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Home / General Contractors / Illinois / Apprenticeships

General Contractor apprenticeships in Illinois

Illinois has 17 registered general contractor apprenticeship programs: 2 union and 15 open shop.1 Apprentices are hired and paid while they learn.

Find a program near you

Enter your ZIP to sort by distance. Lineman, utility and studio programs are hidden because they lead to a different license.

Type

17 programs

  1. Amiri Construction LLC

    Chicago · Cook County

    Open shop

  2. Construction Management Consortium, LLC

    Dolton · Cook County

    Open shop

  3. CREA Construction

    Chicago · Cook County

    Open shop

  4. Dan Jewett Construction Company

    Greenville · Bond County

    Open shop

  5. Dawkins Construction & Excavation, Inc.

    Louisville · Clay County

    Open shop

  6. Followell Construction Co Inc

    Marion · Williamson County

    Open shop

  7. Job Ready Construction Boot Camp

    Rockford · Winnebago County

    Open shop

  8. JRP Utility Construction, Inc

    South Elgin · Kane County

    Open shopLineman or utility

  9. Measure Twice Construction

    Chicago · Cook County

    Open shop

  10. Mid-America Carpenters R C Apprentice & Training Program Southern Illinois Campus

    Belleville · St. Clair County

    Open shop

  11. Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Apprentice & Training Program

    Elk Grove Village · Cook County

    Union

  12. Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Apprentice & Training Program Pekin Campus

    Pekin · Tazewell County

    Union

  13. MIKK/DLP Construction

    Dolton · Cook County

    Open shop

  14. Mosley Construction LLC

    Pembroke Township · Kankakee County

    Open shop

  15. Page Remodeling & Construction LLC.

    Peoria · Peoria County

    Open shop

  16. Steffens 3D Construction

    Toluca · Marshall County

    Open shop

  17. Three Kingdoms Construction

    Chicago · Cook County

    Open shop

  18. TU Construction

    Libertyville · Lake County

    Open shop

  19. Wolf Line Construction

    Galena · Jo Daviess County

    Open shopLineman or utility

Union locals and training centers in Illinois

Call the local or its training center for the next application date.

Carpenters union locals

  • Carpenters Local 1Chicago
  • Carpenters Local 10Bridgeview
  • Carpenters Local 13Chicago
  • Carpenters Local 54Bridgeview
  • Carpenters Local 58Chicago
  • Carpenters Local 174Joliet
  • Carpenters Local 237East Peoria
  • Carpenters Local 243Champaign
12 more Carpenters locals
  • Carpenters Local 250Lakemoor
  • Carpenters Local 270Springfield
  • Carpenters Local 272Chicago Heights
  • Carpenters Local 662Freeburg
  • Carpenters Local 664Wood River
  • Carpenters Local 790Rock Falls
  • Carpenters Local 792Rockford
  • Carpenters Local 1027Lisle
  • Carpenters Local 1185Lisle
  • Carpenters Local 1693Lisle
  • Carpenters Local 1889Lisle
  • Carpenters Local 2158East Moline

Training

Union carpentry apprenticeships run through the regional council's training centers. Carpenters regional council finder

Home builder associations

2 more chapters

Union or open shop?

Union

Run by the regional Carpenters training committee. You apply to the committee, take an aptitude test and an interview, and wait on a ranked list. The committee sends you to its contractors.

Pay is a set share of the union journey-level rate and steps up on a schedule. Classes are nights or week-long blocks, usually paid for by the program.

Open shop

Run by ABC, AGC or a single builder. You usually get hired by a member contractor first, and the contractor enrolls you.

Your employer sets the pay and the raises. Classes are nights or weekends, and some programs charge tuition.

What do programs ask for?

Applying this month

  1. Get your papers together1 week

    High school transcript or GED, a photo ID, and your birth certificate or proof of age. Programs that ask for algebra want the transcript that shows it.

    Time
    1 week
  2. Practice for the aptitude test2 to 4 weeks

    Union programs test algebra and reading. A few evenings with a practice test helps your ranking.

    Time
    2 to 4 weeks
  3. Pick three programs and check their dates1 evening

    Union programs take applications in set windows, some once a year. Open-shop programs and employer programs often take them year-round.

    Time
    1 evening
    Back to the program list
  4. Apply, then keep working

    Apply to all three. While you wait, a helper or trainee job with a licensed contractor gives you hours and a reference.

    The license steps

Can't get in yet?

Pre-apprenticeship

Short programs, often free, that teach the basics and help with the application. Ask the programs above which ones they take graduates from.

Start on a crew

Licensed contractors hire helpers with no experience. Keep a log of your hours and employers; many programs and license boards count them. If you'd rather learn the basics first, 23 schools in Illinois have general contractor programs.

The license steps in Illinois

How do you get into a general contractor apprenticeship in Illinois?

Pick programs near you, check each one's website for its application dates, and apply to more than one. Union programs test and interview, then rank applicants; open-shop programs usually start once a member contractor hires you.

How much do general contractor apprentices make in Illinois?

Programs set their own scales, usually a share of journey-level pay that rises every year. For a floor, the lowest-paid tenth of all general contractors in Illinois earned $30.05 an hour or less in May 2025.

General Contractor pay in Illinois

Other routes in Illinois

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Labor, apprenticeship.gov registered apprenticeship partners (apprenticeship.gov)
  2. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Illinois, May 2025 (bls.gov, May 2025)