Permitting Authorities / Leon County - Building Plans Review and Inspection Division
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Unincorporated Leon County, FL?
Adopted codeLeon County - Building Plans Review and Inspection Division
Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Unincorporated Leon County, FL, issued by Leon County - Building Plans Review and Inspection Division. Leon County issues a separate re-roof permit for unincorporated property. The county's fee schedule (Building Plans Review and Inspection fees effective June 1, 2022) lists "Re-roof or Roof Re-cover" at "$241.45" under "Repair Work and Exterior Alteration Permits," and the county's permit reports list the permit type as "Trade/Reroof." The county's Post-Storm Recovery Permitting Guide lists "Roof replacements and substantial roof repairs (greater than 100 square feet)" among repairs that require a permit and "Minor, nonstructural roof and siding repairs (100 square feet or less)" and "Temporary roof tarping" among those that do not. "All building permits are applied for through the County's online permit portal." The county's Reroof Scope of Work and Inspection Affidavit (FBC 8th Edition (2023), "For Licensed Roofing Contractors Only") asks for the re-roof type ("Replacement - Tear off Existing and Replace" or "Re-Cover - New Roof over Existing"), the Florida Product Approval numbers for the roofing and underlayment, the roof slope ("Less than 2:12 (No shingle application allowed)") and the flashing, drip edge and valley treatment, and it states: "A Final Roofing Inspection is Required." Inspections are scheduled through the online portal, by phone at 850-606-1306, or by texting "SCHEDULE" to 855-927-1525. Work started before the permit costs double: Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.09(d)(1), "Construction work that would require a permit and started before a permit has been obtained, will be charged two times the established permit fees for said work." Check that the property is outside the City of Tallahassee first; property inside the city limits is permitted by the City's Building Inspection Division.
Roof code checklist: Unincorporated Leon County, FL
| Item | Answer | Code cite | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit to replace a roof | Yes | cms.leoncountyfl.gov | 2026-09-26 | |
| Repair permit threshold | Published | cms.leoncountyfl.gov | 2026-09-26 | |
| Layer limit / roof-over | Published | R908.3 | codes.iccsafe.org | 2026-09-26 |
| Deck & sheathing | Published | codes.iccsafe.org | 2026-09-26 | |
| Drip edge | Yes | R905.2.8.5 | codes.iccsafe.org | 2026-09-26 |
| Ice & water shield | No | R905.1.2 | codes.iccsafe.org | 2026-09-26 |
| Mid-roof inspection | Yes | Sec. 110.3 | Reroof Scope of Work and Inspecti... | 2026-09-26 |
| Impact-resistant (Class 4) roofing | No | library.municode.com | 2026-09-26 | |
| Wind design criteria | Not published | |||
| Adopted code | Published | library.municode.com | 2026-09-26 | |
| Contractor license / registration | Yes | State Certified Contractor Regist... | 2026-09-26 | |
| Sales & use tax | Published | dr15dss_26.pdf | 2026-09-26 |
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
Leon County, Florida (unincorporated)
Jurisdiction type
county
Address
435 N. Macomb St., Renaissance Center, 2nd Floor, Tallahassee, FL 32301
Contact
- url: https://cms.leoncountyfl.gov/Government/Departments/Development-Support-Environmental-Management/Building-Plans-Review-and-Inspection
- phone: 850-606-1300
Permit portal
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
- state_level: Roofing is its own licensed trade in Florida. Section 489.113(2), Florida Statutes: "A person must be certified or registered in order to engage in the business of contracting in this state." Section 489.105(3)(e) defines a "Roofing contractor" as one whose services are unlimited in the roofing trade and who can "install, maintain, repair, alter, extend, or design" roofing. A state-certified contractor may work statewide; a state-registered contractor may work only where he or she holds the local competency licence (Section 489.117: "Registration allows the registrant to engage in contracting only in the counties, municipalities, or development districts where he or she has complied with all local licensing requirements, if any, and only for the type of work covered by the registration."). Verify a licence on the Department of Business and Professional Regulation licence search.
- county_level: Leon County Code Sec. 5-3.03(a): "The building department shall issue building permits only to persons possessing a contractor's department of business and professional regulations license, unless otherwise exempted under this subdivision or other applicable laws." Before pulling permits, a state-certified contractor files the county's Leon County registration form for state certified contractors with the DSEM Licensing Program, including an Authorized Agent Form, an Accela User Declaration, a copy of the state certified licence, workers' compensation or an exemption, and a "General Liability COI - Must be submitted directly from the insurance provider and list the Certificate Holder as" Leon County; a notarized Contractor Verification form sets up the contractor's online permit portal account. The joint Tallahassee-Leon County permits site's Leon County licensing matrix lists Roofing under "Division II Contractors State Exam Only." The county's Reroof Scope of Work and Inspection Affidavit is marked "For Licensed Roofing Contractors Only." A county business tax receipt is a tax, not a contractor licence.
- owner_builder: Section 489.103(7), Florida Statutes, exempts owners "when acting as their own contractor and providing direct, onsite supervision themselves of all work not performed by licensed contractors" when improving one-family or two-family residences "for the occupancy or use of such owners and not offered for sale or lease." Leon County Code Sec. 5-3.03(b): "Nothing in this section shall prohibit a bona fide homeowner from constructing, adding to or making changes to their single-family or two-family dwelling," where "bona fide homeowner" means "a homeowner that intends to actually live in the dwelling for at least 12 months after occupancy." The county's building FAQ: "A homeowner who lives in the subject home can obtain all permits for projects on their home." An owner-builder signs the county's Owner/Builder Exemption Affidavit in person. Whether a particular owner qualifies is for the statute and the county to say, not this record.
Permit process note
Leon County issues a separate re-roof permit for unincorporated property. The county's fee schedule (Building Plans Review and Inspection fees effective June 1, 2022) lists "Re-roof or Roof Re-cover" at "$241.45" under "Repair Work and Exterior Alteration Permits," and the county's permit reports list the permit type as "Trade/Reroof." The county's Post-Storm Recovery Permitting Guide lists "Roof replacements and substantial roof repairs (greater than 100 square feet)" among repairs that require a permit and "Minor, nonstructural roof and siding repairs (100 square feet or less)" and "Temporary roof tarping" among those that do not. "All building permits are applied for through the County's online permit portal." The county's Reroof Scope of Work and Inspection Affidavit (FBC 8th Edition (2023), "For Licensed Roofing Contractors Only") asks for the re-roof type ("Replacement - Tear off Existing and Replace" or "Re-Cover - New Roof over Existing"), the Florida Product Approval numbers for the roofing and underlayment, the roof slope ("Less than 2:12 (No shingle application allowed)") and the flashing, drip edge and valley treatment, and it states: "A Final Roofing Inspection is Required." Inspections are scheduled through the online portal, by phone at 850-606-1306, or by texting "SCHEDULE" to 855-927-1525. Work started before the permit costs double: Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.09(d)(1), "Construction work that would require a permit and started before a permit has been obtained, will be charged two times the established permit fees for said work." Check that the property is outside the City of Tallahassee first; property inside the city limits is permitted by the City's Building Inspection Division.
Adopted code
Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), Residential (2021 IRC base), effective December 31, 2023, adopted statewide by Rule 61G20-1.001, Florida Administrative Code. Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.01: "The provisions of the Florida Building Code, as adopted by the state building commission, and as amended, shall apply," and Sec. 5-1.01(k) applies the Florida Building Code, Residential to detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. The county's reroof affidavit is headed "FBC 8th Edition (2023)" and "Effective December 31st, 2023." The county's own technical amendments in Chapter 5 of its Code of Laws (Ordinance No. 21-01, 2021) concern flood hazard areas, garage floors, floor elevations and local drainage (Residential R309.3, R317.1, R322.2.1 and R501.3; Building 107.3.5, 1612 and 202); Chapter 5 (Building Code), read in full as codified through Ordinance No. 26-3 (March 10, 2026), contains no roofing provision. The Florida Building Commission's local-amendment registry lists no Leon County amendments under the 2023 code.
Drip edge
Required — Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th Edition (2023), Section R905.2.8.5: "Provide drip edge at eaves and gables of shingle roofs." Eave drip edges extend 1/2 inch below the sheathing and 2 inches back onto the roof and are installed over the underlayment. This applies to shingle roofs. Leon County's reroof scope-of-work form asks whether the roofer will replace, repair or use the existing drip edge and requires printed photographs of the drip edge at final. Leon County's building chapter (Code of Laws Chapter 5), read in full, contains no roofing provision, so the state text applies unchanged. About drip edge
Ice & water shield
Not required — Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th Edition (2023): "R905.1.2 Ice barriers. Reserved." There is no ice-barrier requirement in the Florida code, and Leon County's building chapter (Code of Laws Chapter 5) contains no roofing provision. Self-adhered underlayment is still used in Florida, but as an underlayment or secondary water barrier method, not as an ice barrier; the county's reroof affidavit lists a full self-adhering ASTM D1970 underlayment as one of three underlayment options. About ice & water barrier
Mid-roof inspection
Required — Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.07: "All construction work shall receive approval for each phase by an inspector before the work is concealed or covered." The state code's required inspections (Florida Building Code, Building, Section 110.3) include "5. Roofing inspection. Shall at a minimum include the following building components:" dry-in, insulation, roof coverings and flashing. The county's inspection code list includes "104 ROOF", "115 ROOF DECK RE-NAIL", "116 ROOF SECONDARY BARRIER" and "917 ROOF FINAL." For licensed roofing contractors the county documents the in-progress stage by affidavit and photographs: on its Reroof Inspection Affidavit a roofing contractor, engineer or Chapter 468 building inspector affirms "that the sheathing, nailing, dry-in, and flashings at the above referenced address/lot have been installed in accordance with the attached scope of work," and "This signed and notarized affidavit must be provided at the job site for the final roofing inspection, along with printed photographs" of the "sheathing re-nailing, underlayment, flashing, drip edge, valley treatment, insulation, or purlins" showing the permit number or address and a measuring device. The form adds: "Additional on-site inspections may be required by the Building Division to verify Code compliance." Plan on photographing each roof plane before covering it.
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — Leon County's building chapter (Code of Laws Chapter 5, which applies the Florida Building Code and adds flood, drainage, licensing and property-maintenance provisions) contains no roof covering provision, and the state registry lists no county amendment; no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact requirement appears in the Florida Building Code's residential roofing chapter, the Building volume's roofing chapter or the Existing Building volume's reroofing provisions, or in the county's code. The county's reroof form asks for Florida Product Approval numbers, not an impact rating. Florida's shingle classifications (ASTM D3161, TAS 107, ASTM D7158) are wind ratings, not hail-impact ratings. An insurer's discount for an impact-rated roof is not a code requirement.
Repair permit threshold
The county's own line is 100 square feet. Its Post-Storm Recovery Permitting Guide lists "Roof replacements and substantial roof repairs (greater than 100 square feet)" as permit work and "Minor, nonstructural roof and siding repairs (100 square feet or less)" as work that does not need a permit; a full reroof exceeds that line. The county's enacted permit section (Leon County Code Sec. 5-1.05) requires a permit to "construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building or structure," and its list of "Construction work exempt from permit" names only gas, mechanical and plumbing items. The state statute, Section 553.79(1)(g), Florida Statutes (effective July 1, 2026), exempts "an owner of a single-family dwelling or the owner's contractor from the requirement to obtain a building permit to perform any work valued at less than $7,500 on the owner's property," but the exemption does not apply to work on a property "partially or entirely located in a flood hazard area" or to "Any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work performed on property containing a single-family dwelling," and it requires "a written request for exemption to the local enforcement agency with a copy of the contract or other documentation demonstrating the nature and the value of the work to be performed." This record does not decide how the state exemption and the county's 100-square-foot line apply to a small roof repair; ask the Building Plans Review and Inspection Division before skipping a permit. Separately, the Florida Building Code, Existing Building (Section 706.1.1) limits piecemeal roof work: "Not more than 25 percent of the total roof area or roof section of any existing building or structure shall be repaired, replaced or recovered in any 12-month period unless the roof covering on the entire existing roof system or roof section is replaced or recovered to conform to the requirements of this code." Under Section 553.844(5), Florida Statutes, where the existing roof was built, repaired or replaced under the 2007 Florida Building Code or later and 25 percent or more is being repaired, replaced or recovered, "only the repaired, replaced, or recovered portion is required to be constructed in accordance with the Florida Building Code in effect."
Roof layer limit / recover
Florida Building Code, Residential, 8th Edition (2023), Section R908.3: "New roof coverings shall not be installed without first removing all existing layers of roof coverings where any of the following conditions occur: ... 3. Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." Tear-off is also required where the existing roof is water soaked or deteriorated, where it is wood shingle or shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile, where blisters are not cut and secured, and where the existing covering cannot meet the securement provisions. One re-cover over a single existing layer is therefore the most the code allows. Leon County's building chapter (Code of Laws Chapter 5), read in full, contains no roofing provision, and the state registry lists no county amendment. The county's reroof scope-of-work form offers "Re-Cover - New Roof over Existing" as a re-roof type and states no layer number of its own. Chapter 9: https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/FLRC2023P1/chapter-9-roof-assemblies
Deck & sheathing requirements
On a house not originally permitted under the Florida Building Code, a reroof triggers deck re-nailing and a secondary water barrier. Florida Building Code, Existing Building, 8th Edition (2023), Section 706.7: "When a roof covering on an existing structure with a sawn lumber, wood plank or wood structural panel roof deck is removed and replaced, the following procedures shall be permitted to be performed by the roofing contractor: (a) Roof-decking attachment shall be as required by Section 706.7.1. (b) A secondary water barrier shall be provided as required by Section 706.7.2. Exception: Structures permitted subject to the Florida Building Code are not required to comply with this section." "Roof decking consisting of sawn lumber or wood planks up to 12 inches wide and secured with at least two nails (minimum size 8d) to each roof framing member it crosses shall be deemed to be sufficiently connected"; wood structural panels follow Section 706.7.1.2. Section 706.7.2: "When a roof covering is removed and replaced, a secondary water barrier shall be installed." Leon County's Reroof Inspection Affidavit has the roofer affirm that the installation "was done in conformance with the requirements of Section 706.7 Mitigation, Florida Building Code, Existing," and check which underlayment method was used: "The entire roof deck shall be covered with an approved self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen underlayment complying with ASTM D1970," a "minimum 3 ¾ inch wide strip of self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen membrane" over "all joints in the roof decking," or "Two layers of ASTM D226 Type II or ASTM D4869 Type III or Type IV." The county's inspection codes include "115 ROOF DECK RE-NAIL" and "116 ROOF SECONDARY BARRIER." Leon County's building chapter (Code of Laws Chapter 5) does not change these provisions.
Sales & use tax
7.5% combined on materials: the 6% Florida state sales and use tax plus Leon County's 1.5% discretionary sales surtax, made up of a 1% surtax (effective December 1, 1989, with an expiration date of December 31, 2039) and a 0.5% surtax (effective January 1, 2003, with an expiration date of December 31, 2027), per the Florida Department of Revenue's Form DR-15DSS for calendar year 2026. The surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of the sales amount of any single item of tangible personal property (Department of Revenue discretionary sales surtax guidance). Florida treats roofing as a real property contract (Rule 12A-1.051, Florida Administrative Code, lists "(cc) Roofing work"): "Contractors are the ultimate consumers of materials and supplies they use to perform real property contracts and must pay tax on their costs of those materials and supplies, unless the contractor has entered a retail sale plus installation contract," and "They should charge no tax to their customers, regardless of whether they itemize charges for materials and labor in their proposals or invoices." Repairs and replacements are treated the same way.
More roof permit pages in Florida
Unincorporated Manatee County, FLRoof permit
Unincorporated Martin County, FLRoof permit
Unincorporated Miami-Dade County, FLRoof permit
Unincorporated Nassau County, FLRoof permit
Unincorporated Okaloosa County, FLRoof permit
Roofing in FloridaState hub
Related guides
The building permit office for unincorporated Leon County, a division of the county's Development Support and Environmental Management department. It takes building permit applications, reviews plans and inspects work, including re-roof permits, for property outside the City of Tallahassee. Property inside the city limits is permitted by the City of Tallahassee, not the county.
Hail reports near the center of Leon County, FL
- Reports, last 24 months
- 7
- Largest, last 24 months
- 1.50 in Jun 25, 2025
- Most recent
- Mar 16, 2026 1.00 in
- Reports, last 5 years
- 15
| Date | Hail size | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2026 | 1.00 in | 5 mi NE |
| Jun 25, 2025 | 1.50 in | 2 mi SSE |
| Jun 25, 2025 | 1.25 in | 3 mi SW |
| Jun 25, 2025 | 1.00 in | 1 mi S |
| Jun 25, 2025 | 0.75 in | 7 mi NE |
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database and daily storm reports (reports since the start of the current year are preliminary), within 10 miles of the center of Leon County, FL. Data through Sep 30, 2026. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
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Sources
- cms.leoncountyfl.gov verified 2026-09-26
- tlcpermits.org verified 2026-09-26
- cms.leoncountyfl.gov verified 2026-09-26
- cms.leoncountyfl.gov verified 2026-09-26
- library.municode.com verified 2026-09-26
- cms.leoncountyfl.gov verified 2026-09-26
- library.municode.com verified 2026-09-26
- codes.iccsafe.org verified 2026-09-26
- cms.leoncountyfl.gov verified 2026-09-26
- floridarevenue.com verified 2026-09-26
- codes.iccsafe.org verified 2026-09-26