City of Roswell, New Mexico - Building & Inspections Division (Community Development)

City of Roswell, New Mexico

city

400 West 2nd Street, Roswell, NM 88201

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The Building & Inspections Division is part of Community Development at 400 W. 2nd St., Roswell, NM 88201; mailing address PO Box 1838, Roswell, NM 88202-1838; division phone (575) 637-6280. Miller Butts is the Certified Building Official ([email protected]) and Mike Christensen is the Building Inspector, (575) 637-6293, [email protected]. Applications are emailed to [email protected] or filed through CloudPermit, the City's online permitting system, which the City describes as "an online system to apply for, submit and track your permits anytime and anywhere." The Re-Roofing Permit Application, revised April 15, 2026, asks for the re-roofing address, owner and contractor details, NM State License #, City Business License #, a detailed description of the existing roof type, a detailed description of the re-roofing installation, and the re-roofing contract cost, which sets the fee under the valuation-banded Building Fee Schedule. ELECTRICAL PERMITS ONLY HAVE MOVED TO THE STATE, AND ROOFING IS NOT AFFECTED. The City's Building Inspections page carries a notice reading, verbatim: "NOTICE: ELECTRICAL PERMIT & PLAN REVIEW & INSPECTIONS - As of January 1, 2026, and until further notice, the State of New Mexico will conduct Electrical Permit and Electrical Plan Reviews and issue Electrical Permits." and "Paul Cordova (505-670-2025; [email protected]) will serve as the primary electrical inspector covering the Roswell area at this time." That transfer is confined to the electrical trade; the City continues to issue and inspect building, plumbing and mechanical permits, including all re-roof permits, and continues to publish its own Building Official and its own fee schedule. Section 60-13-41(G) NMSA 1978 is the mechanism behind that kind of transfer, providing that where a certified building official ceases to be employed, "the plan review, permitting and inspections overseen by that certified building official shall transfer to the state unless the county, municipality or other political subdivision, within sixty days or a longer period as approved by the division, replaces that certified building official." Separately, manufactured and mobile homes are outside the City re-roof permit: "*This permit does not include manufactured/mobile homes. Permits available through state office.*" Statewide, two Chapter 9 amendments in 14.7.3.17 NMAC are on point for Roswell roofing work: added IRC Section R903.2.1 Locations requires, verbatim, that "Approved reglets or an approved flashing shall be installed at wall and roof intersections, wherever there is a change in roof slope or direction and around roof openings"; and the canale and scupper provisions added at R905.9.4/R905.9.5, R905.11.4, R905.12.4 and R905.13.4 require taper board at roof-deck transitions to crickets, valleys and canales and state that "All canales and scuppers must have a metal pan lining extending six inches minimum... All canales or scuppers must have positive drainage." Pumice and other granular fill are barred from roof assemblies.

A Roswell re-roof takes at least two inspections, and the first one happens with the deck open. The City's Checklist for Residential Plans, revised April 14, 2026, states under "E. Roofing", verbatim: "3. Inspections must include, at a minimum, decking inspection upon removal of existing roof and the roof system or application of roof coating systems as a final inspection upon completion of roofing project." The City's Re-Roofing Permit Application repeats the closing requirement in its own words, verbatim: "FINAL INSPECTION REQUIRED - You are required to call for a final inspection. Call the building inspector at (575) 637-6293. The installation detail you submit must not be deviated from without approval from the building inspector." and "PERMIT TO BE POSTED ON JOB SITE". The application requires the applicant to "Describe Existing roof type in detail" and "Describe Re-roofing installation in detail", and that submitted installation detail is what the inspector checks against. The same two-stage sequence is the statewide minimum: 14.5.3.9(B) NMAC lists the inspections required for work subject to the New Mexico Residential Building Code and includes, at (4), verbatim, "New and re-roofs, roof assembly inspection including decking, application of roof systems and application of roof coatings." 14.5.3.8(F) NMAC makes the sequencing binding, verbatim: "Work must be visible to be inspected and shall not be covered or used before approval is given by the inspector. Work that is covered before it is inspected, tested if applicable, and approved may be ordered uncovered by the inspector or AHJ. No work shall be performed beyond what is required for the next inspection without approval of the inspector." Notice of not less than 24 hours is required before work is to be inspected (14.5.3.8(D) NMAC), and no inspection is performed until the required fees have been paid (14.5.3.8(B) NMAC).

Two instruments stack and they do not print the same edition year; the City's own current publication governs. STATE LAYER: New Mexico adopts a statewide residential code at 14.7.3 NMAC (2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code). 14.7.3.8 NMAC ADOPTION states, verbatim: "This rule adopts by reference the 2021 International Residential Code, as amended by this rule." 14.7.3.6 NMAC OBJECTIVE makes it a floor, verbatim: "The purpose of this rule is to establish minimum standards for the general construction of residential buildings in New Mexico." 14.7.3.5 NMAC makes the rule effective July 14, 2023 and provides that after December 14, 2023 permits may be issued only under it. CITY LAYER: the City of Roswell Building & Inspections Division publishes a one-page "City of Roswell Building Codes" sheet, revised August 29, 2025, which lists the codes it enforces as, verbatim: "2021 IBC (NMCBC)", "2021 IRC (NMRBC)", "2021 IEBC (NMEBC)", "2021 IFC", "2020 NEC (NMEC)", "2021 IECC (NMECC)", "2021 UMC (NMMC)", "2021 UPC (NMPC)" and "2017 ANSI A117.1 (ACCESSIBILITY)" - i.e. the 2021 International Residential Code as adopted and amended by New Mexico as the New Mexico Residential Building Code. The codified adopting ordinance, Section 6-11 of the Roswell Code of Ordinances (Buildings and building regulations - Building code - Adopted), has not been re-enacted to match: it still adopts by reference "the 2015 edition of the International Building Code" and, at subsection (b), the "2015 New Mexico Residential Building Code, which adopts and amends the 2015 International Residential Code (Chapters one through eleven)" along with 2015, 2017, 2012 and 2009 editions of the other New Mexico codes. The operative edition for a permit pulled today is the 2021 set the Division publishes and enforces, which is also the only edition the state rule allows a permit to be issued under after December 14, 2023; the codified 2015 list is stale text, not a competing requirement, and in any event New Mexico's residential rule is a floor that a municipality may add to but never fall below. Roswell's Chapter 6 adopts no IRC roofing-chapter amendment of its own.

Required — Required by the City of Roswell's own published instrument. The Building & Inspections Division of Community Development issues a "Checklist For Residential Plans", revised April 14, 2026, on City letterhead with the City's address and the direct lines of Building Official Miller Butts and Building Inspector Mike Christensen on it; the checklist is what an applicant is handed and held to. Under the heading "E. Roofing" it states, verbatim: "1. All new roof installations and re-roofs require building permits and inspections. 2. All applications of roof coating systems require building permits and inspections. 3. Inspections must include, at a minimum, decking inspection upon removal of existing roof and the roof system or application of roof coating systems as a final inspection upon completion of roofing project." The decking inspection is taken after the existing covering is stripped and before the new roof system is laid, which is what makes it a mid-roof rather than a final. The City's Re-Roofing Permit Application, revised April 15, 2026, carries the closing half of the same sequence, verbatim: "FINAL INSPECTION REQUIRED - You are required to call for a final inspection. Call the building inspector at (575) 637-6293. The installation detail you submit must not be deviated from without approval from the building inspector." The text Roswell prints in its checklist reproduces 14.5.2.8(E) NMAC, whose own scope provision, 14.5.2.2 NMAC, reads "This rule applies to all work performed in New Mexico that is subject to the jurisdiction of CID for which permits are required" while 14.5.2.6 NMAC describes it as "the statewide minimum standard". Roswell is self-administering, so that state rule does not reach it of its own force and the requirement here rests on the City's adoption of the text into its own checklist, not on the NMAC scope clause. The corresponding state inspection list, 14.5.3.9(B)(4) NMAC, is to the same effect: "New and re-roofs, roof assembly inspection including decking, application of roof systems and application of roof coatings."

Not required — Checked at both layers Roswell residential roofing runs through. CITY LAYER: Chapter 6 of the Roswell Code of Ordinances (Buildings and Building Regulations), Articles I, II and III, Secs. 6-1 through 6-56 - the complete local building-code adoption and administration chapter, including Sec. 6-11 Adopted, Sec. 6-13 Permit and inspection fees, Sec. 6-21 Adoption of plumbing and mechanical codes by reference and Sec. 6-26 Energy conservation code - was read in full; the chapter contains no roofing provision of any kind, and nothing in it addresses impact resistance, UL 2218 or Class 4 roofing. The City's own current publications were checked to the same standard: the "City of Roswell Building Codes" sheet of August 29, 2025, including its Design Standards block, prints wind, seismic, snow, frost-depth, live-load and climate-zone criteria but no impact-resistance criterion; the Checklist for Residential Plans of April 14, 2026 sets out the roofing permit, submittal and inspection requirements and imposes no impact class; and the Re-Roofing Permit Application of April 15, 2026 asks the applicant to describe the existing roof type and the re-roofing installation in detail but specifies no impact rating. STATE LAYER: the 2021 New Mexico Residential Building Code, 14.7.3 NMAC, contains no UL 2218, Class 4 or impact-resistance provision; the state's Chapter 9 amendments at 14.7.3.17 NMAC concern tear-off, reglets and flashing, canales and scuppers, and taper board, and impose no impact-resistance requirement. Neither layer imposes an impact-resistance requirement on Roswell residential roofing as adopted.

No threshold at all - every re-roof and every roof-coating application needs a City building permit in Roswell, whatever it costs and whatever its size. The City's Checklist for Residential Plans, revised April 14, 2026, states under the heading "E. Roofing", verbatim: "1. All new roof installations and re-roofs require building permits and inspections. 2. All applications of roof coating systems require building permits and inspections." The same checklist's general permit paragraph closes, verbatim: "All re-roofs and applications of roof coatings require a building permit and inspections." Nothing in it conditions the permit on job value, roof area, number of squares or whether the work is a repair rather than a full replacement. What job value does control is the fee: Roswell's published Building Fee Schedule is a valuation-banded table beginning at $24.00 for a valuation of $0-$549 and running in steps to $5,609.00 for $900,500 to $1 million, with $3.65 per $1,000 over $1 million; the Re-Roofing Permit Application collects the "Re-roofing Contract Cost $" to set that fee. Section 6-1 of the Roswell Code of Ordinances separately fixes at $24.00 any first building permit or inspection fee relating to construction or refurbishing of condemned housing. One category is carved out of the City permit entirely - the Re-Roofing Permit Application states, verbatim: "*This permit does not include manufactured/mobile homes. Permits available through state office.*"

City-specific, published by the City of Roswell itself. The Building & Inspections Division's "City of Roswell Building Codes" sheet, revised August 29, 2025, carries a section headed "Design Standards" whose rows read, verbatim: "Ground snow load = Refer to Table 7.2-6 in ASCE-7"; "Seismic Category = II B"; "Basic wind speeds = 115(51)mph/Roughness category = B"; "Frost depth = 12""; "Live Loads = See Table 1607.1 in the IBC"; "Dead loads & Combo Loads Refer to CH. 16 in the IBC"; "Climate Zone = 3B". The wind figure is the ASCE 7 basic (ultimate) design wind speed of 115 mph, printed in the ASCE convention of miles per hour with the metric equivalent in parentheses, with surface roughness category B. These values are the City's own because New Mexico hands that part of the table to the local authority: 14.7.3.11(A)(1) NMAC amends footnote f of IRC Table R301.2 to read, verbatim, "The authority having jurisdiction shall fill in this part of the table with the seismic design category determined from Section R301.2.2.1 or information from the U.S.G.S. software Design Values for Buildings found online." The sheet prints no ice-barrier row and no ground-snow number of its own, deferring snow to ASCE 7.

Two existing layers maximum, plus four mandatory tear-off triggers - a statewide New Mexico rule that applies in Roswell. 14.7.3.17 NMAC ("CHAPTER 9 ROOF ASSEMBLIES: See this chapter of the IRC except as provided below") deletes IRC Section R908.3 and substitutes, verbatim: "New roof coverings shall not be installed without first removing existing roof coverings where any of the following conditions occur: (1) 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. (2) The existing roof covering is wood shake, slate, clay, cement, or asbestos-cement tile. (3) The existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. (4) Where pumice or other granular fill are present, the material must be removed prior to installing a new roof." The City of Roswell adds nothing on top of this limit: Chapter 6 of the Roswell Code of Ordinances (Buildings and Building Regulations), Articles I through III, contains no IRC Chapter 9 amendment and no layer restriction of its own. In practice the limit is enforced at the decking inspection the City requires "upon removal of existing roof", at which the number and condition of the layers coming off and the state of the deck underneath are both visible to the inspector.

8.2708% total gross receipts tax rate, GRT Location Code 04-101 (Roswell, Chaves County), for the current semiannual edition effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. New Mexico levies no sales tax. The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department states, verbatim, that "Gross receipts tax (GRT) is imposed on businesses, but it is common for a business to pass the GRT on to the purchaser," so a roofing contractor in Roswell owes GRT on its own receipts from the job rather than collecting a sales tax from the homeowner. The Department also states, verbatim, that the "GRT rate varies throughout the state because the total rate combines the rates imposed by the state, counties, and municipality for each location," and that "businesses will use the location code and tax rate corresponding to the location where their goods or the product of their service are delivered" - for roofing, that means the rate keys to where the roof is, not to where the contractor's office is. Rates are keyed to a GRT Location Code rather than to a city name and are reissued semiannually. The Department cautions, verbatim, "Identify the appropriate GRT Location Code and tax rate by clicking on the map at the location of interest" and "Please consult local authorities where appropriate to confirm GRT Location Codes and tax rates," so a job address outside the Roswell city limit should be checked against the Department's map rather than assumed.