Free checklist for contractors
Idaho contractor compliance checklist
What Idaho law asks of a contractor on residential work, from the rules ProntoBill keeps for Idaho: licensing, bond and insurance where the state sets them, and the notices and contract requirements. Each item links the law’s own text, and the page says plainly what it doesn’t cover. No account and no email.
Informational guidance, not a legal determination. This page summarizes the rules as they were checked on the dates shown. Each section has conditions a summary can’t hold, so read the law it links. Check with a construction lawyer how the rules apply to your contracts.
Your contractor registration
Checked against the law’s own text, not reviewed by a lawyer.
Where your registration number must appear on documents is not covered here yet.
Bond and liability insurance minimums
The minimums by type of registration. They are the floor the law sets: the state may require more of you.
- Registered contractor: no bond minimum in the sources read; insurance (general liability, single limit: $300,000) (Idaho Code § 54-5210(1)(e), checked November 5, 2026). Checked against the law’s own text, not reviewed by a lawyer.
- The policy must include products and completed operations. Workers’ compensation is required too, or a statement of why it is not.
- Idaho requires no contractor bond, but a homeowner may require one at their own expense.
Notices and contract requirements
What the law asks you to give the customer, or put in the contract, on a job. A summary of each, from the rule’s data: the section itself can narrow when it applies.
Disclosure before contract (§ 45-525)
- Price
- Over $2,000
- When
- Before the contract is signed
- Can cover
- Homes and buildings of 1–4 units
- Not covered
- Residential buildings of 5 or more units and commercial work
- Signed by
- The customer
- Not owed when your customer is another contractor.
- Not owed when the homeowner (or their agent) contacted you for repairs needed in a genuine emergency, or for necessary repairs to the home’s electrical, plumbing or water system (Idaho Code § 45-525(6)).
- If the price grows past the threshold later, the law doesn’t settle when it is due.
Checked against the law’s own text, not reviewed by a lawyer. Checked September 29, 2026.
Subcontractors and suppliers over $500 (§ 45-525)
- Price
- Over $2,000
- When
- At final payment, before it is made
- Can cover
- Homes and buildings of 1–4 units
- Not covered
- Residential buildings of 5 or more units and commercial work
- Signed by
- You
- Not owed when your customer is another contractor.
- It needs your list of subcontractors and suppliers.
- Not owed when the homeowner (or their agent) contacted you for repairs needed in a genuine emergency, or for necessary repairs to the home’s electrical, plumbing or water system (Idaho Code § 45-525(6)).
Checked against the law’s own text, not reviewed by a lawyer. Checked September 29, 2026.
Notice of cancellation for a door-to-door sale (IDAPA 04.02.01.170)
- Price
- $25 or more
- When
- Before the contract is signed
- Can cover
- Homes and buildings of 1–4 units and residential buildings of 5 or more units
- Not covered
- Commercial work
- Not owed when your customer is another contractor.
- Only when the sale was made at the customer’s home, or anywhere away from your place of business (IDAPA 04.02.01.020.22).
Checked against the law’s own text, not reviewed by a lawyer. Checked November 4, 2026.
More on each notice: the contractor notices guide
Questions
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It’s informational guidance, not a legal determination: the state’s law as it was read on the dates shown. Check with a construction lawyer how it applies to your contracts.
- Do I need an account?
- No. Nothing here needs an account or an email, and the page sends nothing anywhere. Print it or take a screenshot to keep it.
- What isn’t covered?
- Anything the page doesn’t list: local licenses and permits, lead paint in pre-1978 homes, employees and workers’ compensation beyond the notes above, and sales tax (see the sales-tax guide).
Sales tax by state: the contractor sales-tax guide
