City of Gallup, New Mexico - Planning & Development Department

City of Gallup, New Mexico

city

110 West Aztec Avenue, Gallup, NM 87301

Required

Required

The Planning & Development Department is on the 2nd floor at 110 West Aztec Avenue, Gallup, NM 87301; mail to Post Office Box 1270, Gallup, NM 87305. Director C.B. Strain; Planning Manager Nikki Lee. Department phone (505) 863-1240, fax (505) 722-5131; City main line 505-863-1220, fax 505-722-5134. Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain time. Gallup publishes a dedicated roofing permit application rather than folding roof work into the general building permit - there is a Contractor's Roofing Permit Application and a Homeowner's Roofing Permit Application, each asking for the roofing type (tear-off or over-lay), material, roof type, roof slope, number of roof squares, building use, site address and legal description, owner and contractor details, and project valuation. Filing is on paper: "You may drop off your completed permit application at our office. You may also submit your completed permit application via USPS or overnight carrier (FEDEX or UPS)... All permit applications must be completed and accompanied by all required document prior to review commencing." The application itself requires "An original signed application. (Faxed, Scanned, E-mailed, or Incomplete Applications will not be accepted)." A permit lapses if unused: "Every permit shall become invalid unless work authorized is commenced within 6 months after approval," and the Department publishes an Extension Request Form. Two inspections are required on every roofing permit - Pre-Roof / Pre-Deck and Final - with re-inspections chargeable at $25.00 each. TRADE SPLIT, which matters for anyone doing more than the roof covering: the City states that "The City of Gallup does not issue mechanical, electrical or plumbing permits. You will need to obtain those permits through the New Mexico Construction Industries Division by contacting (505)476-4500," and that "All work related to manufactured homes will need to be permitted through New Mexico Construction Industries - Manufactured Housing Division." The roofing permit is a building permit and is the City's; anything electrical, mechanical or plumbing on the same job is the State's. Work in the State or City right-of-way requires contacting the City of Gallup Public Works Department, 110 West Aztec Avenue, (505) 863-1290, or the New Mexico Department of Transportation, 1919 Pinon Drive, Milan, NM 87021, 505-290-0117. Fee questions go to [email protected]; general permitting questions to (505) 863-1240.

Gallup adopts the New Mexico state codes by reference rather than printing a competing residential code of its own. STATE FLOOR: New Mexico adopts a statewide residential code at 14.7.3 NMAC, the 2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code. 14.7.3.8 (Adoption) states, verbatim: "This rule adopts by reference the 2021 International Residential Code, as amended by this rule." 14.7.3.6 (Objective) makes it a floor rather than a ceiling: "The purpose of this rule is to establish minimum standards for the general construction of residential buildings in New Mexico." Under 14.7.3.5 the rule took effect July 14, 2023 and after December 14, 2023 permits may be issued only under it; statutory authority is NMSA 1978 Sections 60-13-9 and 60-13-44. 14.7.3.2 (Scope) fixes what the rule reaches, verbatim: "This rule applies to all construction, alteration, relocation, enlargement, replacement, repair, equipment, use and occupancy, location, removal and demolition of all detached one- and two-family dwellings and multiple single-family dwellings (townhouses) not more than three stories high with separate means of egress, and their accessory structures that is performed in New Mexico on or after December 14, 2023, and that is subject to the jurisdiction of CID, unless performed pursuant to a permit for which an application was received by CID before that date." CITY LAYER: the City of Gallup publishes its own governing-codes list, which states, verbatim, that "The City of Gallup Planning & Development Department building permits along with landuse and zoning are governed by the following codes and laws:" followed by "City of Gallup Land Development Standards - Updated 2023"; "New Mexico Administrative Code, Title 14 Housing and Construction, Chapters 5-10, 12"; "2021 New Mexico Commercial Building Code"; "2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code"; "2021 New Mexico Earthen Building Materials Code"; "2018 New Mexico Residential Energy Conservation Code"; "2021 New Mexico Existing Building Code"; "2021 New Mexico Historic Earthen Buildings"; "2018 New Mexico Commercial Energy Conservation Code"; and "2017 Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities - ICC A117.1-2017". The reference to NMAC Title 14 Chapters 5-10 and 12 is what brings both the state administrative code (14.5 NMAC) and the state residential technical code (14.7.3 NMAC) into force locally, and the City quotes 14.5.2.18(A) and 14.5.2.18(D) directly on its own permit applications. The local adopting instrument is identified in the City's adopted fee resolution: Resolution No. R2004-40 recites that "the City of Gallup has adopted the New Mexico Building Code for building and structure construction, demolition and maintenance" and that "Ordinance No. C2004 - 40 requires the Gallup City Council to adopt a schedule of fees by resolution for the administration of the New Mexico Building Code." Because New Mexico is a floor state, Gallup could add to the state code, but its own published governing-codes list adopts the state codes as they stand and adds only the Land Development Standards, which govern land use, zoning and site development rather than roof assemblies. The operative roofing text in Gallup is therefore IRC Chapter 9 as amended by 14.7.3.17 NMAC. Note that the City's list carries the 2018 energy codes; New Mexico has since issued 2021 residential and commercial energy conservation codes, so a contractor should confirm the current energy-code edition with the Department.

Required — Gallup requires an in-progress roofing inspection before the final, and prints the requirement on the roofing permit application itself. The Contractor's Roofing Permit Application states, verbatim, under "Roofing permit application required submittals and additional information": "3. Inspections will be required for each of the following phases: (1) Pre-Roof / Pre-Deck, (2) Final." The Homeowner's Roofing Permit Application carries the same requirement as its item 4, verbatim: "Inspections will be required for each of the following phases: (1) Pre-Roof / Pre-Deck, (2) Final." The first of the two is the in-progress inspection - taken at the pre-roof / pre-deck stage, that is, after tear-off and before the new covering goes on, so the deck is inspected while it is still exposed - and the second is the completion inspection. Both are mandatory on every Gallup roofing permit, contractor-pulled or homeowner-pulled. Re-inspection is chargeable at $25.00 per re-inspection under the City's adopted fee schedule, Resolution No. R2004-40, and a homeowner permittee acknowledges in writing that "a re-inspection and a re-inspection fee will be required if any work does not meet code and/or I call for an inspection when the work is no ready and/or the work to be inspected is not accessible to the inspector."

Gallup publishes no dollar threshold for roof work - the exemption is by category, and roofing is not in the exempt category. The City states, verbatim: "Building Permits are required for most types of construction work within the City. Permits are not required for interior and exterior painting of residential structures, interior painting of commercial structures, minor landscaping, carpeting, tiling, cabinetry, counter tops, and roof mounted solar panels." Roof coverings are not on that exempt list. The City then names roof work directly among the work that does require a permit: "Permits are required for new commercial construction, new residential construction, structural additions and/or alterations, demolition, asphalt paving & overlay, excavation & grading, roofing and re-roofing, all storage sheds, signage, ground mounted solar panels, stuccoing, site development, fences, re-stuccoing, temporary events (firework stands, revival tents, etc.) and for the placement & transportation of manufactured homes." The one roof-adjacent exemption is narrow and is for equipment rather than covering: roof-mounted solar panels are exempt, while ground-mounted solar panels are not. Fees are assessed on construction valuation with no exempt band: the City's adopted schedule, Resolution No. R2004-40, begins at "$1.00 to $500.00 / $15.00" and rises through "$501.00 to $2,000.00 / $15.00 for the first $500.00 plus $2.00 for each additional $100.00 or fraction thereof to and including $2,000.00" and "$2,001.00 to $25,000.00 / $45.00 for the first $2,000.00 plus $9.00 for each additional $1,000.00 or fraction thereof, to and including $25,000.00." A residential plan check fee of 45 percent of the building permit fee and a $15.00 residential zoning check fee apply, and re-inspections are $25.00 each. Valuation is defined differently depending on who pulls the permit: the Contractor's Roofing Permit Application states "PROJECT VALUATION: $______ (Valuation is total construction cost)", while the Homeowner's Roofing Permit Application states "PROJECT VALUATION: $______ (Valuation is construction materials only, do not include labor cost or other unrelated cost)."

STATEWIDE, set by New Mexico rule rather than by Gallup: a two-layer maximum, plus four conditions that force a complete tear-off regardless of layer count. 14.7.3.17 NMAC ("CHAPTER 9 ROOF ASSEMBLIES: See this chapter of the IRC except as provided below") deletes IRC Section R908.3 and substitutes, verbatim: "New roof coverings shall not be installed without first removing existing roof coverings where any of the following conditions occur: (1) The existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing. (2) The existing roof covering is wood shake, slate, clay, cement, or asbestos-cement tile. (3) The existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. (4) Where pumice or other granular fill are present, the material must be removed prior to installing a new roof." Condition (3) is the layer limit: where two applications of any roof covering already exist, a third may not be laid over them. Conditions (2) and (4) are New Mexico-specific tear-off triggers - wood shake, slate, clay, cement and asbestos-cement tile always come off, and pumice or other granular fill must be removed before a new roof is installed. Gallup adds nothing on top of this. New Mexico is a floor state and the City could impose a stricter limit, but Gallup's own published governing-codes list adopts the state codes without a local roofing amendment, and the City's only local construction instrument on that list, the Land Development Standards, governs land use, zoning and site development. The statewide limit is therefore the operative one in Gallup. The City does put the question in front of the applicant at intake: both the Contractor's and the Homeowner's Roofing Permit Application open with "TYPE OF ROOFING (Check One): TEAR-OFF / OVER-LAY", so whether the job is a tear-off or a layover is declared on the application and is visible to the reviewer before the permit issues.

8.0625% gross receipts tax, GRT Location Code 13-114 (Gallup, McKinley County), for the July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 edition. New Mexico does not levy a sales tax on the buyer; it levies a gross receipts tax on the seller's receipts, so a roofing contractor's own receipts are what is taxed. The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department states that "Gross receipts tax (GRT) is imposed on businesses, but it is common for a business to pass the GRT on to the purchaser," and that "GRT rate varies throughout the state because the total rate combines the rates imposed by the state, counties, and municipality for each location." For roofing this matters in a specific way - the Department directs that "businesses will use the location code and tax rate corresponding to the location where their goods or the product of their service are delivered," so the applicable code and rate follow the location of the roof, not the location of the contractor's office. Rates are keyed to a GRT Location Code rather than to a city name and are reissued semiannually, on January 1 and July 1 vintages; the figure above is the current July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027 edition. The Department publishes the current designated rates as an interactive map rather than a static table, instructing users to "Identify the appropriate GRT Location Code and tax rate by clicking on the map at the location of interest" and to "Please consult local authorities where appropriate to confirm GRT Location Codes and tax rates."