Johnson County Department of Planning and Zoning - Building Department

Johnson County, Indiana (unincorporated areas)

county

86 W Court St, Franklin, IN 46131

WHERE, AND WHICH OFFICE. The Building Department sits inside the Department of Planning and Zoning at 86 W Court St, Franklin, IN 46131, on (317) 346-4350, email [email protected], open Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, with Michele Hansard as Director of Planning and Zoning and Keith Biddlecombe as Chief Building Official. It serves only the unincorporated county: the Department directs applicants to the County's online GIS map, where property inside a town or city limit is shaded and labelled CITY, and a job inside a city or town is for that municipality's own office. TIME. The Department states: "The average review time on a building permit application is 10 business days." Inspections: "Residential inspections MUST BE scheduled at least one (1) business day prior to inspection(s)." They are booked with Planning and Zoning staff, not by voicemail, and apart from footings are scheduled by the day rather than by the hour. MONEY. Under the fee schedule adopted by Ordinance 2016-13 and effective January 1, 2017, a residential alteration, remodel, repair or addition is $150 plus ten cents a square foot, a re-inspection is $50 the first time, $200 the second and $300 the third, a missed inspection is $150, a stop work order reinstatement is twice the original fee or $500 whichever is greater, construction under a stop work order is fined $300 a day, and permit fees are tripled for work begun before a required permit. WHAT A PERMITTED JOB NEEDS. A current contractor listing if a contractor pulls the permit, or a notarized exemption affidavit if the homeowner does, plus the application, plans and site plan the residential packet lists. For an ordinary reroof, remember that roofing and re-roofing are exceptions to the building permit requirement, so none of this applies unless the office tells you otherwise.

THE COUNTY ADOPTS NO EDITION OF ITS OWN; ITS ADOPTION IS EXPRESSLY FLOATING, AND THE COUNTY SAYS IT HAS NO AMENDMENTS. Section 32-6-5-1(A) of the County Code, Adoption of rules by reference, provides that "the rules of the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission as set out in I.A.C. Title 675 are hereby incorporated by reference in this Code and shall include any later amendments to those rules", and lists Article 14, the Indiana Residential Code, among the articles reached. The Building Department's page quotes the same adoption from Ordinance 2008-02 and then states: "Johnson County does not have any adopted amendments or individual building codes." WHAT ARTICLE 14 CURRENTLY REACHES. The Indiana residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, whose first section incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, and provides: "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." STATE LAW POINTS THE SAME WAY. IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a local reference to the commission's rules by citation 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", and IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides: "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 County could not write a roofing amendment of its own, and its Building Code article contains none: it covers title, definitions, permits and exceptions, the fee schedule, inspections, enforcement, the rule adoption, unsafe buildings and a road impact fee, and no technical roof-covering provision. The County Code text used here is the codification published by the County, stated as current through March 8, 2024.

Required — REQUIRED, BY THE STATE RATHER THAN BY THE COUNTY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE JOB IS PERMITTED. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020, Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge in Class 2 Construction with Asphalt Shingles, reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5: "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)." The same passage goes on to set how far the drip edge extends below the sheathing and back onto the deck, requires it to be mechanically fastened "at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c.", and closes: "Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5. Johnson County has no drip-edge provision of its own and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars it from adding or removing one. The County's permit exception for roofing removes the permit, not this requirement: the same guidance states that the 2020 Indiana Residential Code "is in full force and effect statewide." About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN JOHNSON COUNTY, AND THAT IS ONLY HALF THE ANSWER. Indiana replaces the model climatic table with 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 41, Johnson, reads No in the column headed Ice Shield Underlayment Required. THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS CAN STILL MAKE IT MANDATORY, AND THE STATE SAYS SO. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020 explains 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)." Johnson County is in the second group, so read the written instructions for the specific shingle being installed: where they call for an ice barrier, the code requires it here. The County's Building Code article contains no occurrence of ice or snow and adds nothing of its own, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars it from doing so. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO ROOFING STAGE APPEARS IN THE COUNTY'S ENACTED INSPECTION LIST, AND A REROOF CARRIES NO PERMIT TO HANG ONE ON. Section 32-6-3-1(C) of the County Code lists the inspections the County performs: footing or post hole, foundation, underslab plumbing, structural rough-in, electrical rough-in, plumbing rough-in, heating and cooling rough-in, pool bonding, meter tag, final occupancy, and special inspections of a type or stage requested or required by the Director, giving above ceiling, firestopping, open hole and utility disconnection as examples. No roof, dry-in, underlayment or deck stage is among them, and roofing and re-roofing are exceptions to the building permit requirement under section 32-6-2-1(B). The one reservation is written into the same section: "All construction activity shall be subject to periodic inspections by the Director, irrespective of whether a building permit has been or is required to be obtained." So there is no mid-roof hold point to schedule around, but the County keeps the right to look.

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. Neither the Building Code of Johnson County nor the state rule it adopts imposes an impact rating on a roof covering. The County Code as published contains no occurrence of UL 2218 or Class 4; its single "Class IV" is a driveway approach category in the highway access rules, and every occurrence of "impact" in the Building Code article belongs to the road impact fee chapter. 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement, and its roofing-chapter amendments are single-word and single-sentence deletions unrelated to impact. IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar the County from adding one. Two things mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: "Class 2" is the state's structure class for one- and two-family dwellings, not a rating of the roof covering, and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is a contract term, not a code requirement.

NO BUILDING PERMIT FOR A REROOF, BECAUSE THE COUNTY'S OWN ORDINANCE EXEMPTS IT BY NAME. The Building Code of Johnson County is Article 6 of Title 32 of the County Code, enacted by Ordinance 2008-02. Section 32-6-2-1, headed Building permit required, reads at (A): "Construction is prohibited unless in conformity with a valid building permit obtained from the Director prior to commencement of construction." Subsection (B) then lists seven exceptions, and the first is "Roofing or re-roofing". The others are like-size window replacement, guttering, siding replacement, structures under 200 square feet or not on a permanent foundation, non-permanent pools and flat concrete work. The exception names roofing and re-roofing and says nothing more, so it does not say whether replacing rafters, trusses or other framing under the covering is inside it; the County's definition of construction includes "Work undertaken to alter, remodel, rehabilitate, or add to any part of a Class 1 or Class 2 structure", and the fee schedule prices structural repair as Alteration, Remodel, Repair or Addition at $150 plus ten cents a square foot. Settle a job that opens the framing with the office before starting. THREE THINGS THE EXEMPTION DOES NOT DO. First, it does not stop the County looking: section 32-6-3-1(A) provides that "All construction activity shall be subject to periodic inspections by the Director, irrespective of whether a building permit has been or is required to be obtained." Second, it does not lift the state code: the Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance says the 2020 Indiana Residential Code applies to all Class 2 residential construction "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", so the exemption removes the permit and the inspection, not the installation rules. Third, it sits beside a separate zoning permit whose reach is not spelled out: the County's 2024 Unified Development Ordinance provides that "An ILP shall be required for the erection, alteration, or modification of all structures within the jurisdiction", and the fee schedule carries an Improvement Location - Residential Use permit at $150 for non-structural improvements. Neither document mentions roofing, and the County's Improvement Location Permit form lists earthwork, utility, pond and commercial infrastructure work, so whether a reroof needs one is not settled by anything the County publishes. WORTH KNOWING BEFORE RELYING ON AN EXCEPTION HERE. The same exception list covers like-size window replacement, yet, as read on September 11, 2026, the Building Department's page states: "Per Energy Codes, Johnson County Planning & Zoning will be requiring permits for all window replacements." No comparable statement is published for roofing. If the office requires a permit that the ordinance says is not needed and work has already started, the fee schedule's own note applies: "Permit fees will be tripled if improvement activity takes place prior to obtaining required permits". Confirm with the office on 317-346-4350 or [email protected] before the tear-off.

115 MPH, FROM THE STATE'S COUNTY-INDEXED TABLE, NOT A COUNTY ENACTMENT. Indiana deletes the model climatic table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 and substitutes its own, one row per county. Row 41, Johnson, gives 115 in the Wind Speed (MPH) column, seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, 30 in the Foundation column, a winter design temperature of 2 degrees F, decay Slight to Moderate, termite Moderate to Heavy, weathering Severe, ice shield underlayment required No and a mean annual temperature of 52.0 degrees F. The Wind Speed column carries a footnote to Section R301.2.1.4, the exposure category section, so the speed is fixed while the exposure behind it is decided site by site. The County publishes no design criteria of its own: its Building Code article contains no occurrence of wind or snow, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars it from varying these locally.

NO COUNTY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE ADOPTED INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE APPLIES UNMODIFIED. The County Code as published was searched in full for the terms that would carry a recover or tear-off rule, and its Building Code article contains no occurrence of "layer", "overlay" or "shingle"; the County's own page states it has no adopted amendments. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, makes no amendment to the model code's reroofing section: its only amendments touching the roof assemblies chapter delete the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic section, delete "approved" from the asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections and delete "printed" from the other-flashing section. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the County from adding a stricter or more detailed rule. Base-code rule, read at 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck. One practical point particular to the unincorporated county: because roofing and re-roofing are exceptions to the building permit requirement, no County plan review looks at the existing covering before the work starts, so the roofer carries the whole of that call. Count the existing coverings and read the adopted code before quoting a recover.

NO LOCAL SHEATHING RULE EXISTS, AND NONE COULD. The Building Code of Johnson County, Article 6 of Title 32, was read in full and contains no occurrence of "sheathing" at all; its only reference to a deck is the flat fee for a deck permit. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the County from an ordinance more stringent or more detailed than the state rules. The deck side of an asphalt reroof is therefore set by the 2018 International Residential Code as incorporated by 675 IAC 14-4.4. Sec. 82 of 675 IAC 14-4.4 deletes the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from Section R803.2.1, the section headed identification and grade; otherwise the sheathing provisions apply as incorporated. Because a reroof needs no County building permit, nobody from the County is scheduled to see an exposed deck; if soft or damaged sheathing turns out to need structural repair, that is the point to call the office on 317-346-4350.

7.00% in unincorporated Johnson County, the Indiana state sales and use tax rate, with no county or municipal add-on. The Department of Revenue's page listing the taxes Indiana counties do levy states: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." Johnson County's own county-level taxes are an income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food and beverage tax, none of which is added to a materials invoice, so 7.00% is the full rate a roofing contractor pays or collects on materials here.