City of Greenfield, Wisconsin - Inspection Services

City of Greenfield, Wisconsin

city

7325 W. Forest Home Avenue, Room 203 (Greenfield City Hall), Greenfield, WI 53220

Required

STATE CODE PLUS TWO CITY-ADOPTED REGIONAL/LOCAL INSTRUMENTS, AND THE CITY HAS ITS OWN EXPRESS PRE-1980 EXTENSION. One- and two-family dwellings in Greenfield are built to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, chs. SPS 320 to 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code - Wisconsin's own text, not an adoption of the International Residential Code, so no IRC edition year applies to a house here. City of Greenfield Municipal Code Chapter 15, section 15.04, "Uniform Dwelling Code adopted," provides at subsection (4): "The Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, SPS 320-325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, and all amendments thereto, is adopted and incorporated by reference and shall apply to all buildings within the scope of this ordinance," citing Wis. Stat. section 101.65 as its authority. Section 15.04(3) then extends that scope further than the bare state rule does: "The scope of this ordinance includes the construction and inspection of one- and two-family dwellings built since June 1, 1980. Notwithstanding SPS 320.05, the scope also includes the construction and inspection of alterations and additions to one- and two-family dwellings built before June 1, 1980." Wis. Admin. Code SPS 320.05(1) itself exempts pre-1980 dwellings and any additions or alterations to them from the state code, but its own Note says a municipality may adopt chs. SPS 320 to 325 to reach those additions and alterations anyway - Greenfield has done exactly that, by name, in its own ordinance. Alongside the dwelling code, Greenfield Municipal Code section 15.045, "Wisconsin Uniform Building Code adopted," incorporates by reference "The Wisconsin Uniform Building Code, Ch. 30.00-30.60 ... subject to the modifications specified in this Chapter." That is a separate, regionally-published municipal building code (sections numbered from 30.00, prepared by the Building Inspectors Association of Southeastern Wisconsin) rather than Greenfield's own drafting, and it sets the general permit and existing-building rules discussed in the fields below. Chapter 15 was read in full - all 49 numbered sections across its Introduction, Administration, Permits, Frame Construction, Private Garages, General Provisions and Violations and Penalties articles - and, apart from sections 15.04, 15.045 and 15.06 (existing-building scope, discussed under repair_permit_threshold), it adds no roofing-specific requirement of its own; nor does the regional Ch. 30.00-30.60 code, which was also read in full (73 pages) and contains no roofing provision outside the permit list and the 25-percent roof-covering rule discussed below. Commercial, multi-family and industrial buildings run on a separate code set, the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code at chs. SPS 361 to 366, which Chapter 15 does not address; that commercial track is not the subject of the residential fields recorded here.

Not required — No drip edge is required by code on a Greenfield roof, at either level of government. The statewide Wisconsin uniform dwelling code, unlike the International Residential Code, carries no drip edge requirement: SPS 321.28, "Weather protection for roofs," covers general drainage and fasteners, underlayment for shingles, asphalt shingles, ice dam protection, other roof coverings, reroofing and every flashing paragraph, and no provision of it requires a drip edge at an eave or a rake. City of Greenfield Municipal Code Chapter 15 was read in full, all 49 sections, and contains no roofing provision requiring drip edge; the regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts by reference at section 15.045 was read for the same terms across its 73 pages and the word does not appear there either. Greenfield could not add a differing requirement for a one- or two-family dwelling in any event: the Note under SPS 320.06(1)(a)1. quotes Wis. Stat. section 101.65(1c) in full, which bars a city, village, town or county from making or enforcing an ordinance "applied to a dwelling" that "does not conform to this subchapter and the uniform dwelling code," and voids any contract term requiring compliance with a nonconforming ordinance at the owner's election. Practical point for a bid: drip edge may still be required as a matter of the shingle manufacturer's installation instructions, which SPS 321.28(3)(a) makes binding by requiring shingles to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations, so read the wrapper before leaving it off. About drip edge

Required — STATE-SET AND SLOPE-CONDITIONED, NOT CLIMATE-ZONE-CONDITIONED. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.28(4)(a) requires that "Shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of a dwelling or attached garage and that have a slope of 4:12 or less shall be provided with ice dam protection in the form of sheet metal or a product labeled as meeting the requirements of ASTM D 1970." SPS 321.28(4)(b) sets the extent: 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." The trigger is roof slope, not climate zone, so a steeper Greenfield roof is not covered by this requirement at all - although the shingle manufacturer's own installation instructions may still call for it, since SPS 321.28(3)(a) requires shingles to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. Wisconsin measures from the roof edge rather than from the exterior wall line the way the IRC does, so do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Greenfield job. Greenfield adds nothing of its own to this: Chapter 15 of the Municipal Code was read in full and contains no ice barrier or ice dam provision, and the regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts at section 15.045 contains none either. On the vintage question, Greenfield has acted, through Municipal Code section 15.04(3): "Notwithstanding SPS 320.05, the scope also includes the construction and inspection of alterations and additions to one- and two-family dwellings built before June 1, 1980." So an older Greenfield house is not outside the state code the way it might be in a municipality without that extension. Separately, SPS 320.05(3) exempts repairs and maintenance, and SPS 320.07(61) defines a repair broadly enough to include like-for-like replacement, while SPS 321.28 regulates reroofing and ice-dam protection by name; Wisconsin has not resolved which provision governs a like-for-like tear-off, and this record does not adjudicate it. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof, tear-off or roof-deck inspection stage is published for Greenfield, and the sequence the City works to puts the roof BEFORE the first stage that would look at it directly. City of Greenfield Municipal Code section 15.17, "Inspections," lists the specified inspections in order: footing inspection, foundation inspection, frame inspection - which "shall be made after the roof, all framing, fire blocking and bracing is in place and all pipes, chimneys and vents are complete" - insulation inspection, ceiling grid inspection, basement drain tile inspection, and final inspection. No roofing-specific stage appears among them; the roof is already complete by the time the frame inspection occurs. Chapter 15 was read in full and names no other inspection stage for roofing. The City contracts a private firm, SafeBuilt, to perform the field inspection of several permit categories including roofing (City staff handle fencing, gas piping, plumbing and siding inspections directly), reached at 262-420-4732 or [email protected], but no City page read this session describes a distinct interim roofing inspection beyond what the general sequence above provides. What that means in practice is that a Greenfield reroof is most likely inspected only at a final stage rather than at an interim point, unless the permit itself directs otherwise; confirm with Inspection Services at 414-329-5325 before assuming no inspector will look at the work before completion.

Not required — No impact-resistance or hail-rating mandate applies in Greenfield. The statewide Wisconsin uniform dwelling code contains no UL 2218 requirement, no Class 4 or Class IV impact rating and no FM 4473 reference anywhere in the chapters governing one- and two-family dwellings, including the roof coverings section, SPS 321.28, whose catch-all for other roof coverings sends the installer to the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognized by the department rather than to any impact class. On the City side, Chapter 15 of the Municipal Code was read in full, all 49 sections, and no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV, FM 4473 or hail requirement appears anywhere in it - the word "hail" occurs nowhere in the chapter. The regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts at section 15.045 was read across its full 73 pages and carries none of those terms either. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurer-driven upgrade in this market, not a code obligation. One caution for reading paperwork on a Greenfield job: a Class A, B or C designation, or a reference to ASTM E108 or UL 790, is a FIRE rating and says nothing about hail, and ASTM D3161 or D7158 is a WIND rating. Only UL 2218 or FM 4473 answers impact.

A PERMIT IS REQUIRED FOR REROOFING AT ANY SCOPE UNDER THE ENACTED CODE - THERE IS NO DOLLAR OR SQUARE-FOOTAGE THRESHOLD - BUT THE CITY'S OWN PUBLIC GUIDANCE STATES A NARROWER TRIGGER, AND THIS RECORD REPORTS BOTH RATHER THAN PICKING ONE. The regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code that Greenfield adopts by reference at Municipal Code section 15.045 provides at section 30.05(1): "No building or structure, or any part thereof, shall hereafter be built, enlarged, altered or demolished within the municipality ... unless a permit therefore shall first be obtained," and lists the permits required, including at 30.05(1)(g) "Reroofing and residing" - with no layer count, property-type limitation or dollar threshold attached to that item anywhere in the 73-page instrument. Separately, the City's own "Do I Need a Permit?" page, published by Inspection Services, lists the categories of work requiring a Building Permit and states, under Roofing: "Commercial properties, condos, apartments, and Residential homes with 3 layers." Read on its face, that would mean a single-family or duplex reroof with fewer than three existing layers is not on the City's own published list of work needing a permit - narrower than what section 30.05(1)(g) actually requires. That "3 layers" language does not appear anywhere in the codified ordinance: Chapter 15 was searched in full and the word "layer" occurs zero times in it, and the same is true of the full 73-page regional code adopted at section 15.045. So the qualifier is web guidance only, not a codified exception. Confirm directly with Inspection Services at 414-329-5325 whether a small residential reroof will in practice be asked to pull a permit; this record does not resolve which of the two governs a specific job, and publishes the roofing_permit_required boolean as true on the enacted instrument while disclosing the narrower guidance here. On top of the bare permit requirement, Greenfield's OWN Chapter 15 - not merely the adopted regional code - carries a percentage-of-roof rule at section 15.06(2)(b): "Minor alterations, repairs and changes ... may be made with the same materials of which the building is constructed, provided that not more than 25 percent of the roof covering of any building shall be replaced in any period of 12 months unless the entire roof covering is made to conform with the requirements of this Chapter for new buildings." The regional code carries a near-identical duplicate at section 30.03(3)(d): "Whenever more than twenty-five (25) percent of the roof covering of a building is replaced in any twelve month period, all roof covering shall be in conformity with applicable sections of THIS CODE." So a partial reroof that crosses a quarter of the roof in a twelve-month period pulls the whole roof covering up to current code either way. What the permit costs: the codified Fee Schedule at Chapter 3, section 3.12, Inspection Services Department, Building Permit Fees, sets a $60.00 minimum fee for all permits (item 1), and prices residing, reroofing and repairs where square footage cannot be calculated at item 9: "$12.00/$1,000.00 valuation." The City's own Homeowner Residential Building Permit Application form prints the same $12.00 per $1,000 of value figure under its office-use fee section. The homeowner form itself has no dedicated Roofing or Reroofing checkbox among its listed application types (it lists Residing, among others, plus an "Other" line), and its own instructions state that contractors must apply online rather than on that form - this record does not resolve which application route a reroof actually goes through in practice.

STATE-SET, AND EXPRESSED AS A PRESSURE RATHER THAN A DESIGN WIND SPEED IN MILES PER HOUR. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.02(1)(c) provides that dwellings "shall 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," with a published note that ASCE 7-05 allows for substantial reduction from the 20 pounds per square foot figure. Fastening is governed by SPS 321.02(3)(h) and its fastener schedule table. Snow is the one input that varies geographically: SPS 321.02(1)(b)2. provides that roofs shall be designed to support the "minimum live loads listed in Table 321.02," applied via a statewide zone map (Figure 321.02), so a Greenfield ground snow figure is read off that map rather than stated as a single statewide number. IMPORTANT for anyone used to International Residential Code jurisdictions: because Wisconsin works in pounds per square foot and a zone map, there is no ultimate design wind speed in miles per hour for Greenfield, and the 20 pounds per square foot figure must not be converted into one. Greenfield adds nothing of its own - Chapter 15 of the Municipal Code was read in full and states no wind design criterion for a building, and the regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts at section 15.045 states none either across its 73 pages.

TWO LAYERS IS THE STATEWIDE CAP, AND GREENFIELD ADDS NO LAYER RULE OF ITS OWN IN EITHER DIRECTION. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.28(6) "Reroofing" bars installing a new roof covering over an existing covering where any of three conditions exist: "The existing roof or roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing"; "The existing roof is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile"; or "The existing roof has 2 or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering." So at most two total layers of shingles may ever be present, and less than that where the deck or covering is wet or deteriorated or the existing roof is one of the listed materials. A complete tear-off to the deck is not restricted by this rule at any layer count. City of Greenfield Municipal Code Chapter 15 was read in full, all 49 sections, and contains no layer, shingle or reroofing-layer provision of its own - the word "layer" occurs zero times in it. The regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts at section 15.045 was also read in full, 73 pages, and likewise contains no layer provision - "layer" occurs zero times there either. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but does not reach every house the same way. SPS 320.05(1) exempts a one- or two-family dwelling whose construction began before June 1, 1980, and any addition or alteration to one, from the code, UNLESS the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose - and Greenfield has: Municipal Code section 15.04(3) states, "Notwithstanding SPS 320.05, the scope also includes the construction and inspection of alterations and additions to one- and two-family dwellings built before June 1, 1980." So a pre-1980 Greenfield house is not outside the state code the way it might be in a municipality that never made that extension. Separately, SPS 320.05(3) provides that "the provisions of this code do not apply to repairs or maintenance to dwellings," and SPS 320.07(61) defines "Repair" to mean "the act or process of restoring to original soundness, including redecorating, refinishing, nonstructural repairs or maintenance, or the replacement of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with the equivalent fixture, system or equipment" - which reads as though it could cover a like-for-like reroof, while SPS 321.28(6) separately regulates reroofing by name with its own two-layer cap. Wisconsin has not resolved which of those two provisions governs a like-for-like tear-off, and this record does not adjudicate it; confirm with Inspection Services before assuming either one controls.

STATE-SET. Greenfield adds nothing of its own to the roof deck - Chapter 15 of the Municipal Code was read in full, all 49 sections, and its only use of the word "sheathing" is a fire-separation rule requiring an attached garage's dividing wall to extend to roof sheathing, not a decking specification; the regional Wisconsin Uniform Building Code the City adopts at section 15.045 contains no sheathing provision anywhere in its 73 pages. So Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.27(9), "Roof sheathing, boards and planking," governs, in three parts. For structural sheathing, "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," and 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, they "shall be tongue and groove or splined and at least 2 inches, nominal, in thickness," shall "terminate over beams unless the joints are end matched," shall be laid so that no continuous line of joints occurs except at points of support, and shall be nailed or fastened to each beam. This is a panel grade-stamp and board-thickness rule keyed to rafter spacing rather than the International Residential Code formulation used in IRC states, so do not carry an IRC sheathing specification onto a Greenfield job. Replacing deck is structural work and needs its own permit scope confirmed with Inspection Services.

5.9% on materials - the Wisconsin state sales and use tax of 5% plus Milwaukee County's 0.90% county sales and use tax, which took effect January 1, 2024 and replaced the 0.50% the county had levied since April 1991, per the Wisconsin Department of Revenue's own published guidance: "Milwaukee County sales and use tax increases from 0.5% to 0.9%, effective January 1, 2024." THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE RATE DOES NOT REACH GREENFIELD. The Department states in the same guidance that "the city of Milwaukee is the only municipality that imposes a city sales and use tax" - 2%, effective January 1, 2024 - and Greenfield is a separate city inside Milwaukee County, so a Greenfield job is 5.9%, not the 7.9% that applies at a City of Milwaukee address. How the tax actually falls on a roofing job matters more than the rate. Wisconsin treats a roof as real property - Department of Revenue Publication 207 lists roofs as real property for residential installation and residential repair alike - so the roofing contractor is the consumer of what it installs. The contractor pays sales or use tax when buying shingles, underlayment and other materials, and is not permitted to collect sales tax from its customers on the sales price of real property construction activities, meaning neither labor nor materials are taxed as a line on the reroofing contract itself. 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 rate is a cost input on the material purchase rather than a line on the homeowner's invoice.