City of Muncie, IN - Building Commissioner's Office

City of Muncie, Indiana

city

300 N High St, Muncie, IN 47305

Required

Not required

Permits are issued by the Building Commissioner's Office at Muncie City Hall, 300 North High Street, third floor, open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday on (765) 747-4862. Applications may be handed in, mailed, or emailed to the office's permit clerks; once the permit is approved the office calls or emails with the amount, and payment is taken by card over the phone with a 3% charge, by check made out to the City of Muncie with the job address on the memo line, or in cash in the exact amount. Under Muncie Municipal Code 152.34 the permit issues on payment of the fee, and the placard has to go up on the front of the property, visible from the street, as soon as it arrives. Inspections are booked with 24 hours' notice and you have to give both the inspection type and the permit number. The single most important local point for a roofer is the historic layer. Muncie has designated historic districts and individual local landmarks - the Emily Kimbrough Historic District, the Old Federal Building Historic District, the Boyce Block Historic District and a list of landmark buildings - and inside them the Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission must issue a certificate of appropriateness before an owner makes "changes in the exterior contours of existing buildings by additions, reconstructions, alterations, changes of material, sandblasting, or maintenance involving exterior color change." A reroof that changes the roof covering material, or its color, is squarely inside that; a like-for-like repair is not, because the same section says nothing in it prevents "the ordinary maintenance and repair of any building or structure, which will not involve a change in any exterior features." An application for a building permit inside a historic preservation district is itself treated as an application for a certificate of appropriateness, the historic preservation officer meets the applicant within five working days to help prepare it, and the commission has 45 days to issue or refuse. Carrying out work that needed a certificate without one carries a fine of up to $1,000.00 for each act, so check the address against the district and landmark lists before quoting a material change. Separately, Muncie's Housing Code sets a standing duty on existing buildings that a roofer is often called out on: under 155.26 every roof "shall be maintained in a workmanlike state of maintenance and repair", and "The roof shall be structurally sound, and have no defects which might admit rain; and roof drainage shall be adequate to prevent rainwater from causing dampness in the walls or interior portion of the building."

The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates by reference the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings (first printing August 2017) "save and except those revisions made in this rule". It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted November 18, 2025. Muncie has its own adopting ordinance and it is written to float rather than to freeze. Muncie Municipal Code 152.02(A) provides that the building rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission set out in the listed Articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code "are hereby incorporated by reference in this code, and shall include later amendments to those Articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein", and its list includes Article 14, the One- and Two-Family Dwelling Codes. The sub-items printed under Article 14 still recite the Council of American Building Officials one- and two-family dwelling documents that Article 14 contained when the section was last amended in 2009, but the adoption is written to the Article, not to those documents. The same result follows from state law independently: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "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". In Indiana a local code citation floats forward by statute, which is the opposite of the frozen default in most states. The edition is not a local choice in any event: IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter, and (c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than those rules. One thing to be ready for at the counter: the City's own residential building permit application and its required-inspections handout both still print an older list, saying the office inspects residential work to the 2006 International Residential Code and naming the 2006 International Building Code, the 2006 International Mechanical Code, the 1997 Uniform Plumbing Code, the 2008 National Electrical Code and the 2012 Indiana Residential Energy Code. Those are the documents the City hands out; the residential building rule adopted by the state and incorporated by 152.02 is the one described above.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional. Indiana localities cannot vary this: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or is more stringent or more detailed than the commission's rules. The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice and Water Shield Update memo of 2020-02-25 (revised), which reproduces 2018 IRC R905.2.8.5 in full: "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 (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) 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." Note the memo reproduces a typo in the enacted text it quotes ("rood deck" for "roof deck"); the reading is not in doubt. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" (14-4.4-86) and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so the model text governs as written. About drip edge

Not required — Not required by the climatic table in Delaware County. Indiana deletes the model Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, and the Delaware County row states "No" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's 92 counties, all in the northern tier, are marked "Yes"; Delaware County, in the east-central part of the state, is not one of them. This is a state answer that Muncie has no power to change, because IC 22-13-2-3 bars a local ordinance more stringent or more detailed than the state building rules. Note that the table is not the only route to an ice barrier on a particular job - roof coverings still have to be installed to the manufacturer's instructions, and where those instructions call for one it governs that installation. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof stage exists. The Building Commissioner's Office publishes the list of inspection types it is responsible for, and no roofing inspection appears on it: Footer, Foundation, Framing, Insulation, Demolition, Set Backs, Swimming Pools, Electrical Rough-In, Electrical Service, Temporary Electrical Service, Fire Alarm System, Plumbing Rough-In, HVAC Rough-In, Plumbing In-Ground, HVAC Above-Grid, Fire Suppression System, Occupancy, and Unsafe Building Findings and Progress. The office's own Required Inspections handout describes the same set - setbacks, temporary pole, slab, footer, foundation, under slab, rough/framing, final, demolition and demolition final - and mentions a roof only as something that has to be finished before the framing inspection: "Windows, exterior doors, roofing and fireplaces must be installed." So on an ordinary reroof nothing has to be left open for an inspector part-way through the job. Two practical points: all inspections need 24 hours' notice and the permit number when you call, and if the office is not notified for a required inspection the contractor is charged $50.00.

Not required — No impact-rated roof covering is required in Muncie, and no local authority exists to require one. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact-resistance requirement anywhere in its 245 sections, and its only amendments to the roof-assemblies chapter are word deletions in the rooftop photovoltaic, asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections. On the local side, Chapter 152 of the Muncie Municipal Code, the City's Building Code, was read in full and contains no roof-covering provision at all beyond a dead-load definition. IC 22-13-2-3(c) independently bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than the state building rules, so a local impact mandate could not be enacted here. An insurance discount for an impact-rated shingle is a matter between the homeowner and the carrier and is not a code requirement.

There is no threshold. Muncie requires a permit before roofing work of any size or value begins, and the requirement is written to cover repairs, not just new work: Muncie Municipal Code 152.30 provides that "A permit shall be obtained before beginning construction, alteration, or repair of any building or structure, using forms furnished by the building director." The whole of Chapter 152, all ten divisions from 152.01 to 152.999, contains no dollar, square-footage or small-work exemption from that requirement. "Roof" is printed as its own type of project on the City's residential building permit application, alongside New Construction, Addition and Remodel/Repair. On price, a reroof is billed as residential "Replace, alter, addition or repair" under 152.35(A)(2)(b)1 and the Building Commissioner's published fee schedule: a $25.00 plan review fee plus a construction permit of $75.00 minimum plus $0.10 per square foot. Starting before the permit issues costs an added $100.00 for a first offense and $200.00 for a second, with a third referred to City Court, and failing to call in a required inspection costs a further $50.00. The placard the Building Commissioner issues has to be posted on the front of the property so it is visible from the street as soon as it is received, and failing to display it carries a minimum $50.00 fine under 152.34. Permit applications go in on the City's forms in person, by mail or by email to the Building Commissioner's Office.

115 mph. Indiana deletes the model International Residential Code Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, and the row for Delaware County, where Muncie sits, reads: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow load 20 psf, frost line depth 30 inches, winter design temperature 2 degrees F. All 92 Indiana counties carry the same 115 mph figure, and Muncie cannot raise or lower it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3 bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with, or is more stringent or more detailed than, the state building rules.

No local layer cap, and Muncie has no power to write one. The residential code in force is the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule's 245 sections contain no amendment to the International Residential Code's reroofing and roof-recover section, which is not referenced anywhere in the rule, so the base International Residential Code provisions on recovering an existing roof apply as published. Indiana's only amendments anywhere in the roof-assemblies chapter are word deletions in the rooftop photovoltaic section and in three asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections. On the local side, Chapter 152 of the Muncie Municipal Code, the City's Building Code, was read in full and contains no layer limit, no tear-off requirement and no overlay rule of any kind. Under IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) and (c) no Indiana city, town or county may adopt an ordinance covering the same subject matter as the state building rules, or one more stringent or more detailed than they are, so a Muncie-specific layer rule could not be enacted.

7% statewide. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate with no county or municipal add-on, so there is no Muncie or Delaware County component to add to a materials invoice; the Department of Revenue's own page on county-level taxes states that "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%", and the county taxes Indiana does levy are an income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food-and-beverage tax, none of which reaches roofing materials. How the tax falls depends on the shape of the contract rather than on the trade. Under a lump-sum contract the roofer pays the 7% on materials as the consumer and charges the homeowner no sales tax. Under a time-and-material contract - one stating the cost of materials and the cost of labor separately - the roofer buys the materials for resale and collects the 7% from the homeowner on the material portion, with separately stated installation labor not included in the taxable amount. Indiana's Department of Revenue names roofing directly in its definition of a contractor for this purpose.