Permitting Authorities / Idaho / Twin Falls County - Building Department
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Twin Falls County, ID?
Adopted codeTwin Falls County - Building Department
Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Twin Falls County, ID, issued by Twin Falls County - Building Department. HOW A JOB IS BOOKED AND INSPECTED. Building inspections are requested on the Twin Falls County building inspection line, 208-735-4429, and the department asks callers to "have ready: the permit number, property address, contact person and phone number, and type of inspection." The scheduling rule is early and strict: "Inspections called in after 7:00 am will be scheduled for the next working day." Inspections run "Monday through Friday, typically from 9:30 am to 4 pm, except holidays", are "typically done in the order received", and footing and foundation inspections take priority over everything else - which is worth knowing on a tear-off day, because a roof inspection is not at the front of the queue. Work outside those hours must be arranged with the inspector in advance. ON SITE. An Inspection Record Card is issued with every approved permit, and "The Inspection Record Card and the Approved Job Site Plans must be on site for all inspections." The permit holder, not the County, is responsible for requesting each inspection, and "Each required inspection must be requested by the permit holder and be signed off by the inspector prior to proceeding to the next phase of construction." A re-inspection fee may be charged where the work is not ready or a correction has not been made; the County's fee schedule prices an inspection fee at $55.00. Post the job address at the road so the inspector can find the site. TIMING. Residential plan review is "usually not more than seven business days" on a complete submittal, and "All permits expire after 180 days from the date of permit issuance or the date of last inspection.".
Roof code checklist: Twin Falls County, ID
| Item | Answer | Code cite | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit to replace a roof | Yes | Residential-BP-Information.pdf | 2026-09-06 | |
| Repair permit threshold | Published | Residential-BP-Information.pdf | 2026-09-06 | |
| Layer limit / roof-over | Not published | |||
| Deck & sheathing | Not published | |||
| Drip edge | Not published | |||
| Ice & water shield | Not published | |||
| Mid-roof inspection | Not published | |||
| Impact-resistant (Class 4) roofing | Not published | |||
| Wind design criteria | Published | twinfallscounty.org | 2026-09-06 | |
| Adopted code | Published | Sec. 7-1-2 | codelibrary.amlegal.com | 2026-09-10 |
| Contractor license / registration | Yes | legislature.idaho.gov | 2026-09-06 | |
| Sales & use tax | Published | legislature.idaho.gov | 2026-09-06 |
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
Twin Falls County, Idaho
Jurisdiction type
county
Address
630 Addison Avenue West, Suite 1101, Twin Falls, ID 83301
Contact
- url: https://twinfallscounty.org/building_department/permit_info/
- phone: 208-933-9279
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
- state_level: STATEWIDE, AND INDEPENDENT OF WHATEVER THIS JURISDICTION REQUIRES. Idaho Code 54-5204(1), in the Idaho Contractor Registration Act (Title 54, Chapter 52): "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 is 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 work on "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 one 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 (54-5205(2)(l)), as is an owner who hires a registered contractor (54-5205(2)(k)); an employee on wages is exempt but an unregistered subcontractor is not (54-5205(2)(a)). CONSEQUENCES OF NOT REGISTERING, and a homeowner should check: an unregistered contractor "shall be deemed to have conclusively waived any right to place a lien upon real property" (54-5208); may not "bring or maintain any action in any court of this state for the collection of compensation" without proving registration throughout the work (54-5217(2)); and is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both (54-5217(1)). AT THE PERMIT COUNTER: 54-5209(1) requires every county, municipality or district that issues building permits to request the contractor's Idaho registration number and print it on the face of the permit, or else print "no contractor registration provided". WHAT IT TAKES: an application under oath, proof of worker's compensation coverage or a statement why it is not required, and a general liability policy including products and completed operations coverage of not less than $300,000 single limit (54-5210(1)). It is a registration, not a competency licence -- there is no examination. Administered by the Idaho Contractors Board within the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses (54-5206(1)); registrations can be checked by name at the Division's public search.
- city_level: THE COUNTY CODE HAS NOW BEEN READ IN FULL ON THIS POINT, AND IT IMPOSES NO CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION OR LICENCE OF ITS OWN. Twin Falls County Code Title 3, Business and Licensing Regulations, is the County's only business-licensing title and it holds a single chapter, Chapter 1, Liquor Control (sections 3-1-1 through 3-1-4), which regulates only alcohol sales and says nothing about contractors or trades. Title 7, Building Regulations, holds a single chapter, Chapter 1, Building Codes, whose all seven sections were read in full - Purpose, Code Adoption, Amendments To Adopted Codes, Exemptions, Administration, Fees, and Violations - and none imposes a contractor registration or roofing-specific licence; none contains the words "contractor" or "registration" at all except by not appearing. The County routes electrical, plumbing and mechanical trade licensing to the State rather than licensing them itself: its residential handout tells applicants to call "State Electrical, Plumbing and HVAC (mechanical) 1-800-955-3044 or dbs.idaho.gov" and requires those rough-in and final inspections to be "signed off on the construction card by the State of Idaho" before the County's own framing and final inspections can be requested. The state registration above applies in Twin Falls County regardless, and Idaho Code 54-5209(1) requires the permit issuer to ask for the registration number and print it on the face of the permit, or else print "no contractor registration provided".
Permit process note
HOW A JOB IS BOOKED AND INSPECTED. Building inspections are requested on the Twin Falls County building inspection line, 208-735-4429, and the department asks callers to "have ready: the permit number, property address, contact person and phone number, and type of inspection." The scheduling rule is early and strict: "Inspections called in after 7:00 am will be scheduled for the next working day." Inspections run "Monday through Friday, typically from 9:30 am to 4 pm, except holidays", are "typically done in the order received", and footing and foundation inspections take priority over everything else - which is worth knowing on a tear-off day, because a roof inspection is not at the front of the queue. Work outside those hours must be arranged with the inspector in advance. ON SITE. An Inspection Record Card is issued with every approved permit, and "The Inspection Record Card and the Approved Job Site Plans must be on site for all inspections." The permit holder, not the County, is responsible for requesting each inspection, and "Each required inspection must be requested by the permit holder and be signed off by the inspector prior to proceeding to the next phase of construction." A re-inspection fee may be charged where the work is not ready or a correction has not been made; the County's fee schedule prices an inspection fee at $55.00. Post the job address at the road so the inspector can find the site. TIMING. Residential plan review is "usually not more than seven business days" on a complete submittal, and "All permits expire after 180 days from the date of permit issuance or the date of last inspection."
Adopted code
THE 2018 EDITIONS WITH THE IDAHO AMENDMENTS, STATED BY THE COUNTY ON ITS OWN DEPARTMENT PAGE. Under the heading "**NOTICE TO BUILDING PERMIT APPLICANTS**" the Twin Falls County Building Department states: "Twin Falls County has adopted the 2018 versions, with Idaho Amendments, of the International Building Codes (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), Energy Conservation Code (IECC), Mechanical Code (IMC), Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Existing Building Code (IEBC), 2018 Fire Code (IFC) with Idaho Amendments, and the 2018 Idaho Manufactured Home Installation Standards." A house is built and reroofed under the residential code in that list. STATE FRAMEWORK, WHICH IS WHAT "WITH IDAHO AMENDMENTS" REFERS TO. Idaho's residential code is set by the Idaho Building Code Board, not by the county. 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", effective July 1, 2024, together with the state's own list of amendments; Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and performs code enforcement to adopt the Idaho residential code parts I-III and IX by ordinance, and bars it from adopting provisions of a later IRC edition the Board has not adopted. Roofing sits in Part III and is included. Idaho Code 39-4116(6): "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received." THE COUNTY'S OWN ADOPTING AND AMENDING SECTIONS HAVE NOW BEEN READ IN FULL, AND THEY EXPLAIN WHY THE COUNTY'S CODIFIED TEXT STILL NAMES THE 2012 EDITIONS BY NUMBER. Twin Falls County Code section 7-1-2, "Code Adoption" (Ordinance 240, February 6, 2015), adopts "the 2012 international building code" and "2012 international residential code parts I - IV and IX" "as adopted by the state of Idaho, the Idaho heating, ventilation, and air conditioning board and the Idaho building code board", and then states in the same section: "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 date any such codes are made effective by the Idaho building code board." So the adoption is a floating reference to whatever edition the state board currently has in force, not a fixed 2012 text - consistent with the County's own newer department-page statement that the 2018 editions govern. Section 7-1-3, "Amendments To Adopted Codes," is the County's complete list of local amendments (Ordinance 240, amended by Ordinance 277, November 28, 2022) and carries exactly one item under the residential code: "The most current version of the Idaho manufactured home installation code." Nothing in section 7-1-3 amends Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, or any other roofing provision of the residential code, and the word "roof" does not appear in the section at all. The remaining amendments in that section touch only the International Building Code's definition of an agricultural building and International Fire Code water-supply and fire-flow exemptions for rural properties, neither of which is a residential roofing rule. ONE DOCUMENT ON THE COUNTY'S OWN SITE IS OUT OF DATE, AND A ROOFER SHOULD NOT BE CAUGHT BY IT. The County's residential handout, whose own footer reads "Revised 1/2014", still says "Twin Falls County adopted the 2012 International Building Code" and prints a wind load of "90 mph 3 second gust". Both figures are superseded by the department page quoted above and by the design criteria set out under wind design criteria in this record. Use the department page; treat the handout's code edition and wind figure as history.
Repair permit threshold
THE TRIGGER IS AS BROAD AS IT GETS, AND IT NAMES REPAIR. The Twin Falls County residential building permit handout, under the heading "WHEN IS A BUILDING PERMIT REQUIRED", states: "A building permit is required any time a building or structure is erected, constructed, remodeled, enlarged, altered, repaired, moved, removed, converted, or demolished. This includes work within a building that would be considered non-structural, such as moving or erecting non-bearing walls." Replacing a roof covering is a repair or an alteration of an existing structure, so it is inside that sentence. The same handout adds "The law requires that a building permit be issued prior to any work being done", and the department's inspection page closes with "NO WORK TO BE DONE UNTIL PERMIT IS ISSUED". STARTING WITHOUT ONE IS EXPENSIVE. "The minimum penalty for work started without a permit is an amount equal to the building permit fee." THE EXEMPTION LIST IS DELIBERATELY NOT PUBLISHED, AND THE COUNTY SAYS SO. The same handout ends that paragraph: "There are some types of work that are exempt, and the building department can provide you with this information." On the remodelling side it repeats the point: "Check with the building department prior to start of any remodeling or repairs for a listing of limited exemption." So there is no published County threshold - no square footage, no dollar value, no repair size - below which roof work is exempt, and none should be assumed from a neighbouring jurisdiction. The only exemption the County does publish in writing is unrelated to roofing: "Permits are not required for accessory buildings under 200 s/f that are accessory to the residence." WHAT TO DO WITH A SMALL REPAIR. Ring Community Development Services on 208-933-9279 and ask for the exemption list before treating a patch as exempt. A reroof of a dwelling is not a borderline case; it is squarely within "repaired" and "altered".
Wind design criteria
THE COUNTY STATES THE BASIS, WHICH MOST IDAHO JURISDICTIONS DO NOT. Under "Building Design Criteria and Plan Preparation" the Twin Falls County Building Department publishes: "Wind Loading as follows: International Residential Code 115 mph, 3-second gust, International Building Code for risk category II buildings of 105 mph wind design." So the residential figure is 115 mph on a three-second gust basis, and the 105 mph figure beside it is the commercial number for risk category II buildings, not a second residential answer. The same block continues: "Height and exposure adjustment coefficient is "C"", "Snow Load 30 lbs. per sq. ft. (ground)", "Seismic design category "C"", "Design Temperature zero degrees Fahrenheit", "Weathering Probability rating for concrete is "Severe".", "Frost line depth is 24" below finished grade." and "Maximum soil bearing pressure is 1,500 lbs. per sq. ft. unless a soils investigation is provided". TWO THINGS THAT BEAR DIRECTLY ON A ROOF. The 30 pounds per square foot is a GROUND snow load; the roof snow load is derived from it under the code's own procedure and the County does not state it. And the County adds a truss rule that a reroofing crew opening a deck should know about: "Truss design drawings shall be in accordance with R802.10 and retained on site by the framing inspection" and "Trusses need to be marked on the underside of the truss in the interior of the building." DO NOT USE THE OLDER FIGURE THE COUNTY STILL HOSTS. Its residential handout, footer-dated "Revised 1/2014", prints "Wind Load 90 mph 3 second gust". That is the superseded criterion from the County's 2012-code era. A nominal three-second gust figure and a modern ultimate design wind speed are different numbers for the same loading and are never interchangeable, so take the current 115 mph three-second gust figure from the department page and do not convert between bases. ONE STATE FACT ON THE WIND SIDE. The State of Idaho deletes the model code's wind-borne debris opening-protection section statewide: IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03(d) reads "Section R301.2.1.2 Protection of Openings. Delete." That is a window and door provision rather than a roofing one, and under Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(b) a local jurisdiction may not re-adopt a provision the Idaho Building Code Board has expressly rejected.
Sales & use tax
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 Twin Falls 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 no Twin Falls County city appears on it, nor does a county have that 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.
More roof permit pages in Idaho
Twin Falls, IDRoof permit
Valley County, IDRoof permit
Washington County, IDRoof permit
Ada County, IDRoof permit
American Falls, IDRoof permit
Roofing in IdahoState hub
Related guides
The building permitting authority for unincorporated Twin Falls County, Idaho, the Magic Valley county that surrounds the city of Twin Falls. It sits inside Community Development Services alongside Planning and Zoning, with its own director, permit technician and two inspectors, and its own building inspection request line. The County states its adopted code editions and its climatic and geographic design criteria on its own department page, and unusually for Idaho it names the BASIS of its wind figure, which is the single most useful thing on that page for anyone specifying a roof. Its residential handout answers the permit question in the broadest terms available - a permit is required whenever a building is repaired or altered - but the County deliberately does not publish the list of work that is exempt, and says so in terms, so a roofer with a small repair has to ring the department rather than read a threshold off a page.
Hail reports near the center of Twin Falls County, ID
- Reports, last 24 months
- 0
- Largest, last 24 months
- None
- Most recent
- None in 24 months
- Reports, last 5 years
- 3
| Date | Hail size | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2023 | 1.25 in | 6 mi ENE |
| May 26, 2023 | 1.00 in | 4 mi E |
| May 25, 2023 | 1.00 in | 4 mi ESE |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database and daily storm reports (reports since the start of the current year are preliminary), within 10 miles of the center of Twin Falls County, ID. Data through Oct 7, 2026, not updated since. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
Working an insurance claim in Twin Falls County, ID? Everything on this page (drip edge, ice & water shield, inspections, Class 4 rules) formatted as a claim-ready evidence pack: verbatim ordinance quotes, code section cites, verification dates, and official source links, ready to attach to a supplement. See a real sample pack (PDF, 4 pages, free).
Buy this jurisdiction's pack: $12 Delivered by email within minutes. Digital download: all sales are final once delivered, except for a failed delivery, a defective file, a duplicate purchase, or a pack materially different from its description. See Section 6 of our Terms of Use.
Questions about the Twin Falls County, ID pack?
Not ready to buy, or need a different jurisdiction? Tell us and we’ll reply directly.
Sources
- twinfallscounty.org verified 2026-09-10
- twinfallscounty.org verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- dopl.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- edopl.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- codelibrary.amlegal.com verified 2026-09-10
- twinfallscounty.org verified 2026-09-10
- adminrules.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-10
- twinfallscounty.org verified 2026-09-06
- twinfallscounty.org verified 2026-09-06
- legislature.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-06
- tax.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-06
- tax.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-06
- tax.idaho.gov verified 2026-09-06