St. Joseph County, Indiana - Building Department

St. Joseph County, Indiana

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WHO ADMINISTERS THE CODE. St. Joseph County Code § 151.04(A) provides that "The building commissioner and his or her designated representative shall have the power to administer and enforce any and all ordinances or codes adopted now or hereafter by the county council, as approved by the state department of fire and building services, that regulate construction, enlargement, repair, alteration, relocation and demolition of buildings, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical and plumbing construction." Permit applications, fees and contractor registrations are all filed with and paid to the office of the building commissioner (§§ 150.15, 150.49). The fire chief or his representative assists on fire suppression, detection and alarm systems (§ 151.04(B)). WHAT AN APPLICATION HAS TO CARRY, from § 151.05(A): no permit issues "until a statement in writing of the proposed construction, extension, repair, alteration or demolition, including a set of plans and specifications and plot plan showing dimensions, public easements, property lines, all setbacks and the size of the property, from the contractor or individual in charge of the proposed work, has first been filed with and approved by the building commissioner." The section also provides that work "shall not be started or performed which is not in substantial compliance with such approved plans, and specifications", so a change on site is a matter to raise rather than absorb. FEES ARE COST-BANDED, NOT ROOF-SPECIFIC. § 150.17(A)(2) provides that "Permits issued for all alterations, repairs, and remodeling of existing structures in excess of $500.00 cost, in-ground pool installations, communication towers and utilities shall be subject to the following fee schedule: see appendix: schedule of fines and fees", and the appendix then prices them by estimated construction cost in bands beginning "$1.00 to 3,000.00 | $40.00" and "$3,001.00 to 4,000.00 | $45.00". New construction is priced instead on the International Code Council building valuation table by a local variable factor of $0.00098 per square foot (§ 150.17(A)(1)). Roofing is not named anywhere in the fee schedule, which is part of why the permit question here needs a call rather than a lookup. CERTIFICATES OF OCCUPANCY DO NOT NORMALLY BITE ON A HOUSE RE-ROOF: § 151.06(A) requires one for new residential dwellings, new non-residential structures, and "non-residential structures with renovations over the cost of $10,000.00, with the exception of a renovation involving life safety issues." A commercial re-roof over ten thousand dollars is inside that. STOP ORDERS: § 151.08 gives the building commissioner the stop-order power over work being done contrary to the building subchapter, and § 150.53(E) gives a parallel power over unregistered contracting. APPEALS: § 151.07 provides a right of appeal. WHAT THIS ENTRY COULD NOT READ, STATED PLAINLY: the County's own website at sjcindiana.gov is behind an automated-access challenge and returned an interstitial rather than a page on every attempt, so no departmental page, permit application form, hours or telephone number is published here. Everything above comes from the County's own codified ordinances, which are the enacted law rather than a description of it. Telephone the office of the building commissioner for the counter details, and treat the permit question in the threshold entry as the first thing to ask.

STATE-SET, AND ST. JOSEPH COUNTY'S OWN ORDINANCE FLOATS FORWARD WITH IT BY STATUTE. The residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, whose opening section provides that "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 ... is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out in this rule save and except those revisions made in this rule", and that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted on November 18, 2025 by the Readopted Final Rule at Indiana Register 20251210-IR-675240566RFA, effective January 1, 2026; every one of the rule's 245 sections carries that readoption in its own history line. THE COUNTY'S ADOPTION CITES THE FLOATING-REFERENCE STATUTE BY NAME. St. Joseph County Code § 151.02(A) provides that "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 its second item is "Article 14 - Indiana Residential Code". IC 22-13-2-3(b) is the provision under which a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement to the Indiana Administrative Code." So the County is on whatever 675 IAC Article 14 currently says, which is the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, notwithstanding that the adopting ordinance dates from 2004. Copies of the adopted rules are on file in the office of the building commissioner. Nor could the County set a different code: IC 22-13-2-3(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", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. WHAT THE COUNTY ADDS RATHER THAN CHANGES. Chapter 150 and Chapter 151 of the County Code were read in full. They are administrative - permit fees, permits, contractor registration, electrical and mechanical examining boards, flood hazard areas, certificates of occupancy, stop orders - and neither contains a roof-covering rule. The one substantive local addition to the construction rules is § 151.03, which adds a section on special flood hazard areas, not a roofing provision. ONE VOCABULARY WARNING: "Class 2 structure" in Indiana means a one or two dwelling unit building. It is a STRUCTURE class and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering. The County's codification is current through Ordinance No. 48-25, enacted July 15, 2025.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT COUNTY-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. St. Joseph County cannot vary it: its own § 151.02(A) adopts the state building rules by reference, and IC 22-13-2-3(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." The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces the adopted Section 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." The word "rood" in that passage is a typographical error in the published guidance, quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so this text governs as published. NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT DEPEND ON WHETHER A PERMIT IS REQUIRED. The Indiana State Building Commissioner has stated that the 2020 Indiana Residential Code "is in full force and effect statewide. 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, and its requirements, by law, must be followed." A job that turns out to be exempt from a St. Joseph County permit is still a job that has to be built to the code. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY - IT IS A COUNTY-BY-COUNTY ANSWER IN INDIANA, NOT A STATE ONE. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows", and the substituted table runs one row per county. Row 71 is St. Joseph, and it carries "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's ninety-two counties carry "Yes" there and they are the northern tier; the other sixty-five carry "No". The rest of the St. Joseph County row is the northern Indiana set: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree, decay Slight to Moderate, termite Moderate to Heavy, weathering Severe, and mean annual temperature 49.1 degrees. Neighbouring Elkhart, LaPorte, Marshall and Starke Counties all read "Yes" as well. WHAT THE BARRIER HAS TO BE, from the version of the section actually in force. The Indiana State Building Commissioner publishes the adopted Section R905.1.2 first-hand, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal ( 67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." The section carries one exception: "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." AND THE SAME GUIDANCE MAKES A POINT WORTH CARRYING ACROSS THE COUNTY LINE: "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". St. Joseph County is in the first group, so here the barrier is required by the table itself and does not depend on what the shingle manufacturer says. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in St. Joseph County. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one of them concerns impact: 675 IAC 14-4.4-84 directs "Delete the text of the last sentence of SECTION R902.4 without substitution", the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section; 675 IAC 14-4.4-85 directs "Delete the words 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.6 without substitution", on asphalt shingle attachment; 675 IAC 14-4.4-86 directs "Delete the word 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8 without substitution", on flashing; and 675 IAC 14-4.4-87 directs "Delete the word 'printed' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8.4 without substitution", on other flashing. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. Nor could St. Joseph County impose one by ordinance: its § 151.02(A) adopts the state building rules by reference rather than writing its own, IC 22-13-2-3(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", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. An impact rating on a roof covering is the same subject matter as the state roofing chapter and would be a more stringent requirement, so a local mandate could not stand. St. Joseph County Code Chapters 150 and 151 were read in full and impose no roof-covering performance requirement of any kind. TWO THINGS THAT GET MISTAKEN FOR AN IMPACT MANDATE IN INDIANA: the phrase "Class 2 structure", which is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two dwelling unit buildings rather than any rating of the roof covering; and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term and not a code requirement.

TWO THRESHOLDS SIT IN THE SAME SECTION AND THEY POINT DIFFERENT WAYS. READ BOTH BEFORE YOU QUOTE. St. Joseph County Code § 151.05(A) provides: "No construction, extension, repair, alteration or demolition of any building, structure within the county, or any work related thereto, including but not limited to construction, building, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, ventilating, electrical, brick and masonry work, having a total project contract price or estimated cost of more than $500.00, shall be started until a permit for the proposed construction, extension, repair, alteration or demolition has been issued by the building commissioner." On that subsection alone, every re-roof needs a permit, because every re-roof costs more than five hundred dollars. THEN THE NEXT SUBSECTION CARVES OUT A MUCH LARGER CLASS OF WORK. § 151.05(B) provides, in full: "No permit shall be required for any outside or inside painting or for the repair or maintenance of an existing structure or building where the total project contract price or estimated cost of the repair or maintenance does not exceed 15 percent of the value of the building or structure upon which the repair or maintenance is to be performed, unless the repair or maintenance would cause a substantial structural modification, alteration or extension of the involved structure or building." Fifteen percent of the value of an ordinary house is far more than a roof costs, so a re-roof treated as "repair or maintenance" would fall inside that exemption, while the same job treated as an "alteration" under subsection (A) would not. WHAT THIS ENTRY WILL NOT DO IS DECIDE THAT FOR YOU. The Code does not define "repair", "maintenance" or "alteration" for the purpose of § 151.05, it publishes no list of exempt work, and its schedule of fines and fees prices building permits by construction cost brackets without naming roofing anywhere. Whether a tear-off and replacement is repair or alteration in St. Joseph County's practice is a question for the building commissioner's office, and it is worth one telephone call before a job rather than after it. THE ONE THING THAT IS CLEAR. The exemption in (B) stops where the work "would cause a substantial structural modification, alteration or extension" - so a job that replaces sheathing, repairs or replaces rafters or trusses, changes the roof structure or adds to it is outside the exemption on the face of the words, and needs a permit under (A). A roofer who opens a deck and finds rot has moved from one side of that line to the other in the middle of a job. PERMIT VALIDITY, if you take one: § 150.16 makes a permit valid where work is started within six months of issuance and completed within one year, with a six-month extension available by request up to two extensions, and a new permit required if the work is not completed within two years. STORM WORK HAS ITS OWN RULE AND IT IS A GOOD ONE. § 150.29(A) lets an owner who begins work in an emergency "in order to prevent substantial damage to such property, or to correct an unsafe condition thereof" pay the ordinary permit fee rather than a penalty, provided the application is made "within 72 hours after commencement of such work" and is accompanied by the owner's verification of the emergency and of "the impossibility or impracticability of obtaining the required permit prior to the commencement" of the work. On a storm-damaged roof that is the difference between a normal fee and an enforcement problem - but the clock is three days. VIOLATION: § 151.11 makes a violation of the building subchapter a Class C infraction under IC 22-12 and IC 22-13.

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 gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed" in miles per hour, and every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number. The same row gives seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, a 36 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 1 degree, Severe weathering and a mean annual temperature of 49.1 degrees. St. Joseph County cannot raise or lower any of 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 state rules, and the County's § 151.02(A) adopts the state rules by reference rather than writing its own. EXPOSURE IS NOT SET BY THE TABLE AND MUST BE DETERMINED ON THE JOB: the table's own footnote to the wind column reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4." Indiana has also amended that section itself, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, to fix how exposure is judged on a site in a subdivision or master-planned community where neighbouring structures are not built yet. Settle the exposure category for the particular address rather than assuming one.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE IS POSSIBLE IN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY. The residential code that applies here is 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 it makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear anywhere in it. Its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are deletions: a sentence struck from the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section, the word "approved" struck from the asphalt shingle attachment section, the word "approved" struck from the flashing section and the word "printed" struck from the other-flashing section. Nothing in the state rule addresses how many layers of covering a roof may carry, so the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here as published. The County has not added one and could not: its own § 151.02(A) adopts the state building rules by reference rather than writing its own, its Chapters 150 and 151 were read in full and contain no roof-covering provision, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules while IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. The number of layers a particular roof may carry therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself. Settle the existing layer count with the building commissioner's office against that code before quoting a recover rather than a tear-off - and note that in St. Joseph County the layer question can also decide the permit question, because a recover that turns into a tear-off and deck repair crosses the "substantial structural modification" line in § 151.05(B).

7.00% statewide, with no county or municipal add-on in St. Joseph County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - County 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 taxes St. Joseph County levies are of those kinds, not sales taxes, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. ONE THING PECULIAR TO THIS CORNER OF THE STATE: the Michigan line runs along the top of the county, and a crew buying materials in Michigan is buying under a different state's sales tax rules, not Indiana's. Keep the two states' invoices apart. WHO PAYS THE INDIANA TAX 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 - "Examples of contractors include, but are not limited to, persons engaged in building, concrete work, carpentry, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical work, roofing, plastering, tile work, road construction, landscaping, installing underground sprinkler or drainage systems, and making other improvements or repairs to real property" - 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 that "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.