City of Hobart, Indiana - Building Department

City of Hobart, Indiana

city

414 Main St., Hobart, IN 46342

Required

Required

EVERYTHING IS ONLINE SINCE DECEMBER 1, 2025. The City's Residential Construction Requirements sheet states: "Effective December 1st, 2025, the City of Hobart will be using OpenGov software for permit submittals. The link for OpenGov to submit your projects is available on our website at www.cityofhobart.org. This software allows you to apply for your permit online. Once it is reviewed, you'll be able to pay for and print your permit as well." The City's Applications and Forms page describes the same system for licences: "Apply for or renew your license, permitting, upload plans, schedule inspections, check on plan reviews, receive real time results and respond to comments from City staff. Application, permit and re-inspection fees can also be made with a credit card through the secure OpenGov System." WHERE AND WHO. The Building Department is at 414 Main Street, Hobart, on (219) 942-1722, email [email protected], open 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. The department "is responsible for issuing building permits and performing inspections for both commercial and residential new construction and remodeling projects within the city limits", and it also oversees contractor licensing and code enforcement complaints. Use the City's own "NEED A PERMIT?" guide to avoid knocking on the wrong door: roofing is Building Department work, while signs go to Planning on (219) 942-7985, right-of-way and fill permits to Engineering on (219) 942-8271, and stormwater and sewer permits to Sanitary and Stormwater on (219) 942-3619. WHAT A RESIDENTIAL SUBMITTAL ASKS FOR. The City's residential checklist is aimed at new construction and lists the building and MEP permit application, residential energy code compliance for new construction, homeowners association approval if applicable, copies of signed contracts including MEPs, a complete subcontractor list, one set of construction drawings, Lake County well and septic approvals if applicable, a Merrillville Conservancy District or Gary Sewers tap permit if applicable, and a plat of survey. The line that reaches every job, in the City's own capitals and parentheses, is the subcontractor list: "Complete Subcontractor List (ALL Contractors must have a City of Hobart Contractor's License)". WASTE. City Code § 150.060(G) requires every building permit applicant to provide "a plan describing how the solid waste generated by the construction project will be disposed of, which plan shall be subject to approval" - so a tear-off needs its disposal route stated on the application. SCHEDULING INSPECTIONS: a minimum of 24 hours in advance on (219) 942-1722, with the permit number and jobsite address to hand. Keep a copy of the approved permit and plans on site, and provide ladders, scaffolds and testing equipment. Calling for required inspections is the contractor's legal duty under § 150.008 and the Building Official may revoke a licence for failing to do it. Inspections beyond three are $65.00 each, payable in advance. APPEALS AND DISCIPLINE. Contractor licensing matters go to the City of Hobart Contractors Board of Licensing and Registration, which meets monthly at Hobart City Hall no earlier than 5:00 p.m. and is subject to the Indiana Open Door Law, and which can fine, suspend or revoke a licence. ONE PROVISION THAT ONLY BITES ON BIG JOBS: § 150.060(H) attaches a set of mandatory labour-compliance conditions - debarment history, worker classification, workers compensation, payroll records on five business days' notice, timely wage payment - to permits for any commercial building or any residential building of at least five dwelling units where the work is reasonably estimated at more than $250,000 inclusive of materials and labour. A single-family reroof is well below it; a large apartment reroof may not be, and non-compliance there is a stop-work order on the whole project.

STATE-SET, ADOPTED LOCALLY AS A FLOATING REFERENCE - AND HOBART'S OWN ORDINANCE STILL PRINTS THE OLD NAMES. City Code § 150.059(A) provides that "Building rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, as set out in the following subchapters of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code, are incorporated by reference in this code and shall include later amendments to those subchapters as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein", and its list includes "Article 14, One and Two Family Dwelling Code". A house re-roof falls under Article 14. WHAT THE ORDINANCE NAMES UNDER ARTICLE 14 IS OUT OF DATE ON ITS FACE, AND THE FLOATING CLAUSE IS WHY THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE ANSWER. Section 150.059(A)(2) itemises Article 14 as "(a) Council of American Building Officials One and Two Family Dwelling Code; (b) CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code Amendments; and (c) Standard for Permanent Installation of Manufactured Homes" - the CABO-era titles, which Indiana has long since replaced. The ordinance adopts the ARTICLE and says in the same sentence that it takes later amendments as published, and IC 22-13-2-3(b) says the same thing as a matter of statute: a reference to the rules "by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code (IAC), 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 to the Indiana Administrative Code." Hobart names no edition. On top of that, 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) 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 residential code applying in Hobart is the current Article 14 rule whatever the older titles in the ordinance say - but do not be surprised to see the CABO wording quoted back at you from the Code, and do not build to it. WHAT ARTICLE 14 IS TODAY. The rule in force is 675 IAC 14-4.4, whose opening section provides that "That certain document being titled the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, published by the International Code Council ... is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out in this rule save and except those revisions made in this rule", and that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." It was filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in its article. The City points readers to the state itself: its Building Department pages carry an "Adopted Codes and Standards" link to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission rules page, and its Building Department page says "Permits enable the city to enforce provisions of the Indiana Building Code and local ordinances." WHAT INDIANA CHANGES IN THE ROOFING CHAPTER, read section by section: 675 IAC 14-4.4 makes exactly four amendments to the model code's roofing chapter. Section 84 deletes the text of the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic panel section without substitution - a whole sentence, not a word. Sections 85 and 86 delete the word "approved" from the asphalt shingle attachment section and from the flashing section. Section 87 deletes the word "printed" from the other-flashing section. Indiana makes no amendment at all to the model reroofing and roof-recover section. CURRENCY: the City states that the Hobart Municipal Code is current through January 30, 2026, and warns that "This Municipal Code and/or any other documents that appear on this site may not reflect the most current legislation adopted by the municipality" - the official version is held in the Clerk-Treasurer's Office, and individual ordinances adopted since 2013 are published separately.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED AND UNCONDITIONAL ON A SHINGLE ROOF. Hobart cannot vary it - 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" - and Chapter 150 of the Hobart Municipal Code contains no roof-covering provision to vary it with. The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full: "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 word "rood" in that passage is a typographical error in the published guidance and is quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends the flashing section only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch the drip edge subsection, so this text governs as published. The guidance closes the loophole a roofer might hope for: "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." Note that gutters are separate work in Hobart's permit guide, which lists "soffit, fascia, roofing, gutters" as distinct items, but the drip edge is part of the roof covering and is required whether or not gutters are being replaced. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN LAKE COUNTY, ALWAYS - THIS IS ONE OF THE TWENTY-SEVEN "YES" COUNTIES. Indiana deletes 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 per county. Row 45 is Lake, and it carries "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's ninety-two counties carry "Yes" there and they are the northern tier; the other sixty-five carry "No". The rest of the Lake County row is the northern Indiana set - wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree F, weathering Severe, air freezing index 2000, mean annual temperature 49.0 degrees F. Neighbouring Porter and LaPorte read "Yes" as well, so the whole lakeshore corridor is consistent. WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS ON A QUOTE: the State Building Commissioner explains that in a "No" county the barrier is required only where the shingle manufacturer's written installation instructions call for it, while in a "Yes" county the table itself requires it - "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". Hobart is in an always-required county. WHAT THE BARRIER HAS TO BE, from the version of the section actually in force, published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice 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. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal (67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." The section carries one exception: "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." So a detached unheated garage in Hobart is outside it, and a heated one is not. The guidance also warns that the barrier is a code matter and the warranty is not: "It is not the building code official's responsibility, however, nor is it the responsibility of this office, to enforce provisions of any manufacturer's or installer's warranty". About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO MID-ROOF OR ROOF-STAGE INSPECTION IS PRESCRIBED, AND HOBART PUBLISHES ITS RESIDENTIAL INSPECTION SCHEDULE IN FULL RATHER THAN LEAVING IT TO PRACTICE. The City's "Required Residential Inspections" sheet lists every required inspection with its permit type and its timing, from Pre-pour Footing through Pre-pour Foundation Walls, Post-Wall, Backfill, Groundwork, Pre-pour Other, Rough-in, Framing, Insulation, the trade Finals, the Building Final and the Certificate of Occupancy, and it adds a second table of "Other Inspections: (timing depends on needs)" covering electrical Service, Temporary Power, Concealment Ditch, Fireplace and Sewer/Water Service. Both tables were read in full and neither contains a roofing, roof-deck, in-progress roof or mid-roof inspection. WHAT DOES STILL APPLY. The Building Commissioner's general power is open-ended: City Code § 150.065 provides that "After the issuance of any building permit, the Building Commissioner shall make, or shall cause made, inspections of the work being done as are necessary to ensure full compliance with the provisions of this code and the terms of the permit", so confirm the inspection points for your particular permit when it is issued rather than assuming a re-roof is looked at only at the end. AND THE DUTY TO CALL IS THE CONTRACTOR'S, WITH THE LICENCE ON THE LINE. § 150.008 reads in full: "It shall be the duty of any contractor doing business within the city to call for required inspections by the Building Department. The Building Official may revoke the license of any contractor upon violation of this provision." The City's sheet adds the practical terms - schedule a minimum of 24 hours in advance on (219) 942-1722 between 8:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday with the permit number and jobsite address to hand, keep a copy of the approved permit and plans on site for the inspector, and provide the ladders, scaffolds and testing equipment needed to complete the inspection. Inspections beyond three cost $65.00 each and are payable in advance.

Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANCE REQUIREMENT APPLIES IN HOBART, AND THIS ANSWER RESTS ON BOTH INSTRUMENTS BEING READ RATHER THAN ON A FAILED SEARCH. Chapter 150 of the Hobart Municipal Code, "Building Regulations; Construction", and Chapter 115, "Contractor Licensing and Rental Registration", were both read for this point. Neither contains a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement, and neither contains any roof-covering provision at all: Chapter 150 adopts the state building rules by reference and then regulates permits, fees, inspections and enforcement, and its only mention of a roof is an asbestos testing requirement before a demolition permit. The state rule carries none either. 675 IAC 14-4.4 makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one concerns impact: it deletes the text of the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel systems, deletes the words "approved" from Section R905.2.6 on asphalt shingle attachment, deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 on flashing, and deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. Nor could Hobart add one: 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", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. An impact rating on a roof covering is the same subject matter as the state roofing chapter and would be a more stringent requirement, so a local mandate could not stand. TWO THINGS IN INDIANA THAT GET MISTAKEN FOR AN IMPACT MANDATE. "Class 2 construction", which appears on the Indiana State Building Commissioner's own roofing guidance and describes the buildings the residential code applies to, is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two family dwellings; it says nothing about a roof covering. And an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is a private contract term, not a code requirement anywhere in Indiana.

A $500 VALUE THRESHOLD, WHICH IS UNUSUAL AND IS THE ONE FIGURE TO KNOW. City Code § 150.061 provides that "A permit shall be obtained before beginning construction, alteration or repair of any building or structure, garage, driveway, or off street parking location including on site construction, or erection of any preassembled building or structure, of which the value exceeds $500, using forms furnished by the Building Department and all fees required by this code shall be paid to the City, payable at the Clerk-Treasurer's office." So the permit requirement attaches to a value over $500 rather than to the kind of work, and a full re-roof is comfortably over it while a genuinely small patch may not be. Settle the value question with the Building Department rather than assuming, because the same section makes the Building Official the one who approves the request and it lets the Official bring in drainage considerations. ROOFING IS NAMED BY THE CITY ITSELF. Hobart publishes a one-page "NEED A PERMIT?" guide directing work to the right department, and under BUILDING DEPARTMENT (219-942-1722) it reads: "Building permit work includes new construction, remodels, siding, windows, soffit, fascia, roofing, gutters, fences, decks, gazebos, pools, garages, solar, concrete and asphalt work, retaining walls, waterproofing, MEPs, underground storage tanks, etc." The Building Department page adds that "Building Permits are required prior to the start of any work." WHAT IT COSTS. City Code § 150.063(A)(1) sets the residential rate: "Minimum Permit Fees: $9.00 per $1,000.00 of estimated construction cost provided that the minimum permit fee total shall be $40.00." Additional inspections beyond three are $65.00 each under § 150.063(A)(3), "due and payable in advance for each inspection required in excess of 3, when additional inspections are necessary as a result of the owner or contractor's incomplete or deficient work, or the inspector's inability to gain access to the premises." So a $14,000 roof is roughly $126 in permit fee. WHO CARRIES THE FINE FOR WORKING WITHOUT ONE - AND IT IS THE ROOFER, NOT THE HOMEOWNER. § 150.060(A) fines a property owner up to $1,000 per day for starting without a permit, then adds: "If the work being performed without a Permit is being done by a Licensed Contractor, the Contractor, and not the property owner, shall be liable for the fine or fines imposed." A licensed contractor who starts early can also be referred to the Contractors Licensing Board for "an additional fine of up to $2,500 or the revocation of the Contractor's license, or both." PERMIT LIFE. Under § 150.060(B) to (D) a building permit carries its expiration date on its face, one year from the application date unless the Commissioner approves otherwise, extendable once for good cause; it expires early if work stops for more than 180 days; and - a trap for a roofer whose licence lapses mid-job - "The Building Permit expires if the Building Permit was obtained by a Licensed Contractor and the Contractor's License expires or is revoked before the work is complete." If a permit expires with work outstanding, work stops until a new permit issues, the new permit carries new fees, and "Fees paid on the expired permit shall not be credited toward the fee required for the new permit."

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model IRC Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, which opens "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". Row 45 is Lake County and it gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed (MPH)". Every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number and a roofer moving between counties does not have to re-check it. The same Lake County row gives seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, a 36 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 1 degree F, Severe weathering, an air freezing index of 2000 and a mean annual temperature of 49.0 degrees F. Hobart cannot raise or lower any of it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or more detailed than the state rules, and the Hobart Municipal Code states no wind figure of its own. EXPOSURE CATEGORY IS STILL A SITE DECISION, NOT A CITY NUMBER. Indiana amends the exposure-category section itself, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, to deal with part-built subdivisions: for a site where multiple detached one and two family dwellings, townhouses or other structures are to be constructed as part of a subdivision or master-planned community, or are otherwise designated as a developed area by the authority having jurisdiction, the exposure category for an individual structure is based on the site conditions that will exist once all adjacent structures on the site have been built, provided their construction in that section is expected to begin within two years. Settle the category for the particular site rather than assuming one, which matters on the open ground around Lake George and on the newer subdivisions south of the city.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE EXISTS IN HOBART, AND NONE COULD. Chapter 150 of the Hobart Municipal Code, "Building Regulations; Construction", was read for this point. It runs from § 150.001 to the street-numbering and plumbing subchapters and covers contractor licensing, moving of buildings, adoption of the state building rules, permits, fees, inspections, stop work orders, certificates of occupancy, excavations, fill activities, the unsafe building law and ADA compliance. It contains no roof-covering provision at all: its single mention of a roof is a demolition requirement to test roof materials for asbestos before a demolition permit issues. Nothing in the chapter addresses layers of roofing, recovering an existing roof, or tearing one off. Nor could the City write such a rule: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance "that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. THE ANSWER THEREFORE COMES FROM THE STATE RULE, WHICH DOES NOT AMEND IT. Indiana's residential rule, 675 IAC 14-4.4, runs to 245 numbered sections. Its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are a deletion of the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic section and deletions of the words "approved" and "printed" from the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections. It makes no amendment whatever to the model code's reroofing and roof-recover section, which does not appear anywhere in the Indiana rule. So the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here exactly as the International Code Council published it, unchanged by either Hobart or Indiana. A roofer planning a recover rather than a tear-off should establish the existing layer count and settle it against that code with the Building Department before quoting - and note that a tear-off changes the estimated construction cost the permit fee is calculated on, and that Hobart requires a plan for disposing of the construction waste as part of the permit submittal.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in Hobart or Lake County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - innkeeper's tax, food and beverage tax and local income tax - closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." The county-level tax Lake County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. WHO PAYS IT DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT, NOT ON THE ROOF. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its own definition of a contractor - "Examples of contractors include, but are not limited to, persons engaged in building, concrete work, carpentry, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical work, roofing, plastering, tile work, road construction, landscaping, installing underground sprinkler or drainage systems, and making other improvements or repairs to real property" - and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" is one "in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately"; a contractor working under one "is a retail merchant that is selling the construction material that it incorporates into real property, and must be registered with the department and collect sales tax on the material portion of their contracts", and may buy the material exempt for resale. A contractor working under any other form, such as a lump sum, is not a retail merchant: they "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and "do not collect sales tax from their customers". On labour the bulletin adds that "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." The bulletin is Department guidance and says of itself that information bulletins are not binding on the department or the taxpayer, so settle your own contract form with an accountant. ONE THING PECULIAR TO THIS CORNER OF THE STATE: Hobart is a short drive from the Illinois line, and a crew buying materials in Illinois is buying under a different state's sales tax rules, with their own local add-ons, not Indiana's. Keep the two states' invoices apart. A NOTE ON HOW THE PERMIT FEE INTERACTS: the Hobart residential permit fee is calculated on estimated construction cost at $9.00 per $1,000.00, so how the contract is written affects the fee base as well as the tax.