City of South Bend / St. Joseph County, Indiana - Building Department

City of South Bend, Indiana

city

215 S. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Suite 100, South Bend, IN 46601

Required

Required

Permits are issued by the joint City of South Bend / St. Joseph County Building Department at the City Service Center, 215 S. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Suite 100, on (574) 235-9554 or [email protected]. FIRST WORK OUT WHOSE DESK THE JOB IS ON. The department states its own reach as "the City of South Bend and St. Joseph County, with some exceptions": three and four digit addresses with a South Bend mailing are City work and five digit addresses are the unincorporated county, but "3 or 4 digit addresses in Mishawaka, New Carlisle, Walkerton have their own Building Dept.", while Lakeville, North Liberty, Osceola and Roseland "require the town board's approval, prior to the South Bend/St. Joseph County Building Dept. approval" and the same is true of every address in Indian Village. For those five towns the fee schedule adds that the town "must approve all work and issue an Improvement Location Permit prior to our Department issuing any permits." A residential reroof is filed on the City and County Renovation Permit Application, described by the department as covering "roofing, siding, windows, doors, masonry, and chimneys"; commercial roofing has a separate Roofing / Siding Permit Application. Applications go in by email to [email protected], at the City Service Center counter, or by mail, and the department says a residential permit "can typically be issued immediately once the application and required documents are received." The checklist for a remodeling permit covering roofing asks for the owner's name, address and telephone number, the property address if different, the contractor performing the work, the cost of the work when completed, and any electrician, plumber or HVAC contractor involved. Fees are paid at issue, by cash, check or card, American Express excepted. A permit is valid if work starts within six months and finishes within one year, extendable twice by six months, after which a new permit is needed. Since January 1, 2026 an applicant for a one or two family dwelling permit may have the plan review or inspection done by a private provider - a registered architect, a registered professional engineer or a certified building official who is independent of the project - instead of a City inspector, under Sec. 6-4.9 of the Municipal Code, at a $100.00 convenience fee.

STATE-SET, AND ADOPTED LOCALLY ON A FLOATING BASIS. South Bend writes no residential building code of its own. South Bend Municipal Code Sec. 6-5(a) provides: "Pursuant to IC 22-13-2-3(b), the rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission as set out in the following Articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code are hereby incorporated by reference in this code and shall include any later amendments to those rules," and the ten articles it then lists include "Article 14 - Indiana Residential Code." Because the adoption cites the Indiana Administrative Code rather than a named edition, IC 22-13-2-3(b) makes it float forward with the state rule instead of freezing at its adoption date. The operative residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 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," filed November 26, 2019 and formally readopted November 18, 2025. The Building Department says the same on its own permits page: "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code (based on the 2018 International Code) will now be in effect by the State. This will include the State of Indiana Amendments." Under IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) the commission's rules take precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter, and (c) provides that "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," so no Indiana city can be on a different residential edition.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and unconditional. Indiana localities cannot vary this: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or is more stringent or more detailed than the commission's rules. The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice and Water Shield Update memo of 2020-02-25 (revised), which reproduces 2018 IRC R905.2.8.5 in full: "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 ¼ 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." Note the memo reproduces a typo in the enacted text it quotes ("rood deck" for "roof deck"); the reading is not in doubt. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" (14-4.4-86) and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so the model text governs as written. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, AND THIS IS THE FIELD MOST OFTEN GOT WRONG IN INDIANA BY ASSUMING A STATEWIDE ANSWER. Indiana deletes the model IRC Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 with a separate row for each of the 92 counties, and the column "Ice Shield Underlayment Required" reads "Yes" for St. Joseph County. Twenty seven northern counties read Yes and the other sixty five read No, so an answer carried over from a job in Indianapolis or Carmel would be wrong here. South Bend sits entirely within St. Joseph County. The same row gives a 30 psf ground snow load and a 1 degree F winter design temperature, the northern Indiana figures. South Bend adds nothing to this and could not: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a local ordinance more stringent or detailed than the commission's rules. What the ice barrier must consist of and how far up the roof it must run are set by the base International Residential Code, which 675 IAC 14-4.4 does not amend on that point. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof or in-progress roofing inspection. The department publishes its whole required inspection list on one page, "MINIMUM REQUIRED RESIDENTIAL INSPECTIONS", and it contains four stages and nothing else: a Foundation inspection "after footing areas are excavated and formed and any requiring reinforcing steel is in place, prior to the placing of concrete"; a Frame inspection "after the roof, masonry, all framing, firestopping, and bracing are in place"; rough plumbing and electrical inspections "prior to covering or concealment and before fixtures are set"; and a Final inspection "after building is completed and before building is occupied." The identical list is reprinted in the 2026 permit fee schedule. There is no underlayment, ice barrier, nail pattern or deck stage anywhere in either. The department reserves a general power to look anyway - "the Building Department may make or require any other inspections to ascertain compliance with the code and other laws enforced by the Building Department" - and Sec. 6-4.8 of the Municipal Code adds that "All Construction is subject to periodic inspections by the Building Commissioner irrespective of whether a building permit has been, or is required to be, obtained." Practical point for scheduling a tear off: inspection requests go to (574) 235-9554, inspectors are at their desks 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, requests made before 9:00 a.m. can generally be seen the same day, and "All inspections requested AFTER 9:00 a.m. will not be made until the next working day."

Not required — No impact resistance requirement applies. 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, makes four amendments to the model code's roofing chapter and none of them concerns impact: 14-4.4-84 deletes the last sentence of R902.4 on rooftop mounted photovoltaic panel systems, 14-4.4-85 deletes the word approved from R905.2.6 on asphalt shingle attachment, 14-4.4-86 deletes the word approved from R905.2.8 on flashing, and 14-4.4-87 deletes the word printed from R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. The rule contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement anywhere, and neither does the base code as Indiana adopts it. On the local side, Chapter 6 of the South Bend Municipal Code, the Building chapter, was read across all fifteen of its articles and contains no roof covering requirement of any kind, impact or otherwise. South Bend could not impose one in any event: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the commission's rules. An insurer premium discount for an impact rated shingle is a private contract term, not a code requirement.

A permit is required for a reroof, and the department publishes a $500 line. Its own handout, "YES! You need a permit for that.", is headed "Permits are required for the following items:" and its roofing item reads: "Remodeling worth more than $500 including roofing, siding, windows/doors, and interior remodeling." The 2026 permit fee schedule uses the same line, heading its remodeling fee table "Remodeling, Alterations, and Repairs over $500.00, fence installations, in-ground pool Installation, communication towers, and utilities." READ THE ORDINANCE ALONGSIDE THE HANDOUT, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT WORDED THE SAME WAY. South Bend Municipal Code Sec. 6-4(a) states the requirement with no dollar floor at all: "No person shall build or construct any new building or structure, or alter, repair, remodel, demolish, or move an existing structure, or install a sign, billboard, fence, in-ground pool, or wood burning stove within the City without obtaining, in advance, a permit from the Department." The $500 appears in the same section only as the head of the fee table, at Sec. 6-4(e)(2): "Permits issued for all alterations, repairs, remodeling of existing structures over five hundred dollars ($500.00), fence installations, swimming pool installations, communication towers, and utilities, as verified by the submitted documentation shall be subject to the following fee schedule." That table then opens at "$1.00 to $3,000.00 ... $60.00." So the ordinance sets a fee bracket at $500 rather than an exemption, while the department's public handout presents $500 as the point at which a permit becomes necessary. Any full or partial reroof by a contractor is comfortably above $500 either way. The fee is by job value: a minimum of $60.00 from January 1, 2026, then $60.00 up to $3,000.00 of estimated construction cost and $5.00 more per additional $1,000.00 band. Working without the permit is expensive: "WHERE A PERSON SHALL UNLAWFULLY PROCEED TO DO ANY WORK OR CONSTRUCTION WITHOUT A REQUIRED PERMIT, THE PERMIT FEES SHALL BE TRIPLED AS A PENALTY." One thing a reroof does NOT trigger: the Floodplain article defines "Development" so as to exclude "the maintenance of existing structures and facilities such as painting; re-roofing; resurfacing roads," so a reroof in a South Bend flood hazard area needs no flood hazard development permit on its own.

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, which opens "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows." The St. Joseph County row reads: Wind Speed 115 MPH; Seismic Design Category A; Ground Snow 30 psf; Foundation 36 inches; Winter Design Temp 1 degree F; Weathering Severe; Ice Shield Underlayment Required Yes. All 92 Indiana counties carry the same 115 mph figure. South Bend cannot raise or lower it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the commission's rules. Wind exposure category remains a site by site determination made under the residential code rather than a city or state setting.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE, AND NONE IS POSSIBLE. South Bend's residential code is the state's: 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule runs to 245 numbered sections and makes only four amendments touching the model roofing chapter, all of them word deletions in the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections and the rooftop photovoltaic section; it makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear in the Indiana rule. So the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here exactly as published, and neither the state nor the City has changed it. On the local side, Chapter 6 of the South Bend Municipal Code, the Building chapter, was read across all fifteen of its articles and states no layer limit, no tear off trigger and no roof covering rule of any kind. South Bend could not add one: IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules. The number of permitted layers therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself, and a roofer planning an overlay should confirm the existing layer count against that code with the Building Department before quoting.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in South Bend or St. Joseph County. Indiana levies one state sales tax rate; the Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana taxes at county level - innkeeper's tax, food and beverage tax and local income tax - closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." The county level tax Indiana does levy in St. Joseph County is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. WHO PAYS IT DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT, NOT ON THE ROOF. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its own definition of a contractor and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" is one "in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately"; a contractor working under one "is a retail merchant that is selling the construction material that it incorporates into real property, and must be registered with the department and collect sales tax on the material portion of their contracts," and may buy the material exempt for resale. A contractor working under any other form, such as a lump sum, is not a retail merchant: they "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and "do not collect sales tax from their customers." On labour the bulletin adds: "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." The bulletin is Department guidance and says of itself that information bulletins are not binding on the department or the taxpayer, so a roofer should settle their own contract form with an accountant.