About the data
Every count and cost on this site comes from City of Chicago records, read on Oct. 24, 2026.
Permits
We read the City’s Building Permits dataset and keep five kinds of work: masonry, reroofing, porches (including decks, balconies and fire escapes), mechanical work (heating and cooling) and exterior windows and doors. Counts cover the 12 months to Oct. 24, 2026: 4,702 permits in all.
Costs
The “middle cost” for each kind of work is the median of the costs reported on those permits: half the jobs came in under it and half over. The range beside it is the middle half of jobs, from the 25th to the 75th percentile. The permits cover every size of building, from cottages to apartment towers. Costs are what the person filing the permit reported.
Contractors
We match the contractor named on each permit to the City’s license register and count licensed contractors only: 1,344 in the last 12 months. We don’t name, rank or recommend any of them.
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods are Chicago’s 77 official community areas, from the City’s boundary data. Each permit is counted in the community area the City records for it.
The drawings
The buildings are drawn in code: typical examples of each kind, at one scale, not portraits of real buildings. Line weights follow the Historic American Buildings Survey; colors follow the old Sanborn fire-insurance maps, with pink for brick, blue for stone, yellow for wood frame and grey for iron.
Rules and requirements
What the guides say about permits, licenses, insurance and contracts is taken from the City of Chicago, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Compiled Statutes. Each guide links to its source.
Sources
- City of Chicago trade contractor license lookup
- All licensed trade contractors (active)
- Search Building Department Records (permits, inspections, violations by address)
- Building Permits dataset, City of Chicago Data Portal
- Express Permit Program, Department of Buildings
- Express Permit Program: Masonry Work
- What masonry work doesn’t need a building permit?
- What types of work are eligible for the Express Permit Program?
- Porch and Deck Safety, Department of Buildings
- Illinois license lookup (IDFPR)
- Roofing contractors, Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
- Home Repair and Construction: How to Choose a Contractor, Illinois Attorney General
- Consumer Protection, Illinois Attorney General
- Home Repair and Remodeling Act, Sec. 15 (written contract)
- Home Repair and Remodeling Act, Sec. 20 (consumer rights pamphlet)
- Home Repair and Remodeling Act, Sec. 25 (insurance)
- City of Chicago, Boundaries: Community Areas (data.cityofchicago.org)
Windy City Pros is an independent guide, not part of the City of Chicago or the State of Illinois.