Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

1. "lein release": What you are looking for is a mechanic's lien waiver, with a properly completed contractor's affidavit. The roofing contractor needs to provide it. The lien waiver releases the lien rights; the affidavit discloses the subcontractors, including material supplier, involved in the job. The roofing contractor's waiver and affidavit SHOULD also attach a lien waiver from the material supplier, but the material supplier does not have to provide its own "contractor's affidavit". In small jobs the main contractor often does not want to provide material waivers, even though it is the law, especially if the material was purchased from some place like Loew's or Home Depot, and instead will use some "magic language" on the contractor's affidavit that, among other things, will identify the supplier. If it's done properly, it provides some level of protection against a material supplier tracing the goods to your job and then attempting to lien you.

2. "personal name": you should make out the check to the name of the company that you signed the contract with. Period. If they suggest making it out to both the company and the person, I would also avoid that one. And PS the lien waiver needs to come from the company you contracted with too -- NOT the individual.

Overall, since you don't know what you need and what it should look like, you should have an attorney who knows how to look at these kinds of documents review them for you. It's just too easy to make mistakes.