City of Greenwood, Indiana Building Commissioner

City of Greenwood, Indiana

city

300 South Madison Avenue, Greenwood, IN 46142

Not required

Applications go to the Building Commissioner inside Community Development Services at Greenwood City Center, 300 South Madison Avenue, Greenwood, IN 46142, by email to [email protected] or online through the City permit portal at https://cityworks.greenwood.in.gov/GwdPermitPortal. The Building Commissioner is Kenneth Seal; the office is open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and takes permit questions on 317-881-8698, with the Community Development Services line on the application itself given as 317-887-5230. A permitted reroof runs as a residential remodel, and the application asks which trades are in the scope of work: on the City fee schedule adopted by Ordinance 25-08, residential one- and two-family remodelling is 75 dollars for the structural component, the same for each of electrical, plumbing and mechanical, and 225 dollars for any combination of them, with only one permit required per remodelling project and each permit valid for 365 days. Greenwood publishes a statutory clock most cities do not. Under Indiana Code 36-7-2.5 the City must give written or electronic notice within 3 business days of receiving all required documents, or of receiving deficient items, and that notice must confirm whether the City can complete plan review within 7 business days and requested inspections within 3 business days. Seven business days is the review period for a complete application, and an expedited 48-hour review can be approved by the Building Commissioner for 250 dollars under Greenwood Municipal Code Sec. 7-14. An applicant may also elect a third-party plan review service or a third-party inspection service, in which case the private provider affidavit under Indiana Code 36-7-2.5-25 and a certificate of insurance at the coverage amounts in Indiana Code 36-7-2.5-26(a) go in with the application. Work has to start within 45 days of issuance or the permit is void, and the permit is good for no more than 365 days, with an extension available under Greenwood Municipal Code Sec. 7-11(b) at half the original base fee. Inspection requests are made by calling the office or emailing the Inspection Request Form; a next-day residential inspection must be requested by 4 p.m. the previous business day and a commercial inspection at least 24 hours ahead. Inspection hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday with nothing scheduled between noon and 1 p.m., and specific times are given only for footings, for occupied structures and where a homeowner has to give access -- everything else is fitted into the inspector's route for the day, because the office batches all inspections in one subdivision into a single trip. A timed inspection must be cancelled at least an hour ahead and an untimed one by 9 a.m. on the day, or a 75 dollar re-inspection fee can follow. Two fee lines are worth planning around: starting work without a required permit is charged at twice the permit base fee, and a building violation carries 150 dollars.

STATE CODE, AND THE CITY PUBLISHES THE SAME ANSWER ITSELF. There is no Greenwood roofing code to look up. One- and two-family dwellings here are built to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings (first printing August 2017) and applies statewide. The rule was filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in Article 14 of Title 675. The City confirms it from its own side: the Building Commissioner publishes a Building Codes list headed "Indiana Administrative Code, Title 675 Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission" whose residential line reads "675 IAC 14-4.4 Indiana Residential Code 2020 Edition (IRC 2018, 1st Printing)", and the same page states that "All plan reviews and inspections are conducted in accordance with current State of Indiana approved codes." That City list also carries the other trades, which are on older editions than the residential rule and are worth knowing before a job touches them: Building 675 IAC 13-2.6 (2014 Indiana Building Code, IBC 2012), Plumbing 675 IAC 16-1.4 (2012 Indiana Plumbing Code, IPC 2006), Electrical 675 IAC 17-1.8 (2009 Indiana Electrical Code, NFPA 70-2008), Mechanical 675 IAC 18-1.6 (2014 Indiana Mechanical Code, IMC 2012) and Energy Conservation 675 IAC 19-4 (2010). Indiana law means there is no edition year to negotiate with the City. IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than those rules. IC 22-13-2-3(b) then provides that where a local ordinance does incorporate the state rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code, the reference "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement" -- so an Indiana local adoption by IAC citation tracks the state rule forward rather than freezing at its adoption date.

Required — REQUIRED AT BOTH EAVES AND RAKES, AND IT IS A STATE ANSWER RATHER THAN A GREENWOOD ONE. The Indiana State Building Commissioner publishes a guidance document titled "Ice/Water Shield & Metal Drip Edge in Class 2 Construction with Asphalt Shingles", issued by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security over the signature of Craig E. Burgess, Indiana State Building Commissioner, dated February 25, 2020, and the City of Greenwood hosts a copy of it on the Building Commissioner's own Building Codes page. It sets out the operative text as adopted in Indiana. Section R905.2.8.5 Drip edge provides that "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." The requirement is unconditional -- unlike the ice barrier, it does not depend on which Indiana county the house is in and it does not depend on the shingle manufacturer's instructions. Indiana does not amend this section: 675 IAC 14-4.4 was read in full and its only edits in this part of the code delete single words from the attachment and flashing sections next to it. Greenwood adds nothing to it, and the guidance document the City hosts says the state code governs regardless of local enforcement practice. Note that the drip edge is a code obligation on the roofer whether or not the job needs a City permit, and most Greenwood reroofs do not. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN JOHNSON COUNTY, BUT THAT IS ONLY HALF THE ANSWER, AND THE OTHER HALF CATCHES MOST GREENWOOD JOBS. In Indiana the ice barrier is a county-by-county question rather than a statewide one. The state throws out the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows," and the substituted table runs one row for each of the 92 counties. The Johnson County row, numbered 41, reads No in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required." Only 27 Indiana counties read Yes and they are all in the northern tier; Johnson is not one of them, and neither is any of its neighbours in the Indianapolis area. The second half comes from the Indiana State Building Commissioner, in the guidance document the City of Greenwood hosts on its own Building Codes page: "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it (per Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1)." Those three sections require roof assemblies and roof coverings to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions, so in Johnson County an ice barrier becomes mandatory the moment the shingle you are installing calls for one in its written instructions. Read the instructions for the specific product before deciding. Where it is required, the same document gives the extent: the barrier "shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building," and on roofs of 8:12 or steeper it must also run not less than 36 inches measured along the slope from the eave edge, with an exception for "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." Greenwood imposes nothing extra of its own. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO ROOF STAGE IS PUBLISHED, AND ON MOST GREENWOOD REROOFS THERE IS NO INSPECTION AT ALL. The City publishes its own list of the inspection types it schedules, on the Inspection Request Form the Building Commissioner requires for every request. That list was read in full and runs to eighteen named types plus Other: above ceiling, driveway, driveway and sidewalk, electric bonding for pools, electric meter tag, erosion control, final, fire line static pressure test, fire pump test, footing, grading, kicker, proof roll for fire access, rough-in, sidewalk, sump pump, tie-down and underslab plumbing. No tear-off, roof-deck, sheathing, in-progress or mid-roof stage appears on it. The Inspections page and the Residential Inspection Scheduling Policy were read in full as well and name no roofing stage either; between them they cover which inspections get a specific time (footings, occupied structures, and anything needing a homeowner to give access) and leave everything else to the inspector's route for the day. Remember the permit line before reading too much into this: a Greenwood reroof needs no building permit at all unless it removes 25 percent or more of the decking, so an ordinary tear-off and reshingle is neither permitted nor inspected here. Where a job does cross that line it is permitted as a residential remodel and will carry a final inspection, and the applicant is responsible for requesting it. If a particular job needs the deck looked at before it is covered, ask the Building Commissioner on 317-881-8698 or at [email protected] when the permit is issued, and use the Other line on the request form.

Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANCE OR HAIL-RATING MANDATE APPLIES IN GREENWOOD, AT EITHER LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT. The state rule that governs roofing here, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code at 675 IAC 14-4.4, was read in full and contains no UL 2218 requirement, no Class 4 or Class IV impact rating and no FM 4473 reference; its only amendments to the roof assemblies chapter delete single words from an asphalt-shingle attachment section and two flashing sections and delete one sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section, and none of them concerns impact resistance. On the City side, the Building Commissioner publishes that plan reviews and inspections are conducted in accordance with the current State of Indiana approved codes and lists those codes by IAC citation, naming no local amendment of any kind. Greenwood could not impose an impact requirement in any case: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state building rules, which is a stricter ceiling than most states set. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurer-driven upgrade in this market, not a code obligation, and an insurance discount is never a code mandate. Two cautions when reading paperwork on a Greenwood 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. And in Indiana the phrase "Class 2 construction" that appears on state roofing guidance is a class of STRUCTURE, meaning a one- or two-family dwelling, not a rating of any roofing product.

A DECKING PERCENTAGE, NOT A DOLLAR FIGURE OR A SQUARE COUNT, AND MOST REROOFS FALL BELOW IT. The City answers the question itself, under the heading "Do I Need a Building Permit?" on the Building Commissioner's own page. Its roofing entry reads in full: "If your roof project involves the removal of 25% or more of the decking, a permit is required. You would use either the commercial or residential remodel application packet for the permitting process. However, if you are only planning to lay new shingles and patch any areas of decking that are unsound, you will not need to apply for a building permit." So a straightforward tear-off and reshingle, with the odd soft sheet of decking swapped out along the way, is permit-free in Greenwood. A storm or rot job that opens up a quarter or more of the deck crosses the line and is permitted as a residential remodel. There is no cost threshold and no roof-area threshold attached to it, and the 25% is measured on the decking rather than on the roof area or the covering. Two neighbouring rules on the same page are worth reading beside it, because they show where the City draws its lines generally: siding needs a permit "only if you are in any way changing the structure of the building," and a like-for-like window swap needs none while a change of window size does. Where a job is close to the line, settle it with the Building Commissioner on 317-881-8698 or at [email protected] before starting, because starting work without a required permit costs twice the permit base fee under the City's adopted fee schedule.

115 MPH, AND IT IS THE ONE ROOFING NUMBER THAT IS THE SAME EVERYWHERE IN INDIANA. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, county by county. The Johnson County row, numbered 41, gives 115 under the column headed "Wind Speed (MPH)", and every one of the 92 county rows gives the same figure. The column heading carries footnote a, which reads in full: "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4." So the figure is fixed but the exposure category behind it is not, and a wooded infill lot and an open field on the edge of the city are not the same case. The rest of the Johnson County row is not portable and should not be carried across county lines: Seismic Design Category B, ground snow 20 psf, 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, mean annual temperature 52.0 degrees Fahrenheit. Greenwood adds nothing of its own: the City publishes that it enforces the state codes and names no local amendment.

NO CITY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE BASE CODE GOVERNS UNMODIFIED. Roofing in Greenwood runs on the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule was read in full, all 245 sections. It contains no amendment to the International Residential Code reroofing section, Section R908, which does not appear in it at any point, and its only amendments anywhere in the roof assemblies chapter delete the word "approved" from an asphalt-shingle attachment section and from a flashing section, delete the word "printed" from another flashing section, and delete one sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section. Nothing in the state rule addresses layer limits, overlays or recovering an existing roof. Greenwood adds nothing of its own either, and could not: the City publishes that plan reviews and inspections are conducted in accordance with the current State of Indiana approved codes and lists the state residential rule as the code it enforces, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules. The Indiana State Building Commissioner puts the same point from the state side, in a published guidance document the City hosts on its own Building Codes page: the 2020 Indiana Residential Code "is in full force and effect statewide. Regardless of any established local enforcement policies or practices to the contrary, or whether a local building authority even exists in any particular jurisdiction or location in the state, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code governs all Class 2 residential construction, and its requirements, by law, must be followed." So the answer on a Greenwood job is the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof, in the 2018 edition, unchanged by Indiana and unchanged by the City. Read that rule out of the adopted edition, and confirm it with the Building Commissioner on 317-881-8698, rather than carrying an overlay allowance across from another state. One practical caution particular to Greenwood: an overlay avoids opening the deck, so it will usually fall on the permit-free side of the City's 25-percent-of-decking line, which means nobody at the City will be looking at the layer count before the work starts.

7% statewide. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate with no county or municipal add-on, so there is no Greenwood or Johnson County figure to add on top. The county-level taxes Indiana does levy are an income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food-and-beverage tax, none of which reaches roofing materials, and the Department of Revenue says so on the very page that enumerates its county taxes: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." How the tax falls on a roofing job depends on the shape of the contract rather than on the roof. Under a lump-sum contract the roofer pays the 7% on materials as the consumer and charges the homeowner no sales tax. Under a time-and-material contract, one that states the cost of materials and the cost of labor separately, the roofer buys the materials 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 in its own definition of a contractor, so there is no question that a roofer falls inside this treatment.