Nez Perce County - Planning and Building Services

Nez Perce County, Idaho

county

1230 Main Street, Lewiston, ID 83501

Required

Required

WHO DOES WHAT. County Code section 102.04.030 puts permit issuance in the county planning and building services department, and section 102.04.050 puts every inspection required under the adopted codes there too: "All inspections required under the codes adopted by this chapter shall be provided by the county planning and building services department." Section 102.04.060 lets the Board of Commissioners set fees for permits, plan reviews and inspections. The department publishes a Residential Building Permit Fee Schedule whose valuations are stated as minimum values per square foot, with the contract amount used where it exceeds the table, and which records that those valuations come from Building Valuation Data published in the Building Safety Journal, August 2014, under Ordinance 4397. THE COUNTY PUBLISHES NO SINGLE SNOW LOAD, AND SAYS SO. Its own answer to the question is that snow loads "can vary up to 30 lbs in a five mile radius depending on the elevation, terrain, and location", and it sends applicants to the Ground and Roof Snow Loads for Idaho publication for the site, then to the department on 208-799-3197 with any remaining question. Establish the load for the address rather than carrying a figure over from a neighbouring job. OTHER AGENCIES. Septic permits are administered by Public Health - North Idaho Central District at 215 10th Street in Lewiston, 208-799-3100. Section 102.04.040 blocks a building permit for any new dwelling until the driveway and private road connecting it to the public road meet county road and driveway requirements plus any applicable area of city impact or fire district standard. ENFORCEMENT AND APPEALS. Section 102.04.110 makes the building official the enforcement officer, allows a stop work order where a structure is or is proposed to be built otherwise than as the chapter prescribes, and makes a violation chargeable as a misdemeanor. Section 102.04.120 gives an appeal to the Board of Commissioners, in writing by certified mail, received by the department within fourteen days of the decision appealed; the Board hears it within twenty days of receiving the notice.

LOCALLY ENACTED, AND THE TWO COUNTY SOURCES DO NOT NAME THE SAME EDITIONS. Both are set out here and neither is chosen. WHAT THE CODIFIED ORDINANCE SAYS. Nez Perce County Code section 102.04.020(a), in Chapter 102.04, "The Building Code Ordinance of Nez Perce County": "As provided by Idaho Code, section 39-4115, the following codes and their amendments, including subsequent revisions and supplements, are hereby adopted by reference and made a part of this chapter as though fully set forth herein: (1) International Building Code, 2015 Edition; (2) International Residential Code, 2012 Edition, parts I, II, III, and IX with Idaho amendments; (3) International Energy Conservation Code, 2015 Edition (2015 IECC commercial provisions and 2012 IECC residential provisions with Idaho amendments); (4) International Existing Building Code, 2015 Edition, as the building code for the county, and consistent with the Idaho Building Code Act". The same subsection also adopts the 2012 International Mechanical Code, the 2012 International Residential Code parts V and VI, and the 2015 International Fire Code. The chapter's history is Code 1997 section 15.04.020; Ord. No. 49a, 1991; and Ord. No. 77, section 2.0, adopted 7-23-2012, and the County Code as published is codified through Ordinance No. 120, enacted April 13, 2026. Note the words "including subsequent revisions and supplements", which make the adoption a moving one rather than a frozen edition. WHAT THE DEPARTMENT PAGE SAYS. The County's own Building Permits page states that "Building Services provides assistance with various building issues and ensures compliance with the 2018 International Building Code". WHAT STATE LAW REQUIRES. Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and performs building code enforcement to adopt, by ordinance, the codes the Idaho Building Code Board has adopted, and IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 adopts the "International Residential Code, 2018 Edition ... Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)- family dwellings". The same subsection bars a local jurisdiction from adopting provisions of a later International Residential Code edition the Board has not adopted. Roofing sits in Part III and is inside the Idaho residential code; parts IV through VIII, the energy, mechanical, fuel gas, plumbing and electrical parts, are not, under Idaho Code 39-4109(1)(b). WHAT A ROOFER SHOULD DO. Ask Planning and Building Services which edition it is plan-reviewing and inspecting to before ordering material or writing a specification, because the 2012 and 2018 editions of the residential code do not read identically on roofing. Idaho Code 39-4116(6) settles the timing question whichever edition applies: "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received."

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in unincorporated Nez Perce County. Chapter 102.04 of the Nez Perce County Code, "The Building Code Ordinance of Nez Perce County", was read in full -- all twelve sections -- and contains no reference to UL 2218, to a Class 4 or Class IV impact rating, or to FM 4473, and no roofing provision of any kind; it adopts its codes by reference and adds no amendments. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list to the International Residential Code, read in full, contains no such reference either. So neither the County's nor the State's adopted code imposes an impact-resistant roof covering requirement. This answer does not turn on which code edition governs, because no edition of the model residential code imposes one and neither government has added one. Do not confuse an impact rating with the fire and wind ratings that also appear in roofing work: an impact rating is UL 2218, a fire classification is Class A, B or C under ASTM E108 or UL 790, and a wind rating is ASTM D3161 or D7158. An insurance discount for impact-rated shingles, where a carrier offers one, is a matter between the homeowner and the insurer and is not a code requirement.

NEZ PERCE COUNTY SETS NO SIZE, AREA, DOLLAR OR TEAR-OFF-VERSUS-OVERLAY THRESHOLD, AND ITS PERMIT TRIGGER IS ABOUT AS BROAD AS THEY COME. County Code section 102.04.030: "No work, including site preparation, may be commenced and no buildings, including otherwise exempted agricultural buildings, may be demolished, constructed, altered or modified, moved, or placed prior to obtaining a permit. No permit shall be granted unless the work applied for is in conformance with the codes set forth herein." Section 102.04.010(e) frames the same point from the other side: "The erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, demolition, conversion, occupancy, equipment, use, height, area, and maintenance of all buildings upon the land shall conform to all regulations set forth in this chapter." A reroof is an alteration or a repair of a building, so it is inside both sentences. The County's Building Permits page adds that the County "requires building permits for new construction, remodels and additions to homes, manufactured home placement, commercial structures, accessory buildings, agricultural buildings and more." THE EXEMPTIONS, READ IN FULL, AND THERE IS ONLY ONE. Chapter 102.04 was read in full, all twelve sections from 102.04.010 to 102.04.120, and its only exemption section is 102.04.100, headed Exemptions, which covers agricultural buildings alone: the building codes "do not apply to agricultural buildings constructed on land actively devoted to agriculture as described in Idaho Code, sections 39-4116(5) and 63-604, as amended, to house farm implements, hay, grain poultry, or other agricultural products on land of five acres or more", which "shall not be places of human habitation or places of employment where agricultural products are processed". Even those buildings are not free of the counter: subsection (b) requires a development or site permit and building inspections as specified by the building official, and section 102.04.030 says in terms that even an otherwise exempted agricultural building may not be demolished, constructed, altered, moved or placed without a permit. Subsection (c) withholds the exemption where agriculture is not the primary use of the land or in platted residential subdivisions. No roofing carve-out appears anywhere in the chapter. THE STATE ADDS NO ROOFING EXEMPTION EITHER, and do not rely on the hundred-square-foot roof repair figure that appears in the Idaho state building code rules. It sits inside the definition of "Minor Alteration", which that rule says "is used for the purpose of administering annual permits" -- a blanket permit issued to state agencies for work on buildings they already own or operate. It is not a permit exemption for a homeowner or a roofing contractor anywhere in Idaho.

NEZ PERCE COUNTY IMPOSES NO LAYER RULE OF ITS OWN, AND THE COUNTY'S OWN LAYER ANSWER CANNOT BE STATED UNTIL THE EDITION QUESTION IS SETTLED. WHAT THE COUNTY ADDS: nothing. Chapter 102.04 of the Nez Perce County Code, "The Building Code Ordinance of Nez Perce County", was read in full -- all twelve sections, 102.04.010 through 102.04.120 -- and it adopts its codes by reference without any amendment list at all. It contains no roofing provision, no reference to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, and no recover, overlay or tear-off rule. Chapter 102.01 of the same title carries no sections. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the Idaho Building Code Board's own list of amendments to the International Residential Code, seventeen items, contains no Chapter 9 amendment either. So whatever the adopted residential code says about recovering a roof is what applies in the unincorporated county, unmodified. WHY NO LAYER COUNT IS PUBLISHED HERE. The County's codified adoption names the 2012 edition of the International Residential Code while its Building Permits page states that the department ensures compliance with the 2018 International Building Code, and the recover-versus-replacement rule is not identical across editions of the residential code -- some editions add a condition that can force a full tear-off over a single existing layer. Publishing a layer count without knowing which edition governs would state a rule the County may not have. Ask Planning and Building Services which edition it is inspecting to, then read that edition's recover section before quoting an overlay. A LOCAL AMENDMENT WOULD BE VISIBLE IF ONE EXISTED. Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(d) lets a county amend this part of the residential code only by ordinance, on a recorded finding that "good cause" for building or life safety exists and that the amendment is "reasonably necessary", after a public hearing noticed in the official newspaper with at least thirty days' written notice to the local chapters of the industry bodies listed in Idaho Code 39-4109(5). Nez Perce County has made no such amendment.

NO LOCAL ROOF-DECK RULE. Chapter 102.04 of the Nez Perce County Code, the County's Building Code Ordinance, was read in full and contains no amendment to Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling Construction, which carries the residential code's roof sheathing provisions, and none to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies; the chapter adopts its codes by reference and carries no amendment list. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, leaves both chapters alone as well. So the adopted residential code's roof sheathing and decking requirements apply unmodified, along with the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding. Read them out of the edition the department is actually inspecting to, which is set out under adopted code. WHAT DECIDES A DECK HERE IS SNOW, AND THERE IS NO COUNTY-WIDE NUMBER. The County states that snow loads "can vary up to 30 lbs in a five mile radius depending on the elevation, terrain, and location" and directs applicants to the Ground and Roof Snow Loads for Idaho publication for their own location, with the Building Department available on 208-799-3197 for anything the map leaves unclear. Establish the ground and roof snow load for the address before designing or re-decking to a number.

6.0% -- the Idaho state rate, with no local add-on. Idaho Code 63-3619 imposes the state sales tax "at the rate of six percent (6%)". Idaho has only two kinds of local sales tax, and neither reaches roofing work in Nez Perce County. The first is the resort-city local-option tax, which Idaho Code 50-1044 confines to a resort city "with a population not in excess of ten thousand (10,000)"; the Idaho State Tax Commission publishes the list of cities that levy one, and in any event a county has no such authority. The second is an auditorium-district tax, which the Tax Commission states "can charge a local sales tax only for short-term lodging (30 days or less)" and so never reaches roofing work. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all. HOW A ROOF IS TAXED, WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN THE RATE: the Tax Commission's contractor guidance states that "Idaho sales tax law says contractors are the consumers (end users) of all the goods they use. As a result, they must pay sales tax on all purchases", and it names roofers among the contractors it covers. The roofer pays the 6% on materials at the supply house; the homeowner's invoice carries no sales tax line at all, on materials or on labour, because "a contractor doesn't charge sales tax to the customer" and the tax is absorbed into the bid. The Commission adds that "if sales tax is charged on the bill, the customer can refuse to pay it." A customer's own sales-tax exemption does not carry over to the contractor. One thing worth checking on a job near the state line: this is the Idaho rate, and Nez Perce County borders Washington, whose sales tax rules for construction are different in kind and not covered here.