Published
If the inspector doesn’t come, Idaho law now lets you hire your own — and it gives you two ways to be paid back.
What the 2025 legislature added
Most of what a corridor buyer reads about permits is county paperwork: the application, the checklist, the snow-load certification. But the frame around that paperwork is state law — the Idaho Building Code Act, Title 39, Chapter 41 of the Idaho Code — and the 2025 legislature amended it in more than one place. One of those amendments, section 39-4118, is about time and money: how long an office may sit on a requested inspection, and what a permit holder is owed when it does. It opens like this:
If an inspection requested by a permit holder is not performed within forty-eight (48) business hours, such permit holder shall be authorized to hire a third-party inspector to perform such inspection.
— Idaho Code § 39-4118(1), Idaho Building Code Act, added 2025, ch. 221, sec. 2, p. 1041. Retrieved 11 September 2026
The legislature’s own history note for the section reads “[39-4118, added 2025, ch. 221, sec. 2, p. 1041]” — chapter 221 of the 2025 session laws. The Idaho Legislature’s website notes that statutes are posted to the site on July 1 following each legislative session, so the text this page quotes is the codified version, not a bill. State law applies to every Idaho building permit, whoever administers it — the statute says “the division or local government,” meaning the state building-code division or the local office that holds your file. On the corridor, the office a builder deals with most often is the county building department at the courthouse in St. Anthony, the same office that anchors the county permit path this site walks step by step.
Route one: the 48-business-hour clock
The statute builds its first refund rule as a sequence, and every step is the permit holder’s to control:
- The request starts the clock. What counts is an inspection requested by a permit holder — which is why requesting in writing, with a timestamp you can point to later, matters more than it used to.
- Forty-eight business hours is the limit. If the requested inspection is not performed inside that window, the permit holder is authorized to hire a third-party inspector instead of waiting.
- Notice, then results. The permit holder or the third-party inspector must notify the division or local government that the inspection is being completed by a third party, and the permit holder must provide the office a copy of the results.
- The fee comes back. A permit holder who obtains a third-party inspection under this section “shall be refunded any fee, or portion thereof, that the permit holder paid to the division or local government for such inspection.”
That last step has a chain behind it. Where a local government contracted out the inspection — paid the state division, a county, or a third party to do it — the statute pushes the refund to whoever was actually paid:
If a local government contracts with and pays the division, county, or third party for an inspection that requires a refund pursuant to this section, the division, county, or third party shall be responsible for refunding the permit holder.
— Idaho Code § 39-4118(1). Retrieved 11 September 2026
In plain terms: the permit holder chases the office, and the offices sort out between themselves who actually pays. You do not need to know which contractor performed your inspection to ask for the refund.
Route two: the 10 percent refund for an unexplained failure
The second rule is about what happens after an inspection that fails. A failed inspection is normal on any build — the question the legislature weighed is what the office owes you when it fails the work and does not tell you why. The lead sentence:
The division or a local government shall refund ten percent (10%) of the fees, or the portion thereof, paid by a permit holder for an inspection if an inspector or building code administrator:
— Idaho Code § 39-4118(2). Retrieved 11 September 2026
The section then lists three conditions, and all three must occur:
| Condition | What the statute requires |
|---|---|
| (a) The inspection happened | An inspector or building code administrator conducts an inspection on the work relating to the permit |
| (b) The work failed | The inspector determines that the work has failed an inspection |
| (c) No reason given in time | The office fails to provide the permit holder or the holder’s agent a reason for the failure within three (3) business days |
Read the money sentence carefully: the refund is ten percent of “the fees, or the portion thereof, paid … for an inspection” — it attaches to inspection fees, not to the whole permit fee. And note what the rule is really forcing: a written reason, inside three business days, is now something an office owes you by statute rather than a courtesy you wait on.
The two routes side by side
Because the section creates two different rights with two different clocks, the cleanest way to hold them apart is a table:
| Route one: the clock | Route two: the reason | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | A requested inspection is not performed within 48 business hours | Work fails an inspection and no reason is provided within 3 business days |
| Your move | Hire a qualified third-party inspector; notify the office; send it the results | Ask for the reason in writing, dated the same day the failure is called |
| What comes back | Any fee, or portion thereof, you paid for that inspection | Ten percent of the fees, or portion thereof, paid for that inspection |
| Who pays it | The office you paid — or the entity it contracted with and paid | The division or local government that administered the inspection |
| What to keep | Your written request, with its timestamp, and the inspection results | Your dated request for the reason and the fee ledger for that inspection |
Neither route requires a lawyer or a hearing — both are claims a permit holder makes with paperwork — but both stand on records made before anyone knew they would matter.
Who is allowed to do the third inspection
The statute does not open the door to just anyone with a clipboard. Subsection (3) requires that a third-party inspector “shall meet the qualifications prescribed by section 39-4108, Idaho Code, and shall conduct the inspection in substantial accord with the applicable jurisdiction’s standards provided by law, rule, or ordinance.” Section 39-4108 is the act’s own inspector-qualifications section — the person you hire has to clear the same bar the act sets for inspectors generally, and the inspection has to follow the standards your jurisdiction actually enforces, not a generic checklist.
What this changes on a corridor build
A corridor build runs inspection to inspection — footings, framing, and the rest each wait their turn, and a pour that waits is a season that shortens. Two honest notes about using the new section here. First, the statute counts business hours and does not itself define what a business hour is; that is a question to pin down with the office holding your permit before you ever count on the clock. Second, none of this changes who may pull the permit or who holds the file — the landowner-signature rule and the permission letter are untouched, as covered on who pulls the building permit and what changes either way.
And the refund only means something if you know what was paid. Fremont County’s building-fee posture is its own story: the county publishes no current fee amounts, and the last schedule it adopted by ordinance is from 2005 — the table and its caveats are on the 2005 fee schedule page, and the honest state of the county’s published numbers is on what a Fremont County building permit costs. Keep your own record of what you paid for which inspection; that record is what a refund request stands on.
Before your first inspection request
- Request every inspection in writing — email or the county’s own portal — and keep the timestamp. The 48-business-hour clock runs from a requested inspection, and a request you cannot prove is a clock you cannot start.
- Ask the office that holds your permit what it counts as a business hour, in writing, before you need the answer. The statute sets the number; the office defines the unit.
- If an inspection fails, ask the same day for the reason in writing. Three business days is all the statute gives the office before the 10 percent refund attaches — your dated request is the evidence of when the window opened.
- If the clock runs out, use the statute’s own sequence: hire an inspector who meets section 39-4108’s qualifications, notify the office the inspection is third-party, and send the office the results.
- Keep a one-page ledger of fees paid, per inspection, with dates — both refund routes key off money paid for an inspection, and the ledger is the claim.
- Then put the build question to whoever will hold your permit before you sign: who answers the 48-hour clock on my inspections, and what is your process when it runs out? If the answer is a shrug, that is a fact about your builder’s paperwork habits worth having early — and you can reach this site at (208) 656-1516 to talk through what the statute does and does not promise.
Common questions
What is Idaho Code section 39-4118?
A section of the Idaho Building Code Act added by the 2025 legislature (ch. 221, sec. 2, p. 1041). It governs inspection timeliness and refunds: it sets a 48-business-hour limit on requested inspections, authorizes third-party inspectors when the limit is missed, and creates a ten percent refund when a failed inspection is not explained within three business days.
When can a permit holder hire a third-party inspector in Idaho?
Under section 39-4118(1), when an inspection requested by a permit holder is not performed within forty-eight (48) business hours. The permit holder or the third-party inspector must notify the division or local government, and the permit holder must provide the office a copy of the completed inspection's results.
Who pays for a third-party inspection?
The permit holder is refunded any fee, or portion thereof, paid to the division or local government for that inspection. If a local government had contracted with and paid the division, a county, or a third party for the inspection, that paid entity is responsible for refunding the permit holder.
What is the ten percent refund rule?
Section 39-4118(2) requires the division or a local government to refund ten percent (10%) of the fees, or the portion thereof, paid by a permit holder for an inspection when three things all occur: the inspection was conducted on the permitted work, the work was determined to have failed, and the office did not provide the permit holder or the holder's agent a reason for the failure within three (3) business days.
Does the ten percent refund apply to my whole permit fee?
No. The statute's words are 'ten percent (10%) of the fees, or the portion thereof, paid by a permit holder for an inspection' — the refund attaches to inspection fees specifically, not to the permit fee as a whole.
What counts as a business hour under the statute?
Section 39-4118 uses the term but does not define it. That is a question to settle in writing with the office that holds your permit before relying on the clock — the statute sets the number of hours, and the office's practice defines the unit.
Who is qualified to be a third-party inspector?
Section 39-4118(3) requires that a third-party inspector meet the qualifications prescribed by section 39-4108, Idaho Code, and conduct the inspection in substantial accord with the applicable jurisdiction's standards provided by law, rule, or ordinance.
Does section 39-4118 apply to a Fremont County permit?
It is state law, so it applies to building permits in Idaho however they are administered — the statute addresses 'the division or local government.' The practical effect on a corridor build runs through whichever office holds your file and performs your inspections.
Is this the only change the 2025 legislature made to building-code administration?
No — chapter 221 of the 2025 session laws amended the Idaho Building Code Act in more than one place. This page covers the inspection-timeliness and refund mechanics of section 39-4118; it does not restate the rest of the chapter.