Quad Cities Home Pros
Why this is more complicated here than most places
The Quad Cities straddle a state line. A contractor working in Davenport and a contractor working in Moline are five miles apart and answer to different state licensing systems, and the city issuing the permit changes again depending on which side of a boundary your house sits on.
None of this is your problem to solve — it is the contractor's. But knowing how it is supposed to work is the difference between noticing a problem before the work starts and noticing it when an inspector does.
Who issues the permit
Permits are issued by the city your property is in, not by the county and not by the state. Work that alters structure, electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems generally needs one. Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island and East Moline each run their own building department.
If your address is in an unincorporated area — the pockets between East Moline, Silvis, Carbon Cliff and Hampton are the common case — the issuing authority may be the county rather than a city. This is the single easiest thing to get wrong in this metro. Confirm which authority applies to your address before work begins, not after.
Who is supposed to pull it
Normally the contractor pulls the permit, because the permit ties the work to the licensed party who did it. If a contractor asks you to pull your own permit for their work, treat that as a question worth pressing on. It can be legitimate for genuinely owner-performed work, but on a job you are paying someone else to do it shifts responsibility for the work onto you.
Ask who is pulling the permit before you sign anything, and ask to see it once it is issued.
Illinois: plumbers and roofers are licensed by the state
On the Illinois side — Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and the surrounding communities — plumbing and roofing are licensed at state level rather than by the city. That is worth checking specifically, because a contractor can be perfectly legitimate locally and still not hold the state licence the trade requires.
Ask for the licence number rather than an assurance. A contractor who holds one will give it to you without friction.
Iowa: most residential contractors register with the state
On the Iowa side — Davenport, Bettendorf and their neighbours — most residential contractors are required to register with the state. Registration is not the same thing as a trade licence: it is a lighter requirement, and it does not by itself say anything about skill.
It is still worth asking for the registration number, because it is easy to provide and its absence tells you something.
If the work crosses the river
Plenty of Quad Cities companies work both sides routinely, and there is nothing unusual about hiring one. What matters is that a company set up to work in one state is not automatically set up to work in the other.
If a company is based in Bettendorf and the job is in Moline, confirm they are licensed for the state the work is actually in — not the state their office is in.
What to ask before work starts
Who is pulling the permit, and which authority issues it for this address? What licence or registration do you hold for the state this work is in, and what is the number? Are you insured, and can I see the certificate?
None of these are unusual or adversarial questions. A contractor who answers them easily is telling you something, and so is one who does not.
One caveat
Requirements change, and a directory is not the authority on them. Everything here is a starting point for the questions to ask — confirm the current rules with your city's building department and with the relevant state before relying on any of it.