City of Sheboygan, Wisconsin - Building Inspection Division

City of Sheboygan, Wisconsin

city

828 Center Avenue, Suite 208 (City Hall), Sheboygan, WI 53081

Required

Required

Roofing permits are issued by the City of Sheboygan Building Inspection Division, 828 Center Avenue, Suite 208, in City Hall; phone 920-459-3477, email [email protected]. Applications go in on the City's Building Permit Application form, which asks for the address, whether the work is residential or commercial, a description of the work, the estimated cost of the job, and the contractor and every subcontractor with their City licence numbers. A companion List of Contractors form is filed with it and states that a building permit will not be issued until all contractors listed on it hold a valid City or State licence or credential for the project; roofing is one of the trade lines on that form. Because Sheboygan enforces the state uniform dwelling code, the permit for a one- or two-family dwelling also carries the state building permit seal, charged at the State charge plus $10, and the application carries the cautionary statement Wisconsin requires municipalities to give an owner about hiring a contractor who is not bonded or insured. A building permit for an existing building expires six months after issuance, is void if work does not begin within 30 days or is suspended for more than 60 days, and can be extended by the building inspector for delays outside the applicant's control. Two approvals sit in front of the permit on some Sheboygan properties and are easy to miss when quoting. On a designated historic structure or site, or any structure inside a designated historic district, Municipal Code section 105-1006 bars the building inspector from issuing a permit to reconstruct or alter any part of the exterior unless the historic preservation commission has granted a certificate of appropriateness, and states that a building permit obtained without one is invalid; the commission decides within 45 days, and ordinary maintenance and repair replacing elements with pieces identical in appearance is outside the requirement where it does not change the exterior appearance and does not itself require a building permit. Separately, inside an Urban Design Overlay zoning district, section 105-1004 puts a re-roofing that changes exterior appearance through renovation or design review, but it expressly excludes changes to the exterior appearance of properties used exclusively for one- and two-family residential purposes, so that one bites on commercial and larger multifamily work rather than on houses. One more City rule a roofer meets at the gutter line: the City's adopted property maintenance code amends the Roofs and Drainage section to require that all dwellings nearer than three feet to a property line have gutters and downspouts installed on the entire affected side.

STATE CODE, ADOPTED BY THE CITY - AND NOT AN IRC ADOPTION. One- and two-family dwellings in Sheboygan are built to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, chs. SPS 320 to 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, which is Wisconsin's own text rather than an adoption of the International Residential Code, which is why its roofing rules differ from the IRC's. Sheboygan Municipal Code section 12-21, Building Codes Adopted, takes that code up by reference at subsection (b), Uniform dwelling code: the City adopts the state uniform dwelling code and all amendments to it "applicable to all new and existing one- and two-family dwelling including alterations and additions thereto," and then lists chs. SPS 320 Administration and Enforcement, 321 Construction Standards, 322 Energy Conservation, 323 Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning, 324 Electrical Standards and 325 Plumbing. That wording matters on a reroof and is covered in the layer and ice-dam entries. The same section adopts the state commercial building code, chs. SPS 361 to 366, at subsection (c); the Wisconsin Uniform Building Code prepared by the Building Inspectors' Association of Southeastern Wisconsin at subsection (d), with three named exceptions; and the International Building Code, chapters 1 to 35, at subsection (e). Section 12-21 in its current form was enacted by Ordinance 27-25-26, passed and adopted by the Common Council on November 3, 2025 and effective on passage and publication. Under state law a Wisconsin municipality that exercises jurisdiction adopts the dwelling code in its entirety by ordinance and may not add a requirement inside the code's scope without the Department of Safety and Professional Services' approval, so a roofer should not expect Sheboygan-specific technical roofing amendments; the City code contains none. Commercial and three-or-more-unit multifamily roofing runs on the commercial track instead, which is a different chapter set from the dwelling fields recorded here.

Not required — NO DRIP EDGE IS REQUIRED BY CODE ON A SHEBOYGAN ROOF, at either level of government. The statewide Wisconsin uniform dwelling code, unlike the International Residential Code, carries no roof drip edge requirement: its weather protection for roofs section was read in full - drainage and fasteners, underlayment for shingles, asphalt shingle installation, 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 in the whole dwelling construction chapter is a chimney cap rule, which is not a roof-edge requirement. On the City side, the Sheboygan Municipal Code was read for roofing content and no drip edge provision appears anywhere in it; the City writes no technical roofing requirement of its own, and could not add one for a one- or two-family dwelling in any event, because Wisconsin bars a municipality from enforcing a dwelling ordinance that does not conform to the state code and requires department approval for any addition inside the code's scope. Practical point for a bid: drip edge may still be required as a matter of the shingle manufacturer's installation instructions, which the dwelling code makes binding for asphalt shingles, so read the bundle wrapper before leaving it off. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED, BUT ONLY ON LOW-SLOPE ROOFS - Wisconsin's trigger is the roof slope, not the climate zone, and that makes it narrower than the International Residential Code ice-barrier rule most other states use. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code requires ice dam protection on shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of a dwelling or an attached garage and that have a slope of 4:12 or less. It must be sheet metal or a product labelled as meeting the requirements of ASTM D1970, and it "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 cautions for Sheboygan work. On a roof steeper than 4:12 the dwelling code imposes no ice barrier of its own, so a steep-slope reroof can be code-compliant without one - but the shingle manufacturer's own installation instructions may still require it, and the dwelling code makes those instructions binding for asphalt shingles. The Wisconsin measurement convention (30 inches up the slope from the edge, and 12 inches beyond the inner face of the exterior wall) is not the IRC's 24-inches-inside-the-exterior-wall-line, so do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Sheboygan job. And the City of Sheboygan adds no ice barrier requirement of its own; the state rule is the whole of the code obligation here. 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 Sheboygan has acted, which sets it apart from most Wisconsin municipalities: Municipal Code section 12-21(b), Uniform dwelling code, adopts chs. SPS 320 to 325 by reference and applies them to all new and existing one- and two-family dwellings including alterations and additions to them. So the age of the house does not put a Sheboygan job outside the state code. The repair-versus-alteration question in the second half is a matter of state law and is not resolved by anything the City has enacted. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO MID-ROOF OR ROOF-DECK INSPECTION STAGE EXISTS IN SHEBOYGAN. The City publishes a Required Building Inspections handout, dated January 2026, that enumerates every inspection stage it requires, by work type. For UDC residential work the stages are Soil Erosion, Footing, Backfill, Rough-in, Insulation, Basement Floor and Final; detached garages take Concrete Slab, Rough-in and Final; accessory structures take Rough-in and Final; driveways, concrete patios and sidewalks, steps, hand and guard rails and fences each take a Final only; decks take Rough-framing and Final; and commercial work takes Soil Erosion, Footing, Backfill, Rough-in, Insulation, Concrete Floors and Final. No roof-deck, roof-sheathing, in-progress or mid-roof stage appears in any of those categories, so a reroof pulled under a Sheboygan building permit is inspected at the Final stage rather than at an interim point during the job. Two scheduling rules do apply and are worth building into a crew's day: the handout states that "construction shall not proceed beyond the point of inspection until the inspection has been approved," and the City asks for at least 24 hours' notice, with the department performing a requested inspection within two business days after the inspector confirms the request. Building inspections are performed Monday to Thursday 9:30 to 11:30 and 1:30 to 3:30, and Friday 9:00 to 10:30. A re-inspection is charged at $75.

Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANCE OR HAIL-RATING MANDATE APPLIES IN SHEBOYGAN. The statewide Wisconsin uniform dwelling code contains no UL 2218 requirement, no Class 4 or Class IV impact rating and no FM 4473 reference anywhere in the chapters governing one- and two-family dwellings, its roof coverings section included; that section's catch-all for coverings not otherwise addressed sends the installer to the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognised by the department, which sets no impact class. On the City side, the Sheboygan Municipal Code was read for roofing content and carries no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement anywhere; the City writes no technical roofing requirement of its own and could not add one for a one- or two-family dwelling without state approval. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurer-driven upgrade in this market, not a code obligation. One caution for reading paperwork on a Sheboygan 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.

A DOLLAR TEST, NOT A SQUARE-FOOTAGE TEST, AND IT IS DISCRETIONARY. Sheboygan Municipal Code section 12-51, Permits Required, makes it unlawful to add to, enlarge, move, improve, alter, convert, extend or demolish any building or structure without first obtaining a building permit, and separately to commence any work covered by the code on any structure. The same section then says the director or the director's designee "may authorize" two kinds of work to be completed without a permit: minor improvements not involving structural alterations to accessory structures under 25 square feet and under 5 feet in height, and "work on projects which do not exceed a material cost of $800 or which do not exceed a combined labor and materials cost of $1,500." The City's Building Division states the same threshold in plain terms under the heading Do I need a building permit: no permit is required for minor alterations under $800.00 of materials or $1,500.00 total materials and labor unless the work requires structural alterations, and all concrete, fences, railings, steps, porches, decks and rescue platforms and new construction require a permit regardless of cost. Two practical points. The exemption is written as something the director may authorize rather than an automatic entitlement, so a borderline job is worth a phone call to Building Inspection on 920-459-3477. And a full or partial reroof will almost always exceed both figures, so treat the permit as required and price it in: the City's Building Permit Fee Schedule, January 2026, sets the fee for "All buildings, structures, alterations, siding, roofing, or repairs where square footage not used" at $10 per $1,000 of valuation, with a $50 minimum permit fee. The fee schedule also states that in determining costs all construction shall be included except floor and wall coverings, heating, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing work. Starting without a permit is expensive: the schedule doubles the regular fee and adds $100 for a first incident in a calendar year, $250 for a second and $500 for a third, and adds $200 where an owner hires an unlicensed contractor.

STATE-SET, AND EXPRESSED AS A PRESSURE RATHER THAN AN IRC-STYLE DESIGN WIND SPEED. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code 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," and its own note records that ASCE 7-05 allows a substantial reduction from the 20 psf figure as applied to the surface area. Fastening is carried by the code's minimum fastener schedule table, and the general design-load provision requires a complete load path capable of transferring all loads from the point of origin through the load-resisting elements to the foundation. IMPORTANT: because Wisconsin uses a pounds-per-square-foot system, there is no ultimate design wind speed in miles per hour for Sheboygan, and the 20 psf figure must not be converted into one. Snow load is the input that varies geographically: the code provides that roofs "shall be designed and constructed to support the minimum snow loads listed on the zone map," a statewide zone map published as a figure in the code, so a Sheboygan design snow load is read off that figure rather than quoted as a single statewide number. Confirm the zone value with Building Inspection on 920-459-3477 before engineering a load-bearing change. The City of Sheboygan publishes no wind or snow design figures of its own and adds nothing to the state criteria.

STATE-SET, AND SHEBOYGAN ADDS NOTHING TO IT. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code bars installing a new roof covering over the existing covering in three situations: where the existing roof or roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing; where the existing roof is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering. So at most two total layers, and fewer than that where the deck or covering is wet or deteriorated or the existing roof is one of the listed materials - a single layer of wood shake or slate may never be recovered at all. A complete tear-off to the deck is not restricted by this rule at any layer count. The City of Sheboygan writes no reroofing, overlay or layer rule of its own, and could not add one for a one- or two-family dwelling without state approval: its municipal code was read for roofing content and the only roofing provisions in it are the roofing contractor licence classification, gutter and drainage rules, and zoning rules on roof pitch and roofed accessory structures. 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 Sheboygan has acted, which sets it apart from most Wisconsin municipalities: Municipal Code section 12-21(b), Uniform dwelling code, adopts chs. SPS 320 to 325 by reference and applies them to all new and existing one- and two-family dwellings including alterations and additions to them. So the age of the house does not put a Sheboygan job outside the state code. The repair-versus-alteration question in the second half is a matter of state law and is not resolved by anything the City has enacted.

STATE-SET. The Wisconsin uniform dwelling code sets the roof deck standard for one- and two-family dwellings in its roof sheathing, boards and planking provisions rather than in the IRC's wording. For structural sheathing, "the allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel." For 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," and where the rafter spacing is greater than 24 inches on center, "roof boards shall be tongue and groove, at least 1.5 inches thick." 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 expresses this as a board thickness and span rule keyed to the panel grade stamp rather than the IRC's solidly sheathed decks or one-inch nominal boards formulation, so do not carry an IRC deck specification onto a Wisconsin job. Sheboygan-specific point: the City's own licence ordinance puts deck work inside the roofing trade. Its definition of a roofing contractor states that "the scope of responsibility includes re-decking or repair of existing roof sheathing or fascia as needed during repair/replacement," so a City-certified roofing contractor may replace bad sheathing found at tear-off without bringing in a separate carpentry trade.

5.5% on materials in Sheboygan - the Wisconsin state sales and use tax of 5% plus Sheboygan County's 0.5% county sales and use tax, which has been in effect since January 2017. The City of Sheboygan imposes no municipal sales tax; the city of Milwaukee is the only Wisconsin municipality with one. Sheboygan is not a premier resort area, so there is no resort-area add-on, and the baseball stadium district tax that older guidance describes ended in 2020. How that rate actually reaches a roofing job matters more than the number. Wisconsin treats a roof as real property for installation and for repair, residential and commercial alike, which makes a roofing contractor the consumer of the materials it installs rather than a retailer of them. So the contractor pays sales or use tax when it buys shingles, underlayment and the rest, and it does not charge the customer sales tax on the reroofing contract, either on labour or on materials. The practical consequence is that the 5.5% is a cost inside the bid rather than a line on the homeowner's invoice, and it should be priced in accordingly. The one exception a roofer should know: selling roofing materials without installation is a retail sale, and tax must be charged on it.