City of Lawrence, Indiana - Building Department

City of Lawrence, Indiana

city

9001 East 59th Street, Lawrence, IN 46216

Not required

Required

MOST RE-ROOFS NEVER REACH THIS DESK, BUT THE REGISTRATION DOES. An ordinary re-roof is exempt from permit in Lawrence; what a roofing contractor always needs is City registration. WHERE TO FILE when a permit is needed. The Building Department is at 9001 East 59th Street, Lawrence, IN 46216, on (317) 545-8787, with the Department of Public Works office at Suite 205 of the same address on (317) 545-5566. Permits are applied for and paid online through the City permitting portal, and the roofing handout gives the filing route in one line: "Permit application should be emailed to [email protected]". For work that needs drawings the Building Department asks that "all building and site plans, and related documentation" be emailed to the same address and says to "allow up to 15 days for review". A residential roofing permit is a flat $75.00. Owner-builders may apply directly rather than through a contractor. INSPECTIONS. On a permitted roofing job the City states its intention in the roofing handout: "The Building Department goal is to conduct one inspection during the course of the work and a final inspection." That is published as a departmental goal rather than as a numbered code stage, but it means a roof in Lawrence can be looked at before it is closed up, so agree the timing with the inspector rather than assuming a single final visit. Inspection requests need "a minimum 48 hours (2 business days) notice", and a request made without that notice is charged an accelerated inspection fee of "$75.00 for a residential project or $125.00 for commercial projects", payable before the inspection is scheduled. Water and sanitary sewer inspections are scheduled separately through Lawrence Utilities on (317) 542-0511 with 24 hours' notice. A re-inspection is $75.00. SEPARATE PERMITS. Where a wider remodel is under way the City warns on its residential fee table that "Separate Permits will be needed for electrical, plumbing, HVAC and roofing", so roofing is not swept into a general remodel permit. HOUSEKEEPING THE CITY ASKS FOR, and it is in the roofing handout rather than in an ordinance: the City asks a crew to police the yard and adjoining properties for shingle wrappers and other tear-off debris blowing into neighbouring gardens.

STATE-SET, AND LAWRENCE SAYS SO ITSELF. Indiana leaves a city nothing to adopt on the residential side. The operative 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 the article - there is no later Indiana residential code. The City names the same edition on the face of its own roofing handout, which states that it "is based in part on the 2020 Indiana Residential Code" and sends a reader with a code question to "the Indiana Building Code or contact your local Building Department." Lawrence could not be on a different edition even if it wanted to be: 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. A further Indiana peculiarity is worth knowing when reading any local ordinance here: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a local 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", so an Indiana city ordinance citing the IAC moves forward with the state rule rather than freezing at its adoption date. One vocabulary warning, because it looks like something it is not: "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 — REQUIRED, AND LAWRENCE PRINTS THE RULE ITSELF. The City's roofing handout reproduces the adopted provision under its DRIP EDGE/ GUTTERS heading: "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 (51mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51mm). drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the roof deck at not more than 12 inches (305mm) 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 lower-case "drip" mid-paragraph is in the City document as published. The same text is published independently 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 adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full - that version prints "the rood deck" where the City prints "the roof deck", a typographical error in the state document quoted here as it appears. It is unconditional on a shingle roof and it applies whether or not the job needs a permit. Lawrence cannot vary it: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules, and the Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" without touching the drip edge subsection. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN MARION COUNTY - BUT READ THE SECOND HALF OF THIS, BECAUSE THE MANUFACTURER CAN STILL REQUIRE IT. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own county-by-county table: 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 49 is Marion, 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; Marion is not one of them, so an answer carried down from a South Bend or Fort Wayne job would be wrong here. The rest of the Marion County row reads wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, foundation depth 30 inches, winter design temperature 2 degrees F and weathering Severe. The Indiana State Building Commissioner sets out the important qualification in terms: Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing materials to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions, so "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)." Marion County is in that second group: the table does not compel an ice barrier, and the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions still can. The City's own roofing handout says the same thing in one line under UNDERLAYMENT: "Note: For ice barrier materials, the manufacturer's installation instructions must be followed." Lawrence has no power to add a requirement of its own, 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

Required — THE CITY SAYS IT LOOKS AT A ROOF BEFORE IT IS CLOSED UP - BUT ON MOST LAWRENCE RE-ROOFS THERE IS NO PERMIT FOR AN INSPECTION TO ATTACH TO. The City of Lawrence Department of Public Works publishes its own ROOFING handout, and under the heading "PERMITS, INSPECTIONS, AND LICENSES" it states: "The Building Department goal is to conduct one inspection during the course of the work and a final inspection." That is an in-progress roof inspection stated by the City in its own roofing document, and it is why this reads as required rather than final-only. Note the City's own word: it is published as a departmental goal rather than as a numbered code stage, and no enumerated inspection schedule appears on the Building Department page, in the residential permit fee table, or in the City's permit handouts. Its "Hiring a Contractor" handout describes how the stages are set on a job-by-job basis - "The permit will show what inspections are required and the order in which they must be called for", and "When any permit is issued, there must be at a minimum, a final inspection", with the responsibility to call for them resting on the contractor unless the homeowner has agreed otherwise. So read the inspection line on the permit card and agree the timing with the inspector rather than assuming one visit at the end. THE SCOPE LIMIT THAT MATTERS MOST, and it is the reason a roofer can work in Lawrence for years without meeting this. An ordinary re-roof needs no building permit here at all: the same handout opens "Building permits are NOT required except under the following conditions", and the five conditions are 25% or more of the decking being replaced, a change in roof configuration or total or partial reconstruction of the roof including rafters, decking or shingles, work after a natural disaster, a change in type of roof covering that would increase the dead load, or installation of heat-applied roofing material. Where none of the five is crossed there is no permit, so no inspection of any kind arises. Where one is crossed, the permit costs a flat $75.00 and the in-progress and final inspections come with it. Inspection requests need a minimum of 48 hours, two business days, notice; a request made without that notice is charged an accelerated inspection fee of $75.00 on a residential project, payable before the inspection is scheduled, and a re-inspection is a further $75.00. THE STAGE IS NOT SET BY STATE LAW, AND IN INDIANA IT CANNOT BE. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, deletes the model code's whole administrative apparatus: its Chapter 1 amendment at 675 IAC 14-4.4-2 provides "Delete SECTIONS R108, R109, R110, R111, R112, R113, and R114 in their entirety without substitution", and the rule substitutes no inspection provision of its own anywhere in its 245 sections. What the substituted text does instead is point at the city - the replacement SECTION R103 reads "Plans shall be submitted for Class 1 structures as required by the General Administrative Rules (675 IAC 12-6) and for Class 2 structures as required by local ordinance", and a one or two family dwelling is a Class 2 structure under IC 22-12-1-5. The General Assembly legislates on the same footing: IC 36-7-2-9.1, headed "Plan reviews and inspections", provides at subsection (b) that "This section applies only to a city, town, or county that requires a building permit, plan review, or inspection for the construction of a Class 2 structure", and then requires such a city to let the inspection be done by its own inspector, another unit's inspector, or a private provider who is a registered architect, professional engineer or certified building official, at the applicant's election. So the inspection question in Indiana is a local one by design, and Lawrence's answer is the handout quoted above. One further Indiana protection worth knowing if an inspection goes against you: IC 36-7-2-9.5 requires an inspector who finds a violation to identify the noncompliant feature and the law relied on, "specifying the edition, chapter, and section of any applicable building or fire code", and to give that to the permit applicant.

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Lawrence. 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 word "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. Lawrence could not add one: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting 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 those rules precedence over any local ordinance on the same subject. The City's own roofing handout was read in full and specifies no rating for the covering at all; its material requirements are slope, underlayment, fastening, flashing and ventilation. Two things that get mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: the phrase "Class 2 construction", which runs through the State Building Commissioner's roofing guidance and 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.

NO PERMIT FOR AN ORDINARY RE-ROOF, AND THE CITY PUBLISHES THE SAME FIVE TRIGGERS THREE TIMES. Lawrence's codified exemption list, published under the heading "WORK EXEMPT FROM PERMITTING (2-1-1-9-B)", opens "Permits shall not be required for the following" and its building item (k) is "Re-roofing when", followed by these conditions: "Only composition shingles are being replaced or a second layer of composition shingles are being added"; "25% or less of the decking is being replaced"; "there is NO change in roof configuration or total or partial reconstruction of the roof including rafters, , decking shingle etc after a natural disaster"; "there is NO change in type of roof covering (e.g., tile roofing replacing asphalt shingles) that would increase the dead load on the structure"; "there is NO installation of heat-applied roofing material." The stray comma and the singular "shingle" in the third bullet are in the City document as published. The City's own roofing handout states the same test from the positive side: "Building permits are NOT required except under the following conditions", listing 25% or more of the decking being replaced; a change in roof configuration or total or partial reconstruction of the roof including rafters, decking, shingles; after a natural disaster; a change in the type of roof covering that would increase the dead load; or installation of heat-applied roofing material. The residential fee table repeats the identical five triggers under its ROOFING row. So a tear-off and re-shingle in composition shingles, or a single overlay, with a quarter or less of the decking replaced and no change of material, is exempt; cross any one of the five lines and the job needs a permit. FEES. When a roofing permit is needed the residential fee table prices it as a flat "$ 75.00" on its ROOFING row, which covers re-roofing and roofing for a new accessory structure or structural addition. A re-inspection is a further $75.00, and a same-day accelerated inspection is $75.00 residential. Note also that where a remodel permit is taken out the fee table warns "Separate Permits will be needed for electrical, plumbing, HVAC and roofing", so roofing is billed on its own line rather than folded into a larger job. Siding and like-for-like window and door replacement are separately exempt in the same list, so an exterior package can be permit-free on all three counts.

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 Marion 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 30 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 2 degrees F and Severe weathering. Lawrence 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 is still a site-by-site determination made under the residential code rather than a figure the city or state sets, and Indiana amends the exposure-category rule at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4 for sites in a subdivision or master-planned community where the adjacent structures are not built yet. The table's own footnote a reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4."

TWO LAYERS, STATED BY THE CITY IN ITS OWN ROOFING HANDOUT. Under the heading "REROOFING" the City writes: "New roofing may be installed over an existing roof but shall be limited to a total of two layers. Existing flashing in good condition may be reinstalled. Any sheathing that is replaced must be installed and fastened according to the code." The permit-exemption list points the same way from the administrative side, exempting re-roofing where "Only composition shingles are being replaced or a second layer of composition shingles are being added" - a second layer is contemplated, a third is not. This is not a local invention and Lawrence could not have made one: the handout says on its face that it "is based in part on the 2020 Indiana Residential Code", and 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. The state rule itself, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes no amendment to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, so the limit a roofer meets in Lawrence is the adopted International Residential Code rule as the City states it. The handout carries its own caveat that it is a guide and that "no guarantees are made to its accuracy or completeness", so on a roof already carrying an unknown number of layers settle the count with the Building Department before quoting an overlay. Practical corollary: an overlay that stays within two layers and replaces a quarter or less of the decking needs no permit in Lawrence at all.

SOLID SHEATHING, AND ROTTED DECK COMES OUT BEFORE THE NEW ROOF GOES ON. The City's roofing handout states it in its own words: "Roof decks must be solidly sheathed for asphalt shingles or mineral-surfaced roll roofing. Solid sheathing may be plywood, OSB, or 1-inch nominal boards. Wood shingles and shakes may be applied over solid or spaced sheathing. Roof decks that are rotted or unsound must be repaired prior to reroofing." Under its own SHEATHING heading it adds: "Roof sheathing shall be repaired or replaced if rotted or unsound. Replacement sheathing shall conform to the requirements of the Building Code and the manufacturer of the product." There is a permit consequence attached to how much of it you replace, and it is the single most expensive thing to get wrong on a Lawrence re-roof: replacing 25% or more of the decking takes the job out of the permit exemption, so a tear-off that turns into a deck replacement needs a permit that was not needed when the crew arrived. The handout is a guide and says so; the underlying requirements are those of the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which applies statewide.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in Lawrence or Marion 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 Marion 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 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 should settle their own contract form with an accountant.