Town of Avon, Indiana - Building Department

Town of Avon, Indiana

city

6570 E US Highway 36, Avon, IN 46123

Required

WHERE AND HOW. The Avon Building Department is at Avon Town Hall, 6570 East US Highway 36, Avon, Indiana 46123, on (317) 272-0948, fax (317) 272-0949. The office is open 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday and closes for lunch every day from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. Mike Tulli has been Building Commissioner since 1996 and is a State Certified Building Inspector for Residential and Commercial Buildings and a State Certified Plans Examiner; Nathan Noyes is Assistant Building Commissioner and Laura Finley is Building Inspector and Planning Technician. APPLYING. The Town asks that applications be submitted online through its permit portal, and states that "right now, we can only accept cashier's check or credit card as payment." A Building Permit Application form is also published as a PDF. To schedule inspections through the contractor portal a contractor needs a "Contractor Access Code" issued by the Town. WHAT THE APPLICATION COMMITS YOU TO. Review may take up to 30 days. Work cannot start before the permit is posted and cannot continue if it is destroyed, lost or stolen - a new permit must be posted. The permit must be posted on site in a conspicuous location, visible from the street, for the entire period of construction. The permit becomes void if work has not started within twelve months of the date of issue. Any change or deviation from the original application requires a new permit. The applicant is responsible for scheduling all inspections and must quote the permit number. A structure cannot be occupied until all inspections have been approved and a Certificate of Occupancy issued. FEES. The current schedule is the 2026 Building Permit Fee Schedule, published as Exhibit A to Ordinance 2026-08 and updated August 2026. A residential re-roof is $134.00 whether it is a one-layer job or a complete removal. Re-inspections are billed separately at $134.00, $234.00 and $434.00 for the first, second and third additional inspection. The application also warns that the application fee does not include design review or construction management review fees, which are payable directly to the engineering firms the Town specifies. A SCOPE POINT. Avon runs its own building department. Hendricks County also runs one for the parts of the county that have not taken the function, and the two have different rules - notably the County requires a contractor to be on its Contractor Listing before it will accept a permit application. Confirm which office holds the job before applying.

STATE-SET. The residential rule that applies in Avon is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, whose opening section provides that "That certain document being titled the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, published by the International Code Council ... is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out in this rule save and except those revisions made in this rule", and that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted on November 18, 2025 by the Readopted Final Rule at Indiana Register 20251210-IR-675240566RFA, effective January 1, 2026; every one of the rule's 245 sections carries that readoption in its own history line. THERE IS NO LOCAL EDITION TO LOOK UP, AND THE TOWN POINTS AT THE STATE ITSELF. Avon's Building Department page answers the question in one line: for "Current Building Codes", it directs the reader to the State of Indiana rather than publishing a local list. That is the correct answer under Indiana law. IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the commission's rules precedence over "any ordinance or other regulation adopted by a political subdivision that covers the same subject matter as the commission's fire safety rules or building rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules." Indiana is the strongest building-code ceiling in this book: a town may not be stricter, and may not be more detailed either. AND IF A LOCAL ORDINANCE DOES CITE THE STATE RULE, IT FLOATS. IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement to the Indiana Administrative Code." So an Indiana town ordinance citing 675 IAC tracks the current rule instead of freezing at its adoption date - the opposite of the usual rule elsewhere. WHAT WAS NOT OPENED, STATED PLAINLY: the Town of Avon Municipal Code and Development Standards are published on a code platform that returned an authorisation error to every scripted request in this session, so no Avon ordinance text was read. Nothing below rests on one. Ask the Building Department on (317) 272-0948 for the Town's own building chapter if a local administrative detail matters to a job. ONE VOCABULARY WARNING: "Class 2 structure" in Indiana means a one or two dwelling unit building. It is a STRUCTURE class and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT TOWN-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. Avon cannot vary it: IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules." The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c. with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5 Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The word "rood" in that passage is a typographical error in the published guidance, quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so this text governs as published. The same guidance states that the 2020 Indiana Residential Code applies "Regardless of any established local enforcement policies or practices to the contrary". About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN HENDRICKS COUNTY, WHERE AVON SITS - AND THIS IS A COUNTY-BY-COUNTY ANSWER IN INDIANA, NOT A STATE ONE. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows", and the substituted table runs one row per county. Row 32 is Hendricks, and it carries "No" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's ninety-two counties carry "Yes" there and they are the northern tier; the other sixty-five, Hendricks among them, carry "No". The rest of the Hendricks row reads wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, foundation depth 30 inches, winter design temperature 2 degrees, decay Slight to Moderate, termite Moderate to Heavy, weathering Severe and mean annual temperature 52.3 degrees. THE PART A ROOFER MUST NOT SKIP. A "No" in that column does not mean an ice barrier is never required on an Avon roof. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020 states that "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Hendricks County is in the second group. So on an ordinary Avon job the question is what the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions say - read them before deciding, because they, not the table, carry the answer here. Avon could not change this in either direction: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a more stringent or more detailed local requirement, and the Town publishes no roofing rule of its own. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Avon. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one of them concerns impact: 675 IAC 14-4.4-84 directs "Delete the text of the last sentence of SECTION R902.4 without substitution", the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section; 675 IAC 14-4.4-85 directs "Delete the words 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.6 without substitution", on asphalt shingle attachment; 675 IAC 14-4.4-86 directs "Delete the word 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8 without substitution", on flashing; and 675 IAC 14-4.4-87 directs "Delete the word 'printed' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8.4 without substitution", on other flashing. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. NOR COULD AVON IMPOSE ONE. IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. An impact rating on a roof covering is the same subject matter as the state roofing chapter and would be a more stringent requirement, so a local mandate could not stand. The Town's own published building instruments - its Building Department page, its 2026 Building Permit Fee Schedule and its Building Permit Application - name no roof-covering performance standard at all; the fee schedule's only roofing distinction is between a one-layer job and a complete removal. The Town's codified municipal code was not opened this session and no claim here rests on it. TWO THINGS THAT GET MISTAKEN FOR AN IMPACT MANDATE IN INDIANA: the phrase "Class 2 structure", which is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two dwelling unit buildings rather than any rating of the roof covering; and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term and not a code requirement.

NO THRESHOLD - AVON PRICES A RE-ROOF BY NAME ON ITS OWN FEE SCHEDULE, AND ITS PERMIT APPLICATION HAS A BOX FOR IT. The Town's 2026 Building Permit Fee Schedule, published as Exhibit A to Ordinance 2026-08, carries a heading "Roofing" under RESIDENTIAL with two base fees beneath it: "One Layer $134.00" and "Complete Removal $134.00". The Town's Building Permit Application, in section 3 TYPE OF IMPROVEMENT under the column "Type of Structural Work", offers "Re-Roof" as a tick box alongside New, Addition, Remodeling and Electrical. So a re-roof in Avon is permit work whatever it costs and whatever its area, and the fee does not vary with either. A ROOFER SHOULD NOTE THAT THE TWO ROOFING LINES COST THE SAME AT RESIDENTIAL RATES. Both the one-layer job and the complete removal are $134.00; the two rates diverge only on the commercial and industrial schedules, where One Layer is $109.00 and Complete Removal is $134.00 and $184.00 respectively. Re-inspection is charged separately and escalates: $134.00 for the first additional inspection, $234.00 for the second and $434.00 for the third. DO NOT READ THE FEE HEADINGS AS A LAYER RULE. "One Layer" and "Complete Removal" are fee categories on a schedule of building administration fees, not a cap on how many layers a roof may carry. The layer question is answered by the adopted code - see the layer entry in this record. HOW TO FILE. Applications are submitted online through the Town's permit portal, and the Town notes that it can only accept a cashier's check or a credit card as payment. The application's own affidavit sets the conditions: review may take up to 30 days; work cannot start before the permit has been posted, and cannot continue if the permit is destroyed, lost or stolen; the permit must be posted on site in a conspicuous location visible from the street for the entire period of construction; the permit becomes void if work has not started within twelve months of issue; any change or deviation from the original application needs a new permit; and the applicant is responsible for scheduling all inspections, quoting the permit number.

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model IRC Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, which opens "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". The Hendricks County row, number 32, gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed" in miles per hour, and every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number. The same row gives seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, a 30 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 2 degrees and Severe weathering, with a mean annual temperature of 52.3 degrees. Avon cannot raise or lower any of it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a town from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. EXPOSURE IS NOT SET BY THE TABLE AND MUST BE DETERMINED ON THE JOB: the table's own footnote to the wind column reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4." Indiana has also amended that section itself, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, to fix how exposure is judged on a site in a subdivision or master-planned community where neighbouring structures are not built yet - which matters in Avon, where much of the housing stock sits in subdivisions built out in stages. Settle the exposure category for the particular address rather than assuming one.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE APPLIES IN AVON, AND ITS FEE SCHEDULE IS NOT ONE - READ THIS BEFORE QUOTING A RECOVER. Avon's 2026 Building Permit Fee Schedule prices roofing under two headings, "One Layer" and "Complete Removal". Those are billing categories on a schedule of building administration fees. They set no cap on how many layers of covering a roof may carry, and a roofer should not read the first as permission for exactly one overlay or the second as a tear-off mandate. THE RULE THAT DOES ANSWER IT. The residential code applying in Avon is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule runs to 245 numbered sections and it makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear anywhere in it. Its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are deletions: a sentence struck from the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section, the word "approved" struck from the asphalt shingle attachment section, the word "approved" struck from the flashing section and the word "printed" struck from the other-flashing section. Nothing in the state rule addresses how many layers of covering a roof may carry, so the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here as published. AND AVON COULD NOT ADD ONE. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules, and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. A local layer cap would be both more detailed and on the same subject matter. WHAT WAS NOT READ: the Town of Avon Municipal Code itself, which is published on a platform that refused every scripted request this session. Settle the existing layer count and the tear-off question with the Building Department on (317) 272-0948 against the adopted code before quoting a recover - and either way the job needs an Avon permit, because the Town prices a re-roof by name.

7.00% statewide, with no county or town add-on in Avon or Hendricks County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - County Innkeeper's Tax, Food and Beverage Tax and Local Income Tax - closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." The county-level tax Hendricks County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. WHO PAYS THE TAX DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT, NOT ON THE ROOF. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its own definition of a contractor - "Examples of contractors include, but are not limited to, persons engaged in building, concrete work, carpentry, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical work, roofing, plastering, tile work, road construction, landscaping, installing underground sprinkler or drainage systems, and making other improvements or repairs to real property" - and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" is one "in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately"; a contractor working under one "is a retail merchant that is selling the construction material that it incorporates into real property, and must be registered with the department and collect sales tax on the material portion of their contracts", and may buy the material exempt for resale. A contractor working under any other form, such as a lump sum, is not a retail merchant: they "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and "do not collect sales tax from their customers". On labour the bulletin adds that "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." The bulletin is Department guidance and says of itself that information bulletins are not binding on the department or the taxpayer, so a roofer should settle their own contract form with an accountant.