City of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin - Building Inspection

City of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

city

174 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Oconomowoc, WI 53066

Required

Required

Applications are filed on the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Permit application form under Municipal Code Section 14.101(6)(a), and the City runs an online permit portal from its Permits page. Inspections are requested on 262-569-2195. Section 14.11(9) puts the duty on the permit holder: the permit holder or agent "shall see that all required inspections are made and that the Chief Building Inspector is notified 24 hours in advance of any inspection required." Plan an inspector conversation round narrow office hours - the department publishes availability of Monday to Friday 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. and Tuesday and Thursday 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Fees are set by resolution of the City Council under Section 14.04 and published in the annual permit fee schedule. IF A VIOLATION IS CITED, THE CLOCK IS THIRTY DAYS AND THE CONSEQUENCE IS A STOP WORK ORDER. Section 14.101(8)(b) requires all cited violations to be corrected within 30 days of written notification unless an extension is granted; under 14.101(8)(c) a stop work order may then be served on the owner and posted at the site, and it "shall not be removed except by written notice of the Building Inspector after satisfactory evidence has been supplied that the violation has been corrected." Under 14.101(8)(d) each day after the 30-day period is a separate offence.

THE CITY ADOPTS THE STATE CODES BY REFERENCE, AND ITS DWELLING ADOPTION IS FLOATING RATHER THAN FROZEN TO AN EDITION. Municipal Code Section 14.101(2), "STATE UNIFORM DWELLING CODE ADOPTED," provides that the administrative code provisions "with respect to one- and 2-family dwellings in Chs. SPS 320-325, Wis. Adm. Code, are hereby adopted and by reference made a part of this section as if fully set forth herein," and that "Any future amendments, revisions or modifications of such chapters are intended to be made part of this section to secure uniform statewide regulation of one- and 2-family dwellings in the City and in the state." So for a house there is no local edition year to chase - the currently published text of chs. SPS 320 to 325 governs. THE COMMERCIAL SIDE IS DIFFERENT AND IS EDITION-DATED, SO DO NOT CARRY ONE ANSWER ACROSS TO THE OTHER. Section 14.10, "CODES ADOPTED," amended by Ordinance #21-O1009, adopts SPS 316 in its entirety for electrical work, the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code chapters SPS 360 to 366 with appendices A and B, and by name the 2015 editions of the International Building Code, International Energy Conservation Code, International Mechanical Code, International Fuel Gas Code and International Existing Building Code, each "with Wisconsin Amendments." Those are commercial instruments; a one- or two-family reroof in Wisconsin runs on the state dwelling code, not on the International Residential Code, which the City does not adopt at all. Section 14.10 also requires that the inspectors enforcing these codes be certified by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services "in both UDC and non-UDC (including commercial) and other categories." The City Code is codified through Ordinance No. 25-O1112, enacted December 2, 2025. A NOTE ON WHERE LOCAL AUTHORITY STOPS, BECAUSE WISCONSIN DRAWS THAT LINE HARDER THAN MOST STATES. Wis. Stat. 101.65(1) lets cities, villages, towns and counties exercise jurisdiction over the construction and inspection of new dwellings by ordinance, but 101.65(1c) provides that they "may not make or enforce an ordinance under sub. (1) that is applied to a dwelling and that does not conform to this subchapter and the uniform dwelling code." It then goes a step further than a plain preemption clause: if a contract between the municipality and an owner requires the owner to comply with a non-conforming ordinance, "the owner may waive the provision, and the provision, if waived, is void and unenforceable." So a local roofing rule that departs from the state dwelling code is not merely unenforceable against the municipality - the owner can strike it out of a contract.

Not required — No drip edge is required by code here, and the reason is that Wisconsin never adopted the International Residential Code rule that most other states rely on for it. SPS 321.28, "Weather protection for roofs," was read in full - general drainage and fasteners, underlayment for shingles, asphalt shingles, ice dam protection, other roof coverings, reroofing, and every flashing paragraph - and no provision requires a drip edge at an eave or a rake. The only drip-edge language anywhere in the Wisconsin dwelling construction chapter is a masonry chimney cap rule, which is not a roof-edge requirement. PRACTICAL POINT FOR A BID: drip edge may still be required as a matter of the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions, and SPS 321.28(3)(a)3. makes those instructions binding for asphalt shingles, so read the wrapper before leaving it off. On the City side, Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code was read in full and the words drip edge do not appear in it, and neither does any other roof-edge or roof-flashing requirement. The only roof-related local rule is a drainage one - Section 14.11(7) requires storm and rain water to be conducted from the roof of every building in an approved manner, to grade or to a storm sewer where required. About drip edge

Required — STATE-SET AND SLOPE-CONDITIONED - read the trigger carefully, because it is narrower than the International Residential Code rule used in most other states. 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 shall 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 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." The trigger is the roof slope, not the climate zone or a design temperature, so a roof steeper than 4:12 is not covered by the requirement at all - although the shingle manufacturer's instructions may still call for it, and SPS 321.28(3)(a)3. makes those instructions binding for asphalt shingles. Oconomowoc adds nothing to this - Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code was read in full and contains no ice barrier or ice dam provision. ONE SCOPE POINT THAT APPLIES TO EVERY WISCONSIN REROOF AND IS NOT SETTLED. The uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but it does not reach every house and it may not reach every job. SPS 320.05(1) provides that the code does not apply to dwellings "the construction of which was commenced prior to the effective date of this code, or to additions or alterations to such dwellings" - the code took effect June 1, 1980, and the enabling statute, Wis. Stat. 101.615, draws the line differently again, at a dwelling "the initial construction of which was commenced on or after December 1, 1978." Both dates are reported here because the statute and the rule state the cut-off differently. SPS 320.05(3) separately provides that the code does not apply "to repairs or maintenance to dwellings or dwelling units," and SPS 320.07(61) defines a repair to include "the replacement of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with the equivalent fixture, system or equipment," which is a fair description of a like-for-like tear-off. Against that, SPS 321.28(6) regulates reroofing by name, and SPS 320.04(2) applies the whole code to alterations of a dwelling it covers. Wisconsin has not resolved that tension, and this record does not resolve it either. Ask the building inspector which side of it your job falls on before pricing the work. A municipality may also adopt chs. SPS 320 to 325 to reach additions and alterations to older dwellings, which closes half the question locally. OCONOMOWOC IS THE ONE JURISDICTION IN THIS DIRECTORY THAT WRITES THAT VINTAGE LINE INTO ITS OWN ORDINANCE, AND IT USES A THIRD DATE. Municipal Code Section 14.101(3) defines a dwelling, for the purposes of the section that adopts and enforces the uniform dwelling code, as "Any building, the initial construction of which is commenced on or after the effective date of this section, which contains one- or 2-dwelling units," and Section 14.101(6)(a) attaches the permit requirement to "No one- or 2-family dwellings of which initial construction shall be commenced after May 29, 1980." That is a THIRD date for the same idea: the state rule SPS 320.05(1) turns on the code effective date of June 1, 1980, the enabling statute Wis. Stat. 101.615 on initial construction commenced on or after December 1, 1978, and this section on May 29, 1980. The same section also defines an alteration as "A substantial change or modification other than an addition or minor repair to a dwelling or systems involved within a dwelling." WHAT THIS RECORD DOES NOT DO IS DECIDE WHAT FOLLOWS FOR AN OLDER HOUSE. The City charges a residential roofing permit fee without any vintage qualifier on its published fee schedule, and Chapter 14 publishes no exempt-work list, so the practical position and the literal words of Section 14.101(6)(a) are not obviously the same. Ask the Building Inspection Division before assuming either answer on a house built before 1980. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO MID-ROOF OR ROOF-COVERING INSPECTION STAGE IS PUBLISHED, AND THE CITY PRINTS ITS WHOLE LIST ON ITS OWN INSPECTIONS PAGE SO IT CAN BE CHECKED. The City tells applicants to call for an inspection before each of the following, and the list runs, in full: footing before concrete, foundation before backfilling, insulation before drywall, interior drain tile before the floor is poured, rough framing before insulation, plumbing, electrical, exterior sewer, final plumbing and HVAC and electric, and final building. New houses carry extra conditions at footing, foundation and final. None of those is a tear-off, underlayment, deck or roof-covering stage, and on a reroof the final building inspection is the operative one. Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code was also read in full and prescribes no roofing inspection stage. TWO PRACTICAL POINTS: Section 14.11(9) requires the permit holder to give the Chief Building Inspector 24 hours notice of any required inspection and makes the permit holder, not the City, responsible for seeing that inspections happen; and inspections are requested on 262-569-2195.

Not required — No impact-resistance or hail-rating mandate applies here. The statewide Wisconsin uniform dwelling code carries none: ch. SPS 321, which holds the construction standards for one- and two-family dwellings, contains no occurrence of UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 anywhere, roof coverings included, and SPS 321.28(5) sends any covering the section does not otherwise address to "the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognized by the department," which sets no impact class. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurer-driven upgrade in this market, not a code obligation. ONE CAUTION FOR READING PAPERWORK ON A WISCONSIN JOB: a Class A, B or C designation, or a reference to ASTM E108 or UL 790, is a FIRE rating and says nothing about hail, and ASTM D3161 or D7158 is a WIND rating. Only UL 2218 or FM 4473 answers impact. On the City side, Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code was read in full and contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement, and the published permit and inspection pages and the 2026 fee schedule set no shingle rating.

A REROOF NEEDS A PERMIT IN OCONOMOWOC AND THE FEE SCHEDULE PRICES IT BY VALUATION, WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN IT SOUNDS. The 2026 City permit fee schedule, under "Building Permit Fees: Residential - One & Two Family," carries a line reading "Roofing $8.00 per $1,000 of valuation," directly above the identical "Siding" line and in the same block as "Remodel $8.00 per $1,000 of valuation, $50.00 minimum." The same block prints "Minimum Fees $50.00" and "Minimum Building Permit $100.00." So unlike the flat reroofing fees that several Wisconsin municipalities charge, an Oconomowoc roofing permit scales with the contract value - carry it as a line in the estimate rather than as a fixed cost. The ordinance behind it is Municipal Code Section 14.101(6)(a), "Permits Required," under which a one- or two-family dwelling may not "be built, enlarged or repaired unless a building permit for that work shall first be obtained by the owner or his/her agent from the Building Inspector," on the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Permit application form. THERE IS NO DOLLAR OR SQUARE-FOOT REPAIR EXEMPTION IN CHAPTER 14 - the chapter publishes no exempt-work list at all - so the permit question is not answered by a threshold here. GETTING IT WRONG COSTS DOUBLE: Section 14.101(8)(e) provides that if work governed by the section or the dwelling code "is commenced prior to the issuance of a permit, double fees shall be charged." One further condition that can hold up an unrelated permit: Section 14.11(8) provides that no building permit shall issue "until all required connections have been made and all development fees and special assessments levied against the property have been paid or arrangements have been made with the City for payment."

STATE-SET, AND WISCONSIN STATES IT AS A PRESSURE RATHER THAN AS A WIND SPEED - do not go looking for a mph figure, because the uniform dwelling code does not publish one. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.02(1)(c) provides that "Dwellings shall 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," and the code adds its own note that ASCE 7-05 "allows for substantial reduction from 20 psf as applied to the surface area." The roof-specific figures are in SPS 321.27(3), "UPLIFT AND SUCTION FORCES": roofs "shall withstand a pressure of at least 20 pounds per square foot acting upward normal to the roof surface," and "Roof overhangs, eaves, canopies and cornices shall withstand an upward wind pressure of at least 20 pounds per square foot applied to the entire exposed area." SPS 321.27(3)(b) adds the anchorage rule that roof framing members spanning more than 6 feet from the outermost edge of the roof "shall be permanently fastened to the top plate of load bearing walls using engineered clips, straps or hangers." For the shingles themselves the code sets a fastening count rather than a wind class: SPS 321.28(3)(a)4. requires at least 4 fasteners per strip shingle or 2 per interlocking shingle unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise, and SPS 321.28(3)(a)1. requires a self-sealing adhesive strip with an average bond strength of at least 1.5 pounds per 3.75 inches of shingle width at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Oconomowoc publishes no local wind figure and Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code contains none.

STATE-SET. Oconomowoc writes no reroofing layer rule of its own - Municipal Code Chapter 14, "Building Regulations," was read in full, all thirty-seven of its sections across the administration, building code, plumbing code, electrical and swimming pool divisions, and it contains no layer limit, no recover rule and no shingle provision - so the statewide rule governs unmodified. The statewide rule is SPS 321.28(6), "REROOFING," which provides that new roof coverings may not be installed over existing roof coverings where any of three conditions exist: the existing roof or roof covering "is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing"; the existing roof "is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile"; or the existing roof "has 2 or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering." So the ceiling is two total layers, and fewer than that where the deck is wet or deteriorated or the existing covering is one of the listed materials. A complete tear-off to the deck is not restricted by that rule at any layer count. There is no local route past two layers, so a roof already carrying two applications is a tear-off in Oconomowoc. ONE SCOPE POINT THAT APPLIES TO EVERY WISCONSIN REROOF AND IS NOT SETTLED. The uniform dwelling code sets these roofing rules statewide, but it does not reach every house and it may not reach every job. SPS 320.05(1) provides that the code does not apply to dwellings "the construction of which was commenced prior to the effective date of this code, or to additions or alterations to such dwellings" - the code took effect June 1, 1980, and the enabling statute, Wis. Stat. 101.615, draws the line differently again, at a dwelling "the initial construction of which was commenced on or after December 1, 1978." Both dates are reported here because the statute and the rule state the cut-off differently. SPS 320.05(3) separately provides that the code does not apply "to repairs or maintenance to dwellings or dwelling units," and SPS 320.07(61) defines a repair to include "the replacement of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with the equivalent fixture, system or equipment," which is a fair description of a like-for-like tear-off. Against that, SPS 321.28(6) regulates reroofing by name, and SPS 320.04(2) applies the whole code to alterations of a dwelling it covers. Wisconsin has not resolved that tension, and this record does not resolve it either. Ask the building inspector which side of it your job falls on before pricing the work. A municipality may also adopt chs. SPS 320 to 325 to reach additions and alterations to older dwellings, which closes half the question locally. OCONOMOWOC IS THE ONE JURISDICTION IN THIS DIRECTORY THAT WRITES THAT VINTAGE LINE INTO ITS OWN ORDINANCE, AND IT USES A THIRD DATE. Municipal Code Section 14.101(3) defines a dwelling, for the purposes of the section that adopts and enforces the uniform dwelling code, as "Any building, the initial construction of which is commenced on or after the effective date of this section, which contains one- or 2-dwelling units," and Section 14.101(6)(a) attaches the permit requirement to "No one- or 2-family dwellings of which initial construction shall be commenced after May 29, 1980." That is a THIRD date for the same idea: the state rule SPS 320.05(1) turns on the code effective date of June 1, 1980, the enabling statute Wis. Stat. 101.615 on initial construction commenced on or after December 1, 1978, and this section on May 29, 1980. The same section also defines an alteration as "A substantial change or modification other than an addition or minor repair to a dwelling or systems involved within a dwelling." WHAT THIS RECORD DOES NOT DO IS DECIDE WHAT FOLLOWS FOR AN OLDER HOUSE. The City charges a residential roofing permit fee without any vintage qualifier on its published fee schedule, and Chapter 14 publishes no exempt-work list, so the practical position and the literal words of Section 14.101(6)(a) are not obviously the same. Ask the Building Inspection Division before assuming either answer on a house built before 1980.

STATE-SET. The statewide rule is Wis. Admin. Code SPS 321.27(9), "ROOF SHEATHING, BOARDS AND PLANKING," read in full. For structural panels, SPS 321.27(9)(a) provides that "The allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel" - Wisconsin sets no minimum panel thickness of its own and defers to the stamp, so a roofer replacing decking should match the stamp to the rafter spacing rather than to a table. For board decking, SPS 321.27(9)(b) allows roof boards at least 5/8 inch thick for solid sheathing and 3/4 inch for spaced sheathing where rafters are 24 inches on centre or closer, and requires tongue-and-groove boards at least 1.5 inches thick where rafter spacing is greater than 24 inches on centre. SPS 321.27(9)(c) covers roof planks, which must be tongue-and-groove or splined and at least 2 inches nominal. Nothing in the section states a trigger for replacing sound decking on a reroof; what forces sheathing off is the separate reroofing rule, SPS 321.28(6)(a), which bars covering a deck that is water-soaked or deteriorated. Oconomowoc adds no sheathing or decking specification of its own - Chapter 14 of the Municipal Code was read in full and contains none. Two general local rules do touch a roof job: Section 14.11(4) requires that building materials "be protected from the elements when stored at a building site," and Section 14.11(7) requires that "All storm and rain water shall be conducted from the roof of every building in an approved manner, either to grade or, when required, to a storm sewer."

5.0% on materials, and that is LOWER than most of Wisconsin. Wisconsin state sales and use tax is 5%, and Waukesha County levies NO county sales tax at all - the county row on the chart, county code 67, carries no county rate. The figures are from the Department of Revenue sales tax rate chart, Guidance Document Number 100047, dated January 16, 2026. No municipal sales tax applies here - the Department states that "The city of Milwaukee is the only municipality that imposes a city sales and use tax" - and no premier resort area tax applies, because this municipality is not among the ten the Department lists as having adopted one. WAUKESHA IS ONE OF ONLY TWO WISCONSIN COUNTIES WITH NO COUNTY TAX, THE OTHER BEING WINNEBAGO, so a contractor working across the region will find the rate rises by half a point the moment the job crosses into Dane, Jefferson, Washington or Dodge, and by nine tenths of a point crossing into Milwaukee County at 5.9%. The chart annotation on the Waukesha row refers to the city of Milwaukee, which extends into Waukesha County and carries its own 2% city tax; that annotation does not reach Oconomowoc, which is a separate municipality entirely. HOW THE TAX FALLS ON A ROOFING JOB MATTERS MORE THAN THE RATE. Wisconsin treats a roof as real property: the Department of Revenue contractor guidance, Publication 207, answers it by name in its item chart, listing "Roofs" as real estate for residential installation, residential repair, commercial installation and commercial repair alike. The roofing contractor is therefore the consumer of what it installs. It pays sales or use tax when buying shingles, underlayment and other materials, and the same publication states that a contractor performing 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 neither labour nor materials are taxed on the reroofing contract itself. The exception runs the other way: Publication 207 lists "Selling lumber, roofing materials or other tangible personal property, without installation" as an example of the contractor acting as a retailer, which is a taxable retail sale. So the rate is a cost input on the material purchase rather than a line on the homeowner invoice.