City of Gary, Indiana - Building Department

City of Gary, Indiana

city

401 Broadway, Suite 307, Gary, IN 46402

Required

Required

Gary runs permits two ways. Applications may be filed on the City's OpenGov portal, where the Building Permit is described as "a permit for alterations, additions, and new construction" and the applicant picks a Type of Work from a list that includes "Roofing" and "Solar PV Rooftop System"; or the paper application may be downloaded from the Building Department page and emailed to [email protected]. Either way the applicant states the contract value and the number of inspections needed, because both drive the fee. Fees are calculated on the total valuation of the project, from $30.00 for work valued at $1.00 to $500.00 upward, and every building permit also carries a $50.00 inspection fee; a failed inspection or a no-show costs a further $100.00 re-inspection fee, payable before any other inspection is conducted. Inspections must be booked 24 to 72 hours ahead, and the licence holder, not the homeowner, is responsible for calling them in, quoting the permit number and closing each job out with a final inspection and a certificate of occupancy where one is required. All permits must be posted before any work begins, and the City states that it will not issue a refund for any reason. A homeowner who lives in the property may pull a permit to work on it, but that route needs proof of ownership, proof of residence, a dumpster receipt or a notarised statement of where the material will be dumped, material receipts or quotes, and a zoning clearance from the Planning and Zoning Department at City Hall; rental and commercial properties require a licensed contractor. The Building Department is at 401 Broadway, Suite 307, open Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

Not a City choice. Building code content in Indiana is set by the state: the 2020 Indiana Residential Code at 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates by reference the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017. That rule was filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in Article 14 of Title 675. Under IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) the state building rules take precedence over any ordinance of a political subdivision covering the same subject matter, and under IC 22-13-2-3(c) a city, town or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than those rules. One thing a roofer working in Gary should know before buying code books: the City's own Contractor's Licensing Examination Packet describes the code adopted by the City of Gary as the 2012 International Building Code, the 2003 International Residential Code, the 2012 International Mechanical Code and the 2008 National Electrical Code, plus the Indiana Amendments, and the Roofing examination is written open book on those editions. Those are the reference books for the licence exam; the residential rules a Gary job is built and inspected to are the state ones above. Confirm the edition the inspector will apply with the Building Department at (219) 881-1377 before a job that turns on an edition difference.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional. Indiana localities cannot vary this: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or is more stringent or more detailed 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 and Water Shield Update memo of 2020-02-25 (revised), which reproduces 2018 IRC 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." Note the memo reproduces a typo in the enacted text it quotes ("rood deck" for "roof deck"); the reading is not in doubt. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" (14-4.4-86) and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so the model text governs as written. About drip edge

Required — Gary is in Lake County, and Lake County is one of the 27 Indiana counties where the ice barrier is required outright. Indiana deletes the model IRC Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county by county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5; the Lake County row states "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". This is a per county answer and not a state one. Most Indiana counties, Marion (Indianapolis) and Hamilton (Carmel) among them, are marked "No" and get an ice barrier only where the shingle manufacturer's written instructions call for one. A roofer who works both ends of Indiana should not carry the central Indiana answer north to Gary. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact resistance mandate applies in Gary. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, was read in full across all 245 of its numbered sections and contains no reference to UL 2218, to a Class 4 or Class IV impact rating, or to FM 4473. Its only amendments touching IRC Chapter 9 delete the word "approved" from the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections, delete the word "printed" from the other flashing section, and delete one sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section. Gary has no power to add such a requirement by ordinance: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than the state's own building rules. An insurance discount for impact rated shingles is not a code requirement.

Nothing in the City's published permit and fee materials exempts roofing work below a dollar figure or a size. The Building Department states that "Permits are required for all new construction, alterations and some repairs", and the City's own building permit application makes the point from the other side: the required Type of Work field is a fixed list that includes both "Roofing" and "Non-Structural Repairs", so a repair is a permit carrying category in Gary rather than an exempt one. Permit fees run off the total valuation of the project and the lowest published band is $30.00 for work valued at $1.00 to $500.00, with a $50.00 inspection fee charged on top of every building permit; that lowest band is a fee step, not an exemption. Treat every roofing job in Gary as permit work and settle the scope with the Building Department before starting, because an inspector who cites a contractor for working without a permit will let the citation stand even if the permit is bought the same day.

115 mph. Indiana deletes the model IRC Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county by county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5. The Lake County row, which is the row that governs Gary, reads 115 mph design wind speed, Seismic Design Category A, 30 psf ground snow load, 36 inch frost depth and a winter design temperature of 1 degree F. All 92 Indiana counties carry the same 115 mph figure, so wind speed is the one genuinely statewide number in that table. Wind exposure category is not set by the state or by the City; it is determined site by site.

No Indiana rule changes the model answer, and Gary has no cap of its own to look up. Indiana's residential code is the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. Its 245 sections contain no amendment to the reroofing and roof recover provisions of IRC Section R908, which is not referenced anywhere in the rule, and under IC 22-13-2-3 no Indiana city, town or county may impose a conflicting, more stringent or more detailed requirement. So the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies in Gary as published.

7% - the Indiana state rate, with no Lake County or City of Gary add-on. Indiana levies a single statewide sales tax and authorises no local option general sales tax; the taxes Indiana does levy at county level are a local income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food and beverage tax, none of which reaches roofing materials. The Department of Revenue states it on the very page that enumerates the county level taxes: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." How the 7% falls depends on the shape of the contract rather than on the trade. Under a lump sum contract the roofer pays the tax on the materials as the consumer and charges the homeowner no sales tax; under a time and material contract, meaning one that states the cost of materials and the cost of labor separately, the roofer buys the materials exempt for resale and collects the 7% from the homeowner on the material portion, with separately stated installation labor not included in the taxable amount. Roofing is named by the Department of Revenue as a contractor trade for these purposes.