Permitting Authorities / City of St. Louis - Building Department (Community Services)
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in St. Louis, MI?
Adopted code
City of St. Louis - Building Department (Community Services)
Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in St. Louis, MI, issued by City of St. Louis - Building Department (Community Services). In the City of St. Louis a reroof is applied for on the city's Roof Permit Application, headed "Application for a Building Permit Roofing only" and addressed to the City of St. Louis Building Department at 300 N. Mill St. The form asks for the pitch of the roof, whether the covering will be shingles, steel or rolled, whether this is a second layer or a tear off, the construction value and the square foot of area being covered, and it states "New Building Code Requirement: * Ice & water shield must extend from the eaves edge to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall. Effective 7/31/2001." The permit expires if the work is not started within 180 days or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, and the contractor gives a state license number and its expiration date. The city's Rates and Fees, effective July 1, 2026, price a residential roof at $4.00 per square foot to set the determinant value, and the building permit fee table charges $51.00 up to $2,500, $102.00 from $2,501 to $7,500, $140.00 from $7,501 to $10,000 and $140.00 plus $5.00 per $1,000 over $10,000 above that, with a reinspection charge of $45.00 and a double fee "If construction is started w/out permit". The Community Services page says "Rental inspections, code enforcement, building permits and zoning questions are the responsibility of the Community Services Department" and, for inspections, "For inspections please call Gratiot County Building Inspector" at (989) 875-5201; the department is at (989) 681-2137, extension 2380, Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm.
Roof code checklist: St. Louis, MI
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
City of St. Louis, Gratiot County, Michigan
Address
300 North Mill Street, St. Louis, MI 48880
Contact
- url: https://www.stlouismi.com/government/community-services/
- phone: 989-681-2137
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
- state_level: Michigan licenses residential maintenance and alteration contractors under the Occupational Code, and that licence "includes the following crafts and trades" among which it names roofing (MCL 339.2404(3)); "A person shall not engage in or attempt to engage in the practice of an occupation regulated under this act" without the licence (MCL 339.601(1)). MCL 339.2403 lists who may work without one, including a project whose "aggregate contract price for the labor, material, and any other items for the undertaking or project is less than $600.00". This record does not decide whether a given roofer falls inside an exemption.
- city_level: St. Louis's Roof Permit Application asks the contractor for a state license number and its expiration date and names no city contractor registration, and Chapter 34 of the City of Saint Louis Code of Ordinances, Licenses and Miscellaneous Business Regulations, was read for a contractor licence and has none. This record does not decide whether a given roofer falls inside a state exemption.
Permit process note
In the City of St. Louis a reroof is applied for on the city's Roof Permit Application, headed "Application for a Building Permit Roofing only" and addressed to the City of St. Louis Building Department at 300 N. Mill St. The form asks for the pitch of the roof, whether the covering will be shingles, steel or rolled, whether this is a second layer or a tear off, the construction value and the square foot of area being covered, and it states "New Building Code Requirement: * Ice & water shield must extend from the eaves edge to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall. Effective 7/31/2001." The permit expires if the work is not started within 180 days or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, and the contractor gives a state license number and its expiration date. The city's Rates and Fees, effective July 1, 2026, price a residential roof at $4.00 per square foot to set the determinant value, and the building permit fee table charges $51.00 up to $2,500, $102.00 from $2,501 to $7,500, $140.00 from $7,501 to $10,000 and $140.00 plus $5.00 per $1,000 over $10,000 above that, with a reinspection charge of $45.00 and a double fee "If construction is started w/out permit". The Community Services page says "Rental inspections, code enforcement, building permits and zoning questions are the responsibility of the Community Services Department" and, for inspections, "For inspections please call Gratiot County Building Inspector" at (989) 875-5201; the department is at (989) 681-2137, extension 2380, Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm.
Adopted code
2015 Michigan Residential Code. This is state law and it is the same in every Michigan city, village, township and county: the state construction code act says "This act and the code apply throughout the state," and the Michigan Residential Code rule adopts "the international residential code, 2015 edition" with the state amendments in R 408.30500 to R 408.30547g. A 2021 edition was filed with the secretary of state in 2025 but has not taken effect. On July 7, 2025 the Michigan Court of Claims entered a stipulated order in Home Builders Assoc et al. v LARA et al., and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) says that while that order remains in place "the 2015 versions of the IRC and residential provisions of the IECC standards currently adopted, in part, by each rule set will remain valid and in effect." LARA's Statewide Jurisdiction List names the City of St. Louis as its own building code enforcer. Sec. 14-7 of the city's Code of Ordinances (Ord. No. B-159, 5-20-03) designates "the city manager, or his designated building code enforcement official" as the enforcing agency under the state construction code act. St. Louis's codified Code of Ordinances Sec. 14-2 (Ord. No. B-7, 9-23-74; Ord. No. B-11, 5-27-75; Ord. No. B-35, 10-15-79; Ord. No. B-51, 6-13-83; Ord. No. B-87, 1-20-92; Ord. No. B-93, 10-18-93; Ord. No. B-122, 5-5-98; Ord. No. B-178, 9-7-04; Ord. No. B-200, 8-19-08; Ord. No. B-217, 10-18-11) adopts "The International Property Code of 2006, the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Rehabilitation Code for Existing Buildings, the 2006 Edition of the International Building Code, the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Residential Code, the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Building Code, and the 2006 Edition of the International Mechanical Code, all as amended"; this directory has not read that text, and whether the codified reference has any effect today is not decided here. This record states the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, which the state construction code act applies throughout the state ("This act and the code apply throughout the state," MCL 125.1508a) and which LARA says remains in effect while the Court of Claims order of July 7, 2025 stands. St. Louis has published no statement naming the edition it enforces. Its Roof Permit Application and residential building permit packet name no residential code edition, and its zoning ordinance, dated 2011, refers to "the adopted building code of the City" without naming an edition. The 2006 and 2015 base editions are known to differ on the layer limit, so this record leaves out the drip edge, ice barrier and impact answers and states both editions' text on the layer limit.
Repair permit threshold
No size or cost threshold is published. The City of St. Louis lists a permit type for roof work: its Community Services page offers "Application for a Building Permit: Roofing only" and a Roof Permit Application headed "Application for a Building Permit Roofing only", which asks for the roof pitch, the covering (shingles, steel or rolled), whether the job is a second layer or a tear off, the construction value and "Square foot of area being covered (must have)", and the city's fee schedule prices a residential roof by the square foot. The city's pages state no exemption for a small reroof. Under state law, "A building permit is not required for ordinary repairs of a building or structure." (MCL 125.1510), without a definition of ordinary repairs.
Roof layer limit / recover
Not stated here as a single layer count, because the record does not settle which of two code editions answers the question in St. Louis, and the two differ. Michigan builds one- and two-family homes to the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, which adopts the 2015 International Residential Code and makes no amendment to its reroofing section, Section R908; the Michigan rule set was searched in full and R908 does not appear in it. Under that code, Section R908.3.1.1 bars a new roof over an existing one in three cases, and the third is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be covered once; a roof that already carries two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars covering a roof that is water soaked or too deteriorated to serve as a base, and covering "slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." St. Louis's codified Sec. 14-2 adopts the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Residential Code. The base 2006 International Residential Code text, Section R907.3 (Re-covering versus replacement), carries the same three conditions, its second also naming wood shake, and a fourth: "For asphalt shingles, when the building is located in an area subject to moderate or severe hail exposure according to Figure R903.5." Under that text a single existing layer of asphalt shingles can call for a tear-off where the hail condition is met, so no layer count states the 2006 rule. The 2006 Michigan amendments to that code were not read, and whether the codified reference has any effect today is not decided here (see adopted_code). Chapter 14 of the City of Saint Louis Code of Ordinances, Chapter 30 (Housing) and the city's Roof Permit Application state no layer limit of their own; the application asks whether the job is a second layer or a tear off. Ask the Community Services Department (989-681-2137) before planning an overlay.
Deck & sheathing requirements
State law, from the base code. Michigan makes no amendment to the roof sheathing section of the 2015 International Residential Code, Section R803, which does not appear in the Michigan rule set, so it applies as published. Lumber roof sheathing follows Table R803.1: over rafters or beams 24 inches apart it must be at least 5/8 inch net thick. Wood structural panels must be identified "for grade, bond classification and performance category by a grade mark or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency," and their spans may not exceed "the values set forth in Table R503.2.1.1(1), or APA E30." For a shingle roof the base code adds that "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks" (R905.2.1), and on any reroof "The structural roof components shall be capable of supporting the roof covering system" (R908.2). St. Louis's codified Sec. 14-2 adopts the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Residential Code and related 2006 codes; this field states the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, which the state act applies throughout the state; St. Louis has published no statement naming the edition it enforces; the 2006 Edition of the Michigan Residential Code text was not read (see adopted_code).
Sales & use tax
6%, statewide, with no local add-on. This is state law: the General Sales Tax Act sets the tax "equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of the business," the Use Tax Act sets "a total combined rate equal to 6%," and the Michigan Department of Treasury says "Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales tax." On a roofing job the roofer is the taxpayer on materials, because the Use Tax Act counts as a consumer "A person acquiring tangible personal property if engaged in the business of constructing, altering, repairing, or improving the real estate of others." Nothing on the City of St. Louis pages or its Rates and Fees changes this.
Local roofing hub
Roof permits nearby: Gratiot County
More roof permit pages in Michigan
Related guides
The City of St. Louis, in Gratiot County, issues building permits through its Community Services Department at City Hall, 300 North Mill Street, and posts a Roof Permit Application and a Residential Building Permit packet on its Community Services page. The city's inspections are called in to the Gratiot County Building Inspector, and the State of Michigan's Statewide Jurisdiction List names the City of St. Louis as its own building code enforcer. Michigan's single state construction code applies, and for houses that is the 2015 Michigan Residential Code.
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