finds contractors to bid on it.

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