Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Kansas City, MO?

City of Kansas City, Missouri

city

414 E 12th St, 5th Floor, Kansas City, MO 64106

Not required

Required

The Building Permit Exempt Work page (citing Chapter 18, Section 18-16 of the Code of Ordinances) lists among work exempt from a building permit: "Reroofing (replacement of roof coverings) of one- and two-family residences with light roof covering or reroofing of other structures in accordance with the requirements of the code pertaining to materials and installation methods. Exempted reroofing work does not include replacement of roof sheathing/deck or structural modifications or alterations to the building or structure."

Required — Kansas City's amended IRC Table R301.2(1) (Code of Ordinances Sec. 18-57, Article III, Residential Code) lists "ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYMENT REQUIRED: Yes" (Winter Design Temp 6F, Air Freezing Index 1000). Under the unamended 2018 IRC R905.1.2 baseline this extends from the eave edge to 24 in. inside the exterior wall line on all eaves. Architect-verified directly on the current municode codification, 2026-07-19. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Code of Ordinances of Kansas City, Missouri, Chapter 18, Article III (Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings), Sec. 18-57 "Adoption of International Residential Code (2018); amendments" (Ord. No. 200418, Sec. 1, 6-18-2020; Ord. No. 220364, Sec. 1, 10-13-2022), read in full as currently codified. Sec. 18-57 adopts the 2018 IRC by reference and lists its amendments section by section from R202 through Part X Appendices. The only Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies) amendment is an added R901.2 Restrictive Covenants, which bars homes associations from prohibiting specific roof covering material types (wood shingle, wood shake shingle, composition, slate, tile, clay, concrete) while still allowing associations to regulate color, style, or dimension; it does not touch roof classification, roof covering performance, or fastening requirements. No other Chapter 9 section (roof classification, materials, or roof covering requirements) is amended, and the instrument contains no UL 2218, Class 4, or impact-resistance provision anywhere in its text.

"Replacement of soffits and wall or roof sheathing less than 32 square feet (2.97 m2) in area for one- and two-family dwellings" is exempt from a building permit (Building Permit Exempt Work, item (t), citing Chapter 18, Section 18-16 of the Code of Ordinances). Separately, full reroofing that replaces only roof covering materials is permit-exempt under item (k), but that exemption "does not include replacement of roof sheathing/deck or structural modifications or alterations to the building or structure."

Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, as amended: "Ground Snow Load 20 psf; Wind Design Speed 115 (MPH); Topographic Effects No; Special wind Region No; Windborne Debris zone No; Seismic Design Category A; Weathering Severe; Frost line depth 36 inches; Termite Moderate to Heavy; Winter Design Temp 6 F; Ice Barrier Underlayment Required Yes; Air Freezing Index 1000 F-days; Mean Annual Temp 54.2 F." (Kansas City Code of Ordinances Sec. 18-57, Article III -- Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, amending Table R301.2(1) of the adopted 2018 IRC; Ord. No. 200418, 6-18-20; Ord. No. 220364, 10-13-22.)

Kansas City spans FOUR counties, and the Missouri DOR publishes a distinct base combined rate for each -- this genuinely varies by which county a KC address sits in, which matters directly to a roofer quoting a job. Per the DOR's statewide Sales/Use Tax Rate Table for July 2026: the Clay County portion of Kansas City has a base combined rate of 8.7250% (jurisdiction code 38000-047-000, includes the KC Zoological District tax); the Platte County portion is also 8.7250% (38000-165-000, no zoo district tax); the Jackson County portion is 8.9750% (38000-095-000, includes the zoo district tax); and the Cass County portion is 9.1000% (38000-037-000, no zoo district tax -- the only KC county portion outside the zoo district's Cass County reach). On top of these base rates, Kansas City has by far the densest layer of special taxing districts in the state -- dozens of CIDs, TDDs, and Port/Community Improvement PIDs stack in the urban core, especially the Jackson County portion. Example stacked rates in the Jackson County portion alone range from 9.4750% (single CID, e.g. Brookside CID, 38000-095-005) up to 14.9750% where multiple PIDs, the Kansas City Main Street Rail TDD, and a CID all overlap on the same parcel (e.g. 38000-095-026, 38000-095-066, 38000-095-069). The Clay County portion also stacks heavily, e.g. Kansas City Missouri District 1 PID areas reaching double digits. A roofer must confirm the parcel's exact address to get the applicable rate; no single number describes "Kansas City sales tax." Missouri's own Contractors Tax Matrix (DOR Audit Services, Industry Guidance, eff. 10-24-2022, https://dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/documents/Contractors_000.pdf) treats a roofing contractor as the final consumer of materials incorporated into real property: "Contractor sales of tangible personal property where title passed to the customer after installation" is listed Exempt, while "Tangible personal property to be sold as an attachment to real property" is listed Taxable -- meaning the contractor owes sales/use tax on shingles, underlayment, etc. at the point of purchase from the supplier, and does not separately charge the homeowner sales tax on the installed roof or on labor. Kansas City does not collect a construction use tax at building-permit issuance (the Colorado home-rule pattern does not apply here); the DOR's own Sales/Use Tax page (https://dor.mo.gov/taxation/business/tax-types/sales-use/) describes local use tax as a self-reported obligation -- "Use tax is imposed directly upon the person that stores, uses, or consumes tangible personal property in Missouri," with "a purchaser ... required to file a use tax return if the cumulative purchases subject to use tax exceed two thousand dollars in a calendar year" -- not a sum collected at the permit counter.