City of Hillsboro, North Dakota - Building Permits

City of Hillsboro, North Dakota

city

19 South Main Street, Hillsboro, ND 58045

Required

Required

Building permits in Hillsboro are applied for at City Hall, 19 South Main Street / PO Box 400, Hillsboro, ND 58045, phone (701) 636-4620 (the City's Building Permit Guidelines sheet lists a separate direct line, 701 636-4360, for permit questions). The City's Building Permit Guidelines sheet sorts every project into one of four fee sections; re-roofing ("New shingles") sits in Section Two at a flat $25.00 fee. Two application forms exist - Commercial and Residential, identical in format - and the completed Building Permit Application is emailed to [email protected] or filed at City Hall; the form warns that "incomplete applications will cause delays in the routing/review and permitting process." The application itself has a "Roofing Material" and "Color" field under Building Details, and separate "ND Contractor License No." fields for the General and Foundation Contractor. Per the Guidelines sheet, the City Auditor or their designee has up to two business days to route the application (approving it outright if it falls in Section One, or forwarding it to an Outside Building Inspector, a Local Building Inspector, or the City's surveying contractor AE2S as the job requires); the Building Inspector then has three business days to review and sign off, after which the file returns to the Auditor for billing and permit issuance. A permit is valid for one year, with up to a six-month extension available before Planning and Zoning approval is required for more time.

FLOATING ADOPTION, NO LOCAL AMENDMENT - Hillsboro carries the North Dakota State Building Code exactly as the state writes it, with nothing added or subtracted. City of Hillsboro Code of Ordinances Title XV, Chapter 15.01, Section 15.0101 (Adoption of Code), reads in full: "The erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, demolition, conversion, occupancy, equipment, uses, height, area and maintenance of buildings or structures in the City shall meet with the provisions of the rules and regulations of the North Dakota State Building Code and any future updates and amendments to that code, a copy of which is on file with the City Auditor. That code is hereby adopted and made a part of this Title by reference with the exception of the following Sections affecting local conditions in the City." No exceptions are then listed anywhere in Chapter 15.01, which runs straight from that sentence into Section 15.0102 (Application and Licensing). Title XV's own table of contents lists a single chapter, 15.01, so this is the whole of the City's building-code text - there is no separate roofing chapter or amendment elsewhere in the Code of Ordinances. Under NDCC 54-21.3-03(6), an electing city "shall adopt and enforce the state building code" and "may... amend the state building code to conform to local needs" - Hillsboro has elected to enforce the state code (it runs a permit and inspection process) but has not exercised the amendment option. THE GOVERNING EDITION, established from the state's own publication rather than assumed: the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Division of Community Services states on its own Building Codes page that "On Sept. 11, 2025 eligible cities and counties... adopted the 2024 updates to the IBC, IRC, IMC, and IFGC and the proposed amendments. The 2024 versions of the International Energy Conservation Code and the International Existing Building Code and proposed amendments to these codes were also adopted. The new North Dakota State Building Code will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026." That edition has been current for over eight months as of this record's verification date. The state's own 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book (effective January 1, 2026) publishes the full amendment text; its Section 12, "2024 International Residential Code Amendments," was read start to finish and amends only Chapters 1 through 6 of the IRC (Administration through Wall Construction) plus Chapter 11 (Energy Efficiency) and Chapter 21 (Hydronic Piping) - it contains no amendment to Chapter 7, 8, 9 or 10, and no jurisdiction-specific Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria) is published in it for any city. Plumbing and electrical trades follow separate North Dakota state standards (State Plumbing Code, National Electrical Code with North Dakota wiring standards) referenced throughout the amendment book rather than the IRC's own plumbing/electrical chapters.

Required — The International Residential Code drip-edge requirement for asphalt-shingle roof coverings applies in Hillsboro unamended. City of Hillsboro Code of Ordinances Title XV, Chapter 15.01 (the whole of the City's building-code chapter) was read in full and contains no technical building provision of its own - only the floating adoption, a licensing cross-reference, a fee-setting clause and a completion-timeline rule. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, read in full in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, do not reach Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). So there is no local softening and no local addition, and the requirement stands as the base 2024 International Residential Code writes it. The operative International Code Council text of the drip-edge section sits behind the ICC paywall; this record does not restate it. Take the material, extent and fastener spacing from the 2024 International Residential Code itself or from the City Building Inspector. About drip edge

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Hillsboro, at either level of government, and that is established by reading the instruments rather than by failing to find one. CITY LEVEL: City of Hillsboro Code of Ordinances Title XV, Chapter 15.01 - the whole of the City's building-code text, Sections 15.0101 through 15.0105 - contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 provision and no impact, hail or roof-covering rating requirement of any kind; its content is limited to the floating adoption, a licensing cross-reference, a fee clause and a completion timeline. The City's Building Permit Guidelines sheet likewise names no roofing material rating of any kind. STATE LEVEL: the North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were read in full - the numbered section amendments from Section 104.8 through Section 2103.3 - and none addresses roofing at all, let alone an impact rating. Impact resistance under UL 2218 is a hail rating, distinct from a fire classification (ASTM E108/UL 790) or a wind rating (ASTM D3161/D7158); nothing in Hillsboro or North Dakota law requires it.

NO DOLLAR OR SQUARE-FOOT THRESHOLD - Hillsboro's permit fee schedule is organized by CATEGORY of work, not by job value or size, and re-roofing is placed in a category that always requires a permit regardless of job value. The City's Building Permit Guidelines sheet sorts every project into one of four sections. "New shingles" is the first item listed under "SECTION TWO (Building required $25.00 fee)," alongside electrical work adding usage, HVAC ductwork changes, a standby generator, interior remodels that do not change the structure or layout, in-place replacement of a shed or fence, a no-dig fence, and temporary storage containers. By contrast, "SECTION ONE (No Building Permit Required)" covers only non-roofing minor work such as fixture and outlet replacement, painting, water heater and appliance replacement, and fence or shed repair - re-roofing is not on that list. So any re-roof in Hillsboro, of any size or cost, draws the flat $25.00 Section Two building permit fee; there is no minimum job value or square footage that exempts a smaller repair. The City's application-routing process (per the same Guidelines sheet): the applicant submits a Building Permit Application to the City Auditor's office, the Auditor or their designee has up to two business days to forward it to the Outside or Local Building Inspector, the Inspector has three business days to review and sign off, and the file then returns to the Auditor for billing and permit issuance.

Hillsboro imposes no roof-recover or layer-count rule of its own, so the question falls back to the base code. City of Hillsboro Code of Ordinances Title XV, Chapter 15.01 - the whole of the City's building-code text, Sections 15.0101 through 15.0105 - was read in full and contains no roof-covering, shingle, recover or re-roofing provision of any kind; its only content is the floating adoption itself, a licensing cross-reference, a fee-setting clause and a completion-timeline rule. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were also read in full - the IRC amendment section runs from Section 104.8 (Chapter 1) through Section 2103.3 (Chapter 21) - and none of the amended sections falls in Chapter 8 or Chapter 9; Chapters 7 through 10 are not touched at all. So the base code applies unmodified: how many roof-covering layers a house in Hillsboro may carry is whatever the 2024 International Residential Code itself provides. Base-code rule, read at 2024 IRC Section R908.4, Roof Recover, Exceptions, 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" (nor where the existing covering is water soaked or deteriorated, or is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile). One existing layer may therefore be recovered; a second existing layer forces tear-off to the deck. Confirm the count with the City Building Inspector before bidding an overlay.

Hillsboro publishes no roof sheathing or decking standard of its own. City of Hillsboro Code of Ordinances Title XV, Chapter 15.01, Sections 15.0101 through 15.0105, was read in full and contains no sheathing provision, span table, panel thickness minimum or fastener schedule - its only content is the floating adoption of the North Dakota State Building Code, a licensing cross-reference, a fee-setting clause and a completion-timeline rule. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, read in full from Section 104.8 through Section 2103.3 in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, contain no amendment to Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction), the chapter that carries the IRC's roof sheathing provisions. So the deck sheathing requirement is the base code's, unmodified - the 2024 International Residential Code as adopted through Title XV. That operative text sits behind the International Code Council paywall and is not restated here.

8% total in Hillsboro - 5% North Dakota state sales tax plus 3% City of Hillsboro local sales, use and gross receipts tax, with no county tax component. STATE: the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner states "The North Dakota sales tax rate is 5% for most retail sales." LOCAL: the Office of State Tax Commissioner's Local Taxes by Location Guideline (rates effective July 1, 2026) lists Hillsboro's Sales, Use, and Gross Receipts tax at a current rate of 3% (local code 168), built up through four rate changes - 1% effective 10-1-98, 1% effective 1-1-03, an additional 0.5% effective 7-1-21, and a further 0.5% effective 4-1-25 - with a per-sale maximum-tax refund cap that rose alongside each increase, currently $100.00 per sale as of the 4-1-25 change. NO COUNTY COMPONENT: the guideline marks with shading every city that also carries a county tax obligation, and Hillsboro's row is unshaded; "Traill" does not appear anywhere else in the guideline as a county levying its own sales tax. A materials purchase in Hillsboro that runs past a single $100-tax sale may qualify for a refund of the excess local tax under the guideline's Maximum Tax Refund provision.