City of Carmel, Indiana - Department of Community Services, Building and Code Services (Building Safety Office)

City of Carmel, Indiana

city

One Civic Square, Carmel, IN 46032

CARMEL PERMITS ITS OWN WORK -- do not file with Hamilton County. CORRECTED 2026-09-05: this record previously routed the reader to permits required by the State of Indiana, Hamilton County or the City of Carmel, which reads as though the County were a permitting office for a job inside the city. It is not. Carmel's Building Safety Office states that its staff "processes, reviews, and issues all building permits (Improvement Location Permits) within the City of Carmel, and performs all building inspections, applying building codes adopted by the State of Indiana." Hamilton County's own Plan Commission says the same thing from the county side: it divides the county into nine planning jurisdictional areas, publishes a map on which "Click on any color within the map to see a PDF showing the planning office that corresponds with the jurisdictional area," and the sheet for the Carmel area names the Carmel Department of Community Services, 1 Carmel Civic Square, Carmel, Indiana 46032, (317) 571-2417 -- not a county office. The County's own building-permit checklist is expressly limited to "the construction or alteration of any structure within the jurisdiction of the Hamilton County Plan Commission." How a Carmel job actually runs: permits are Improvement Location Permits (ILPs), and "To apply for a residential permit, click the Online Permitting link and complete an application"; once a permit number is assigned the applicant is emailed instructions to upload plans to the city's ProjectDox submittal system. "One permit is typically issued for any given construction project, and all work being done is covered under this permit. The Builder of Record on the ILP assumes responsibility for all aspects of construction performed, from the actual types of work being done to the scheduling and completion of all required inspections and payment of all fees." Inspections are booked with the city: "To schedule inspections, please call the Building and Code Services office at 317-571-2444 at least one business day prior to the desired inspection date." The city adds that "The required inspections vary with each permit. The plan reviewer will determine which inspections will be required for your project." There is therefore no fixed published inspection sequence for a roof. Whether a like-for-like asphalt shingle re-roof with no structural work is itself an ILP-triggering activity in Carmel remains unestablished: permit administration is the one area IC 22-13-2-3 does not preempt, and Indiana jurisdictions differ on it, but Carmel's Building Safety Office page, its Residential Permits page, its Inspection Requirements page and its 2026 fee schedule were each read and none of them states the answer -- the fee schedule's Improvement Location Permit list contains no roofing or re-roofing category. Carmel invites the question directly: "If you are in doubt whether your project will require a permit, we can help you make that determination." Call the Building and Code Services office at 317-571-2444 between 8 am and 5 pm, or the Inspector on Call at 317-571-2481 between 8 am and 9 am. Note separately that whatever the permit answer, the code answer does not move: Carmel's own Residential Permits page states that "All projects must be designed and built to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code."

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Carmel enforces the statewide Indiana Residential Code adopted by the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission at 675 IAC 14-4.4, titled the "2020 Indiana Residential Code," which incorporates by reference "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 ... save and except those revisions made in this rule" (675 IAC 14-4.4-1). The rule was filed as Final Rule LSA Document #19-330(F) on 2019-11-26 and took effect 30 days later on 2019-12-26, repealing the prior 675 IAC 14-4.3. It remains the edition in force: the commission's 2025 Readoption Review (LSA Document #24-566, Indiana Register 20250903-IR-675240566RAA) reaffirmed 675 IAC 14-4.4 rather than superseding it. That readoption has since been finalised rather than left pending: the Readopted Final Rule at Indiana Register 20251210-IR-675240566RFA, posted 2025-12-10 under the same LSA Document #24-566, readopts 675 IAC 14-4.4 effective January 1, 2026. IC 22-12-2.5-4(a) bars the commission from updating a building code to a new edition earlier than five years after that code's effective date. Carmel's own Building Safety Office states the same thing from the city side: residential projects must be designed and built to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, comprising the 2018 International Residential Code and the 2020 Indiana Amendments.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional -- a drip edge is required at the eaves and at the rake edges of shingle roofs everywhere in Indiana, Carmel included. The governing provision is Section R905.2.8.5 of the 2018 International Residential Code as incorporated by 675 IAC 14-4.4 (the 2020 Indiana Residential Code), and the Indiana State Building Commissioner reproduces it in full in the Indiana Department of Homeland Security guidance memo "ICE/WATER SHIELD & METAL DRIP EDGE IN CLASS 2 CONSTRUCTION with ASPHALT SHINGLES" (Craig E. Burgess AIA NCARB CPE CBI LEED AP, February 25, 2020), where it is printed as follows: "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." Two printing errors in the State's own memo are reproduced in that quotation exactly as the State prints them: it sets "rood deck" for "roof deck" in the fastening sentence, and it runs the cross-reference to Section R905.2.5 into the following sentence without a full stop. Indiana leaves R905.2.8.5 itself untouched. What Indiana does amend in the IRC roofing chapter is four sections and no more, and this record previously described that list wrongly. Read in full across its 245 numbered sections, 675 IAC 14-4.4 deletes the text of the last sentence of Section R902.4 without substitution (675 IAC 14-4.4-84); deletes the words "approved" from Section R905.2.6 (14-4.4-85); deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 (14-4.4-86); and deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 (14-4.4-87). Three of the four are word deletions, but the R902.4 amendment removes a whole sentence, so the roofing-chapter edits should not be called cosmetic. None of the four reaches the drip edge. One does change the parent flashing section this provision sits under, and the State prints the amended result: "Flashing for asphalt shingles shall comply with this section and the asphalt shingle manufacturer's installation instructions." Note the contrast with Minnesota, which deletes R905.2.8.5 outright: in Indiana the drip-edge mandate is live in its own right and does not depend on the shingle manufacturer's instructions. Carmel cannot waive it or add to it (IC 22-13-2-3(c)). About drip edge

Not required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and county-conditional. Carmel is in Hamilton County, and in Indiana's replacement TABLE R301.2(1) at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 the Hamilton County row carries "No" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". An ice barrier is therefore not categorically mandated by the table in Carmel, unlike the northern lake-effect counties -- the Allen County row, which governs Fort Wayne, carries "Yes" in the same column. CORRECTED 2026-09-05: this record previously presented the column heading and the cell value glued together with a colon as though that string were printed in the table. It is not; the row and the column are separate, and the reading is given above in the form the table actually takes. An ice barrier can still be required in Carmel by a second, independent route. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance memo "ICE/WATER SHIELD & METAL DRIP EDGE IN CLASS 2 CONSTRUCTION with ASPHALT SHINGLES" (Craig E. Burgess AIA NCARB CPE CBI LEED AP, February 25, 2020) explains that two layers of rule combine: "In short, 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 (per Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1)." Hamilton County falls in the second group, so on a Carmel job the question is decided by the written installation instructions for the particular shingle being installed: read them before bidding, because where they call for an ice barrier the code makes it mandatory. This record no longer asserts what shingle manufacturers generally require in central Indiana, which was stated without a source. Where an ice barrier is triggered, IRC Section R905.1.2 governs its extent, and Indiana does not amend it -- 675 IAC 14-4.4, read in full across its 245 numbered sections, amends four sections of the roofing chapter (R902.4, R905.2.6, R905.2.8 and R905.2.8.4) and R905.1.2 is not among them. The State prints the section as: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal (67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building. Exception: Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." About ice & water barrier

Not required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Neither 675 IAC 14-4.4 (the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, adopting the 2018 IRC) nor its Indiana amendments impose a UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-resistance requirement on roof coverings, and Carmel's own Codes & Ordinances page, which lists the city's adopted model codes, names no additional impact-resistance requirement. Carmel has no authority to add one by ordinance (IC 22-13-2-3(c)).

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET -- applies identically in Carmel as everywhere else in Hamilton County and, for wind speed, everywhere else in Indiana. 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 deletes IRC TABLE R301.2(1) (CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DESIGN CRITERIA) and replaces it with an Indiana table filled in county by county. Design wind speed is 115 MPH in all 92 Indiana counties, with no county deviating, so 115 MPH is the Carmel figure. The Hamilton County row of that table reads: 115 MPH design wind speed; Seismic Design Category A; 20 PSF ground snow load; 30-inch frost/foundation depth; 2 degrees F winter design temperature; Ice Shield Underlayment Required: No. Wind exposure category is not a state or city lever -- it is determined site-specifically under IRC Section R301.2.1.4.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and stated here as an absence rather than as borrowed code text. Carmel enforces the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code by reference "save and except those revisions made in this rule"; Carmel's own Residential Permits page says the same from the city side, that "All projects must be designed and built to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." The asphalt-shingle requirements sit at IRC Section R905.2 and its subsections, which the Indiana State Building Commissioner confirms "apply specifically to asphalt shingle roofs unless indicated otherwise." Read in full across its 245 numbered sections, 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends four sections of the roofing chapter and no others: it deletes the text of the last sentence of Section R902.4 without substitution (675 IAC 14-4.4-84); deletes the words "approved" from Section R905.2.6 (14-4.4-85); deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 (14-4.4-86); and deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 (14-4.4-87). The sheathing provision for asphalt shingles, IRC Section R905.2.1, is not among them, so it applies in Carmel as the International Code Council published it and Carmel has no power to add to it (IC 22-13-2-3). CORRECTED 2026-09-05: this record previously stated the substance of that base section and cited only the Indiana rule for it. The Indiana rule does not contain the section, and the ICC text is not published in a form this record has read, so the wording is no longer restated here. Read Section R905.2.1 of the 2018 IRC as incorporated by 675 IAC 14-4.4, or ask Carmel Building and Code Services at 317-571-2444. Two deck-related requirements ARE published first-hand by the State and do apply: the Indiana Department of Homeland Security guidance memo of February 25, 2020 prints IRC Section R903.1 as "Roof decks shall be covered with approved roof coverings secured to the building or structure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Roof assemblies shall be designed and installed in accordance with this code and the approved manufacturer's installation instructions such that the roof assembly shall serve to protect the building or structure," and IRC Section R905.1 as "Roof coverings shall be applied in accordance with the applicable provisions of this section and the manufacturer's installation instructions." So on a Carmel re-roof the shingle manufacturer's written instructions for deck preparation and fastening are themselves code, enforceable by the city's inspectors.

7.00% in Carmel -- the Indiana state sales and use tax rate, with no county or municipal add-on. Indiana authorises no local-option general sales tax, so neither Hamilton County nor the City of Carmel levies anything on top of the state rate, and 7.00% is the full rate a roofing contractor pays on materials purchased in Carmel.