City of Jeffersonville, Indiana - Building Commission

City of Jeffersonville, Indiana

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500 Quartermaster Court, Suite 200, Jeffersonville, IN 47130

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WHERE AND HOW. The Building Commission is at Jeffersonville City Hall, 500 Quartermaster Court, Suite 200, Jeffersonville, on 812-285-6415, fax 812-285-6468; the Building Commissioner is Larry Wallace and the office lists a permit clerk, a building inspector, an HVAC and plumbing inspector, an electrical inspector and two code enforcement officers by name. Filing is online: the City states that it "has recently moved to an online application and permitting system", that "Free accounts can be set up and all permits and applications can now be filed and paid for online", and it publishes the portal address. WHAT THE CITY SAYS A PERMIT IS FOR: "A permit gives you legal permission to start construction or renovations on a home or commercial building in accordance with approved plans. The permitting system is required under state code and local ordinance." On scope, the City puts it in general terms - "In broad terms, permits are required to (1) construct, enlarge or remodel a building or home; (2) to install, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, heating and air or plumbing system; and (3) to demolish commercial or residential properties and/or accessory structures." The City does not publish a work-exempt list or a roofing-specific threshold, and its codified ordinances are not available through a source this entry could read, so confirm with the Building Commission on 812-285-6415 whether a particular re-roof needs a permit before pricing the job on the assumption that it does not. WHAT IT COSTS IF IT IS TREATED AS A BUILDING PERMIT: the City's residential fee schedule prices RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION, "including all new construction, additions, alterations and accessory structures", at $.08 per square foot "calculated from the extreme outside dimensions of the structure", with a $35 minimum, and additional inspections at $35. Payment is due in full when the permit is issued; cards attract a 2.95 percent processing fee. A CHECK THAT CATCHES PEOPLE OUT: any property owner in the Oak Park Conservancy District must get that District's written pre-approval BEFORE applying to the City for a building permit, and must produce the signed pre-approval form with the application. AND ONE MORE: the City may deny a permit to an owner who fails to meet requirements, and may revoke a homeowner-issued permit "if inspections of work reveal substandard, unsafe or otherwise insufficient workmanship", requiring the homeowner to hire a licensed contractor to correct and complete the work.

STATE-SET, AND THE CITY SAYS SO ITSELF. The residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 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. Jeffersonville describes its own role in those terms: the Building Commissioner's Office "operates under the authority granted to cities to regulate public safety under Indiana Code 36-4-9", and "The department inspects buildings for the purpose of enforcing state building regulations, including those found in IC 22-11, 22-12, 22-13, 22-14 and 22-15, and federal guidelines established by the United States Access Board." The City adds that "The permitting system is required under state code and local ordinance." No Indiana city can be on a different residential code: 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. If a Jeffersonville ordinance does cite the state rule, that citation moves forward with it rather than freezing, because IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a reference to the Indiana Administrative Code "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." ONE THING THIS RECORD DOES NOT COVER. The City of Jeffersonville's codified ordinances are published only through a vendor site that refuses automated access, so the City's own building chapter has not been read for this entry. That does not put the residential code in doubt - the state rule governs regardless - but it does mean local administrative detail such as permit thresholds is stated here only where the City publishes it directly. One vocabulary warning: "Class 2" in Indiana is a STRUCTURE class, broadly one and two family dwellings, and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. Jeffersonville 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." 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, quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so this text governs as published. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN CLARK COUNTY - BUT READ THE SECOND HALF OF THIS BEFORE LEAVING IT OFF. This is a county-by-county answer in Indiana. The state 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 10 is Clark, and it carries "No" 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; Clark County, on the Ohio River opposite Louisville, is at the opposite end of the state and is not one of them. The rest of the Clark County row is wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, foundation depth 24 inches, winter design temperature 9 degrees F and weathering Severe. THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS CAN STILL REQUIRE ONE, AND THE STATE SAYS SO IN TERMS. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020 explains that Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing materials to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions, and concludes that "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)." Clark County is in the second group. So the correct answer on a Jeffersonville job is to read the shingle manufacturer's published instructions for that product: if they call for an ice barrier, the code requires you to follow them, and a warranty may depend on it as well. Jeffersonville could not add a requirement of its own in any event, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Jeffersonville. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one of them 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. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. Nor could Jeffersonville impose one by ordinance: 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 squarely the same subject matter as the state roofing chapter, and it would be a more stringent requirement, so a local mandate could not stand. This answer therefore rests on the state rule and the statutory ceiling rather than on a reading of the City's own codified ordinances, which are published through a vendor site that refuses automated access. Two things that get mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: the phrase "Class 2", which is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two family dwellings rather than any rating of the roof covering; and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term and not a code requirement.

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". The Clark County row gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed", in miles per hour, and every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number. The same row gives seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, a 24 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 9 degrees F and Severe weathering. Jeffersonville 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 detailed than the state rules. Wind exposure category remains a site-by-site determination made under the residential code rather than a figure the city or state sets - the table's own footnote marker on the Wind Speed column points to Section R301.2.1.4 - so settle the exposure category for the particular site rather than assuming one.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE IS POSSIBLE IN INDIANA. The residential code that applies in Jeffersonville is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule runs to 245 numbered sections and its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are word and sentence deletions in the rooftop photovoltaic section and in the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections. It makes no amendment at all 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 published. Jeffersonville could not change it if it wanted to: 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 state rules, and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. The number of layers a particular roof may carry therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself, and a roofer planning a recover rather than a tear-off should settle the existing layer count with the Building Commission against that code before quoting.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in Jeffersonville or Clark 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 Clark County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. ONE THING PECULIAR TO THIS CITY: Jeffersonville sits on the Ohio River opposite Louisville, and a crew that buys materials in Kentucky is buying under a different state's sales tax rules, not Indiana's. Where the material is delivered and where it is incorporated into the building are what matter, so keep the two states' invoices apart. WHO PAYS THE INDIANA TAX 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 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 a roofer working both banks of the river should settle their own position with an accountant.