Shelby County Building Inspector

Shelby County, Indiana

county

25 W. Polk St., Room 201, Shelbyville, IN 46176

WHERE. The Shelby County Building Inspector is at the Courthouse Annex, 25 W. Polk St., Room 201, Shelbyville, IN 46176, on 317-392-6480, fax 317-421-8365, open Monday to Thursday 7AM to 5PM with the office closed from noon to 1PM, and inspections run Monday to Thursday from 7:30 to 11:30AM. David Adams is the Building Inspector. Check the address first. The page lists the City of Shelbyville on (317) 392-5102, Morristown on (765) 763-6748 and Edinburgh on (812) 526-3514 as separate offices, and Saint Paul as regulated by the Decatur County Area Plan Commission. It says the County serves the Town of Fairland, but it also lists Fairland among the other jurisdictions, with its consultant Code Crafters on (317) 258-8046, so confirm who permits a Fairland address before filing. WHAT IS FILED. The County's Improvement Location Permit application doubles as the building, plumbing and electrical permit application, and goes in with a site plan and Health Department approval; an owner acting as contractor adds a homeowner affidavit. Electronic submission by email is encouraged, and "Permits are generally processed and issued in one business day." MONEY. Cash or check is preferred, and card payments carry a 4% transaction fee. Under the Building Inspector fee schedule effective September 1, 2023, a remodel under half the area of the dwelling is $165 for the building permit and replacement of sub floor or rafters is $110; construction without a permit is fined at double the permit fee. Building, plumbing and electric permits expire one year from issue and may each be renewed twice for a fee.

THE COUNTY ENFORCES THE STATE CODE, AND ITS OWN BUILDING CHAPTERS WERE NOT READ. The Building Inspector's page describes the department as protecting public health and safety "by ensuring that all new buildings comply with the Indiana State Building Code." The County's Unified Development Ordinance defines Building Code as "The Indiana Building Code which establishes and controls the standards for constructing all forms of permanent structures and related matters." In its Improvement Location Permit article it sends building-code review to the Building Official with the words "See the Shelby County Code Article 8 Chapter 4 through 6". Those chapters are the County's enacted building provisions. The County does not publish them on its website, none of the ordinances on the Commissioners' posted list, nor any of the first 100 of the 424 entries on the County Council's list, is a building code adoption, and they were not read for this record, so this record states no local roofing amendment and does not assert that none exists. WHAT THE STATE CODE IS. The residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which adopts the first printing of the 2018 International Residential Code with Indiana amendments and was readopted by a filing of November 18, 2025. The State Building Commissioner's memo states: "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide." Its only amendments anywhere in the roof assemblies chapter delete the word "approved" from the asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections, delete "printed" from the other-flashing section and delete the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic section (R902.4). And IC 22-13-2-3(c) limits what the County could add: "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules." ONE COUNTY ROOF RULE THAT IS ZONING, NOT BUILDING CODE. The Unified Development Ordinance's Anti-monotony Standards apply only to subdivisions seeking density or intensity bonuses, and for those they require a minimum 5/12 pitch on at least eighty percent of the roof planes of each primary structure and state "Shingles: Require a three-dimensional shingle to be installed on all homes."

Required — REQUIRED BY THE STATE CODE, WHICH APPLIES WITH OR WITHOUT A PERMIT. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's memo on ice and water shield and drip edge reproduces section R905.2.8.5 of the 2020 Indiana Residential Code as adopted, and it opens: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." The memo sets out the provision in full, including its overlap, extension and fastening requirements; read those there rather than from this summary. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends the flashing section above it only by deleting the word "approved" and makes no amendment to R905.2.8.5. The memo is explicit that the requirement does not depend on local practice: "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". That matters in Shelby County because the County's chart treats a re-roof as needing no building permit: the missing permit removes the inspection, not the requirement. The County's codified building chapters were not opened for this record, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from adopting more stringent or detailed requirements than the state's rules. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE STATE TABLE FOR SHELBY COUNTY, BUT READ THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS. The Shelby County row of Table R301.2(1) in the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, as substituted by 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, reads ice shield underlayment required No. WHAT THAT No MEANS, IN THE STATE'S OWN WORDS. The State Building Commissioner's memo explains that R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing to be installed to the manufacturer's installation instructions, so there are counties where the barrier is always required and "specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Shelby County is in the second group. If the shingle manufacturer's instructions for the assembly being installed call for an ice and water membrane, the code requires it on that job. The County's own permit chart and Building Inspector FAQ say nothing on the point either way. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO ROOFING STAGE IN THE COUNTY'S PUBLISHED INSPECTION PROCEDURE, AND A RE-ROOF IS NOT PERMIT WORK ON ITS CHART. The Building Inspector's Inspection Procedures sheet itemises the building inspections as pre-pour footing, foundation, framing and final, with the framing inspection called "After framing is completed and roof decking is in place." There is no underlayment, dry-in or re-roof stage in it. "All inspections must be called in 24 hours in advance." Where a roofing job does need a permit, for example because rafters are replaced, agree with the inspector on 317-392-6480 when the framing should be seen before the deck is covered.

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. The state residential code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes no impact-resistance amendment: neither "UL 2218" nor "Class 4" appears anywhere in Article 14 as published for 2026. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from adopting an ordinance more stringent than the commission's rules, so the County could not add one. Neither term appears in the County's own published building documents either - the Building Inspector's pages, permit chart, fee schedules, inspection procedures and the Unified Development Ordinance. The County's codified building chapters were not opened for this record. Impact-resistant shingles in Shelby County are an insurance and warranty decision, not a code requirement.

THE COUNTY'S OWN PERMIT CHART PUTS A RE-ROOF OUTSIDE THE BUILDING PERMIT, AND DRAWS THE LINE AT THE STRUCTURE. The Building Inspector's published chart, titled "Projects that Require a Building Permit", marks Re-Roofing in its No column and defines the term in a footnote: "Re-roofing consists of tearing off the old shingles and laying new shingles." The same chart marks Replacing/Repairing Roof Rafters Yes and Replacing/Repairing Roof Decking No. So on the County's own reading a tear-off and re-shingle, new decking included, is not permit work, while replacing rafters is. The fee schedules point the same way: the Building Inspector fee schedule adopted by the Board of Commissioners as Ordinance No. 2020-25 on November 30, 2020, and the current schedule effective September 1, 2023, each carry a building fee for "Replacement of sub floor or rafters" and no line for roofing. WHAT THIS RECORD DOES NOT SETTLE. The chart is the department's administrative guidance, not the ordinance. The County's enacted building provisions sit in the Shelby County Code, Article 8, Chapters 4 through 6, which the County does not publish online, and they were not read for this record, so whether the chart restates a written exemption is not established. The chart's own instruction covers the doubtful case: "If you cannot find your project on this list or if you are in doubt, please contact our office at 317-392-6480". Work that does need a permit and is started without one is fined at double the permit fee under the 2023 schedule.

THE FIGURES ARE THE STATE'S COUNTY-INDEXED TABLE, NOT A COUNTY ENACTMENT. Table R301.2(1) of the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, as substituted by 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, gives the Shelby County row as wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow load 20 psf, frost depth 30 inches, winter design temperature 2 degrees Fahrenheit, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required No, air freezing index 1500 or less and mean annual temperature 52.6 degrees. THE COUNTY'S FAQ CONFIRMS THE FROST FIGURE AND SAYS HOW IT IS MEASURED: 30 inches from final grade, not existing grade, to the bottom of the footer. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the County from varying these figures locally.

THE COUNTY'S PERMIT CHART STATES A TWO-LAYER CEILING; ITS ENACTED BUILDING CHAPTERS WERE NOT READ. The Building Inspector's permit chart defines re-roofing and adds: "In some case, it can include adding a new layer of certain types of shingles on top of existing shingles. There cannot be more than two layers of any roofing material." The chart's figure agrees with the base rule, 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." This record does not classify the County's rule because the County's enacted building chapters were not read. The chart is the County's published administrative statement rather than an enacted amendment. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4 makes no amendment to the reroofing provisions: its only amendments in the roof assemblies chapter are the word deletions in the asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections and the deletion of the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic section (R902.4). Nor could the County vary the rule: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from adopting an ordinance "that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules". So count the layers already on the roof before quoting a recover. A roof that already carries two layers is at the County's stated ceiling and must be torn off, and because a re-roof is not permit work on the County's chart, no inspector will count them for you.

RE-DECKING IS NOT PERMIT WORK ON THE COUNTY'S CHART; THE RAFTERS BELOW IT ARE. The Building Inspector's permit chart marks Replacing/Repairing Roof Decking No and Replacing/Repairing Roof Rafters Yes, so replacing deck boards or sheets during a tear-off is not permit work on the County's reading, while touching the framing underneath is, and the fee schedule prices "Replacement of sub floor or rafters" as a building permit of its own. The County's inspection procedures, written for new construction, call the framing inspection "After framing is completed and roof decking is in place." The technical sheathing requirements are those of the state residential code, 675 IAC 14-4.4 adopting the 2018 International Residential Code. Sec. 82 of 675 IAC 14-4.4 deletes the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from Section R803.2.1, the section headed identification and grade; otherwise the sheathing provisions apply as incorporated. The County's codified building chapters were not read, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a county from more stringent or detailed requirements than the state's rules. If rot runs past the deck into the rafters, call 317-392-6480 before going on: that is where the chart puts the job under a permit.

7% in Shelby County. The Indiana Department of Revenue's sales tax page states that a business selling goods or tangible personal property must "register to collect a seven percent sales tax", and it names no county or city sales tax on top of that rate.