City of Greenfield Planning and Building Department

City of Greenfield, Indiana

city

10 S. State St., Greenfield, IN 46140

Not required

Not required

WHERE. The Planning and Building Department is at 10 S. State St., Greenfield, IN 46140, on 317-477-4320, fax 317-477-4321, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm, with Jenna Wertman as Planning Director. Hancock County's Building Department is a different office, on 317-477-1133, with its own permit forms, so confirm the address is inside the city limit before applying. HOW. Applications go through the online permit portal the City links as Apply for a Permit, or on the City's Improvement Location Permit form. Under section 150.07(B) the permit must be kept posted in a conspicuous place on the site until the work is finally inspected. MONEY. The City's fee schedule dated January 9, 2026 has no residential reroofing line; the nearest residential category is Remodel (structural changes) at $90.00, and a commercial reroof is $75.00. Which category the office applies to a permitted residential reroof is not published, so ask when applying. A re-inspection is $75.00. TIME. Under section 150.09(B) a permit expires if active work has not started within six months of issue, and the work must be completed within twelve months.

THE CITY'S ADOPTION IS EXPRESSLY FLOATING. Section 150.06(A), Regulations adopted by reference, incorporates the building rules of the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission in listed articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code "and shall include later amendments to those Articles as the same are published in the State Register or the IAC with effective dates as fixed therein". Article 14 is listed as "The State Residential Code, 2020 Edition". The section was last amended by Ord. 2001-26, passed 12-13-2001, and the codification the City links is current through Ord. 2024-44, passed 12-11-2024. WHAT ARTICLE 14 CURRENTLY REACHES. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security's own guidance states that residential construction is regulated by the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which "adopts, and amends, the first printing of the 2018 International Residential Code." Chapter 150, the City's building chapter, was read in full, all twenty-one sections, and it contains no technical roofing provision and no amendment to the state residential code. THE CITY'S WEB PAGES LAG ITS ORDINANCE. The Building and Permitting page states its ice and water shield position "Per Table R301.2(1) of the 2005 Indiana Residential Building Code", the residential permit checklist cites "the Indiana Residential Code, 2005 edition", and the FAQ's list of codes to reference names the 2014 Indiana Building Code and other commercial and trade codes but no residential edition at all. Those are undated web statements; the ordinance's floating adoption is the enacted text, and this record publishes the 2020 Indiana Residential Code's answers. On the points this record covers the 2005 references change nothing: the City's stated ice shield position and the current state table agree for Hancock County.

Required — REQUIRED, BY THE STATE CODE RATHER THAN BY A GREENFIELD ORDINANCE. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security's guidance on ice/water shield and drip edge reproduces the provision as Indiana adopted it, beginning: "R905.2.8.5 Drip edge. A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5. Greenfield has no drip edge provision of its own: Chapter 150, read in full, contains no technical roofing content. Where a reshingle with no decking or structural work needs no City permit, that removes the permit and the inspection, not the requirement; the same state guidance says the 2020 Indiana Residential Code "governs all Class 2 residential construction". About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN HANCOCK COUNTY, AND THE CITY SAYS THE SAME, WITH A CONDITION. The state's Table R301.2(1), substituted by 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, runs county by county, and the Hancock row reads ice shield underlayment required No. The City's Building and Permitting page states that ice and water shield underlayment "is not required within the City of Greenfield, Indiana. However, if Ice and Water Shield Underlayment is required by the installation instructions of the shingles or roof covering to be used, it then is required to be installed". That page cites the 2005 edition of the state residential code; the current 2020 table gives the same No for Hancock. The state's own guidance explains the condition: outside the listed counties the barrier is required "only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Read the shingle manufacturer's instructions for the assembly before treating the membrane as optional. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. Chapter 150 of the Greenfield Code, read in full, contains no impact rating provision, and no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact requirement appears in it or in the City's Unified Development Ordinance, whose design standards speak to roof pitch and roofing material color, not impact rating. The state rule the City adopts, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes no impact resistance amendment to the roofing chapter, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar the City from enacting one. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurance and warranty decision in Greenfield, not a code requirement.

THE CITY DRAWS THE LINE AT DECKING, NOT AT ROOF AREA OR COST. The City publishes two lists side by side. Its Residential Work Not Requiring a Permit sheet includes "Reroofing (up to five sheets of new decking)", and its Residential Work Requiring a Permit sheet includes "Reroofing with five or more sheets of decking being replaced". The Planning and Zoning Department's FAQ answers the question directly: "You will need a permit when you replace 5 or more sheets of decking or other structural changes. You do not need a permit solely for shingle replacement." So a straight tear-off and reshingle with no decking or structural work is not permit work here, and a job that replaces five or more sheets of decking, or changes structure, is. NOTE THE OVERLAP AT EXACTLY FIVE SHEETS: one sheet says up to five sheets needs no permit and the other says five or more does, so a job replacing exactly five sheets appears on both; settle it with the Building Inspector on 317-477-4320 before the tear-off. THE ENACTED TEXT IS A STRUCTURAL TEST, NOT A COUNT. Section 150.07(A) requires a permit "before beginning new construction, or altering or repairing existing buildings or structures if the alterations or repairs affect structural strength, sanitary conditions, fire hazards, or pose a threat to personal or public safety." The ordinance sets no decking count and no dollar or area floor; the five-sheet line is the department's published practice. THE COST OF GUESSING WRONG. The City's fee schedule dated January 9, 2026 charges an Improvement Location Permit issued after construction started at two times the original fee where the permit is under $60 and three times where it is over $60, and section 150.99 sets a fine of up to $500 for each violation, with each day a separate offense.

THE FIGURES ARE THE STATE'S COUNTY-INDEXED TABLE, NOT A GREENFIELD ENACTMENT. Table R301.2(1) as substituted by 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 gives the Hancock County row as wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow load 20 psf, foundation (frost) depth 30 inches, winter design temperature 2 degrees Fahrenheit, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required No, air freezing index 1500 or less, and mean annual temperature 51.6 degrees. Greenfield publishes no design criteria of its own: Chapter 150, read in full, contains no wind, snow or frost provision, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from varying the state table locally.

TWO LAYERS MAXIMUM, SET BY THE STATE CODE; GREENFIELD WRITES NO LAYER RULE OF ITS OWN. Chapter 150 of the Greenfield Code, read in full, contains no provision on roof covering layers, recovering or tear-off; its only roofing content is a commercial Re-roofing line in the fee table at section 150.11. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends the roof assemblies chapter of the 2018 International Residential Code in four places only: it deletes the last sentence of R902.4 on rooftop photovoltaic systems, deletes the word "approved" from R905.2.6 and from R905.2.8, and deletes the word "printed" from R905.2.8.4. None of the four touches the reroofing provisions in Section R908. Nor could the City add a layer rule of its own: 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." So the layer rule on a Greenfield job is the reroofing section of the 2018 International Residential Code as Indiana adopted it, unamended. Base-code rule, read at 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed, and quoted here rather than left behind the ICC paywall: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck.

NO LOCAL SHEATHING RULE, BUT THE DECKING COUNT DECIDES THE PERMIT. Chapter 150, read in full, contains no provision on roof sheathing or decking material, thickness or fastening. What Greenfield does attach to decking is the permit line: the City's own lists put reroofing with five or more sheets of decking replaced on the permit side, and its FAQ says a permit is needed "when you replace 5 or more sheets of decking or other structural changes." The technical sheathing requirements are those of the 2018 International Residential Code as adopted by 675 IAC 14-4.4. The state's amendments near the roof deck are narrow: section 82 of that rule deletes the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from R803.2.1, the identification and grade provision for roof sheathing, and section 80 rewrites R802.1.1 so that sawn lumber "shall be identified by a grade mark of an accredited lumber grading or inspection agency". Do not mistake the City's Decking Information and Inspection Requirements sheet for a roof rule: it covers outdoor wood decks, their footings, guards and handrails.

7.00% in Greenfield, the Indiana state sales and use tax rate. The Indiana Department of Revenue states the rate as seven percent, and Indiana has no county or municipal general sales tax on top of it, so 7.00% is the full rate a roofing contractor pays on materials bought here.