Idaho · Engineer seal requirements
Idaho PE seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(e) leaves the design of the professional engineer and professional land surveyor seal to the board, and neither the statute nor IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01 gives a legend, a layout or a diameter; the board's one published statement on the wording is that since July 1, 2008 the specification uses "Licensed" rather than "Registered", with seals prepared and approved before that date valid for continued use. Architects answer to a separate board and are the only one of the three professions whose seal wording is fixed in law: Idaho Code § 54-304(1) requires the architect's name, the Idaho architect license number and the words "licensed architect" and "state of Idaho". No diameter appears anywhere in Idaho law for engineers, surveyors or architects — the single diameter Idaho publishes, 1¾ inches, is not in any statute or rule at all but on the board's landscape architect seal page, and applies only to landscape architects. Whatever the seal looks like, the licensee's signature and the date go adjacent to or across it, and each plan or drawing sheet is sealed, signed and dated individually.
Idaho publishes no seal artwork for any of the three professions. Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(e) hands the engineer and surveyor design to the board, and the board's only published statement about the wording is a June 2008 news bulletin announcing that the specification would move from "Registered" to "Licensed" on July 1, 2008; asked about the seal, the board's FAQ points licensees back to the letter the board sent when their license was issued. The 7-1-25 recodification of IDAPA 24.32.01 moved the seal rule from Section 012 to Section 200.01 and dropped the subsection headed "Standard Seals for Engineers and Land Surveyors" — and the board's FAQ still cites IDAPA 24.32.01.101.03, "Use of Seal on Documents," which the recodified chapter no longer contains. The contact block on the cover of that chapter prints the board's website as https://dopl.idaho.gov/pht/, which is the Physical Therapy Board; the working address is https://dopl.idaho.gov/ipels/, and the older ipels.idaho.gov host no longer resolves at all. Two articles in the board's own Ethics and Professional Practice Guidance Document, both carrying the same 07/10/2025 revision date, disagree about facsimile signatures: "Digital Signatures" lists "a facsimile image of the licensee's signature adjacent to or over an electronically generated stamp" as an allowable form since Senate Bill 1235, while "Stamping Practices" still says "you cannot use computer generated signatures and dates" and requires the licensee to personally sign and date each original. The statute itself no longer defines "signature" at all. For architects, Idaho Code § 54-304(2) provides that the design and use of the seal "shall be as required by board rule," but IDAPA 24.01.01 contains no seal rule, and the rulemaking pending before that board in 2026 adds one for certified interior designers only.
Idaho Engineer seal
- Diameter
- No diameter is prescribed. Neither Idaho Code § 54-1215 nor IDAPA 24.32.01 states a dimension for a licensee's seal, and the board publishes no specification giving one.
- Expiration date
- The statute requires only the signature and the date adjacent to or across the seal. The design is left to the board, and neither the statute nor the rule mentions an expiration date.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(a), (e); IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01)
- Signature date
- Whenever the seal is applied, the licensee's signature and date shall be included adjacent to or across the seal, and each plan or drawing sheet shall be sealed, signed and dated.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(a), (b), (c))
- City on seal
- Nothing in the statute or the rule puts a place on a licensee's seal. The "State of Idaho" wording in IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01.a belongs to the Board's own corporate seal, not to a licensee's stamp.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(e); IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01)
- Each licensee shall obtain a seal upon licensure, and the design of the seal shall be as determined by the board. The statute itself prescribes no wording, no layout and no size.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3) and (3)(e))
- Since July 1, 2008 the board's seal specification uses the word "Licensed" rather than "Registered", following the change of terminology made by House Bill 380. The grandfather clause runs to the date the seal was made, not the date it was last used: seals prepared and approved before July 1, 2008 remain valid for continued use.(Board News Bulletin, 41st edition (June 2008); IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01.b)
- The seal may be a rubber stamp, a crimp or an electronically generated image, and the Board has determined that a seal generated by a CAD system also meets the requirement of the law.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(a); Ethics and Professional Practice Guidance Document, 07/10/2025, "Seals and Stamping")
- Whenever the seal is applied, the licensee's signature and the date shall be included adjacent to or across the seal. Since Senate Bill 1235 removed the statutory definition of "signature" effective July 1, 2022, a wet signature, a facsimile image of the licensee's signature and a digital signature are all acceptable forms.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(a); Ethics and Professional Practice Guidance Document, 07/10/2025, "Digital Signatures")
- The seal, signature and date shall be placed on all final specifications, land surveys, reports, plats, drawings, plans, design information and calculations whenever presented to a client or any public or governmental agency. A document that is not final and carries no seal shall be clearly marked "draft", "not for construction" or with similar words.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(b))
- Each plan or drawing sheet shall be sealed and signed and dated by the licensee responsible for that sheet. Only the title page of reports, specifications and like documents need bear the seal, signature and date.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(c))
- The seal, signature and date shall be placed on original documents so that all three reproduce when the original is copied, and applying them certifies that the work was done by the licensee or under the licensee's responsible charge.(Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(c) and (3)(d))
- An engineer who seals a plan containing work done by others must clearly identify the work for which the engineer is responsible; the Board permits a qualifying statement such as "Structural Only" alongside the seal.(Professional Engineering Guidance Document, 01/23/2026)
- The name on the seal must be the same name the licensee signs.(Board FAQ, "If I change my name, do I need to change my name on my PE (or PLS) seal?")
Idaho engineer seal questions
Does an Idaho PE seal have to say "State of Idaho"?▾
IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01.a describes the Board's own corporate seal — the seal of the state of Idaho surrounded with the words "Board of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors" and "State of Idaho" — not a licensee's stamp. Taking "State of Idaho" from that subsection as the required legend for an engineer's seal misreads the rule. (IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01.a)
Is there a required diameter for an Idaho PE or land surveyor seal?▾
The only Idaho seal with a published diameter is the landscape architect's, and the figure is not in the code: Idaho Code § 54-3003(9)(b) fixes the landscape architect's wording but states no size, and the 1.75 inches comes from the board's own seal page, which says the approved seal "should have a diameter of 1.75 inches when applied to full-sized documents." It carries no authority for an engineer, surveyor or architect seal, none of which has a size set anywhere in Idaho law. (Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, "The required 'seal' of an Idaho Landscape Architect" (https://dopl.idaho.gov/lar_seal_information/); Idaho Code § 54-3003(9)(b))
Does an Idaho PE who is also a land surveyor need two separate seals?▾
An engineer who also holds land surveyor licensure uses the single combined Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor seal adopted by the Board, not one seal for each license. (IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01.c)
Can an Idaho electronic copy go out sealed but unsigned for bidding?▾
Electronically produced copies distributed for informational uses such as bidding or working copies may go out sealed but unsigned only if the words "Original Signed By:" and "Date Original Signed:" are placed adjacent to or across the seal and the storage location of the original document is provided. The architect version of the same allowance uses the lower-case words "original signed by" and "date original signed". (Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(c); Idaho Code § 54-304(2))
Does a preliminary engineering report in Idaho have to be sealed?▾
A work product that calls itself preliminary, such as a preliminary engineering report, still has to be sealed, signed and dated as a final document when it is intended to be relied upon to make policy decisions important to the life, health, property or fiscal interest of the public. Only documents that are not final may be marked "draft" or "not for construction" and left unsealed. (Idaho Code § 54-1215(3)(b))
Generate a Idaho Engineer seal to this specification
Board approved
Your Idaho Professional Engineer seal from pedigitalstamps.com meets every requirement on this page — the layout set out in Idaho Code § 54-1215(3); IDAPA 24.32.01.200.01 (Practice Standards — Seals). Fill in your details and download it in seconds.
Every format you need is included — PNG, PDF, SVG and CAD — ready to place in Bluebeam, Acrobat or AutoCAD.