Livingston Building Department

City of Livingston, Montana

city

Required

The City's Building Department reviews plans and issues permits under Chapter 6 of the Livingston Municipal Code, using a single permit application form (categories: Residential, Commercial, Sign, Well, Demolition) that states "No building or structure shall be erected, moved, added to or structurally altered without a valid permit." Permit fees are cost-based, with a 65% plan review fee added on projects valued over $15,000. Neither the application nor the City's published fee materials name roofing or re-roofing specifically, and no dedicated roofing permit category or public issued-permit log was found, so this record does not state whether an ordinary residential reroof is treated as a permit-triggering structural alteration in practice; ask the Building Department (406-222-0083) directly.

THE 2021 IRC, BY AN ORDINANCE THAT NAMES ONE- AND TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGS EXPRESSLY. Ordinance No. 3035 (City Commission, adopted following the July 26, 2022 agenda; the City's own Building Department page states "NEW BUILDING CODES (2021) TAKE EFFECT SEPTEMBER 23, 2022") amends Ordinance No. 2053 as codified in Chapter 6 of the Livingston Municipal Code, adopting by reference the 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, and 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. Its Section 6.9, Building code applicability, reads: "The 2021 International Building Code (IBC), the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC), the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), the 2021 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) and the 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC), are applicable to and shall be enforced upon all buildings within the building code enforcement area of the City of Livingston, including but not limited to residential buildings containing less than five dwelling units or their attached structures, any farm or ranch building, and any private garage or private storage structure used only for the owner's own use as provided by 50-60-102(l)(a) Montana Code Annotated." That is an express extension of the state building code to the exact class of structure Montana law otherwise excludes from it (MCA 50-60-102(1)(a)), naming the statute by number. The ordinance was read in full and amends nothing else touching roofing.

Required About drip edge

Required — Montana's own amendment rule, ARM 24.301.154(23), rewrites the 2021 IRC's ice-barrier trigger, Section R905.1.2, deleting its geographic history-of-ice-damming clause and inserting "the State of Montana" in its place, so the ice-barrier underlayment requirement applies statewide with no local finding needed. Livingston's Ordinance No. 3035 adopts the 2021 IRC as amended by the department and makes it applicable to one- and two-family dwellings by name. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate at either level. Montana's own amendment rules (ARM 24.301.154, .142, .146, .161, .181, 58,154 characters read and counted) contain zero occurrences of "UL 2218," "Class 4," "Class IV," "impact," or "hail," and a Montana city or county may not adopt or enforce a building code more stringent than the department's (MCA 50-60-301(2)(a)). Livingston's Ordinance No. 3035, read in full, adds no impact-resistance provision of its own.

TWO LAYERS MAXIMUM, ON THE 2021 IRC, WITH NO LOCAL OR STATE AMENDMENT TO THE REROOFING SECTION. Ordinance No. 3035, read in full, touches only the adopting sections, applicability, conflict-of-sections, board of appeals, and the civil-infraction penalty; it contains no occurrence of "roof," "R908," "R905," or "Chapter 9." Montana's own amendment rule, ARM 24.301.154, amends IRC Section R905.1.2 (the ice-barrier trigger) and nothing else in Chapter 9. So the unmodified 2021 IRC Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed, applies: 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 of roofing may be recovered; a second existing layer requires a tear-off to the deck.

NO LOCAL OR STATE AMENDMENT TO ROOF SHEATHING. Ordinance No. 3035 amends nothing in the 2021 IRC's Chapter 8, and Montana's own amendment rule, ARM 24.301.154, contains no occurrence of "sheathing" or of any Chapter 8 section number. Base 2021 IRC Chapter 8 roof sheathing provisions apply unmodified.

NO GENERAL SALES TAX. The Montana Department of Revenue states plainly: "Montana does not have a general-use sales tax." Livingston is not one of the state's ten local resort-tax communities (Red Lodge, Virginia City, West Yellowstone, Whitefish, Big Sky, Cooke City, Craig, Gardiner, St Regis, and Wolf Creek), so no local resort tax applies there either. A 1% contractor's gross receipts license fee (MCA 15-50-205(1)) applies only to public construction contracts exceeding $80,000 (MCA 15-50-101(3)(a)) and does not reach an ordinary residential reroof.