City of Bettendorf, Iowa - Building Division

City of Bettendorf, Scott County, Iowa

city

1609 State Street, Bettendorf, IA 52722

Required

Required

Bettendorf City Code section 10-3-1 provides that "the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code, and their related codes as referenced, are hereby adopted in full except for such portions as may hereinafter be deleted, modified, or amended," with official copies on file with the City Clerk and the Community Development Department. The Building Division publishes the same list with the rest of the suite: 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Residential Code, 2012 International Energy Conservation Code, 2021 International Fire Code, 2024 International Mechanical Code, 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code, 2023 National Electrical Code, 2021 International Property Maintenance Code and 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. THE ONLY AMENDMENT SECTION IN THE CHAPTER IS FOR THE BUILDING CODE, NOT THE RESIDENTIAL CODE: City Code Chapter 3 of Title 10 runs 10-3-1 codes adopted, 10-3-2 effective date, 10-3-3 amendments to the International Building Code, 10-3-4 fees, 10-3-5 through 10-3-7 reserved, and 10-3-8 special assessment deficiencies. The residential code is therefore adopted without a corresponding local amendment list, which makes the model text unusually load-bearing here.

Not required — Bettendorf imposes no impact-resistance or hail-rating requirement on roof coverings. Title 10 of the City Code, Building and Development, was read at the chapter level and its two building chapters in full: Chapter 2, Building Administration and General Provisions, comprising the building official, general contractor bonds, conversion of apartments and the conflicts provision; and Chapter 3, Certain Building Codes and Regulations, comprising the adoption, effective date, the building code amendment list, fees and the special assessment section. Measured across both, there is no occurrence of UL 2218, of FM 4473, or of a Class 4 or Class IV impact classification, and no requirement of that kind in any other wording. Nor is there any amendment to the roof assemblies chapter of the adopted residential code that could have introduced one.

Bettendorf publishes no dollar figure or square-footage figure at which a roofing permit obligation begins, and it treats a roof as its own permit type rather than as incidental work. City Code section 10-2-2(A) names it directly in a parenthesis listing what the city counts as miscellaneous subcontracting permits: "accessory, communication, deck, demolition, garage, sidewalk and approach, fence, fireplace, handicap ramp, pergola, porch, roof, siding, shed, sign, swimming pool, tank, waterproofing, solar tent retaining wall, and window." The Building Division publishes a dedicated roof and siding permit application to match. Note that the list is expressly not exhaustive - it is introduced as including "but not limited to" those items - and that the city permit fee charts are published separately.

Two layers maximum - one overlay is permitted, and a second existing layer requires a tear-off. Bettendorf adopts the 2021 International Residential Code in full at City Code section 10-3-1, and the building code chapter contains no residential amendment section at all: sections 10-3-5, 10-3-6 and 10-3-7 are reserved, and the single amendment section, 10-3-3, is headed "amendments to International Building Code." Measured across the chapter there is no amendment to section R908 or to any part of the roof assemblies chapter of the residential code. The adopted text therefore governs unchanged. Section R908.3.1.1 provides that a roof recover shall not be permitted where any of three conditions occur, the third being "where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces removal. The other two conditions apply whatever the layer count: a covering that is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not an adequate base for additional roofing, and a covering of slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile.

The Building Division publishes a page devoted to roof sheathing, which states that "the City of Bettendorf follows the 2021 IRC Building Code" and directs the reader to Section R803, Roof Sheathing, of the residential code for "a breakdown of the building code related to roof sheathing." Because the city adopts the residential code in full and makes no amendment to it, the R803 requirements apply here as published rather than in a locally modified form. ONE CAUTION ABOUT THE CITY OWN PAGE: the link it offers under the heading "Section R803 roof sheathing code" resolves to the 2015 edition of the residential code rather than the 2021 edition the same paragraph says the city follows. The editions differ, and the governing text is the 2021 one that City Code section 10-3-1 adopts. Note also that replacing sheathing may change the permit type rather than only the work: the city counts a roof among its miscellaneous subcontracting permits, and work extending into structural members is worth confirming with the Building Division before starting.

7% in Bettendorf, Scott County - the 6% Iowa state sales tax plus a 1% local option sales tax, per the Iowa Department of Revenue local option sales tax tables effective July 1, 2026. HOW IOWA TAXES A ROOF IS UNUSUAL, AND IT CUTS BOTH WAYS. Iowa Code section 423.2(6) makes a list of enumerated services taxable at the state rate, and paragraph (l) of that list reads, in its entirety, "Roof, shingle, and glass repair." Against that, section 423.3(37) exempts "the sales price of services on or connected with new construction, reconstruction, alteration, expansion, remodeling." The materials side flips with the labour side. Under section 423.2(1)(b)(1), materials sold to a contractor "for the erection of buildings and other structures or for the reconstruction, alteration, expansion, or remodeling of buildings and other structures are retail sales of tangible personal property," on which the contractor pays the tax as consumer, while materials sold "for use in repairs to or for installation in existing buildings and other structures are purchases for resale." So a job characterised as a repair carries taxable labour and resale-purchased materials, and a job characterised as reconstruction or remodeling carries exempt labour and taxed materials. Which branch a particular tear-off and replacement falls into is a fact-specific question the statute does not answer, and it changes who owes the tax rather than only how much, so settle it with an accountant rather than assume it.