City of Dickinson, North Dakota - Department of Building Inspection

City of Dickinson, North Dakota

city

Dickinson, ND

Required

Permits are administered by the Dickinson Department of Building Inspection, which the City created by ordinance rather than by administrative practice. City Code Section 8-12 provides: "The Department of Building Inspection is hereby created and the executive official in charge thereof shall be known as the Director of Inspections", and Section 8-13 has the Director appointed by the Board of City Commissioners from a list certified by the Civil Service Commission. FEES ARE IN THE CODE, NOT ONLY IN A SCHEDULE. Section 8-14 prices permits on valuation, at $15.00 for a valuation of $1.00 to $1,000.00 and $15.00 for the first $1,000.00 plus $3.00 for each additional $1,000.00 or fraction thereof above that, and adds that "Plan reviews will be a minimum of $20.00." THREE LOCAL RULES A ROOFER SHOULD PRICE IN. First, gutters are mandatory and dimensioned: Section 8-196 requires that "All residential buildings within the City must have gutters, downspouts and splash blocks installed with a minimum of a two-foot extension from any wall of the structure." Second, the site has to shed water away from the house: Section 8-197 sets "a minimum slope of three-eighths inch to one inch per foot from the sides of the house towards the lot lines" and the same slope for at least fifteen feet from the house to the back yard lot line. Third, if you are working on a building that has been moved into or within the City, expect the roof to be on the improvement list: Section 8-225 lets the Building Inspector require improvements "including, but not limited to, painting of exterior; new windows and/or doors; re-shingling; new roof; site work to control drainage; setbacks; and such other improvements as determined by the Building Inspector", and all mandated work must be completed within one year of placement on the new foundation. Enforcement is by misdemeanour prosecution under Section 8-15, with each day a violation continues treated as a separate offense.

Dickinson adopts the North Dakota State Building Code by a FLOATING reference, not by a named edition, and that is the single most useful fact about the code in force here. WHAT THE CITY CODE SAYS. Dickinson City Code Section 8-11 reads: "The erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, demolition, conversion, occupancy, equipment, uses, height, area and maintenance of buildings or structures in the City shall meet with the provisions of the rules and regulations of the State Building Code as set forth in N.D.C.C. Section 54-21.3, and any future updates and amendments to that Code, copies of which are on file with the City Administrator and are hereby made a part of this chapter by reference; with the exception of the sections hereinafter set forth affecting local conditions in the City, which are amended for use and application in the City, and the City hereby adopts said Code, with the following additions, deletions and amendments". Because the adoption expressly reaches future updates, a state edition change carries into Dickinson without a further City ordinance. WHAT THAT MEANS TODAY. The 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, published by the Department of Commerce, states that "Effective January 1, 2026, the North Dakota State Building Code consists of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code, and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)." The same book states "NO APPENDICES ARE ADOPTED" and adds that "the State Building Code does not include the International Property Maintenance Code, or the International Fire Code. These codes, to be in effect, must be adopted separately by each city, county, or township." THE CITY'S OWN AMENDMENTS ARE SHORT AND THEY ARE ALL IN SECTION 8-11. To the International Building Code, four fill-in-the-blank inserts naming the City at Sections 101.1 and 1612.3, a flood reference date of June 1, 1978 at Section 1612.3, and 1969 at Section 3409.2. To the International Mechanical Code, six inserts covering the jurisdiction name, the fee schedule, two zero percent plan review figures and the penalty amounts. To the International Residential Code, exactly two: the jurisdiction name at Section R101.1, and the City's own filled-in Table R301.2(1) of climatic and geographical design criteria. There is no other local amendment to either code in the chapter. SEPARATELY ADOPTED CODES. Dickinson adopts the International Property Maintenance Code at Section 8-195 "including all supplements, additions and amendments thereto", the National Electrical Code, 2017 Edition at Section 8-29, and the North Dakota State Plumbing Code (2018 Edition) at Section 8-95. The codified text used here is current through Ordinance No. 1860, enacted 19 May 2026. STATE FRAMEWORK, FOR CONTEXT. North Dakota has no building code of general application. Under NDCC 54-21.3-03(6) a city that elects to administer and enforce a building code "shall adopt and enforce the state building code", but "the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs". Dickinson is named as a code enforcing city on the North Dakota Department of Commerce's directory of code enforcing jurisdictions.

Required — Dickinson adopts the International Residential Code, and the two instruments that could change its roof-assemblies chapter were both read in full and neither does. The City's own amendments to the residential code, at City Code Section 8-11, are exactly two items, the jurisdiction name and its filled-in Table R301.2(1), and no section of the roof-assemblies chapter is amended anywhere in Chapter 8. The North Dakota amendment set for the 2024 International Residential Code amends thirty sections, none of them in that chapter either, and Dickinson's adoption reaches that state set by its own terms. So the base residential code drip-edge requirement for asphalt-shingle roof coverings applies in Dickinson unmodified, with no local softening and no local addition. Take the installation extent and the fastener spacing from the edition of the residential code the Department of Building Inspection confirms is in force for your permit. Dickinson has a second, purely local rule at the eave that is easy to miss and is not part of the model code at all. City Code Section 8-196 provides: "All residential buildings within the City must have gutters, downspouts and splash blocks installed with a minimum of a two-foot extension from any wall of the structure." A reroof that removes gutters has to put them back to that standard. About drip edge

Required — Ice barrier underlayment is required in Dickinson, and the requirement is the City's own answer rather than a state default or an assumption about the climate. Dickinson fills in Table R301.2(1) of the International Residential Code itself, inside City Code Section 8-11, and its entry in the column for ice barrier underlayment is "Yes". WHY THAT COLUMN IS THE OPERATIVE ONE. The City's table carries the code's own footnote for that column, printed as footnote h: "In accordance with Sections R905.2.7.1, R905.4.3.1, R905.5.3.1, R905.6.3.1, R905.7.3.1 and R905.8.3.1, where there has been a history of local damage from the effects of ice damming, the jurisdiction shall fill in this part of the table with 'Yes.' Otherwise, the jurisdiction shall fill in this part of the table with 'No.'" Dickinson has answered "Yes", which switches on the ice barrier provisions in the residential code's roof-assemblies chapter for asphalt shingles and for the other covering types those sections name. WHAT IS NOT SETTLED HERE. The City states the trigger, not the installation detail. How far up the slope the barrier must run, and what materials satisfy it, come from the adopted edition of the residential code rather than from any Dickinson amendment, because the City has made no amendment to that chapter. The City's related design figures are a winter design temperature of minus 10 degrees, a ground snow load of 30 and a severe weathering classification. Confirm the required extent with the Department of Building Inspection when the permit is pulled. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Dickinson, at either level of government, and that is established by reading both instruments in full rather than by failing to find one. CITY LEVEL. Dickinson City Code Chapter 8, Buildings and Building Regulations, is the instrument that adopts and amends the building codes here, and all eight of its articles were read in full, Sections 8-1 through 8-247, current through Ordinance No. 1860 enacted 19 May 2026. It contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 provision. The City's whole amendment list to the International Residential Code is two items, the jurisdiction name at Section R101.1 and its own filled-in Table R301.2(1), and neither is an impact provision. No section of the residential code's roof-assemblies chapter is amended anywhere in the chapter. STATE LEVEL. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were also read in full, thirty numbered section amendments, and none addresses roofing or impact rating. Since Dickinson adopts the State Building Code together with its future amendments, that state amendment set is the operative one here. AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. Impact resistance under UL 2218 is a hail rating and is not the same thing as a fire classification or a wind rating, which are graded under different standards entirely. An impact-rated shingle may still be worth buying in a hail-prone market, and an insurer may discount for one, but nothing in Dickinson or North Dakota law requires it.

WHAT DICKINSON SETS ITSELF, AND WHAT IT LEAVES TO THE STATE CODE. Dickinson does not write its own list of work exempt from permit. Its Chapter 8 was read in full and it amends neither the residential nor the commercial permit-exemption section, so the exemption lists that apply here are the ones in the State Building Code the City adopts, as amended by the state. THERE IS NO DOLLAR THRESHOLD BELOW WHICH THE CITY CHARGES NOTHING. City Code Section 8-14 sets permit fees by valuation and its first bracket starts at one dollar: a valuation of $1.00 to $1,000.00 carries a $15.00 permit fee, and a valuation in excess of $1,000.00 carries $15.00 for the first $1,000.00 plus $3.00 for each additional $1,000.00 or fraction thereof. Subsection (b) adds: "Plan reviews will be a minimum of $20.00." A fee bracket is not the same thing as a permit threshold, but the fee schedule does show that the City prices permits from the first dollar of valuation rather than exempting small jobs by value. THE ONE THING THAT IS GENUINELY UNSETTLED, AND WHY. The 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book amends the permit-exemption section twice, in two different blocks, and the two say different things about roofing. In the block the book heads "2024 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE" it revises "Section R105.2 Work Exempt from Permit" and lists, among the exempt items, "14. Reroofing". In the block it heads "2024 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE" it adds to "Section 105.2 Work Exempt from Permit" only "2. Fences not over 8.5 feet high. 7. Swimming pools. 10. Decks not exceeding 120 square feet in area, that are not more than 7 inches above grade at any point, are not attached to a dwelling and do not serve the exit door required by Section R318.4." So the reroofing exemption appears in the block headed with the commercial code while the residential block's own added exemptions do not mention roofing. This record reports both as printed and does not decide which governs a house in Dickinson. ASK THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING INSPECTION WHETHER A RESIDENTIAL REROOF REQUIRES A PERMIT BEFORE PRICING THE JOB, and do not assume from either list. WHAT IS NOT IN DOUBT is that work done in violation of the code is punishable: City Code Section 8-15 makes a violation "a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand, five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment, not exceeding thirty days, or both such fine and imprisonment", with each day a separate offense. TWO STATE-LEVEL CARVE-OUTS THAT REACH ROOF WORK. NDCC 54-21.3-04 exempts from the state building code chapter "Buildings which are neither heated nor cooled" and "Any building used for agricultural purposes, unless a place of human habitation or for use by the public". Those are exemptions from the state chapter, not from the City's own ordinance, so an unheated shop or a farm building still needs to be checked against Dickinson's own requirements rather than assumed exempt.

Dickinson fills in the residential code's climatic and geographical design criteria table itself, so the numbers below are the City's own and not a state default. They are printed as Table R301.2(1) inside Dickinson City Code Section 8-11, under the heading "To the International Residential Code". Reading the City's table across its twelve columns, the values are as follows. Ground snow load 30. Wind design speed 115 mph. Topographic effects No. Seismic design category A. Weathering Severe. Frost depth line 4 feet 0 inches. Termite None to slight. Winter design temperature minus 10 degrees. Ice barrier underlayment required Yes. Flood hazards, by amendment to local zoning ordinance. Air freezing index 2,800. The mean annual temperature column is left blank in the City's table, so that figure has to come from the building official rather than from the code. ON THE WIND FIGURE, MIND THE BASIS. The City's table heads the column simply "Wind Design" and "Speed (mph)" and does not name a basis on the face of the row. Its own footnote d says: "The jurisdiction shall fill in this part of the table with the wind speed from the basic wind speed map [Figure R301.2(4)]. Wind exposure category shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with Section R301.2.1.4." An ultimate design wind speed and a nominal or fastest mile wind speed are different quantities and are not interchangeable, so do not convert this 115 mph figure into another basis. Confirm with the Department of Building Inspection which basis the figure is stated on and which exposure category applies to the site before designing a fastening schedule to it. THE OTHER NUMBERS MATTER TOO ON A REROOF. A ground snow load of 30 and a severe weathering classification are what the deck and the framing beneath it have to carry, and the winter design temperature of minus 10 degrees is the reason the City answers the ice barrier column the way it does.

Dickinson imposes no layer rule of its own, so the rule is whatever the adopted code says. Dickinson City Code Chapter 8 was read in full, all eight articles, Sections 8-1 through 8-247, current through Ordinance No. 1860 enacted 19 May 2026, and it contains no roof-covering, shingle, recover or re-roofing provision and no amendment to any section of the residential code's roof-assemblies chapter. The City's whole amendment list to that code is two items, the jurisdiction name and its own filled-in Table R301.2(1). The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code were read in full, thirty numbered section amendments, and none reaches the roof-assemblies chapter either. So the base International Residential Code provisions on installing a new roof covering over an existing one apply in Dickinson unmodified, with no local cap added and none removed. That base text was not opened for this record, so no layer count is stated here and none should be inferred. What Dickinson does settle, unusually cleanly for North Dakota, is WHICH edition those provisions come from. Because City Code Section 8-11 adopts the State Building Code "and any future updates and amendments to that Code", the state's move to the 2024 codes on 1 January 2026 governs here without a further City ordinance. Confirm the permitted number of layers with the Department of Building Inspection before bidding an overlay, and note that the City requires ice barrier underlayment, which constrains what can be left in place at the eave.

No Dickinson roof-sheathing rule exists, and that is established by reading the City's own amendment list rather than by failing to find one. Dickinson City Code Chapter 8 was read in full, all eight articles, Sections 8-1 through 8-247, current through Ordinance No. 1860 enacted 19 May 2026, and it contains no roof sheathing or decking provision and no amendment to the residential code's roof and ceiling construction chapter. The City's entire amendment list to the residential code is the jurisdiction name at Section R101.1 and its own filled-in Table R301.2(1). The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code were also read in full, thirty numbered section amendments, and none reaches roof or ceiling construction. So the base residential code roof sheathing and decking provisions apply in Dickinson unmodified, and there is no local span table, thickness minimum or fastener schedule to reconcile them against. WHAT TO CARRY INSTEAD ARE THE CITY'S OWN LOADING FIGURES, since those are what the deck and the framing beneath it have to hold. From Dickinson's Table R301.2(1): a ground snow load of 30, a design wind speed of 115 mph, seismic design category A, and a severe weathering classification. Where a tear-off exposes deteriorated sheathing, the replacement is sized against the adopted code and those loadings, and the Director of Inspections is the official who decides whether what is exposed may stay.

6.50% on materials in Dickinson - North Dakota state sales and use tax of 5%, plus the City of Dickinson's 1.5% local sales, use and gross receipts tax. THERE IS NO COUNTY COMPONENT. Stark County does not appear in the county table of the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner's Local Taxes by Location Guideline, which lists only eight North Dakota counties as imposing a local tax, and the Dickinson city row carries none of the shading or bracketed county name the guideline uses to mark a city that also owes county tax. The guideline, rates effective 1 July 2026, shows the City's rate history as 1% from 7-1-90 and 0.5% from 1-1-02, giving the current 1.5%, with a maximum tax refund cap of $100 per sale from 7-1-17, no permit holder compensation, and nothing listed as not subject to the local tax. WHO PAYS IT ON A ROOF. North Dakota treats a roofing contractor as the final consumer of the materials installed into real property: "A contractor or subcontractor entering any contract, except for a labor only contract, is regarded as the final user or consumer of all tangible personal property installed into real property." So the contractor pays the tax on its material purchases and does not charge the homeowner sales tax on an install-plus-materials reroof; selling materials without installing them is a taxable retail sale instead. TWO DICKINSON SPECIFICS. The City IS one of the sixty jurisdictions whose local tax ordinance carries the limited exemption for "materials that are purchased within the jurisdiction, but later installed outside of the jurisdiction where the sale took place", so a contractor who buys in Dickinson on a certificate of exemption and installs outside the City pays the local use tax where the goods are installed rather than where they were bought, which is worth knowing on jobs out in Stark County where no county tax applies at all. And do not read the $100 maximum tax as a cap on a roof: the Tax Commissioner states that "the maximum tax (refund cap) is calculated on each material purchase a contractor makes to fulfill a construction contract, not on purchase orders or the entire construction contract itself", and that "most construction activity which is subject to local sales or use tax will include more than the specified maximum tax in total local tax costs."