City of Noblesville, Indiana - Department of Planning and Development, Building Division

City of Noblesville, Indiana

city

16 S 10th Street, Noblesville, IN 46060

Not required

Everything goes through the portal. The building division states that "All of the City's permit applications are submitted using our online permit portal," Civic Access, and that "All submitted documents must be reviewed and approved before any construction begins." The office is at 16 S 10th Street, Noblesville, open Monday to Friday 8am to 4:30pm on (317) 776-6325; the building commissioner is Daniel Sheposh. The fee schedule the City publishes on its Building and Inspections page is still the one effective September 1, 2019. For work that does need a permit, the City publishes a separate inspection packet per project type, and the residential ones are New Construction, Addition, Accessory Structure, Deck, Remodel and Swimming Pool -- there is no re-roofing packet. Inspections are requested online through the portal, by telephone for same-day, or by email for timed inspections only; next-day inspections must be booked by 4pm the day before, an inspection cannot be scheduled while fees are owed on the permit, and the permit card has to be posted in a front lower-level window visible from the street by the time of the first inspection. Two local rules a roofer should know about even though neither is a roofing code provision. Properties inside the Special Flood Hazard Area on the adopted Flood Insurance Rate Map are subject to limits on the improvements that can be made to the structure and may need elevation certificates, under Article 8 of the Unified Development Ordinance. And where a lot sits in a community that has Architectural Review Board standards -- the City's new-construction packet says an ARB Final inspection is "Only required if lot is part of a community that has ARB standards" -- the ARB design guidelines for detached single-family residences, adopted 08-16-2007, set a "Roof Pitch: Minimum 6/12 pitch" and, under the heading "Roof, Mechanical, Equipment Vents", provide that "Vents shall be attached to the roof opposite the primary architectural plane matching the roof color." Those are design standards for the dwelling rather than roofing-code provisions, but vent placement and colour on a re-roof in one of those communities is worth confirming with Planning before the job. The City's codified ordinances are published only on a vendor platform that does not serve them to this directory, so no Noblesville ordinance text is restated here.

STATE-SET, NOT CITY-SET, AND THE CITATION FLOATS. One- and two-family dwellings in Noblesville are built to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates by reference "that certain document being titled the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, published by the International Code Council ... save and except those revisions made in this rule" (675 IAC 14-4.4-1). The rule was filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025 (20251210-IR-675240566RFA). The City says the same thing from its own side: the building division "is responsible for all plan reviews, inspections, and enforcement of the building code of all Class I and Class II structures in accordance with Indiana Administrative Code (IAC) 675," and "All current, adopted codes of the Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission are enforced by the building division." There is no Noblesville edition year to track. IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a local 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 to the Indiana Administrative Code," so an Indiana local adoption tracks the current state rule rather than freezing at its adoption date. For commercial work the City's own Commercial Permit FAQ publishes a separate answer, naming the 2014 Indiana Building Code, based on the 2012 International Building Code with 2014 Indiana amendments, as the current building code it applies; the residential and commercial codes are different rules in different IAC articles and should not be conflated.

Required — REQUIRED, STATEWIDE AND UNCONDITIONAL, AT BOTH EAVES AND RAKES. The Indiana State Building Commissioner reproduces the governing provision in full on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the guidance document "Ice/Water Shield & Metal Drip Edge in Class 2 Construction with Asphalt Shingles": "R905.2.8.5 Drip edge. 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 1/4 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." The word "rood" in that fourth sentence is a typo in the State's own published document, quoted here as printed; it means the roof deck. Noblesville neither adds to this nor may subtract from it, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city from an ordinance more stringent or more detailed than the commission's rules and (a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance on the same subject. The same document states the reach of the code in terms: "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide. Regardless of any established local enforcement policies or practices to the contrary, or whether a local building authority even exists in any particular jurisdiction or location in the state, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code governs all Class 2 residential construction, and its requirements, by law, must be followed." Note that a Noblesville re-roof usually needs no City permit and so gets no City inspection -- that does not make the drip edge optional. About drip edge

Not required — NOT CATEGORICALLY REQUIRED HERE, AND IN INDIANA THIS IS A COUNTY-BY-COUNTY ANSWER RATHER THAN A STATE ONE. Indiana throws out the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows," and the substituted table then runs one row per county for all 92. Noblesville is in Hamilton County, and row 29 of that table reads "No" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required." Only 27 Indiana counties, almost all of them in the northern tier, read "Yes"; the other 65 read "No", so a rule of thumb carried down from Fort Wayne or up from a lake-effect county is wrong in Noblesville, and so is any assumption that Indiana has a single statewide answer. An ice barrier can still be mandatory on a particular Noblesville job by a second, independent route, which the Indiana State Building Commissioner sets out on Department of Homeland Security letterhead: because Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing materials to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions, "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it (per Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1)." Hamilton County sits in that second group, so read the printed installation instructions for the shingle you are actually installing before deciding. What the barrier must be made of and how far up the slope it must run is base International Residential Code content that Indiana does not modify; take it from the adopted 2018 edition rather than from a neighbouring state. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO MID-ROOF, TEAR-OFF OR DECK STAGE IS PUBLISHED, AND USUALLY THERE IS NO CITY INSPECTION OF A RE-ROOF AT ALL. A like-for-like re-roof in Noblesville normally needs no permit, and with no permit there is no City inspection. Where a roofing job does cross into permit territory because of structural work, the building division publishes an inspection and construction packet for each residential project type -- New Construction, Addition, Accessory Structure, Deck, Remodel and Swimming Pool -- and there is no re-roofing packet. The three that a roofing job could fall under were read in full. The Remodel packet lists three stages: rough-in prior to insulation, permanent electrical, and final prior to occupancy. The Addition packet lists footing, foundation prior to backfill, slab prior to backfill, rough-in prior to insulation, and final. The New Construction packet lists ten, from erosion control through footing, foundation, sanitary sewer lateral, under-slab, rough-in, driveway and sidewalk, an Architectural Review Board final where the community has ARB standards, and building and engineering finals. No tear-off, roof-deck, dry-in or mid-roof stage appears in any of them. The only roof condition anywhere in the three is attached to the rough-in stage on new construction, which requires that the "House must be weather tight. At a minimum, black paper must be installed on the roof with no penetrations" -- a framing-stage condition on a new house, not a re-roofing inspection. Nothing in the state code creates one either: 675 IAC 14-4.4 says nothing about inspection staging, which in Indiana is entirely a local administrative matter.

Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANCE MANDATE APPLIES IN NOBLESVILLE, AND THE CITY HAS NO POWER TO CREATE ONE. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, was read in full and contains no occurrence of UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473, the four standards and class designations that answer this question; its only roof-covering amendments delete single words from two asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections, delete one word from a third, and delete one sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section. Because IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the commission's rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than those rules, a Noblesville ordinance could not impose an impact-resistance requirement on a roof covering even if the City wanted one. An insurance discount for a Class 4 shingle is a matter between the homeowner and their carrier, not a code requirement, and should never be quoted as one.

THE TRIGGER IS STRUCTURAL WORK, NOT A DOLLAR FIGURE OR A SQUARE-FOOT COUNT. The City publishes a one-page Residential Permit Guide headed "Does the Project Need a Permit?" that sorts the question with two questions. The first asks whether you are adding a new structure or expanding an existing one; the permit-required list on that branch reads "Structures greater than 200 SF", "Decks greater than 200 SF or taller than 30 inches", "Fences", "Room additions, changes to roof area, or patio enclosures" and "Pools". Note what that fourth item says: a change to roof AREA, meaning an addition or an enclosure that makes the roof bigger, not a change of roof covering. Shingle work falls on the other branch, which asks "Does the work involve any mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or structural alteration?" A yes there requires a permit for the electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC or structural alteration. A no ends at the City's plain answer: "You most likely do NOT need a permit. Work such as flooring, painting, or replacing shingles or siding does not typically require a permit." The Commercial Permit FAQ puts the same rule for commercial buildings in one line: "Do we require a permit for re-roof work? No, unless there is structural work also taking place." So a like-for-like tear-off and re-cover of an existing Noblesville roof is outside the permit requirement, while decking repairs, rafter or truss work, a new dormer, an enclosure, or anything that enlarges the roof puts the job back inside it. The City's fee schedule carries no roofing or re-roofing line at all, residential or commercial; a job that does cross into permit territory is priced as Remodeling at $125 plus 10 cents per square foot residential, or as an Addition at $150 plus 10 cents per square foot. The Guide hedges with "most likely" and "typically", and neither it nor the FAQ is an ordinance, so on a job with any structural element call the building division on (317) 776-6325 before starting rather than reading the flowchart as a blanket exemption.

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model IRC Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, and the Hamilton County row, number 29, reads across as: Wind Speed 115 MPH; Seismic Design Category A; Ground Snow 20 PSF; Foundation 30 inches; Winter Design Temp 2 degrees F; Decay Slight to Moderate; Termite Moderate to Heavy; Weathering Severe; Ice Shield Underlayment Required No; Air Freezing Index 1500 or less; Mean Annual Temp 51.5 degrees F. All 92 Indiana counties carry the same 115 mph figure, so wind speed is not a Noblesville or a Hamilton County variable and there is nothing local to look up. Exposure category is not a state or city lever either -- it is determined site by site under Section R301.2.1.4, whose fourth sentence Indiana substitutes at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4 to say that on a subdivision or master-planned site the exposure category for an individual structure is based on the site conditions that will exist once all adjacent structures are built, where that construction is expected to begin within 2 years.

NO CITY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE BASE CODE GOVERNS UNMODIFIED. Roofing in Noblesville runs on the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule was read in full, all 245 sections. The International Residential Code reroofing section, R908, does not appear in it at any point, so Indiana leaves reroofing and recovering an existing roof exactly as the base code writes them. Indiana does amend four sections of the roof assemblies chapter, and it is worth knowing which, because they are sometimes described as leaving Chapter 9 untouched and that is not accurate: 675 IAC 14-4.4-84 deletes the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel systems, 14-4.4-85 deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.6 Attachment, 14-4.4-86 deletes the word "approved" from Section R905.2.8 Flashing, and 14-4.4-87 deletes the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4 Other flashing. None of the four touches layer counts, overlays or recovering. Noblesville could not add a layer rule of its own in any event: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than the commission's rules, and (a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. So the answer on a Noblesville job is the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof, in the 2018 edition, unchanged by Indiana and unavailable to the City to change. Read that rule out of the adopted edition, and confirm with the building division on (317) 776-6325, rather than carrying an overlay allowance across from another state.

7% statewide. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate with no county or municipal add-on, so there is nothing extra on a Noblesville or Hamilton County invoice. The Department of Revenue says so on the same page that enumerates the county-level taxes Indiana does levy: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." Those county taxes are a local income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food-and-beverage tax, none of which reaches roofing materials. Where the 7% falls depends on the contract, and the Department's Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60, which names roofing among its examples of contractors, turns on one distinction: "Time and material contracts are contracts in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately." A roofer working under a time and material contract is a retail merchant selling the material -- they buy it exempt under the sale-for-resale exemption by giving the supplier their own completed Form ST-105, and they "must collect and remit sales tax on the material portion of their contracts." A roofer working under a contract that is not a time and material contract, a lump sum contract for example, is not reselling the material, cannot buy it exempt for resale, and "will not charge their customers sales tax"; instead they either pay the sales tax when they buy the material or self-assess and remit use tax when it is converted into real property. One point worth reading twice on a time and material job: the bulletin notes that "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income," so separately stated on-site installation labor may be exempt. Which form your own contracts take, and how to invoice them, is a question for your accountant rather than for this record.