City of New Berlin, Wisconsin - Department of Community Development, Inspection Services Division

City of New Berlin, Wisconsin

city

3805 S. Casper Drive, New Berlin, WI 53151

Required

Required

Building permits are applied for in person at the Department of Community Development, Inspection Services Division, on the second floor of City Hall at 3805 S. Casper Drive, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm; inspectors staff the front counter from 8:00 am to 9:00 am on weekdays. The City states that the building permit review process can take up to ten business days, and that if an application is disapproved the ten working days start over when new information is received. The City's building permit application form asks the builder or contractor for a UDC number and a DCQ number, which are the state Dwelling Contractor and Dwelling Contractor Qualifier certifications, so a roofing company without them cannot take out the permit. New Berlin also runs a homeowner privilege: a permit may be issued to a property owner where the building is their own owned and occupied single-family dwelling and they apply for and secure the permit, pay the fees, do the work themselves, follow the provisions of the building code and schedule the required inspections. That privilege does not extend to new electrical service or service upgrades, in-ground swimming pools, spas or hot tubs, new construction before an occupancy permit is issued, remodeling over 1,500 square feet, or electrical work outside the dwelling. One point about the state credential is worth knowing on an older New Berlin house: Wis. Stat. 101.615(3) applies the contractor certification sections to a building permit application to perform work on a dwelling whose initial construction commenced before, on or after December 1, 1978, so the age carve-outs that limit which houses the construction standards reach do not let an older house escape the certification requirement. Inspections are scheduled by calling 262-797-2445 and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

STATE-GOVERNED FOR DWELLINGS, WITH THREE LOCAL ADOPTING PROVISIONS. One- and two-family dwellings in New Berlin are built to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, chs. SPS 320 to 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. That is Wisconsin's own drafted text and not an adoption of the International Residential Code, which is why its roofing rules read differently from the IRC's. New Berlin adopts those chapters by reference at Municipal Code Sec. 80-2.A, which says "The following chapters of the Wisconsin Administrative Code establishing a One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code, and all amendments thereto, are adopted and incorporated in this chapter by reference" and then lists each chapter with an effective date: SPS 320 Administration and Enforcement 6-1-1980, SPS 321 Construction Standards 6-1-1980, SPS 322 Energy Conservation 12-1-1980, SPS 323 Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Standards 6-1-1980, SPS 324 Electrical Standards 6-1-1980, and SPS 325 Plumbing 6-1-1980. Sec. 80-2.B empowers the Lead Building Inspector and his representatives, as certified by the Department of Safety and Professional Services, to administer and enforce those provisions. Commercial and three-family-and-over work runs on a different code set: Sec. 80-2.C adopts chs. SPS 361 to 366 together with the current edition of the International Building Code suite as adopted by the state. SECOND ADOPTION, AND IT IS UNUSUAL: Sec. 80-1.A separately adopts "The Wisconsin Uniform Building Code prepared by the Building Inspectors Association of Southeastern Wisconsin in January 1967, together with all subsequent revisions, amendments and supplements", excepting only Section 30.05(1)(g). That is a regional association model code rather than the state dwelling code, it is not published on the City's website or on the City's online code, and the ordinance itself directs that a copy is on file and open to public inspection in the office of the City Clerk. A roofer who needs its text has to ask for it there. Note that a Wisconsin municipality that exercises jurisdiction adopts the uniform dwelling code in its entirety by ordinance and may not add requirements within that code's scope without the Department of Safety and Professional Services' approval, so the older regional code cannot lawfully impose a differing one- or two-family roofing rule.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, AND SLOPE-CONDITIONED -- it is narrower than the International Residential Code rule and narrower than most roofers expect. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.28(4)(a) requires that shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of a dwelling or attached garage and that have a slope of 4:12 or less be provided with ice dam protection in the form of sheet metal or a product labeled as meeting the requirements of ASTM D 1970. SPS 321.28(4)(b) sets the extent: the ice dam protection shall extend at least 30 inches up the roof slope from the roof edge and at least 12 inches up the roof slope beyond the inner face of the exterior wall. Three conditions all have to be met -- shingled or shake, over a heated area, and 4:12 or shallower -- so on a steeper New Berlin roof the uniform dwelling code imposes no ice barrier of its own, though the shingle manufacturer's own installation instructions may still require one and SPS 321.28(3)(a) makes those instructions binding for asphalt shingles. Wisconsin's measurement convention also differs from the IRC's 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, so do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Wisconsin job. New Berlin adopts these chapters by reference at Municipal Code Sec. 80-2.A and its own code adds nothing on ice barriers. SCOPE -- The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but does not reach every house. It does not apply to a one- or two-family dwelling whose construction began before June 1, 1980, or to additions or alterations to one, unless the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose — ask the building inspector before assuming it governs an older home. The code also states that it does not apply to repairs or maintenance, and it defines a repair to include replacing existing equipment with the equivalent, while a separate section regulates reroofing by name. Wisconsin has not resolved which of those two provisions governs a like-for-like tear-off, so confirm with the authority issuing the permit. Whether New Berlin has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for additions and alterations to existing dwellings is not established by this record; its building chapter adopts the chapters against their state effective dates and says nothing about existing dwellings. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof or roof-deck inspection stage is published for New Berlin. The City's inspections page lists the typical inspections needed for large projects -- new homes, additions and major alterations -- as footing, foundation, interior drain tile, rough framing, rough electric, rough plumbing, insulation, and final plumbing, electric and occupancy. No roof, roof-deck, roof-sheathing or mid-roof stage appears in that list, no inspection stage of any kind appears in the City's building chapter, and the City fee schedule prices no roof inspection -- only a $65.00 re-inspection and a $205.00 special inspection outside normal working hours. The City's miscellaneous permit form states that a final inspection is required on all permits. So a New Berlin re-roof is inspected at the end rather than at an interim point with the deck open. Two cautions before pricing a job on that basis: the City asks applicants to check with City staff for specific inspection requirements, and inspections are carried out by SafeBuilt, LLC under contract to the City rather than by City employees, so confirm the sequence when the permit is issued. Inspections are scheduled at 262-797-2445 and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

NO THRESHOLD IS PUBLISHED, AND RE-ROOFING HAS ITS OWN FEE LINE. The Wisconsin Uniform Building Code Schedule of Permit Fees adopted 1-11-2023 and effective 4-1-2023, which the City republishes each year as Appendix A to its statutory New Housing Fee Report, carries item X, "Reroofing, residing and trim", at a flat $65.00 for residential work and at $15.00 per $1,000 of valuation with a $330.00 maximum per building for commercial work. That equals item A, the $65.00 minimum permit fee for all permits, so there is no cheaper tier for a small residential job. Neither Chapter 80 of the Municipal Code, which is the City's entire building chapter and runs to four sections, nor the fee schedule itself, items A through AA, states any dollar value, square footage or number of squares below which a re-roof may proceed without a permit. Item AA of the same schedule charges double fees for a first offence and triple fees for later offences where work commences before a permit is obtained. Related fees a re-roof can attract are item P, re-inspection at $65.00 per inspection, and item R, special inspections outside normal working hours at $205.00. Because no exemption is published, confirm the scope of a partial repair with the Inspection Services Division at 262-797-2445 before treating it as work that needs no permit.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and expressed as prescriptive pressures rather than as an IRC-style design wind speed in miles per hour. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.02(1)(c) requires that dwellings be designed and constructed to withstand either a horizontal and uplift pressure of 20 pounds per square foot acting over the surface area, or the wind loads determined in accordance with ASCE 7-05, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. The roof-specific figure is at SPS 321.27(3)(a)1., which requires that roofs withstand a pressure of at least 20 pounds per square foot acting upward normal to the roof surface, with roof overhangs, eaves, canopies and cornices treated separately in the same subsection. Snow load is the geographically varying input rather than wind: SPS 321.02(1)(b)2. provides that roofs shall be designed and constructed to support the minimum snow loads listed on the zone map, so a New Berlin figure is read off that statewide map rather than stated as one number, and SPS 321.27(1) allows a reduction for roof slopes greater than 30 degrees. IMPORTANT: because Wisconsin uses a pounds-per-square-foot and zone-map system, there is no ultimate design wind speed in miles per hour for New Berlin, and the 20 psf figure must not be translated into one.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wis. Stat. 101.65(1c) bars a Wisconsin municipality from making or enforcing a dwelling ordinance that does not conform to the uniform dwelling code, and New Berlin adopts chs. SPS 320 to 325 by reference at Municipal Code Sec. 80-2.A. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.28(6) provides that new roof coverings may not be installed over existing roof coverings where any of the following conditions exist: (a) the existing roof or roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing; (b) the existing roof is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or (c) the existing roof has 2 or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering. Practical effect: at most two total applications, and less than that where the existing roof or covering is wet or deteriorated, or where it is one of the listed materials, which may never be recovered at any layer count. Read the verb -- the rule bars installing a new covering OVER an existing one, so a complete tear-off to the deck is not restricted by it. New Berlin's own codified Municipal Code contains no roofing layer, recover or overlay provision of its own. SCOPE -- The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but does not reach every house. It does not apply to a one- or two-family dwelling whose construction began before June 1, 1980, or to additions or alterations to one, unless the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose — ask the building inspector before assuming it governs an older home. The code also states that it does not apply to repairs or maintenance, and it defines a repair to include replacing existing equipment with the equivalent, while a separate section regulates reroofing by name. Wisconsin has not resolved which of those two provisions governs a like-for-like tear-off, so confirm with the authority issuing the permit. On the first of those two points, New Berlin has not been shown to have closed the gap. Sec. 80-2.A adopts the chapters and lists each one against its state effective date, and neither that section nor any other part of the City's building chapter says the chapters apply to existing dwellings or to additions and alterations to them. Whether the City has adopted them for that purpose is therefore not established here, and a roofer working a pre-1980 New Berlin house should ask the Inspection Services Division which rules the job is being reviewed against.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.27(9), "Roof sheathing, boards and planking", sets the deck standard for one- and two-family dwellings in New Berlin. (a) Structural sheathing: the allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel. (b) Roof boards: where the rafter spacing is 24 inches on center or less, roof boards may be used that have a minimum thickness of 5/8-inch for solid sheathing and 3/4-inch for spaced sheathing; where the rafter spacing is greater than 24 inches on center, roof boards shall be tongue and groove, at least 1.5 inches thick. (c) Roof planks, as an alternative, shall be tongue and groove or splined and at least 2 inches nominal in thickness, shall terminate over beams unless the joints are end matched, shall be laid so that no continuous line of joints will occur except at points of support, and shall be nailed or fastened to each beam. Note that Wisconsin writes this as a board-thickness and rafter-spacing rule keyed to the panel grade stamp, rather than in the International Residential Code's solidly-sheathed-deck formulation, so do not carry an IRC sheathing answer onto a New Berlin job. New Berlin's own Municipal Code contains no sheathing provision.

5.0% on materials -- the Wisconsin state sales and use tax of 5% and nothing else. WAUKESHA COUNTY LEVIES NO COUNTY SALES TAX, and New Berlin lies wholly within Waukesha County, so the widely quoted "5.5% everywhere in Wisconsin" is wrong here: the Department of Revenue rate chart shows Waukesha as county code 67 with a 5% state rate and an empty county rate cell. New Berlin imposes no municipal sales tax; the city of Milwaukee is the only Wisconsin municipality that imposes one, and although a small part of the city of Milwaukee lies in Waukesha County that does not reach New Berlin. HOW THE TAX ACTUALLY FALLS ON A ROOFING JOB: Wisconsin treats a roof as real property, so a roofing contractor is the consumer of the materials it installs. The Department of Revenue's contractor publication carries a real-versus-personal-property chart whose "Roofs" row reads real property for residential installation, residential repair, and commercial installation and repair alike, and it states that a contractor who performs a real property construction activity is not permitted to collect sales tax from its customers on its sales price from sales of real property construction activities. So the roofer pays the 5% when buying shingles and underlayment and does not charge the homeowner sales tax on the reroofing contract, for labour or for materials. THE EXCEPTION: selling lumber, roofing materials or other tangible personal property WITHOUT installation is a retail sale by the contractor and is taxable. The county rate still matters to a roofer as a cost on the material purchase even though it never appears as a line on the customer's invoice.