Moving to Boise? Here's Your Home Services Cheat Sheet
You made a good call. Boise's been growing fast — the outdoor access, the food scene, the fact that a normal person can still buy a house here. (Well, relatively. Still better than Portland or Denver.)
The problem with moving to a new city is you leave behind your whole roster of people you trust. The plumber your dad used for 20 years? Two thousand miles away now. The electrician who saved you money on that last job? Useless here.
This guide is the short version of who you need to find before something breaks, not after.
1. Home Inspector — Even If You Already Closed
If you're still in the buying phase, this is your first hire. If you already closed, get one anyway — especially if the house was built before 2000. Boise has a lot of older homes, and they come with quirks that don't show up on a walkthrough.
Look for someone who does thermal imaging and doesn't mind tight crawl spaces. The cheap inspectors miss mold behind walls. The good ones pay for themselves in what they catch.
→ Find Boise general contractors & inspectors
2. HVAC — The One That Will Burn You If You Wait
Boise summers hit the high 90s. Winters dip into the teens. Your HVAC runs basically year-round, and when it dies in August, every company in the valley is booked three weeks deep.
Find your HVAC person now. A $150 tune-up in April beats a $6,000 emergency replacement in July, and I promise you'll pay the $6,000 before you'll wait three weeks without AC.
If you're replacing anyway, ask about heat pumps. They handle Boise's climate well and cut heating costs noticeably.
→ Find Boise HVAC contractors (20 listed)
3. Plumber — Water Always Finds the Weak Spot
If you live in the North End or on the Bench, your house probably has older pipes. If it's a new build, you're fine. If it's from the 70s or earlier, have a plumber walk through before you unpack.
Three things to check right away:
- Water pressure — too high means a burst pipe eventually
- Water heater age — anything past 10 years is borrowed time
- Main shutoff valve location — find it NOW, not when water is pouring into your basement
→ Find Boise plumbers (15 listed)
4. Electrician — For the Stuff You Shouldn't YouTube
New light fixture? EV charger? That outlet that's been acting weird? Call a licensed electrician. Boise permits require licensed work for most electrical changes, and skipping that step bites you when you sell. Also, house fires are real — just hire someone.
→ Find Boise electricians (8 listed)
5. Roofer — Pray You Don't Need One, But Know One
Boise gets hailstorms. Not Denver-level, but enough to pop shingles. A small leak turns into a $10,000 problem fast if you ignore it. If your roof is over 15, get it inspected this year, not when you see water stains on the ceiling.
→ Find Boise roofers (7 listed)
6. Landscaper — Boise Dirt Is Not What You're Used To
Boise is high desert. The soil is alkaline, water is expensive, and the summer sun is brutal. You can't just plant what worked in your last city and hope for the best. A local landscaper who knows xeriscaping will save you money and a lot of dead plants.
→ Find Boise landscapers (5 listed)
7. Painter — Do It Before You Fill the Rooms
Painting an empty house takes two days. Painting a full house takes two weeks and involves moving furniture around plastic sheeting. If you plan to repaint anything, do it before the truck arrives.
→ Find Boise painters (5 listed)
8. Pest Control — It's the Rodents, Not the Bugs
Boise doesn't have the insect problems you'd get in the South. What it has is field mice. When temperatures drop, they look for warmth, and they are disturbingly good at finding holes you didn't know existed. A quarterly pest plan is cheap and worth it.
→ Find Boise pest control (5 listed)
9. General Contractor — For When One Trade Won't Cut It
A kitchen remodel touches plumbing, electrical, drywall, and flooring. A bathroom reno hits half of those. A good GC keeps it on track. A bad one costs you time and money. We wrote a whole other post on how to vet a contractor before you hire — read that before you sign anything.
→ Find Boise general contractors (5 listed)
Keep This Handy
BoiseHomeServicePros.com is a free directory of home service companies across the Treasure Valley. No paid placement, no lead-gen forms to fill out — just businesses organized by trade so you can find who you need fast.
Bookmark it. You won't need it every day. But at 10pm on a Tuesday when your furnace kicks out and it's 18 degrees outside, you'll be glad it's there.