The Roofing Book

Permitting Authorities / City of Soda Springs - Building Department

City of Soda Springs - Building Department

Adopted code

The building permitting authority for the City of Soda Springs, Idaho, the seat of Caribou County in the south-east corner of the state. It is a small city and it publishes little, but what it does publish is unusual and a roofer needs to know about it before quoting here. Soda Springs adopts the state's building codes on a rolling basis, so it is always on whatever edition the Idaho Building Code Board has adopted - and then it excepts two named sections of the residential code from adoption outright, one of which is the reroofing section. That is not an amendment softening a rule; it is a whole section the City has said it does not adopt. The City also has its own contractor registration ordinance, which makes the state registration a matter of city law as well and requires the number to appear on the face of the permit and to be displayed on site. What the City does not publish is any design criteria, so the wind, snow and ice-barrier questions cannot be answered from its documents and this record says so rather than guessing at them.

Jurisdiction
Soda Springs, Idaho
Jurisdiction type
city
Address
9 West 2nd South, Soda Springs, ID 83276
Contact
  • url: https://www.sodaspringsid.com/city/forms_and_applications.php
  • phone: 208-547-2600
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
  • state_level: STATEWIDE. Idaho Code 54-5204(1), in the Idaho Contractor Registration Act: "On and after January 1, 2006, it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the business of, or hold himself out as, a contractor within this state without being registered as required in this chapter." A roofer sits inside the definitions rather than at their edge: "Construction" means "the performance of building, altering, repairing, adding to, subtracting from, improving, reconstructing, moving, excavating, wrecking or demolishing any building ... or improvement to real property, or to do any part thereof" (54-5203(2)), and "Contractor" means any person who "undertakes, offers to undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a bid to, or does himself or by or through others, perform construction" (54-5203(3)(a)). Roofing is not separately licensed in Idaho, so this registration is the whole of the state credential. THRESHOLD. 54-5205(2)(f) exempts "one (1) undertaking or project considered casual, minor, or inconsequential, whether by one (1) or more contracts, the aggregate contract price of which, for labor and materials and all other items, is less than two thousand dollars ($2,000)" - a per-project figure covering labour and materials together, not annual revenue - and the same paragraph voids the exemption where the work is part of a larger project or where a job is split into contracts of less than two thousand dollars. A residential reroof is rarely under $2,000. An owner working on his own residential property is exempt, as is an owner who hires a registered contractor. WHAT IT TAKES. An application under oath, proof of worker's compensation coverage or a statement why it is not required, and general liability cover including products and completed operations of not less than $300,000 single limit. It is a registration rather than a competency licence and there is no examination. Registrations can be checked by name at the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses.
  • city_level: SODA SPRINGS HAS ITS OWN CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION ORDINANCE, WHICH MAKES THE STATE REGISTRATION A MATTER OF CITY LAW TOO AND ADDS A CRIMINAL PENALTY. Title 15, Chapter 15.16 of the Municipal Code is headed "Contractor's Registration" and was read in full - all seven sections, Ordinance 612 of 2006. Section 15.16.020: "No person shall engage in the business of, or hold himself out as a contractor within the city of Soda Springs, Idaho, without being registered with the board, as required by Chapter 52, Title 54, Idaho Code." The chapter carries the state definitions of construction and contractor verbatim, and section 15.16.040 tracks the state exemptions: "This chapter shall not apply to those persons who are exempt from registration, as set forth in Section 54-5205, Idaho Code." THREE THINGS IT ADDS THAT THE STATE ACT DOES NOT. First, a duty running between contractors: section 15.16.030 provides that "No contractor shall engage any other contractor who is required ... to be registered as a contractor unless such other contractor furnishes satisfactory proof to the contractor that he is duly registered" - so a roofer taking on a sub in Soda Springs has to check the sub's registration, not merely hold their own. Second, section 15.16.060 requires that "All building permits or other permits for construction of any type shall be posted at the construction site in such a manner that the Idaho contractor's registration number is conspicuously displayed on the face of the permit." Third, section 15.16.070 makes a violation a misdemeanour punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars, up to six months in the county jail, or both. At the counter, section 15.16.050 bars the city from issuing a permit without first requesting the Idaho registration number, which must then be entered on the face of the permit, or else the permit must carry the phrase "no contractor registration provided".
Permit process note
THE CITY PUBLISHES VERY LITTLE, AND WHAT IT PUBLISHES POINTS AT A PERSON RATHER THAN A PROCESS. The Soda Springs Permits and Applications page says: "For Building Code Questions, please don't hesitate to contact Alan. For permit fees and New Water/Sewer Hookup Fees, please call City Hall at 208-547-2600." The only forms it publishes are a Mobile Home Installation Permit, the Comprehensive Plan and a link to the City Code; there is no downloadable building permit application, no fee table and no inspection schedule on the site. THE FEE SCHEDULE IS A COUNCIL RESOLUTION HELD AT CITY HALL. Municipal Code section 15.04.014: "Permit and inspection fees shall be paid by all applicants which fees shall be established and amended from time to time, by resolution of the city council. Said resolution is on file with, and may be reviewed at the Soda Springs city hall located at 9 West 2nd South, Soda Springs, Idaho, 83276." So the cost of a permit has to be asked for. WHAT MUST BE ON SITE. Municipal Code section 15.16.060 requires every building permit to be "posted at the construction site in such a manner that the Idaho contractor's registration number is conspicuously displayed on the face of the permit". That is a stricter posting rule than most, because it is the registration number rather than merely the permit that has to be visible. APPEALS AND ADMINISTRATION. The City keeps a building code board of appeals under section 15.04.020, repeals and replaces the building code's deputies provision at 15.04.018, and sets building valuation under section 15.04.060. Plumbing, electrical and life safety codes are adopted separately at sections 15.04.030 through 15.04.050.
Adopted code
SODA SPRINGS ADOPTS THE STATE'S EDITIONS ON A ROLLING BASIS, WITH A DATED CHANGEOVER. Soda Springs Municipal Code section 15.04.010, "Code adoption", provides: "The approved editions of the following nationally recognized codes, as adopted by the state of Idaho or the Idaho Building Code Board, are adopted as the official building codes of the city of Soda Springs, Idaho, except as provided in this chapter", and then lists the International Building Code, the "International Residential Code, Parts I-IV and IX" and the International Energy Conservation Code. It closes: "The adopted versions of the foregoing codes shall be deemed superseded by successive versions of such codes as they are adopted or approved by the Idaho Building Code Board effective on the first day of January of the year following adoption by the Idaho Building Code Board." That is Ordinance 618 section 1 of 2007, on Ordinances 600 and 599 of 2003. So the City is not frozen at 2007; it follows the State, with a January changeover rather than an immediate one. WHICH EDITION THAT IS. 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", with a list of state amendments, effective July 1, 2024. Roofing sits in Part III. AND THEN THE CITY EXCEPTS TWO SECTIONS FROM ADOPTION, ONE OF THEM THE REROOFING SECTION. Section 15.04.011, "Exceptions", reads in full: "Section R703 relating to exterior covering and Section R907 relating to reroofing of the International Residential Code are excepted from adoption and are not adopted as part of this ordinance." That is Ordinance 600 section 2 of 2003 on Ordinance 599 section 2 of 2003. This is not a softened rule - it is a section the City says it has not adopted at all. THE ONE OTHER LOCAL EXCLUSION. Section 15.04.012, "Exemptions": "Agricultural buildings are exempt from the building codes adopted herein but shall remain subject to placement requirements established by zoning regulations." WHAT THE CITY DOES NOT DO. Title 15 of the Soda Springs Municipal Code, "Buildings and Construction", was read in full for this record - Chapter 15.04 Uniform Codes and all its sections, the reserved gas code chapter, Chapter 15.12 Impact Fees and Chapter 15.16 Contractor's Registration. Apart from the two excepted sections and the agricultural exemption, it amends nothing in the residential code and it contains no roofing provision of its own.
Drip edge
Required — THE REQUIREMENT REACHES SODA SPRINGS UNMODIFIED, AND THE CITY'S TWO EXCEPTIONS DO NOT TOUCH IT. Municipal Code section 15.04.010 adopts the International Residential Code as adopted by the Idaho Building Code Board, on a rolling basis, and section 15.04.011 excepts exactly two sections from that adoption - the exterior covering section and the reroofing section. The drip edge requirement for asphalt shingle roofs sits in neither of them: it is in the requirements-for-roof-coverings section, at Section R905.2.8.5 of the 2018 edition, which the City has adopted. Title 15 was read in full and amends nothing else. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, does not touch Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, at all. The base 2018 IRC drip edge requirement therefore applies in Soda Springs unmodified. The operative text of that section sits behind the code publisher's paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it. What is recorded is the sourced fact that the requirement is in force here and has not been amended away by either the City or the State. Take the flashing detail, the fastener spacing and the required overlap from the code text itself, and confirm them against the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding and which are sometimes stricter than the code minimum. Price the drip edge into the bid rather than treating it as an extra. About drip edge
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANCE MANDATE APPLIES IN SODA SPRINGS. Title 15 of the Soda Springs Municipal Code, "Buildings and Construction", was read in full - Chapter 15.04 Uniform Codes and every section within it, the reserved gas code chapter, Chapter 15.12 Impact Fees and Chapter 15.16 Contractor's Registration. It 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 beyond the two sections it excepts from adoption. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, carries no such reference either. Neither the City's nor the State's adopted code requires an impact-resistant roof covering. DO NOT CONFUSE THE THREE CLASSES. A Class A, B or C rating is a FIRE classification tested to ASTM E108 or UL 790, and a Class D, F or H rating is a WIND classification tested to ASTM D3161 or D7158. Only UL 2218 or FM 4473 rates a covering for hail IMPACT, and that is the standard a Class 4 shingle is measured against. 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 in Soda Springs. Note that the City's Chapter 15.12 is headed "Impact Fees" and is about development charges rather than roof coverings.
Repair permit threshold
THE PERMIT REQUIREMENT AND THE TECHNICAL REROOFING RULES ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS HERE, AND CONFLATING THEM IS THE MISTAKE TO AVOID. Soda Springs has excepted the residential code's reroofing section from adoption, but the permit requirement does not live in that section - it lives in the administrative chapter of the residential code, which the City has adopted in full. So the exception removes technical reroofing requirements, not the obligation to get a permit. WHAT THE CITY EXEMPTS, WHICH IS ONE THING AND NOT ROOFING. Municipal Code section 15.04.012 exempts agricultural buildings from the adopted building codes while leaving them subject to zoning placement rules. That is the only local exemption in Title 15, which was read in full. There is no city dollar figure, square footage or number of squares below which roof work is exempt. THE EXEMPT-WORK LIST THAT APPLIES IS THE RESIDENTIAL CODE'S OWN AS THE STATE HAS AMENDED IT. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 amends that list in exactly two places: paragraph (b) amends "Section R105.2 ... Item number 7 under the 'Building' subheading" by replacing "24 inches (610 mm)" with "four (4) feet (1219) mm)", and paragraph (c) adds "11. Flag poles." Neither touches roofing. WHERE TO ASK. The City's own Permits and Applications page directs building code questions to the building official by name and gives City Hall on 208-547-2600 for permit fees. Section 15.04.014 puts the fee schedule in a council resolution kept at city hall rather than in the code, so the cost of a permit is not published online. Ring before treating a small repair as exempt.
Roof layer limit / recover
SODA SPRINGS HAS EXCEPTED THE RESIDENTIAL CODE'S REROOFING SECTION FROM ADOPTION ALTOGETHER, WHICH IS RARE AND WHICH THIS RECORD DOES NOT TRY TO RESOLVE FURTHER THAN THE TEXT ALLOWS. Municipal Code section 15.04.011, "Exceptions", reads in full: "Section R703 relating to exterior covering and Section R907 relating to reroofing of the International Residential Code are excepted from adoption and are not adopted as part of this ordinance." The reroofing section is where the model code's rule on recovering over an existing roof, and its layer count, sit. THERE IS A SECTION-NUMBER PROBLEM ON THE FACE OF THE ORDINANCE, AND BOTH READINGS ARE REPORTED HERE RATHER THAN ONE BEING CHOSEN. The exception was enacted in 2003 and identifies the section both by number, R907, and by subject, "relating to reroofing". In the residential code editions current in 2003 the reroofing provisions were numbered R907. In the 2018 edition that the State of Idaho has since adopted, and that this City follows under its rolling adoption clause, the reroofing provisions are not numbered R907. The City has not republished the exception since. So the exception may be read as excepting whatever section carries reroofing in the edition in force, or as excepting a section number that no longer carries it. This record does not adjudicate between those readings, and no layer classification is asserted. WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT ON A REAL JOB. Ask the Soda Springs building official, before bidding a recover, whether the reroofing provisions of the currently adopted residential code are enforced in the city. The answer decides whether there is any limit on recovering over an existing roof here at all, and it is not something a roofer should infer from the code text. Note also that the City excepts only the reroofing section and the exterior covering section; the rest of the roof assemblies chapter, including the requirements for roof coverings, is adopted. STATE POSITION. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the Idaho Building Code Board's own complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, contains no Chapter 9 amendment, so the State neither supplies nor removes a layer rule.
Deck & sheathing requirements
NOTHING LOCAL CHANGES THE DECK RULES. Title 15 of the Soda Springs Municipal Code, "Buildings and Construction", was read in full - Chapter 15.04 and all of its sections, the reserved gas code chapter, Chapter 15.12 and Chapter 15.16. It contains no amendment to the residential code's roof-ceiling construction chapter, which carries the roof sheathing thickness, span and fastening provisions, and the City's two named exceptions at 15.04.011 are to the exterior covering section and the reroofing section, neither of which is the sheathing chapter. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, contains no amendment to that chapter either. The base 2018 IRC roof sheathing and decking requirements therefore apply in Soda Springs unmodified, along with the manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding. This record does not restate the code's numbers, which sit behind the code publisher's paywall; take them from the code itself. WHAT THE CITY PUBLISHES ABOUT INSPECTIONS. Nothing. Municipal Code section 15.04.014 provides only that "Permit and inspection fees shall be paid by all applicants which fees shall be established and amended from time to time, by resolution of the city council", and the City publishes no inspection sequence. Agree with the building official when the deck will be looked at if you expect to find rot under the old covering.
Sales & use tax
6.0% - the Idaho state rate, with no local add-on in Soda Springs. 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 here. The first is the resort-city local-option tax under Idaho Code Title 50, Chapter 10; the Idaho State Tax Commission publishes the list of cities that levy one, and Soda Springs does not appear on it, nor does any other Caribou County city. The second is an auditorium-district tax, which the Tax Commission states can be charged only on short-term lodging of thirty days or less and so never reaches roofing work. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all, so there is no Caribou County add-on either. HOW A ROOF IS TAXED IN IDAHO, 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 does not charge sales tax to the customer. 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. Note that the nearest resort city levying its own tax, Lava Hot Springs, is in the next county; buying materials there rather than in Soda Springs would change the arithmetic.

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