Remodeling contractor in Glen Ellyn, IL

Permits come from the Community Development Department at 535 Duane Street, which reviews plans, issues permits and inspects. Applications and contractor registration run through the village's LAMA portal.

The Village Code says no contractor may do permitted work without a certificate of insurance or a professional licence on file. Registration asks for a certificate naming the village as additional insured, licensed trades submit their state or municipal licence, and the general contractor files a Contractor Listing Sheet with every permit naming everyone on the job. We register before we pull and keep those documents current until final inspection, because an expired certificate can bring a stop work order.

Census figures put about 16 percent of Glen Ellyn homes before 1940, a larger share than in Lombard, Wheaton or Downers Grove. Another 36 percent date from 1960 to 1979. The median home dates to 1971.

For its historic districts the village publishes Historic Preservation Maintenance and Alteration Guidelines covering porches, dormers, windows, fences and garages. They speak for the street. Wrought iron, painted picket fences, low hedges and limestone walls fit, and cyclone fencing should stay out of front yards.

A kitchen or bathroom on its own is straightforward. A bigger project can trigger the village's partial improvements rule. When an addition grows the house by more than 75 percent, or more than half of the exterior walls and roof are altered, or a large interior remodel passes a cost threshold in the code, the owner must bring the property up to date as well.

That list is specific. It includes a new water service and meter, a new sanitary line if the old one is not sound, an overhead sanitary line with an ejector pump, a hard surface driveway in place of gravel and a public sidewalk where none exists. We price that in before you commit, not after.

Glen Ellyn also asks for fire protection in existing homes. When an addition or basement renovation passes a set cost, exposed lightweight framing such as wood floor trusses must be covered with five eighths inch Type X gypsum board.

Glen Ellyn requires a radon mitigation system in every new basement remodeling project, unless an Illinois licensed radon professional reports levels below 4.0 pCi/L. Test first and you may save the system. Skip the test and it goes in.

The village's basement guideline sets the rest. Every finished basement needs a second way out, every basement bedroom needs its own escape window, and awning or hopper windows do not count as escape openings here. Wells deeper than 44 inches need a ladder, wells more than 30 inches below grade need a guard that opens from inside, and ceilings must be 7 feet, or 6 feet 4 inches under beams and ducts.

In the R2 district, a two story house and its accessory buildings may cover only 20 percent of the lot, and a one story house 35 percent. The first 500 square feet of a detached garage is excluded when there is no front facing attached garage, and part of an open front porch is excluded too. The rear yard is 40 feet, and each side yard is 6.5 feet or 10 percent of the lot width, whichever is greater.

Small jobs still get a stormwater look. Disturbing between 300 and 1,500 square feet, which covers many additions, needs a drainage plan. If new roof or paving drains toward a neighbour, you need an infiltration measure sized to hold 1.25 inches of runoff from the new area, and a drywell is recorded on the property title with the county.

The village is rewriting its zoning code, and on October 1, 2026 the Plan Commission took up accessory dwelling units and cottage courts, with a draft code planned for November 2026. If you are thinking about an in law suite, that draft is worth watching.

Glen Ellyn ties pool setbacks to lot width. The pool, its equipment and the walks around it must sit at least 10 percent of the lot width from every property line, so on a 66 foot lot that is 6.6 feet. Pool equipment visible from a street must be screened with planting or a screen wall, and a garden pond 2 feet deep or more is treated as a pool.

Any pool, hot tub or spa holding more than 24 inches of water must be completely surrounded by a fence or barrier under the village's property maintenance amendments. A pool dig is disturbed ground, so the village's drainage plan rules apply from 300 square feet, and the Village Engineer can ask for a full grading plan where drainage problems already exist. We check the survey for easements and drainage swales before we place the pool.