Morton County, North Dakota - Building Department

Morton County, North Dakota

county

Mandan, ND

Required

Permits are handled by the Morton County Building Department at 210 2nd Ave NW, Mandan, on 701-667-3325, with Laurel Lundstrom as Building Inspector. The County replaced its application form on 5 August 2026 and now asks applicants to download the fillable Application for Building Permit, complete and save it, and then mail it, bring it in, or email it to [email protected]; permit fees can be paid online by credit card. Fees are based on the total value of new construction, additions, alterations and replacement, including basement and attached garages, and floor plans must be included. A permit is "NULL and VOID if construction as authorized is not started within 180 days or if construction is suspended for a period of 180 days after construction is started." Inspections must be scheduled a day in advance and missing one carries a penalty fee. Three things sit outside the County counter: plumbing and gas permits and inspections through the North Dakota Plumbing Board on 701-328-9979, electrical through the North Dakota Electrical Board on 701-328-9522, and septic through Western Plains Health on 701-667-3370. The application also carries an energy code compliance table asking for the type and R-value of insulation at roof or ceiling, walls, slab-on-grade, floor, rim joist and basement walls, which is worth filling in accurately where a re-roof touches attic insulation. A certificate of occupancy is needed for a new home but the County states that no certificate of occupancy is needed for additions, alterations, garages or shops.

Morton County adopts the North Dakota State Building Code by an EXPRESSLY FLOATING reference and states that it makes no local amendments to it. The state framework first: NDCC 54-21.3-03(6) provides that "The governing body of a city, township, or county that elects to administer and enforce a building code shall adopt and enforce the state building code. However, the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs." Morton County is such an electing county and is listed as a code enforcing jurisdiction by the North Dakota Department of Commerce. Its instrument is Article 9 of the Morton County Land Use Code, amended as of 28 October 2025, whose opening line reads: "The North Dakota State Building Code, in its most current version, is adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and enforced in Morton County." Its Adoption of Code section carries the same forward reference, adopting the state code "and any future updates and amendments to that code, one copy of which is on file with the County Building Inspector." THE AMENDMENT QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN ONE SENTENCE, which is rare: "The North Dakota State Building Code is not amended for application within Morton County in any way by this article." On the state side, the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book states that "Effective January 1, 2026, the North Dakota State Building Code consists of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code, and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)," and adds that "NO APPENDICES ARE ADOPTED." ONE LOOSE END TO SETTLE AT THE COUNTER. Morton County's own Building Guidelines page still links the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code as the codes to work from. The ordinance's floating language points at the 2024 suite; the guidance page points at the 2021 suite. Confirm which edition your permit is being written to with the Building Inspector on 701-667-3325 before ordering materials to a code table.

Required — Morton County adopts the North Dakota State Building Code, whose residential half is the International Residential Code with North Dakota amendments, and the two instruments that could change the roofing chapter were both read in full. The Morton County Land Use Code contains no roof-covering provision and states expressly that the state code "is not amended for application within Morton County in any way by this article." The North Dakota amendment set for the 2024 International Residential Code amends thirty sections, none of them in the roof-assemblies chapter. The base residential code drip-edge requirement for asphalt-shingle roofs, at Section R905.2.8.5, therefore applies in Morton County unmodified, with no local softening and no local addition. Because the County's ordinance floats to the current state edition while its guidance page still links the 2021 codes, take the installation extent and the fastener spacing from the edition the Building Inspector confirms is in force for your permit. About drip edge

Not required — No mid-roof, roof-deck or roof-covering inspection stage exists in Morton County. The County enumerates its mandatory inspections on the face of its own Building Permit Application, under the heading BUILDING INSPECTIONS, and the list was read in full: footing, before any concrete is poured, with trench, rails and rebar in place; foundation, before foundation walls or piers are poured; structural or framing, made "after completion of structural work and before insulation or drywall is applied," with plumbing, electrical and heating roughed in and all framing complete with fire stops, collar ties, bridging and nailers; plumbing, made by the State of North Dakota Plumbing Board; electrical, made by the State of North Dakota Electrical Board; septic, through Western Plains Health; and final, before moving into any new home. No roof, underlayment or mid-roof stage appears on that list, and the Morton County Land Use Code creates no roofing inspection of its own. Two practical points. Booking is on the permit holder and the County attaches a penalty to missing a stage: "IT IS THE OBLIGATION OF THE PERMIT HOLDER OR THEIR AGENT TO CONTACT OUR OFFICE TO ARRANGE FOR THESE INSPECTIONS. IF THE STRUCTURE IS COMPLETED WITHOUT THE PROPER INSPECTIONS, THE HOLDER OF THE PERMIT WILL BE ASSESSED A PENALTY FEE." Inspections must be scheduled a day in advance on 701-667-3325. And where a re-roof turns structural and framing is opened up, the structural inspection on that list is the one that applies.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Morton County, at either level of government, and the county half of that is stated by the County rather than inferred from a search. County level: the Morton County Land Use Code, amended as of 28 October 2025, is the instrument that adopts and administers the building code here, and it was read in full - all eleven articles across 218 pages. Its Article 9 says in terms that "The North Dakota State Building Code is not amended for application within Morton County in any way by this article," and the rest of the code contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 provision and no roof-covering provision of any kind; its roof references are building-height definitions, roof overhangs in setbacks, rooftops as impervious surface and roofing listed as a home occupation. State level: the North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were also read in full - thirty numbered section amendments - and none addresses roofing or impact rating. An impact-rated shingle may still be worth buying in a hail-prone market, and an insurer may discount for one, but nothing in Morton County or North Dakota law requires it.

MORTON COUNTY PUBLISHES NO DOLLAR THRESHOLD AND NO REPAIR CARVE-OUT, AND ROOFING IS NAMED NOWHERE - so a roofer here should confirm the job with the Building Department rather than reasoning from either. What the County does publish, on its Building Permits and Inspections page and again on its applications page, is the model code's own permit rule, which it quotes: "Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolished, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any system, the installation of which is regulated by this code, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the Building Inspector and obtain the required permit (IBC 105.1)." That text reaches repair and alteration without qualification and without a dollar figure, and Morton County publishes no list of work exempt from permit of its own. TWO REAL EXEMPTIONS DO EXIST AND BOTH MATTER ON RURAL WORK. First, Morton County's own agricultural exemption, at Article 9 of the Land Use Code: "Pursuant of NDCC Section 54-21.03-04, no building permit shall be required for any building or structure located on a farm and used for farming or ranching purposes, as defined by this code. For the purposes of this section, no farm shall be less than 150 acres of contiguous agricultural land under common ownership or operation. However, a building permit and occupancy permit shall be required for any building used for human habitation or by the public, regardless of the acreage of the farm." The 150-acre floor is a Morton County addition - the state statute sets no acreage - so a small acreage does not get the farm exemption here, and a farmhouse never does. Second, the state exemption at NDCC 54-21.3-04 for buildings "which are neither heated nor cooled." THE JURISDICTION LINE IS ALSO A LIMIT. Article 9 provides that "Morton County exercises building code jurisdiction over all unincorporated areas of Morton County with the exception of extraterritorial areas of cities," so a job in the fringe around Mandan or another city is not a Morton County permit. Fees are set by the Board of County Commissioners on total project value including basement and attached garages, and the permit is void if construction has not started within 180 days or is suspended for 180 days.

Morton County imposes no layer rule of its own, so the rule is whatever the adopted code says. The Morton County Land Use Code, amended as of 28 October 2025, was read in full - all eleven articles across 218 pages - and contains no roof-covering, shingle, recover or re-roofing provision; its Article 9 adopts the North Dakota State Building Code and states that the state code "is not amended for application within Morton County in any way by this article." The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code were read in full, thirty numbered section amendments, and none reaches the roof-assemblies chapter either. So the base International Residential Code provisions on installing a new roof covering over an existing one apply in Morton County unmodified, with no local cap added and none removed. That base text was not opened for this record, and the County's ordinance and its guidance page currently point at different editions, so no layer count is stated here and none should be inferred: confirm the permitted number of layers, and the edition your permit is written to, with the Building Inspector on 701-667-3325 before bidding an overlay.

No Morton County roof-sheathing rule exists, and the County says so rather than leaving it to be inferred. The Morton County Land Use Code, amended as of 28 October 2025, was read in full - all eleven articles across 218 pages - and it writes no construction standard for roofs. Its Article 9 adopts the North Dakota State Building Code and then states: "The North Dakota State Building Code is not amended for application within Morton County in any way by this article." The word sheathing does not occur anywhere in the code. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code were also read in full, thirty numbered section amendments, and none reaches the roof and ceiling construction chapter. So the base residential code roof sheathing and decking provisions apply here unmodified, and there is no local span table, thickness minimum or fastener schedule to reconcile them against. One point of sequencing does bear on structural work uncovered during a re-roof: the County's structural inspection is made "after completion of structural work and before insulation or drywall is applied," with all framing complete including fire stops, collar ties, bridging and nailers.

6.00% on materials in the parts of Morton County that have no city sales tax - North Dakota state sales and use tax of 5%, plus Morton County's 1% local sales, use and gross receipts tax. The North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner's Local Taxes by Location Guideline, rates effective 1 July 2026, lists Morton County at a current rate of 1%, with a maximum tax (refund cap) of $25.00 per sale, and states the stacking rule plainly: "The county sales, use, and gross receipts tax is in addition to state and city sales, use, and gross receipts tax." Its footnote for this county names the municipalities inside it that levy their own city tax - Glen Ullin, Mandan and New Salem - so a job inside one of those city limits carries the city rate on top and is not at 6.00%. WHO PAYS IT ON A ROOF. North Dakota treats a roofing contractor as the final consumer of the materials installed into real property: "A contractor or subcontractor entering into any contract, except for a labor only contract, is regarded as the final user or consumer of all tangible personal property installed into real property." So the contractor pays the tax on its material purchases and does not charge the homeowner sales tax on an install-plus-materials re-roof; selling materials without installing them is a taxable retail sale instead. TWO MORTON COUNTY SPECIFICS. First, Morton County is one of the sixty jurisdictions whose ordinance carries the limited exemption for "materials that are purchased within the jurisdiction, but later installed outside of the jurisdiction where the sale took place," so a contractor who gives the supplier a certificate of exemption owes local use tax where the goods are installed rather than where they were bought. Second, do not read the $25.00 maximum tax as a cap on a roof: the Tax Commissioner states that "the maximum tax (refund cap) is calculated on each material purchase a contractor makes to fulfill a construction contract, not on purchase orders or the entire construction contract itself," and that "most construction activity which is subject to local sales or use tax will include more than the specified maximum tax in total local tax costs."