City of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin - Community Development Department, Inspection Division

City of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

city

160 South Macy Street, Fond du Lac, WI 54935

Required

Required

Fond du Lac issues building, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection work on one permit application form, which the Inspection Division publishes as a fillable PDF and accepts by email to [email protected], by mail, or in person at the Inspections office on the first floor of the City-County Government building at 160 South Macy Street. The form asks for the Dwelling Contractor number and the Dwelling Qualifier number with their expiry dates, states that all contractors shall possess an appropriate contractor credential issued by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, and requires that contractors only subcontract with contractors that hold appropriate contractor credentials. Page two carries the owner cautionary statement Wisconsin requires under state law about hiring a contractor who is not bonded or insured. The City is municipality number 20-226 for state permit purposes and charges the Wisconsin uniform building permit seal at cost plus $2 on one- and two-family dwellings. The applicant who signs the form is responsible for calling and scheduling all inspections to close the permit out. A permit expires if work is not commenced within six calendar months of issue or within twelve months of the start date, and a renewal costs half the original fee subject to the minimum. Reach the Building Inspection Division on (920) 322-3570.

One- and two-family dwellings in Fond du Lac are built to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, chs. SPS 320 through 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, which is Wisconsin's own text rather than an adoption of the International Residential Code - which is why its roofing rules differ from the IRC's. Do not look for an IRC edition year here; there is not one. The City has adopted that code by ordinance: Fond du Lac municipal code section 255-2A(1)(a) provides that SPS 320 (Administration and Enforcement), SPS 321 (Construction Standards), SPS 322 (Energy Conservation), SPS 323 (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), SPS 324 (Electrical Standards), SPS 325 (Plumbing), SPS 361 to 365 (Commercial Building Code), SPS 366 (Existing Buildings) and SPS 375 to 379 (Buildings Constructed Prior to 1914) are hereby adopted and incorporated into this article by reference. Section 255-2A(1)(b) makes that a floating adoption rather than a frozen one: any future amendments, revisions, renumberings, or modifications of the Wisconsin Administrative Code incorporated herein are intended to be made part of this article in order to secure uniform statewide regulation of these matters. So the edition in force in Fond du Lac is whatever the state has in force at the time of the work. The adopting subsection was amended by Ordinance No. 2946 on 23 September 1998 and Ordinance No. 3036 on 14 March 2001, and the municipal code as published includes legislation through 25 March 2026. A municipality that exercises jurisdiction adopts the state code in its entirety and may not add requirements within its scope without the Department of Safety and Professional Services' approval. Commercial buildings run on a different chapter set, and Fond du Lac has been delegated to perform commercial plan review only within stated size limits - new buildings under 50,000 cubic feet, additions leaving a total under 50,000 cubic feet, additions of no more than 2,500 square feet with one floor level, an 18 foot maximum roof span and a 12 foot maximum exterior wall height, and alterations of less than 10,000 cubic feet - with all other plans going to the State of Wisconsin.

Required — Required on shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of the dwelling or an attached garage and that have a slope of 4:12 or less. The protection must be sheet metal or a product labeled as meeting the requirements of ASTM D1970, and it shall extend at least 30 inches up the roof slope from the roof edge and at least 12 inches up the roof slope beyond the inner face of the exterior wall. Wisconsin's trigger is the roof slope, not the climate zone, so this is materially narrower than the International Residential Code's ice-barrier rule: a steeper Fond du Lac roof is not caught by it, even though the city gets the ice-dam winters that make one worthwhile. Wisconsin also measures the extent differently from the IRC, so do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Fond du Lac job. The shingle manufacturer's own installation instructions may still require an ice barrier on a steeper roof, and the state code makes those instructions binding for asphalt shingles. Fond du Lac has not added a local ice-barrier requirement of its own: its building code carries no ice or ice-barrier provision anywhere in the building article. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but does not reach every house. It does not apply to a one- or two-family dwelling whose construction began before June 1, 1980, or to additions or alterations to one, unless the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose - ask the building inspector before assuming it governs an older home. The code also states that it does not apply to repairs or maintenance, and it defines a repair to include replacing existing equipment with the equivalent, while a separate section regulates reroofing by name. Wisconsin has not resolved which of those two provisions governs a like-for-like tear-off, so confirm with the authority issuing the permit. In Fond du Lac the first of those two branches is answered by the City's own building code rather than left open. Chapter 255, section 255-2A(1)(a) of the Fond du Lac municipal code adopts chs. SPS 320 through 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code and incorporates them into the City's building article by reference, and section 255-2C then provides that every alteration or repair to any part of any existing building shall be made to conform to the requirements of that article for new buildings, except if technically infeasible. So the City has extended these state construction standards to work on existing buildings, including dwellings older than June 1, 1980. The technically-infeasible allowance is the Building Inspector's call on the particular house, so on an older Fond du Lac home confirm the point with the Inspection Division before pricing the work. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Fond du Lac publishes its full inspection roster under the heading Required Inspections for work being completed, and it contains no roof-deck, roof-sheathing, tear-off or other mid-roof stage. The listed stages are the water and sewer lateral inspection; building and deck footings; building foundation; building drain tile; under basement floor plumbing; under basement floor vapor barrier; building electric service; the building rough inspections for framing, electrical, HVAC and plumbing; insulation; shower and tub safing on site-built showers and tubs; and the final inspections for occupancy covering framing, electrical, HVAC, insulation, plumbing, engineering final grade and fire protection where applicable. A reroof pulled under a Fond du Lac building permit is therefore inspected at the end rather than at an interim point during the work. The applicant who signed the permit is the one responsible for calling the inspection in.

There is no dollar figure and no square-footage figure in Fond du Lac; the test is what the work does to the building. The City's Inspection Division states plainly that a permit is required for but not limited to new buildings, additions, interior and exterior alterations, siding, roofing, garages, decks, windows, swimming pools, sheds, patios, fences, electrical work, water heater replacements, furnace replacements, plumbing work, signs and all other improvement and/or repairs - roofing is named on the list. The municipal code says the same thing in section 255-4A(1), which requires a building permit from the Building Inspector before anyone may improve, alter, convert, repair or extend any building. The only exemption is section 255-4A(2): this article shall not be construed to require a permit for any repairs or minor alterations which do not change the occupancy, area, structural strength, fire protection, exits, lights or ventilation of a building. On top of that the Division publishes an administrative waiver - permits for minor alterations or maintenance repairs may be waived by the City Building Inspector - and asks that you call (920) 322-3570 to verify whether a permit is needed. Treat a reroof as permitted work and call before assuming a patch is not. Fees run off job cost rather than roof area: the 2026 adopted fee schedule prices residential alterations from $39 for a job of $1,000 or less up to $97 plus $4.00 per each $1,000 over $10,000, every permit carries a $30 minimum, and starting work without a permit doubles the fee for a first offence and triples it for a repeat within a year.

State-set, and expressed as a prescriptive pressure rather than an IRC-style design wind speed in miles per hour. Section SPS 321.02(1)(c) of the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code requires that dwellings be designed and constructed to withstand either a horizontal and uplift pressure of 20 pounds per square foot acting over the surface area, or the wind loads determined in accordance with ASCE 7-05, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures; the code's own note records that ASCE 7-05 allows for substantial reduction from 20 psf as applied to the surface area. Fastening is governed by SPS 321.02(3)(h), under which all building components shall be fastened to withstand the dead load, live load, snow load, and wind load, using the minimum fastener schedule at Table 321.02-2, with other fastening methods allowed if engineered. Snow load is the one input that varies geographically: SPS 321.02(1)(b)2. provides that roofs shall be designed and constructed to support the minimum snow loads listed on the zone map, which is Figure 321.02, so the Fond du Lac design snow load is read off that figure rather than stated as a single statewide number. Because Wisconsin works in pounds per square foot and a zone map, there is no ultimate design wind speed in miles per hour for Fond du Lac - do not convert the 20 psf figure into an mph value. The City's building article adds no wind or uplift provision of its own.

Fond du Lac is one of the few Wisconsin cities that writes its own reroofing rule as well as enforcing the state one, so read both. The City's own building code, section 255-9H, provides: a new roof covering may be applied on top of an existing roof covering; not more than two layers of roof covering shall be allowed; and where additional layers of roof materials are requested, calculations shall be submitted to the Building Inspector to demonstrate that the additional layer(s) will not exceed the design load of the roof framing. The Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, which the City has also adopted, bars an overlay in three situations rather than counting layers alone: where the existing roof or roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing; where the existing roof is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering. Two of those bar a recover over even a single existing layer, so the practical answer is not a flat number: at most two total applications, less than that on a wet or deteriorated deck or over any of the listed materials, and more than two only on the design-load calculations the City's own subsection contemplates. Neither instrument restricts a complete tear-off to the deck. This record reports both the City subsection and the state rule as published and does not decide which prevails where they differ; ask the Inspection Division before pricing a third layer. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but does not reach every house. It does not apply to a one- or two-family dwelling whose construction began before June 1, 1980, or to additions or alterations to one, unless the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose - ask the building inspector before assuming it governs an older home. The code also states that it does not apply to repairs or maintenance, and it defines a repair to include replacing existing equipment with the equivalent, while a separate section regulates reroofing by name. Wisconsin has not resolved which of those two provisions governs a like-for-like tear-off, so confirm with the authority issuing the permit. In Fond du Lac the first of those two branches is answered by the City's own building code rather than left open. Chapter 255, section 255-2A(1)(a) of the Fond du Lac municipal code adopts chs. SPS 320 through 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code and incorporates them into the City's building article by reference, and section 255-2C then provides that every alteration or repair to any part of any existing building shall be made to conform to the requirements of that article for new buildings, except if technically infeasible. So the City has extended these state construction standards to work on existing buildings, including dwellings older than June 1, 1980. The technically-infeasible allowance is the Building Inspector's call on the particular house, so on an older Fond du Lac home confirm the point with the Inspection Division before pricing the work.

State-set, through the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code the City has adopted. Section SPS 321.27(9) (Roof sheathing, boards and planking) provides that the allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel. For roof boards: where the rafter spacing is 24 inches on center or less, roof boards may be used that have a minimum thickness of 5/8-inch for solid sheathing and 3/4-inch for spaced sheathing; where the rafter spacing is greater than 24 inches on center, roof boards shall be tongue and groove, at least 1.5 inches thick. For roof planks used as an alternative: they shall be tongue and groove or splined and at least 2 inches, nominal, in thickness; planks shall terminate over beams unless the joints are end matched; the planks shall be laid so that no continuous line of joints will occur except at points of support; and planks shall be nailed or fastened to each beam. Note that Wisconsin states this as a grade-stamp and board-thickness rule keyed to rafter spacing, not as the International Residential Code's solidly-sheathed-deck formulation, so do not carry an IRC sheathing answer onto a Fond du Lac job.

5.5% on materials in Fond du Lac - the Wisconsin state sales and use tax of 5.0% plus Fond du Lac County's 0.5% county sales and use tax, which has been in effect since April 2010. The City of Fond du Lac imposes no municipal sales tax; Milwaukee is the only Wisconsin city that levies one. There is no premier resort area tax here, and the baseball stadium district tax ended in March 2020. Wisconsin treats a roof as real property - the Department of Revenue's own contractor chart lists roofs as real property for residential and commercial installation and repair alike - so a roofing contractor is the consumer of the materials it installs. In practice that means the contractor pays the 5.5% when buying shingles, underlayment and flashing, and does not charge the customer sales tax on the reroofing contract, for labour or for materials. The exception runs the other way: selling lumber, roofing materials or other tangible personal property without installation is a retail sale and is taxable. So the county rate still matters to a Fond du Lac roofer as a cost of goods even though it never appears as a line on the homeowner's invoice. The City of Fond du Lac lies in Fond du Lac County: its own floodplain zoning chapter adopts the Flood Insurance Study for Fond du Lac County and applies Fond du Lac County floodplain provisions to annexed areas, and the City is state municipality number 20-226, in which 20 is the Department of Revenue's county code for Fond du Lac County.