Permitting Authorities / Moore County - Planning & Inspections (Central Permitting & Building Inspections)
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Moore County, NC?
Adopted code
Moore County - Planning & Inspections (Central Permitting & Building Inspections)
No, Moore County, NC does not require a permit for like-for-like roof replacement (Moore County - Planning & Inspections (Central Permitting & Building Inspections)). A like-for-like reroof of a single-family house in Moore County's jurisdiction usually needs no building permit. State law, G.S. 160D-1110(c): no permit is required for work "costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves ... (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The North Carolina Residential Code, R908.3: "Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." Duplexes and multi-family buildings are not single-family residences and fall outside the statutory exemption. Moore County publishes no statement on reroof permits and no roofing fee line; if a job may be outside the exemption, call Central Permitting at 910-947-2221 before starting. Where a permit is needed, use the County's Residential Building Permit Application (for "Site Built Homes, Modular Homes, Additions, Renovations and Accessory Buildings"), available in person at 1048 Carriage Oaks Drive, Carthage, or online; the packet notes that "A zoning permit may be required" and lists zoning contacts for the towns it names. The applicant certifies that "all work will comply with the State Building Code and other applicable State and local laws, ordinances and regulations." Inspections are requested through the County's Self Service portal with "a 24-hour notice for all inspections"; re-inspection fees run $100 for 1 to 5 violations, $150 for 6 to 10 and $200 for 11 or more. Work started without a required permit costs a "Double Permit Fee".
Roof code checklist: Moore County, NC
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
Moore County, North Carolina
Address
1048 Carriage Oaks Drive, Carthage, NC 28327
Contact
- url: https://www.moorecountync.gov/243/Planning-Inspections
- phone: 910-947-2221
- email: [email protected]
Roofing permit required
Not required
Registration details
- state_level: North Carolina licenses general contractors by job size. G.S. 87-1(a) reaches anyone who undertakes to construct "any building ... or any improvement or structure where the cost of the undertaking is forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more". Roofing is a specialty classification of that licence, "S(Roofing)", under the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors' rules (21 NCAC 12). G.S. 87-1(b)(2) exempts an owner who "constructs or alters a building on land owned by that person" where "the building is intended solely for occupancy by that person and his family" and the owner complies with G.S. 87-14. Whether a given reroof reaches the $40,000 line depends on the job's price, which this record does not decide.
- county_level: Moore County sets no contractor credential of its own; Chapter 5 of its Code of Ordinances contains no contractor licensing or registration provision. Its residential permit application asks for each contractor's licence number. A homeowner who hires a contractor not licensed by the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors signs the County's notarized Non-Licensed North Carolina General Contractor form, acknowledging "that the total cost I will pay for the work or the entire project minus landscaping must be less than $40,000.00"; the form states that "Moore County Central Permitting requires a copy of the contract per NC Administrative Code 106.2 submitted with each application." An owner acting as contractor files the County's Owner Exemption Affidavit under G.S. 87-14(a)(1), which states that a copy goes to the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors and that the building "will be solely occupied by the owner(s), firm or corporation as set forth above for at least twelve (12) months following completion." The fee schedule adds a $10.00 North Carolina Home Owners Recovery Fund fee.
Permit process note
A like-for-like reroof of a single-family house in Moore County's jurisdiction usually needs no building permit. State law, G.S. 160D-1110(c): no permit is required for work "costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves ... (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." The North Carolina Residential Code, R908.3: "Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." Duplexes and multi-family buildings are not single-family residences and fall outside the statutory exemption. Moore County publishes no statement on reroof permits and no roofing fee line; if a job may be outside the exemption, call Central Permitting at 910-947-2221 before starting. Where a permit is needed, use the County's Residential Building Permit Application (for "Site Built Homes, Modular Homes, Additions, Renovations and Accessory Buildings"), available in person at 1048 Carriage Oaks Drive, Carthage, or online; the packet notes that "A zoning permit may be required" and lists zoning contacts for the towns it names. The applicant certifies that "all work will comply with the State Building Code and other applicable State and local laws, ordinances and regulations." Inspections are requested through the County's Self Service portal with "a 24-hour notice for all inspections"; re-inspection fees run $100 for 1 to 5 violations, $150 for 6 to 10 and $200 for 11 or more. Work started without a required permit costs a "Double Permit Fee".
Adopted code
Moore County enforces the North Carolina State Building Code, which applies statewide. The 2018 North Carolina Residential Code (based on the 2015 International Residential Code) with its approved amendments is the edition in force; the NC Office of State Fire Marshal states the 2018 codes "were effective from January 1, 2019 and are currently effective." The 2024 edition has been adopted but has no effective date. Moore County Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-26 (Mo. of 11-10-77(2); Amend. of 12-19-11) adopts "The most current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code as adopted by the North Carolina Building Code Council and as amended" by reference "as the building code of the County of Moore"; the rest of Chapter 5 adopts the state electrical, fire, gas, heating and air conditioning and plumbing codes the same way and sets fire-code administration and cross-connection rules, with no roofing provision. North Carolina's amendments rewrite two roofing provisions: R905.2.8.5 "Drip Edge. Deleted. Not required unless required by the roof covering manufacturer installation instructions." and R908.3 "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." (delayed effective date January 1, 2022).
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — Moore County adopts the North Carolina State Building Code by reference in Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-26 without amendment; neither the County's Chapter 5 nor North Carolina's approved amendments to the 2018 Residential Code amend the roof-covering impact provisions, and no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact requirement appears in the County's code or the state amendments.
Repair permit threshold
North Carolina law exempts most single-family reroofs from a building permit. G.S. 160D-1110(c): "No permit issued under Article 9 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is required for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less and performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code in any single-family residence, farm building, or commercial building unless the work involves any of the following: (1) The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures. ... (4) The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code. (5) The addition of roofing, excluding replacement." G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same of the Building Code: "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof approved under subsection (e) for any construction, installation, repair, replacement, or alteration performed in accordance with the current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code and costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less". The North Carolina Residential Code draws the structural line for a reroof at R908.3: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." So a reroof of a single-family house costing $40,000 or less, using code-approved materials, replacing no load-bearing members and no more than 15% of the deck, is within the exemption. A job over $40,000, one that replaces rafters, trusses or other load-bearing members, or one that adds roofing where there was none is outside it. The exemption reaches single-family residences, farm buildings and commercial buildings only; duplexes and multi-family buildings are outside it. Moore County adds no threshold of its own: Code of Ordinances Sec. 5-26 adopts "The most current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code as adopted by the North Carolina Building Code Council and as amended" as the County's building code, and Chapter 5 (Buildings and Building Regulations), read in full, contains no permit exemption figure and no roofing provision. The County's permitting fee schedule (effective July 1, 2024) has no roofing or re-roof permit line, and the County publishes no statement on reroof permits. Work that needed a permit and started without one is charged at the fee schedule's "Failure to Obtain Permit" rate: "Double Permit Fee".
Roof layer limit / recover
North Carolina amends the reroofing section of its Residential Code. NC R908.3 Roof replacement: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." That amendment addresses a full replacement (tear-off to the deck); it states no number of layers allowed when re-covering over an existing roof. Moore County's Code of Ordinances adopts the state code by reference and adds no layer rule of its own.
Deck & sheathing requirements
North Carolina's Residential Code, as amended, provides: "R908.3 Roof replacement. Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck and replacement of up to 15% of the total existing roof deck. Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work." Deck replacement within that 15% therefore does not by itself take a reroof out of the state permit exemption for work that does not replace load-bearing structures. Moore County's Code of Ordinances adopts the state code by reference and contains no roof-sheathing provision of its own.
Sales & use tax
7% total in Moore County (the 4.75% state rate plus Moore County's local rate; no transit tax), per the NC Department of Revenue's current sales and use tax rates by county, read September 26, 2026. How it applies to a roofing job depends on whether the job is a replacement or a repair. NCDOR's taxability chart for Roofs and Roofing Materials classes "Complete replacement of roofing systems" as a Capital Improvement: that is a real property contract, and NCDOR states "The real property contractor is the consumer of the item that the real property contractor purchases, installs, or applies for others to fulfill a real property contract", so the roofer pays sales or use tax on the materials and does not charge sales tax on the contract. The same chart classes "Repair, maintain, or partially replace all types of roofing systems" as Taxable repair, maintenance and installation services, so a repair or partial replacement is taxed to the customer at the combined 7% rate.
More roof permit pages in North Carolina
Related guides
Moore County's Planning and Inspections Department runs Central Permitting and Building Inspections from 1048 Carriage Oaks Drive in Carthage. It takes building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permit applications, reviews plans and performs inspections under the North Carolina State Building Code for the unincorporated county. Its residential permit packet lists zoning contacts for the towns of Cameron, Carthage, Foxfire, Robbins, Taylor Town, Vass and Whispering Pines alongside the County, and its monthly issued-permits report lists permits it issues in several of those towns.
Hail reports near the center of Moore County, NC
- Reports, last 24 months
- 1
- Largest, last 24 months
- 1.00 in May 29, 2025
- Most recent
- May 29, 2025 1.00 in
- Reports, last 5 years
- 2
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 Moore County, NC. Data through Sep 30, 2026. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
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