Pocatello, ID Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 15.04.030 makes a permit mandatory for any construction activity regulated by the International Building Code, the International Residential Code, or the city's own building provisions, and it is unlawful to perform or authorize such work until a licensed contractor has secured that permit from the Building Department. The city carved out one notable difference from the model codes: subsection B declines to adopt the sections of the IBC and IRC that exempt fence installation from permitting, so a permit is required before any fence goes up inside city limits.

Subsection C offers a narrow license exception rather than a permit exception: a person building or working on a single-family home that will be their own primary residence, and who owns or is under contract to purchase the land, can obtain a construction permit without holding a contractor's license, but only once every three years measured from the certificate of occupancy of any home built under that exception. Permit fees are set every year by city council resolution under § 15.04.040, and a contractor or property owner who begins work before securing the required permit faces a doubled fee, a misdemeanor citation, or both.

Before any of this applies, § 15.04.010 ties the whole chapter back to the codes adopted at § 15.02.010, and § 15.04.020 requires the contractor licensing, bonding and insurance rules in Chapter 15.03 to be satisfied before construction starts.