New Hanover County - Building Safety

New Hanover County, North Carolina (unincorporated county plus Wilmington and Carolina Beach)

county

230 Government Center Drive, Suite 170, Wilmington, NC 28403

Not required

The no-permit answer for a reroof in New Hanover County holds only for like-for-like work: the County's permit chart says "No permit required if using same materials and no structural work", and state law exempts work "costing forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or less" in a "single-family residence" unless it involves "The addition, repair, or replacement of load-bearing structures", "The use of materials not permitted by the North Carolina State Building Code" or "The addition of roofing, excluding replacement" (G.S. 160D-1110(c)). The state code adds: "Replacement of up to 15% of the total roof deck shall not be considered structural work" (North Carolina Residential Code R908.3). A reroof that changes materials, involves structural work, costs more than $40,000, or is on a duplex or commercial building needs a County building permit, applied for through COAST (the County's online portal); the County's phone line for permit questions is 910-798-7308. Covering an existing patio, porch or slab with a new roof is listed by the County as needing building and zoning permits. Historic districts: the County's FAQ says "Exterior changes such as windows, doors, siding, or roofing may require approval before work begins", and the City of Wilmington states that "Alterations to buildings and structures in local historic districts or overlay districts require a Certificate of Appropriateness." This department issues permits in unincorporated New Hanover County, in the City of Wilmington ("The New Hanover County Department of Permits & Inspections issues all building permits in the city of Wilmington.") and in the Town of Carolina Beach ("New Hanover County Building Safety issues Building Permits for Residential and Commercial construction projects in the Town of Carolina Beach."); Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach issue their own building permits.

The 2018 North Carolina Residential Code is the edition in force; the 2024 edition has been adopted but has no effective date. The Office of State Fire Marshal states that the 2018 codes "were effective from January 1, 2019 and are currently effective." North Carolina's building code applies statewide, and New Hanover County's Code of Ordinances, Chapter 11, adopts "The current edition of the North Carolina State Building Code" by reference (Sec. 11-2) and, for one- and two-family buildings, "The current edition of the North Carolina Uniform Residential Building Code" (Sec. 11-3); Chapter 11, read in full, makes no technical amendment to the roofing provisions. The County's Building Safety FAQ refers applicants to the State Fire Marshal's "Current and Past codes" page, and its forms list offers a "Voluntary Early Adoption of 2024 NC Building Codes" election limited to "New Construction Only". North Carolina deletes the model-code drip edge requirement: "R905.2.8.5 Drip Edge. Deleted. Not required unless required by the roof covering manufacturer installation instructions."

Not required — Neither North Carolina's amendments to the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code nor New Hanover County's Chapter 11 (Buildings and Building Regulations), which adopts the state code by reference without technical amendments, contains a UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-resistance requirement for roof coverings.

North Carolina law: "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. 160D-1110(c); G.S. 143-138(b5) says the same and provides that "No permit shall be required under the Code or any local variance thereof" for that work.) The North Carolina Residential Code defines the reroof: "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." The exemption is written for a single-family residence; a duplex is not named in it, and work over $40,000 is outside it. New Hanover County Building Safety's own permit chart ("Do I Need a Permit?", read September 26, 2026) lists "Roofing / Shingles" under "GENERAL REPAIR - Minor Repairs - No Alterations" as "NO PERMIT REQUIRED", with the note "No permit required if using same materials and no structural work"; the same chart lists "Roof Over Existing Patio, Porch, Slab" as needing building and zoning permits. The County's codified Chapter 11, Sec. 11-81(a), still prints the older statutory figure, exempting work "costing $5,000.00 or less in any single-family residence" unless it involves, among other things, "the addition (excluding replacement of like grade of fire resistance) of roofing"; this record reports that codified figure and does not decide how it bears on the current statute. Where a permit was needed and not obtained, the County's residential fee schedule lists "Starting Work or Working Without a Permit" at $100 and "Starting and substantially completing work (1st occurrence/2nd Occurrence)" at $250/$500.

The State's 2024 rulemaking text, which marks its changes from the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code, carries R908.3.1.1 over from 2018 unmarked; it does not permit a roof recover "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." North Carolina amends its reroofing section: "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." New Hanover County's Chapter 11 (Buildings and Building Regulations), read in full, adopts the state code by reference and adds no reroofing or layer provision of its own. The same section also bars a recover "Where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing" and "Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile."

New Hanover County's Chapter 11 (Buildings and Building Regulations), read in full, adopts the North Carolina State Building Code by reference and contains no roof deck or sheathing provision of its own, so the North Carolina Residential Code's roof sheathing provisions apply without County amendment. For a reroof, the state code's R908.3 reads: "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."

7% combined in New Hanover County (the 4.75% state rate plus 2.25% local rate; the table marks no transit rate for the county), per the North Carolina Department of Revenue's current sales and use tax rates table, effective July 1, 2026. How it applies depends on whether the job is a replacement or a repair. NCDOR's Services to Real Property Taxability Chart lists "Complete replacement of roofing systems" and "Installation of complete roofing systems" as capital improvements: under a real property contract the roofer "is the consumer of the tangible personal property" it installs and pays tax on those materials when buying them, and "An invoice or other documentation issued to a person by a real property contractor shall not separately state any amount for tax for a real property contract" (G.S. 105-164.4H). The same chart lists "Repair, maintain, or partially replace all types of roofing systems" and "Repair, maintain, install, or replace roofing materials (asphalt, shingle, slate, tile, built-up, metal, single ply)" as "Taxable" repair, maintenance and installation services, charged to the customer at the 7% combined rate. NCDOR states that "Services to real property are generally repair, maintenance, and installation services subject to sales and use tax unless a person substantiates otherwise."