Last updated 2026-08-19
TL;DR
Yes. Anyone who constructs water wells for others or advertises as a well driller in Illinois needs an Illinois Department of Public Health license under 225 ILCS 345. Pump installation is a separate or combined credential. Each well still needs a local construction permit and a construction report under 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920. Confirm exam dates and every fee on the current IDPH application. Do not trust old fee tables.
Do you need a license for well driller in Illinois?
Yes. Construct water wells for other people, advertise as a well driller, or hold yourself out as a water well contractor in Illinois, and you need a license from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The credential comes under 225 ILCS 345, the Water Well and Pump Installation Contractor's License Act. [1]
The Act is blunt about it. Illinois law bars any person from engaging in the occupation of a water well contractor or pump installation contractor, or advertising as one, unless the Department has licensed them. [1]
Advertising counts. A truck door that says you drill wells counts. So does a Facebook post offering holes in McLean County.
Pump work lives in the same statute. You can hold a water well contractor license, a water well pump installation contractor license, or both, depending on what you passed and what you actually do. Do not assume a drilling card covers drop pipe and pitless work. Read the definitions in 225 ILCS 345 and the license rules in 77 Ill. Adm. Code 915. [2][3]
A license is not a well permit. People mix those every season. The license is your right to work in the trade. Each hole still needs construction approval under the Illinois Water Well Construction Code, 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920. [4]
Work on someone else's licensed crew and you usually operate under that contractor's license. The minute you bid a well in your own name, you need your own paper. Confirm supervision rules in Part 915 before you put your name on an estimate.
Other states run this differently. If you chase work south or west too, read the well driller license in Texas and the well driller license in Tennessee. Illinois will not take a smile and an out-of-state card.
Who issues the Illinois well contractor license?
The Illinois Department of Public Health issues water well contractor and pump installation contractor licenses. IDPH also writes the statewide construction code that local health departments inspect against. Start on the Department's private water program page and use the live contractor application. Do not use a PDF your uncle saved in 2012. [5]
IDPH is not the Illinois EPA. IEPA handles public water supplies and a lot of contamination work. Most farm and house wells sit on the private water side. Drill for a community system and you hit a second stack of IEPA design rules.
Local health departments run day to day permits, inspections, and water samples in most counties. Cook County is not Saline County. Call the county where the well will sit, not the county where you park the rig.
The construction minimums are statewide. Part 920 sets minimum requirements for the location, construction, and modification of water wells, closed loop wells, and monitoring wells. A county can be stricter. It cannot shrug at Table C because a lot is tight. [4]
Closed loop geothermal credentials also run through IDPH, under the Illinois Water Well Construction Code and the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act. That is a different card from a water well contractor license. Plenty of drillers hold both. Plenty of new people mix them up and waste a year. [4][5]
Need a roster of licensed contractors? Ask IDPH. I will not send you to a vendor spreadsheet.
How much does well driller cost in Illinois?
Two prices hide in that question. One is what it costs you to get legal. The other is what a well costs a landowner.
License and exam fees come from IDPH. I am not going to invent them. Fees move. The only safe number is the one printed on the current application or the Department fee line. Confirm it with IDPH before you write a check. [3][5]
Business formation is separate. Operate as an LLC or corporation and you file with the Illinois Secretary of State and pay whatever the current business services fee schedule says. Confirm that fee on the SOS page. A blog table is not a filing receipt. [6]
The expensive part is not the license. It is the rig, support trucks, grout equipment, tooling, and insurance. Used iron varies so hard I will not pretend Illinois has a sticker price. Get actual quotes. A new website will not make water.
Insurance is not optional in the real world, even when a statute is quiet on a dollar amount. You want commercial general liability, real commercial auto, inland marine on the rig, and workers' compensation if you have employees. Ask a broker who already writes drilling or excavation. Skip the cheap generalist who has never seen a grout pump.
What I would not buy in year one: paid license expediting, generic contractor coaching, and national certification packages sold as if they replace 225 ILCS 345. They do not. An NGWA credential can help you talk to some owners. It is not an Illinois license. [7]
For landowners asking what a well costs, nobody has a clean statewide average I trust. A shallow sand well in the northern drift is not a deep bedrock hole downstate. National consumer sites publish one number anyway. Ignore it. NGWA planning guidance treats cost as site specific. Get three local bids that state diameter, estimated depth, casing, grout, and pump. [7]
The county construction permit is extra. Confirm that fee with the health department that will sign the sheet.
How long does well driller take in Illinois?
For the license, the honest answer depends on whether you already have the experience IDPH will accept. The experience clock is the long pole. Exam dates and application review sit on a Department schedule. I will not invent a processing time. Confirm exam dates and current review practice with IDPH. Nobody can promise you a license by a Friday. [3][5]
Still need supervised work? You are looking at years, not a winter project. Work under a licensed contractor. Keep dates and well addresses. Do not invent a logbook the week you apply.
For how long a well takes to drill, field work on a normal residential hole is often a day or two once you are permitted and on site. Bad geology, lost circulation, or a deep bedrock job stretches that. The calendar time owners feel is usually the permit and the lab sample, not the rotary table.
Permit turnaround is local. Some counties are quick. Some are not. Confirm with the health department that will sign the permit. Do not quote a statewide wait.
Disinfection and a coliform sample add days. Do not tell an owner they can drink it the afternoon you pull off the hole. Follow the disinfection rules in 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 and the local sample instructions. [4]
Build a realistic first year. License path first. Then a few permitted jobs. Then tighter scheduling. Anyone selling a 30 day start to finish well driller Illinois package is selling smoke.
What experience and exam does IDPH actually require?
IDPH licenses people who meet 225 ILCS 345 and 77 Ill. Adm. Code 915. That means an application, proof of the experience the code requires, and a passing score on the Department exam. Age floors and the exact years of supervised work are in those documents. Read them. Confirm them on the live application. [1][3]
Study the Illinois Water Well Construction Code, not a generic national quiz app. The exam is there to see if you will locate, case, grout, and finish a well the Illinois way. Table C setbacks, grouting, disinfection, and abandoned well rules show up in real inspections. They should show up in your notes. [4][8]
Bring the experience the form asks for. Letters from a licensed contractor, dates, and well types beat a vague claim that you have been around wells your whole life. Department staff have heard that sentence.
Retakes, special exam dates, and what happens if your application is incomplete are Department procedures. Confirm them. I will not invent a retake fee or a waiting period.
Already hold a card in Alabama or Arkansas? Do not assume Illinois will waive the exam. Ask IDPH about any current endorsement path. If they do not publish one, plan to test.
Waste of money: paying someone to guarantee a pass. Learn Part 920. That is the whole trick.
Water well contractor or pump installer: which license?
Illinois splits the trade. A water well contractor constructs, deepens, or modifies wells. A water well pump installation contractor installs and repairs pumping equipment. The same Act covers both. Many people carry both so they can sell a complete private system. [1][3]
If you only drill and another licensed pump person sets the pump, stay in your lane and write the contract that way. If you set pumps, get the pump credential. Owners do not care about your internal org chart when the drop pipe is wrong. The Department will care if you performed work your license does not cover.
Definitions live in 225 ILCS 345. Part 915 tells you how each credential is issued. Confirm which box you are checking on the application. Combined credentials exist in practice. The form in your hand is the authority, not a forum thread.
Pump work still sits inside sanitary rules. Pitless adapters, well caps, and disinfection after you open a well are not extras. Part 920 and the local permit conditions follow you after the casing is set. [4]
Do you need a permit for every well you drill in Illinois?
Yes. A contractor license does not replace a construction permit. 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 requires a permit to construct, deepen, modify, or seal a water well, issued by IDPH or the local health department. Pull that paper before you mobilize, not after a neighbor calls the county. [4][8]
The permit package is usually a site sketch, the proposed location versus septic and sewers, well type, and the contractor's license number. Counties add their own sheets. Some want the septic plan on the same plat. Give it to them.
Sealing an abandoned well is permitted work, not a free Saturday. Illinois treats open abandoned wells as a contamination path. Follow the abandonment section of Part 920 and the permit.
Notification rules can require you to tell the local health department when you start. Read the permit. Missed notifications are how you get a bad name with sanitarians. You need those people.
Variance requests exist when a lot cannot meet Table C. Do not freelance a short septic setback and hope. File the variance the code allows and wait for a yes or a no. [8]
What construction rules does Illinois enforce on the job?
77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 is the jobsite book. Location, casing, grouting, finishing, pumps, disinfection, abandonment, closed loop wells, and monitoring wells all live there. Part 920 Table C sets a 50 foot minimum lateral distance between a septic tank and a water well. A subsurface seepage system is 75 feet. Those two numbers get more new contractors in trouble than any exam question. [8][13]
Grouting is not a suggestion. Part 920 tells you when the annular space gets sealed, with what, and how. Cheap out on grout and you did not save the owner money. You built a conduit. Learn the approved materials and the timing. [4]
Well type matters. Drilled, bored, driven, and dug wells have different sections. Do not apply a drilled well finish to a bored well and call it good.
Disinfect new and repaired wells. Then sample. Local health departments will tell you which lab and which bottle. The U.S. EPA does not regulate private wells and does not license well drillers. EPA's own private well page says, "EPA does not have the authority to regulate individual water systems, nor does it provide recommended criteria or standards for individual wells." Illinois fills that gap. [10]
Finish grade so water runs away from the casing. A sanitary cap is boring. It is also what keeps a well from becoming a storm drain.
Want another state's construction culture for comparison? California and Colorado are not Illinois. Do not grout like you are still on the Front Range.
How do well logs, grout records, and construction reports work?
After the well is done you file a construction report. Illinois wants the state and the local health department to know what you actually built, not what you guessed on the permit. The current IDPH or local form is the one you use. Deadlines are on the form and in Part 920. Read both. Do not sit on logs until winter. [4][5]
The Illinois State Geological Survey keeps ILWATER well records that later drillers and researchers use. Your log is how the next person knows the formation and the casing. File it. A missing log is a gift to whoever has to clean up a problem in ten years. [11]
Grout records matter when an inspector asks what you placed, from what depth to what depth, and with what material. Write it down on the hole, not from memory on Sunday night.
Want a physical board and log packet so paper does not live in a wet truck door? WellDrillerPath sells a $179 one-time Well Board + Grout-Log Kit. It does not replace the state form. The state form is what IDPH and the county will look at.
Give the owner a copy of the construction report, grout notes, and the pump details. That packet beats a logo hat. Illinois State Water Survey groundwater staff and county sanitarians use these records. So will you, the next time someone asks why a well is making sand. [12]
Can you drill your own well in Illinois without a license?
Maybe for the occupation license. Not for the construction code. 225 ILCS 345 is aimed at people in the occupation who hold themselves out as contractors. A landowner who wants a well on their own property for their own use should read the Act's scope and then call the local health department before renting an auger. [1]
I would still pull the permit, follow Table C, grout it, disinfect it, and file the report. County staff can tell you whether they will accept an owner-built well and what extra inspection they want. Some will. Some will push you to hire a licensed contractor. That call is local.
Help a neighbor as a favor, then take money or advertise, and you just became the occupation. Get licensed or stay off the rig.
This is where people get cute on Facebook. Not a contractor, just helping. Set casing for three neighbors a year and you are in the trade. IDPH can read a thread.
Inside a municipality you may not be allowed a new private well at all. Ask the city and the health department before you bid.
What about closed loop and geothermal wells in Illinois?
Closed loop geothermal wells sit in 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 and in the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act. IDPH handles closed loop well contractor credentials. Install vertical loops and you need that paper. A water well contractor license is not a free pass to skip it. Confirm the current closed loop application on the IDPH private water pages. [4][5]
Loop fields have their own setbacks in Table C. They are not the same numbers as a water well in every row. Read the closed loop column. Grout on a loop hole protects the aquifer from the same surface mess a water well grout does. [8]
Horizontal loops in a trench can trigger different local questions than a drilled vertical field. Ask the county. Do not assume trench work is invisible.
Heat pump people who have never grouted a vertical hole should not learn on a customer's yard. Partner with a licensed closed loop contractor or get the credential yourself.
What does first-year paperwork look like if you hang a shingle?
Here is the stack I would actually build.
Get the IDPH license that matches the work. Form the business the way your accountant and the Secretary of State require. Open a separate bank account. Put real insurance in force before the first invoice. [5][6]
For each job: written contract, local well permit, utility locates, Table C sketch, drilling notes, grout notes, disinfection, sample, construction report, owner packet, invoice, and sales tax treatment if it applies. Illinois sales tax on construction is its own headache. Ask a CPA who does construction, not a well forum.
Hire anyone and you step into unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and payroll withholding. That is not IDPH paper. It is still how first year shops blow up.
I would not spend early money on a second truck wrap. I would spend it on grout equipment that works in January and on a working relationship with two county sanitarians.
Keep every permit and log. When a well you drilled three years ago goes bad, that file is your memory.
Chasing work south of the line too? Read How to start a well driller business in Texas. Two states means two licenses. No way around it.
How do you renew, and what if you drill without a license?
Licenses expire on the cycle IDPH prints on the card and the renewal form. Confirm the date, the fee, and any continuing education the current rules require. I will not invent a CE hour count. If Part 915 or the renewal notice asks for classes, take classes IDPH will actually accept. [3][5]
Work on a lapsed license is unlicensed work. Do not drill through a renewal gap because a job is hot.
Unlicensed contracting can bring Department action under 225 ILCS 345 and local stop work under the construction code. I will not invent a fine schedule. You can lose the job, the county relationship, and a future license. That is enough reason. [1]
Check a contractor on the IDPH list before you subcontract. Owners should do the same.
This article is a map, not a substitute for the Act, Part 915, Part 920, or a lawyer. WellDrillerPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. If you want the optional grout-log kit and a start page, use /start. The free path is still the statute and the IDPH forms.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for well driller in Illinois?
Yes. Construct wells for others or advertise as a water well contractor and you need an IDPH license under 225 ILCS 345. Pump installation is a separate or combined credential. Employees usually work under a licensed contractor until they bid jobs in their own name. Each well still needs a local construction permit.
How much does well driller cost in Illinois?
IDPH sets license and exam fees on the current application. Confirm those dollars with the Department. Do not use an old blog table. The real money is the rig, tooling, grout gear, and insurance. Landowner well prices are site specific. Illinois has no clean statewide average I trust because depth and geology swing so hard.
How long does well driller take in Illinois?
The license wait is mostly your experience clock, then the next IDPH exam date and Department review. Confirm dates with IDPH. Nobody can promise a Friday approval. A normal permitted residential hole is often a day or two on the rig. Owners usually wait longer on the county permit and the water sample than on the drill itself.
Does Illinois license pump installers separately?
Yes. 225 ILCS 345 covers water well contractors and water well pump installation contractors as distinct occupations. Many people hold both so they can sell a complete private system. If you set pumps, get the pump credential. Do not assume a drilling license covers pitless and drop pipe work. Read the live IDPH application.
Can a licensed driller from Indiana or Missouri work in Illinois?
Not on the other state's card alone. Illinois requires its own IDPH license under 225 ILCS 345. Ask the Department whether any endorsement path exists right now. If they do not publish one, plan to show the required experience and sit the Illinois exam. Border work means two sets of paper.
Do employees need their own well driller license?
Usually no, while they work under a licensed water well contractor and do not hold themselves out as the contractor. The minute they advertise, bid, or contract in their own name, they need their own IDPH license. Confirm supervision language in 77 Ill. Adm. Code 915 before anyone's name goes on an estimate.
Where do I send the well construction report?
Use the current IDPH or local health department construction report form and file it the way that form and 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 instruct. Illinois also keeps well records through the Illinois State Geological Survey ILWATER system. Give the owner a copy. Confirm the deadline on the form you are actually filing.
Is grouting required on every Illinois well?
Treat grouting as required work under 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920, not as an upgrade. The code states when the annular space gets sealed, with what materials, and how. Cheap grout is how you build a contamination path. Write depths and material on the hole. Inspectors will ask.
What should I study for the Illinois well contractor exam?
Study 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 and the license rules in Part 915, plus the Act. Know Table C setbacks, grouting, disinfection, well types, and abandonment. A generic national quiz app will not teach you Illinois numbers. Confirm exam dates and allowed materials with IDPH. I would not pay anyone who guarantees a pass.
Do I need a license to seal or abandon a well?
Sealing is regulated construction work under 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920 and it needs a permit from IDPH or the local health department. If you do this for others as a business, you also need the proper contractor license. Do not treat an old well as a free Saturday project. Open abandoned wells are contamination paths.
Does EPA issue well driller licenses in Illinois?
No. The U.S. EPA does not regulate private wells and does not license well drillers. EPA says it does not provide recommended criteria or standards for individual wells. Illinois fills that gap through IDPH, 225 ILCS 345, and 77 Ill. Adm. Code 920. Your paper path is state and county, not federal.
How do I check if someone is a licensed Illinois well contractor?
Ask the Illinois Department of Public Health for the current licensed contractor list or verification method. Do not trust a truck door or a Facebook ad. Match the name on the bid to the name on the license. Owners should also confirm the local well permit lists that same contractor before anyone mobilizes.
What insurance should a new Illinois well contractor carry?
Carry commercial general liability, commercial auto, inland marine on the rig, and workers' compensation if you have employees. Ask a broker who already writes drilling or excavation. I will not invent a statutory dollar minimum. Even when a statute is quiet, one bad hole without coverage can end the shop.
Sources
- Illinois General Assembly, 225 ILCS 345 Water Well and Pump Installation Contractor's License Act: No person may engage as a water well contractor or pump installation contractor, or advertise as one, unless licensed by the Department.
- Illinois General Assembly, Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 225 Professions and Occupations: Illinois licenses water well contractors and water well pump installation contractors under one Act administered by IDPH.
- Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77 Public Health, Part 915: IDPH license code sets how water well and pump installation contractor applications and credentials are handled.
- Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77 Public Health, Part 920 Illinois Water Well Construction Code: Part 920 sets minimum statewide requirements for location, construction, and modification of water wells, closed loop wells, and monitoring wells.
- Illinois Department of Public Health, Private Water program: IDPH administers the private water program, contractor licensing information, and related well construction resources.
- National Ground Water Association / Wellowner, Planning for a Water Well: Well cost and design are site specific and should be bid from local geology, depth, and construction details, not a single national sticker price.
- Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77 Public Health, Part 920 (Location, Table C): Water wells must meet the minimum lateral distances from contamination sources set out in Part 920 Table C, including permit and location rules.
- U.S. EPA, About Private Water Wells: EPA does not regulate private wells and does not provide recommended criteria or standards for individual wells.
- Illinois State Geological Survey, ILWATER well records: ISGS maintains the ILWATER system of Illinois water well construction records used after wells are completed.
- Illinois State Water Survey, Groundwater Science: The Illinois State Water Survey holds groundwater science programs that rely on private well and related water records.
- Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77 Public Health, Part 920 Table C: Table C sets numeric minimum lateral distances, including 50 feet from a septic tank and 75 feet from a subsurface seepage system to a water well.