How Much Does a New Roof Cost in Idaho in 2026
Boise and Idaho Falls are in the eight-city Mountain sample of the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com), where the asphalt-shingle roof replacement came to $28,475. Idaho’s median roofer wage in May 2025 was $27.78 an hour, above the $26.65 U.S. median (BLS). Unless exempt, a roofing contractor must be registered with the state (Idaho Code 54-5204).
Boise and Idaho Falls in a regional average
The figure we can cite is regional. The Cost vs. Value Report’s Mountain page averages eight cities: Boise and Idaho Falls, plus Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, Salt Lake City and Tucson. It is not an Idaho average.
Asphalt shingles, the report’s defined roof replacement project: $28,475 in the Mountain region, with 71.7% of the cost recouped at resale. The national average was $31,871 and 67.5%. Metal roofing: $46,579 regionally (54.3% recouped) and $51,865 nationally (50.1%).
The report pages on file don’t state the project’s roof size or shingle grade. No specific Idaho house can be priced off these numbers.
© 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
Roofer pay: median above the U.S., mean below
For May 2025 the BLS wage survey (Roofers, 47-2181) estimated Idaho roofing employment at 1,190. The two averages point in opposite directions against the nation. Idaho’s median, $27.78 an hour ($57,790 a year), beat the U.S. median of $26.65. Idaho’s mean, $26.11 ($54,300), trailed the U.S. mean of $27.95. Both figures cover payroll employees only; self-employed roofers are outside the survey. And a wage is not a job price. It is one of the costs a contractor’s bid has to cover.
Registration under the Idaho Contractor Registration Act
What Idaho law requires is contractor registration. Since January 1, 2006, Idaho Code 54-5204 has made it unlawful “to engage in the business of, or hold himself out as, a contractor within this state without being registered.” To register, a contractor files a certificate showing general liability coverage, “including products and completed operations,” of at least $300,000 single limit. It also needs proof of workers’ compensation insurance, or a statement explaining why that coverage isn’t required (Idaho Code 54-5210). You can check a registration through the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses’ public search.
Idaho Code 54-5205 lists the exemptions. Each one requires that the person not act “with the intent to evade this chapter,” and the subsection (2) exemptions also require that the person not hold himself out as a registered contractor. Two of them bear directly on a house roof:
- Small jobs. Work on one project that is “casual, minor, or inconsequential” and has an aggregate contract price under $2,000 is exempt. The exemption is lost when the work is part of a larger construction project, or when the job is split into contracts under $2,000 “for the purpose of evasion of this chapter or otherwise.”
- Owners. An owner may work on the owner’s own residential property. The exception is an owner otherwise regulated by the chapter who builds with the intention of “promptly selling” the property. That owner stays exempt only after continuously occupying the home as a primary residence for at least twelve months before the sale.
One consequence of skipping registration lands on the contractor. An unregistered contractor, unless exempt, “shall be denied” any right to place a lien on the property (Idaho Code 54-5208). Registered subcontractors and independent contractors working at another contractor’s direction, the unregistered contractor’s employees, and its material suppliers keep their lien rights if they did not actually know it was unregistered, or reasonably believed it was registered. The permit office must also ask for the registration number before it issues a permit. An exempt applicant’s permit has to carry the words “no contractor registration provided” (Idaho Code 54-5209).
The disclosure a contractor owes you above $2,000
Idaho Code 45-525 applies to a general contractor, meaning anyone contracting directly with a homeowner for more than $2,000 of work on a one- to four-unit residential property. Before signing, that contractor must hand you a disclosure statement and get your signed acknowledgment. The statement must tell you four things:
- you may require lien waivers from its subcontractors, at your reasonable expense;
- you may ask for proof of general liability insurance, including completed operations, and of workers’ compensation coverage;
- you can buy an extended title insurance policy that covers certain unfiled or unrecorded liens;
- you may require a surety bond, at your expense, of up to the value of the project.
Before your final payment, the contractor must also list every direct subcontractor, supplier and equipment renter whose materials or work exceeded $500. Failing to make these disclosures is an unlawful practice under the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. The section does not apply when you, or your agent, first contact the contractor for repairs needed to meet a bona fide emergency, or for repairs to an electrical, plumbing or water system.
Deductible rebates: read Idaho Code 41-348 closely
Idaho Code 41-348(2) makes it unlawful for a “service provider” to engage in “a regular practice” of waiving, rebating, giving or paying all or part of a claimant’s property-insurance deductible, or offering to. The statute defines “services” as health care services, motor vehicle body or other motor vehicle repair, and “preparing, processing, presenting or negotiating an insurance claim against an insurance company.” Violators face the civil penalties of Idaho Code 41-327.
The residential code and what a county may change
Idaho’s residential code is the 2018 International Residential Code, Parts I, II, III and IX for one- and two-family dwellings, with the Idaho Building Code Board’s amendments (IDAPA 24.39.30). Local governments that issue permits must adopt it. By ordinance, and only with amendments that keep at least an equivalent level of protection, they may amend Part I (administration), Part II (definitions), Section R301 (design criteria) and Part IX (appendices). They may amend the rest of Part III only after finding good cause for building or life safety and holding a public hearing (Idaho Code 39-4116).
Idaho roofing questions
Does my roofer have to be registered in Idaho?
Yes, unless an exemption in Idaho Code 54-5205 applies. Check the registration in the DOPL public search before you sign.
Can an unregistered roofer file a lien on my house?
No. Unless exempt, an unregistered contractor is “deemed to have conclusively waived” lien rights under Idaho Code 54-5208.
What paperwork should I get for a roof job over $2,000?
The 45-525 disclosure statement with your acknowledgment. Later, before you make the final payment, you should get the list of subcontractors and suppliers over $500.