Permitting Authorities / City of High Point - Planning and Development Department, Inspections Services
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in High Point, NC?
Adopted code
City of High Point - Planning and Development Department, Inspections Services
No, High Point, NC does not require a permit for like-for-like roof replacement (City of High Point - Planning and Development Department, Inspections Services). G.S. 160D-1110(c) provides: "No permit issued under Article 9 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following: (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The State's amendment to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code adds: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." The statutory exclusion reaches a single-family residence; duplexes and multi-family buildings are outside it. G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same thing in the building code statute itself: "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof approved under subsection (e) for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code and costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less in any single family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following". So a tear-off and reroof of a single-family house costing $40,000 or less, with no more than 15% of the deck replaced and no load-bearing work, needs no building permit under the statute; work outside those conditions does. High Point's own permit documents still print older, lower dollar lines that track the state's superseded permit threshold (the statutory figure rose to $40,000 for permit applications from October 1, 2023): its Over the Counter Permit Application lists, under BUILDING, "Re-roofing (>$20,000)*" with the footnote "*If less than $20,000, no permit is required." (the form's footer reads "Valid through December 2025"; it is the application the City links as read on September 26, 2026), and the City's FY 25-26 Comprehensive Fee Schedule prices a Residential Over-The-Counter "Re-Roofing (>$15,000 value)" permit at $75.00. These are the City's older figures; the statute's $40,000 line is the one stated above. The City's Permits Required page says "Please contact our office at (336) 883-3151 for additional information on if a permit is required for your project." Where a permit is needed, a residential reroof is a Residential Over-the-Counter permit, applied for through Accela Citizen Access or at the Development Services Center; the City states that "The permit lists all required inspections." For a house in a local historic district, the City's Residential Over-the-Counter page says a Certificate of Appropriateness "may be required if the structure is located in a local historic district or is a Guilford County Historic Landmark.".
Roof code checklist: High Point, NC
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
City of High Point, North Carolina
Address
211 S. Hamilton St., Suite 316, High Point, NC 27260
Contact
- url: https://www.highpointnc.gov/2978/Permits-Required
- phone: 336-883-3151
- email: [email protected]
Roofing permit required
Not required
Registration details
- state_level: North Carolina's general contractor licence reaches anyone who undertakes to construct "any building, highway, public utilities, grading or any improvement or structure where the cost of the undertaking is forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more" (G.S. 87-1(a)); roofing is a specialty licence classification, "S(Roofing)", under the Licensing Board for General Contractors' rule 21 NCAC 12A .0202. G.S. 87-1(b)(2) excludes a person who "constructs or alters a building on land owned by that person" where "the building is intended solely for occupancy by that person and his family" and the person complies with G.S. 87-14. Whether a particular reroof reaches $40,000 is a fact about that job, which this record cannot know.
- city_level: High Point sets no roofing contractor licence or registration of its own; its Code of Ordinances Title 9, Chapter 2 asks a permit applicant for "evidence that he has obtained a certificate from the appropriate state licensing board for such contractors, architect or engineer, if it be required from the work involved" (Sec. 9-2-42). The City's Obtaining a Permit page states: "For almost all residential or commercial projects, the person performing construction-related work must be a State licensed contractor when the work involves: (1) construction for projects costing $40,000 or more, (2) plumbing, (3) mechanical, (4) electrical, (5) fire protection, and (6) gas. An unlicensed contractor or person for hire can perform only building construction work on projects that cost less than $40,000 AND cannot perform any plumbing, mechanical, electrical, fire protection or gas work." It adds that an unlicensed contractor or person for hire "must complete the Unlicensed Contractor Form" as part of the permit application, and that a homeowner using the owner-occupied exemption must "Execute a verified Work By Owner Affidavit ... that attests to all exemption requirements."
Permit process note
G.S. 160D-1110(c) provides: "No permit issued under Article 9 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following: (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The State's amendment to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code adds: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." The statutory exclusion reaches a single-family residence; duplexes and multi-family buildings are outside it. G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same thing in the building code statute itself: "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof approved under subsection (e) for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code and costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less in any single family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following". So a tear-off and reroof of a single-family house costing $40,000 or less, with no more than 15% of the deck replaced and no load-bearing work, needs no building permit under the statute; work outside those conditions does. High Point's own permit documents still print older, lower dollar lines that track the state's superseded permit threshold (the statutory figure rose to $40,000 for permit applications from October 1, 2023): its Over the Counter Permit Application lists, under BUILDING, "Re-roofing (>$20,000)*" with the footnote "*If less than $20,000, no permit is required." (the form's footer reads "Valid through December 2025"; it is the application the City links as read on September 26, 2026), and the City's FY 25-26 Comprehensive Fee Schedule prices a Residential Over-The-Counter "Re-Roofing (>$15,000 value)" permit at $75.00. These are the City's older figures; the statute's $40,000 line is the one stated above. The City's Permits Required page says "Please contact our office at (336) 883-3151 for additional information on if a permit is required for your project." Where a permit is needed, a residential reroof is a Residential Over-the-Counter permit, applied for through Accela Citizen Access or at the Development Services Center; the City states that "The permit lists all required inspections." For a house in a local historic district, the City's Residential Over-the-Counter page says a Certificate of Appropriateness "may be required if the structure is located in a local historic district or is a Guilford County Historic Landmark."
Inspection requirements
The City states that "The type of inspections required for a specific project are listed on the issued permit. It is the responsibility of the permit holder to schedule the required inspections at the appropriate time in the construction and development process." Inspections are requested through Accela Citizen Access; "Inspections may be requested until 6 am through Accela Citizen Access (ACA) for that business day."
Adopted code
The 2018 North Carolina Residential Code is the edition in force; the 2024 edition has been adopted but has no effective date. High Point's permit materials name the state code: the City's Residential Construction Plan Submittal Requirements state "Plans must be prepared in accordance with the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code.", its Residential Construction permit page says "The structural plans must comply with the current version of the North Carolina Residential Code.", and its Over the Counter Permit Application offers "2018 NC State Building Code" and "2024 NC State Building Code" as the applicable-code choices. The City's codified Code of Ordinances, Title 9, Chapter 2 (Inspection Regulations), still names older state volumes by edition: Sec. 9-2-3 adopts "The North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code, Volume I-B, 1978 edition", and Sec. 9-2-8 provides that amendments to the codes adopted by reference "shall be effective in the city at the time the amendments are filed with the city clerk or building inspector." That chapter, read in full (Articles A through D), contains no roofing provision of its own. Two state amendments to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code bear directly on a reroof: "R905.2.8.5 Drip Edge. Deleted. Not required unless required by the roof covering manufacturer installation instructions." and "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work."
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — Neither High Point's Code of Ordinances Title 9, Chapter 2 (Inspection Regulations, Articles A through D) nor the State's amendments to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code (adopted December 2017 through December 2024) contains an impact-rating requirement for roof coverings; no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact requirement appears in the City's code or the state amendments.
Repair permit threshold
G.S. 160D-1110(c) provides: "No permit issued under Article 9 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following: (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The State's amendment to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code adds: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." The statutory exclusion reaches a single-family residence; duplexes and multi-family buildings are outside it. G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same thing in the building code statute itself: "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof approved under subsection (e) for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code and costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less in any single family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following". High Point's own permit documents still print older, lower dollar lines that track the state's superseded permit threshold (the statutory figure rose to $40,000 for permit applications from October 1, 2023): its Over the Counter Permit Application lists, under BUILDING, "Re-roofing (>$20,000)*" with the footnote "*If less than $20,000, no permit is required." (the form's footer reads "Valid through December 2025"; it is the application the City links as read on September 26, 2026), and the City's FY 25-26 Comprehensive Fee Schedule prices a Residential Over-The-Counter "Re-Roofing (>$15,000 value)" permit at $75.00. These are the City's older figures; the statute's $40,000 line is the one stated above. The City's Permits Required page states: "Construction permits are required as prescribed in NC General Statute 143–138 and NC General Statute 160D-1110. Please contact our office at (336) 883-3151 for additional information on if a permit is required for your project." A reroof that replaces more than 15% of the roof deck or any load-bearing framing, costs more than $40,000, is on a duplex or multi-family building, or uses materials the code does not permit falls outside the exclusion and needs a permit.
Roof layer limit / recover
North Carolina amends the reroofing section of its residential code: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." High Point adds no layer rule of its own; its Code of Ordinances Title 9, Chapter 2 (Inspection Regulations), read in full, contains no roofing provision. The conditions under which the North Carolina Residential Code allows a new covering over an existing one are in its reroofing section (R908.3.1) and are not restated here.
Deck & sheathing requirements
The State's amendment to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code allows deck replacement within a roof replacement: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." Whether the work is structural matters for the permit question, because G.S. 160D-1110(c)(1) keeps "The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures" outside the statutory permit exclusion. High Point's Code of Ordinances Title 9, Chapter 2 (read in full) contains no roof deck or sheathing provision of its own; the North Carolina Residential Code's roof sheathing provisions (Section R803) apply and are not restated here.
Sales & use tax
High Point lies in four counties, and the combined North Carolina sales and use tax rate depends on which one the job is in: 6.75% in Guilford County and 7% in Davidson, Forsyth and Randolph Counties (the 4.75% state rate plus the county's local rate, per the NC Department of Revenue's current rate table as read September 26, 2026, which carries rate changes effective July 1, 2026). The City's own annexation petition asks "In which county (or counties) is the property to be annexed located? Guilford / Davidson / Randolph / Forsyth". Repair and replacement are taxed differently. The Department's Services to Real Property Taxability Chart lists "Complete replacement of roofing systems" as a Capital Improvement, and lists "Repair, maintain, or partially replace all types of roofing systems" as Taxable. On a capital improvement, the Department states that "The real property contractor is the consumer of the item that the real property contractor purchases, installs, or applies for others to fulfill a real property contract", so the roofer pays the tax on the materials it buys for a complete replacement. A repair, maintenance or partial replacement is a taxable repair, maintenance and installation service, charged at the combined rate for the county where the job is.
Local roofing hub
More roof permit pages in North Carolina
Related guides
The City of High Point's Planning and Development Department issues building, trade and zoning permits for work in the City through its Development Services Center and Accela Citizen Access, and its Inspections Services staff carry out the inspections each permit lists.
Hail reports near High Point, NC
- Reports, last 24 months
- 4
- Largest, last 24 months
- 2.00 in Mar 16, 2025
- Most recent
- Mar 16, 2025 2.00 in
- Reports, last 5 years
- 15
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database and daily storm reports (reports since the start of the current year are preliminary), within 10 miles of High Point, NC (Census point). Data through Sep 30, 2026. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
Working an insurance claim in High Point, NC? Everything on this page (drip edge, ice & water shield, inspections, Class 4 rules) formatted as a claim-ready evidence pack: verbatim ordinance quotes, code section cites, verification dates, and official source links, ready to attach to a supplement. See a real sample pack (PDF, 4 pages, free).
Buy this jurisdiction's pack: $12 Delivered by email within minutes.
Questions about the High Point, NC pack?
Not ready to buy, or need a different jurisdiction? Tell us and we’ll reply directly.