City of Elkhart, Indiana - Permit Center / Building Division

City of Elkhart, Indiana

city

229 S. 2nd Street, Elkhart, IN 46516

Required

Not required

One counter for everything. Applications go in at the Permit Center, 229 S. 2nd Street, Elkhart, IN 46516, open Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. excluding City holidays, on (574) 296-9331, or online through the City permitting portal. Cash, check and credit cards are accepted. A residential reroof is filed on the plain Building Permit Application - there is no separate roofing form and no roofing checklist among the City's permit-type instructions - under the "Class of Work" heading as an Alteration/Repair, giving the total square feet of the work and the estimated value. The application carries the notice that "SEPARATE PERMITS ARE REQUIRED FOR ELECTRICAL, PLUMBING, HEATING, VENTILATING OR AIR CONDITIONING. THESE PERMITS MUST BE SECURED BY THE LICENSED CONTRACTOR." TIMING. The Permit Center publishes its own review targets: simple permits same day to three business days, residential permits requiring plan review five to ten business days, and commercial "Varies depending on project scope", so an ordinary reroof is a same-week permit. A reroof does not normally need a zoning clearance, which most other exterior work in Elkhart does. VALIDITY, stated two ways by the City. The FAQ says "Building permits and all trade permits expire one year from the date they are issued. However, if work has been continuously progressing on the project, permit holders may continue working for up to an additional six months after the permit expiration date." The application form states the same limit in the older wording: "THIS PERMIT BECOMES NULL AND VOID IF WORK OR CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZED IS NOT COMMENCED WITHIN 365 DAYS, OR IF CONSTRUCTION OR WORK IS SUSPENDED OR ABANDONED FOR A PERIOD OF 180 DAYS AT ANY TIME AFTER WORK IS COMMENCED." A lost permit is replaced for $10.00. INSPECTIONS are called in to the Building Inspector or requested through the permitting portal by the general contractor or the homeowner, and the roofing stage is the "Ice & Water Shield/TPO/Metal Roof Inspection". STARTING WITHOUT ONE is expensive and can stop the job: the late permit fee is double the fee "but never less than $200.00", and the City warns that starting work without a required permit may result in stop-work orders, additional fees or penalties, and required inspections before work can continue. A stop work order is issued when work violates applicable codes or ordinances, and "All work must cease immediately and may not resume until authorization is given by the Building Commissioner or their designee." Commercial roofing is a different track: plans for a Class 1 (commercial) structure may have to be filed with the State for a Construction Design Release before the City will issue anything.

STATE-SET. Indiana leaves a city nothing to adopt on the residential side. The operative rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, whose own 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 formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in the article - there is no later Indiana residential code. The City describes its own review the same way: the Building Division states that "Permit applications and plans must be submitted to Plan Review, where they will be reviewed for completeness and conformance to Indiana Building Codes, prior to approval," and the Permit Center adds that permits "ensure that construction and improvements meet the standards established by the State of Indiana and the City of Elkhart." Elkhart could not be on a different edition even if it wanted to be: 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. The Indiana State Building Commissioner puts the point bluntly for roofing work: "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide. Regardless of any established local enforcement policies or practices to the contrary, or whether a local building authority even exists in any particular jurisdiction or location in the state, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code governs all Class 2 residential construction, and its requirements, by law, must be followed." One vocabulary warning, because it looks like something it is not: "Class 2" in Indiana is a STRUCTURE class - broadly, one and two family dwellings - and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. Elkhart 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 & 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. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN ELKHART COUNTY. This is a county-by-county answer in Indiana and it is the field most often got wrong here by carrying over an answer from a job further south. The state 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 20 is Elkhart, and it carries "Yes" 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 carry "No", so an answer brought up from Indianapolis or Carmel would be wrong in Elkhart. The rest of the Elkhart County row is the northern Indiana set: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, frost depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree F, weathering Severe. Neighbouring St. Joseph County reads "Yes" as well, so the Elkhart to South Bend corridor is consistent on this point. Elkhart has no power to change it: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. Two practical additions. The Indiana State Building Commissioner points out that even in a "No" county the barrier can still be mandatory because Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing materials to be installed to the manufacturer's instructions - "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)" - so in Elkhart both routes point the same way. And Elkhart inspects it: the City's list of required building inspections includes an "Ice & Water Shield/TPO/Metal Roof Inspection", so leave it exposed until that call is made. About ice & water barrier

Required — YES, AND THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT SCHEDULING FACT ABOUT ROOFING IN ELKHART. Most Indiana cities inspect a roof only at framing and at final. Elkhart publishes a document headed "List of Required Inspections", and among the eight items under "Building Inspections" - Footer, Pre Foundation Wall, Foundation Damproofing, Pre Floor Pour, Framing, Fire Wall, Final - it names "Ice & Water Shield/TPO/Metal Roof Inspection." That is an in-progress roofing stage: the ice and water shield has to be visible when the inspector comes, so it cannot be shingled over before the call is made. Plan the tear-off around it. The same document says who has to make the call for building inspections: "Must be called in to the Building Inspector or requested through the Permitting Portal by the General Contractor or Homeowner" - unlike the electrical, mechanical and plumbing lists, which are called in by the licensed contractor. Requests go to the Building Inspector or through the City permitting portal; the Permit Center is on (574) 296-9331. Because Elkhart County is one of the counties whose row in the state climatic table requires an ice barrier, this stage has real content on an ordinary Elkhart reroof rather than being a formality. A failed re-visit is billable: the fee schedule sets re-inspection fees at $30.00 for the first, $60.00 for the second and $80.00 for each one after.

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Elkhart. 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: it deletes the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel systems, deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.6 on asphalt shingle attachment, deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 on flashing, and deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. Elkhart could not add one on top: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting 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 those rules precedence over any local ordinance on the same subject. Nothing on the City's permitting, inspection or fee documents specifies a roof covering at all. Two things that get mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: the phrase "Class 2 construction", which appears throughout the State Building Commissioner's roofing guidance and is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two family dwellings 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.

ONE SQUARE, AND THE REPLACEMENT SHINGLES HAVE TO MATCH. The City publishes a handout headed "LIST OF COMMON PROJECTS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A BUILDING PERMIT:", and its roofing item is "Installing/Replacing one (1) square of shingles (1 sq. of shingles = 100 sq.ft.) and the shingles must match the existing shingles," followed immediately by "However, installing/replacing shingles over 100 sq.ft. will require a permit." The Permit Center FAQ states the same line from the other direction, listing among the projects that typically require a permit "Roof replacement (installation of shingles covering more than 100 square feet)." So a patch of one square or less in matching shingles is exempt; a second square, or a square in a shingle that does not match, is not. Siding is drawn at the same 100 square feet, and installing or replacing gutters or downspouts is exempt outright. A reroof does not normally need a zoning clearance on top of the building permit - the FAQ says that "some simpler projects" including roof replacement and siding "typically only require a building permit and may not require a zoning review" - which is worth knowing, because most other exterior work in Elkhart does need one. FEES. The building permit fee schedule sets a minimum permit fee of $40.00, with all permit fees "to be rounded UP to the nearest dollar," and prices a reroof under "Alterations, Remodeling, & Repairs" at "$1 per $1,000 of the estimated valuation of the project" - so on job value alone a typical reroof lands at the $40.00 minimum. Pulling the permit late is expensive: the "Late Permit Fee" is "Double the amount specified, but never less than $200.00." Re-inspections run $30.00 for the first, $60.00 for the second and $80.00 for each one after that.

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 Elkhart County row gives 115 in the column the table heads "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 A, ground snow 30 psf, a 36 inch frost depth, a winter design temperature of 1 degree F and Severe weathering. Elkhart cannot raise or lower any of it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. Wind exposure category is still a site-by-site determination made under the residential code rather than a figure the city or state sets, and Indiana amends the exposure-category rule at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4 for sites in a subdivision or master-planned community where adjacent structures are not built yet.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE, AND NONE IS POSSIBLE IN INDIANA. Elkhart's residential code is the state's: 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 its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are word deletions in the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections and in the rooftop photovoltaic section. It makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear anywhere in the Indiana rule. So the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here exactly as published, and neither the state nor the City has changed it. Elkhart could not change it: 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. The number of layers a particular roof may carry therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself, and a roofer planning an overlay rather than a tear-off should settle the existing layer count with the Building Inspector against that code before quoting. Practical note either way: an overlay in Elkhart still needs the building permit once it passes 100 square feet, and the City's "Ice & Water Shield/TPO/Metal Roof Inspection" stage still has to be called in.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in Elkhart or Elkhart County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - 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 Elkhart County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. WHO PAYS IT 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 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.