Permitting Authorities / Brunswick County - Code Administration Department
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Brunswick County, NC?
Adopted code
Brunswick County - Code Administration Department
No, Brunswick County, NC does not require a permit for like-for-like roof replacement (Brunswick County - Code Administration Department). A like-for-like reroof of a single-family house in Brunswick County's jurisdiction usually needs no building permit. State law, G.S. 160D-1110(c): no permit is required for work "costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves ... (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The North Carolina Residential Code, R908.3: "Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." The County's own permit page says a building permit is generally not required for "Nonstructural work where the cost is less than $40,000 in any single-family residence" and does not mention roofing. Duplexes and multi-family buildings are not single-family residences and fall outside the statutory exemption. If a permit is needed, all permits are submitted online through the Brunswick County Permit Portal; for help, call Central Permitting at 910-253-2021, option 2. Brunswick County issues building permits for unincorporated areas and for Belville, Bolivia, Navassa, Northwest, Sandy Creek, Shallotte, St. James and Varnamtown; the other towns in the county handle their own building inspections. The County's fee schedule prices "Roof Repair" at $100 among its commercial fees; work done without a required permit is charged "2x Permit Fee ($200 minimum)", and the County's application guide warns that "you will receive a Stop Work Order" in that case.
Roof code checklist: Brunswick County, NC
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
Brunswick County, North Carolina
Address
75 Courthouse Drive, Building I, Bolivia, NC 28422
Contact
- url: https://www.brunswickcountync.gov/181/Code-Administration
- phone: 910-253-2021
Roofing permit required
Not required
Registration details
- state_level: North Carolina licenses general contractors by job size. G.S. 87-1(a) reaches anyone who undertakes to construct "any building, highway, public utilities, grading or any improvement or structure where the cost of the undertaking is forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more". Roofing is a specialty classification of that licence, "S(Roofing)", under the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors' rules (21 NCAC 12). G.S. 87-1(b)(2) exempts an owner who "constructs or alters a building on land owned by that person" where "the building is intended solely for occupancy by that person and his family" and the owner complies with G.S. 87-14; occupancy of less than 12 months after completion creates a presumption against the exemption. Whether a given reroof reaches the $40,000 line depends on the job's price, which this record does not decide.
- county_level: Brunswick County's "Do I Need a Permit?" page states: "A general contractor licensed in North Carolina must perform all work where the construction cost is in excess of $40,000. An unlicensed contractor may perform work where the cost is $40,000 or less." It adds that "Any person may act as their own general contractor for construction of a home, addition, or accessory structure if they own the land and will personally occupy the structure for 12 months after completion." The County's departmental policy requires homeowners pulling their own permits to be present on site for all inspections. The County sets no roofing licence or registration of its own.
Permit process note
A like-for-like reroof of a single-family house in Brunswick County's jurisdiction usually needs no building permit. State law, G.S. 160D-1110(c): no permit is required for work "costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves ... (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The North Carolina Residential Code, R908.3: "Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." The County's own permit page says a building permit is generally not required for "Nonstructural work where the cost is less than $40,000 in any single-family residence" and does not mention roofing. Duplexes and multi-family buildings are not single-family residences and fall outside the statutory exemption. If a permit is needed, all permits are submitted online through the Brunswick County Permit Portal; for help, call Central Permitting at 910-253-2021, option 2. Brunswick County issues building permits for unincorporated areas and for Belville, Bolivia, Navassa, Northwest, Sandy Creek, Shallotte, St. James and Varnamtown; the other towns in the county handle their own building inspections. The County's fee schedule prices "Roof Repair" at $100 among its commercial fees; work done without a required permit is charged "2x Permit Fee ($200 minimum)", and the County's application guide warns that "you will receive a Stop Work Order" in that case.
Adopted code
Brunswick County enforces the North Carolina State Building Code, which applies statewide. The 2018 North Carolina Residential Code (based on the 2015 International Residential Code) with its approved amendments is the edition in force; the NC Office of State Fire Marshal states the 2018 codes "were effective from January 1, 2019 and are currently effective." The 2024 edition has been adopted but has no effective date. The County's Code of Ordinances, Sec. 1-4-5, adopts the state code by reference: "All volumes comprising the North Carolina State Building Code with amendments as adopted are hereby adopted by reference as fully as though set forth in this chapter as the building code of the county." Sec. 1-4-7 also adopts by reference "Appendix D, Windstorm Resistive Construction, Volume 1-B, One- and Two-Family Residential, North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code, with amendments as adopted" (Ord. No. 62, 1985). The County's Plans and Inspection Information page lists the "2018 Administrative, Building, Energy Conservation, Existing Building, Fire, Fuel Gas, Mechanical, Plumbing, and Residential" codes under North Carolina Building Codes. North Carolina's amendments rewrite two roofing provisions: R905.2.8.5 "Drip Edge. Deleted. Not required unless required by the roof covering manufacturer installation instructions." and R908.3 "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." (delayed effective date January 1, 2022).
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — Brunswick County's building chapter (Chapter 1-4 of its Code of Ordinances) adopts the North Carolina State Building Code by reference and adds no roof-covering provision, and North Carolina's approved amendments to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code contain no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact requirement. No UL 2218 or Class 4 impact rating is required for roof coverings in the County's jurisdiction.
Repair permit threshold
North Carolina law exempts most single-family reroofs from a building permit. G.S. 160D-1110(c): "No permit issued under Article 9 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following: (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same of the Building Code: "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof approved under subsection (e)" for such work. The North Carolina Residential Code draws the structural line for a reroof at R908.3: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." So a reroof of a single-family house costing $40,000 or less, using code-approved materials and replacing no more than 15% of the deck and no load-bearing members, needs no permit; a job over $40,000, one that replaces more deck or any rafters or trusses, or one that adds roofing where there was none, needs one. The exemption reaches single-family residences, farm buildings and commercial buildings only; duplexes and multi-family buildings are outside it. Brunswick County's own "Do I Need a Permit?" page (read September 26, 2026) states that "A building permit is required : If an individual or corporation is locating, erecting, constructing, enlarging, altering, repairing, demolishing, relocating, or changing occupancy of a structure," and that "Generally, a building permit is not required for : Nonstructural work where the cost is less than $40,000 in any single-family residence." It does not name roofing either way. The County's older Residential Permit Application Guide (dated 8/26/21) still prints the superseded figure, "Nonstructural work where the cost is less than $15,000 in any single-family residence"; the statute now sets $40,000. The County's building fee schedule (FY '27, effective July 1, 2026) lists "Roof Repair $100" under its Standard Commercial Fees only; its residential fee lists carry no roofing line. Work done without a required permit costs "2x Permit Fee ($200 minimum)".
Roof layer limit / recover
North Carolina amends the reroofing section of its Residential Code. NC R908.3 Roof replacement: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." That amendment addresses a full replacement (tear-off to the deck); it states no number of layers allowed when re-covering over an existing roof. Brunswick County's building chapter (Chapter 1-4 of its Code of Ordinances) adopts the state code by reference and adds no reroofing provision of its own.
Sales & use tax
6.75% total in Brunswick County (the 4.75% state rate plus Brunswick County's local rate; no transit tax), per the NC Department of Revenue's current sales and use tax rates by county, read September 26, 2026. How it applies to a roofing job depends on whether the job is a replacement or a repair. NCDOR's taxability chart for Roofs and Roofing Materials classes "Complete replacement of roofing systems" as a Capital Improvement: that is a real property contract, and NCDOR states "The real property contractor is the consumer of the item that the real property contractor purchases, installs, or applies for others to fulfill a real property contract", so the roofer pays sales or use tax on the materials and does not charge sales tax on the contract. The same chart classes "Repair, maintain, or partially replace all types of roofing systems" as Taxable repair, maintenance and installation services, so a repair or partial replacement is taxed to the customer at the combined 6.75% rate.
More roof permit pages in North Carolina
Related guides
Brunswick County Code Administration, which includes Building Inspections, Central Permitting and the Fire Marshal, issues building and trade permits and performs inspections for unincorporated Brunswick County and for the towns of Belville, Bolivia, Navassa, Northwest, Sandy Creek, Shallotte, St. James and Varnamtown. The other towns in the county, including Leland, Oak Island, Southport, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach, Calabash, Carolina Shores, Caswell Beach, Boiling Spring Lakes and Bald Head Island, run their own building inspections.
Hail reports near the center of Brunswick County, NC
- Reports, last 24 months
- 0
- Largest, last 24 months
- None
- Most recent
- None in 24 months
- Reports, last 5 years
- 3
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database and daily storm reports (reports since the start of the current year are preliminary), within 10 miles of the center of Brunswick County, NC. Data through Sep 30, 2026. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
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