City of Terre Haute Department of Engineering - Building Inspection Division

City of Terre Haute, Indiana

city

17 Harding Avenue, Terre Haute, IN 47807

Required

Required

Permits, contractor registrations, plan review and inspection scheduling all run through one third-party portal, Cityworks, reached from the Engineering Department's online permits page; the Department describes it as letting it "sell permits, schedule inspections, license contractors, and review plans anywhere you have an internet connection", and it keeps a permit's history in one place. Applicants without internet access can use a terminal at the Engineering Department office, 17 Harding Avenue, Room 200. Card payments go through Cityworks; cash, cheque and money order are taken at the City Controller's Office at 17 Harding Avenue, Room 205. Inspections are booked from the permit's Actions tab in Cityworks and must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. Allow three to five business days for processing. Plan review is not part of an ordinary reroof - the Department requires it only for new commercial construction or residential construction involving two or more units, including additions, and Sec. 7-32 exempts one- and two-family dwellings from the Plan Review Permit by name. Once work has started, Sec. 7-53 requires that a stage stay available for inspection until the end of the following business day after notice is received or until the inspection is made, whichever comes first, with one weather exception a roofer will use: "In the event that inclement weather requires additional construction activity in order to protect work already completed, the contractor shall notify the Department of Engineering prior to concealing any uninspected construction." A $50.00 reinspection fee can be charged where notice was not given in time and the work is no longer available to inspect. Separately, the City's property maintenance code sets a standing duty on the finished roof at Sec. 7-168(f): "The roof and flashing shall be sound, tight, and not have defects that admit rain. Roof drainage shall be adequate to prevent dampness or deterioration in the walls or interior portion of the Structure. Roof drains, gutters, and down spouts shall be maintained in good repair and free from obstructions", and it prohibits tarps and other temporary roof coverings beyond thirty consecutive days.

The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates by reference the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, "save and except those revisions made in this rule". It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted November 18, 2025. Terre Haute adopts it locally and does so in floating rather than frozen terms. City Code Sec. 7-6(a) provides that the "Building rules of the state 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 Chapter and shall include later amendments to those articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein", and its list includes Article 14, the one- and two-family dwelling codes, citing 675 IAC 14-4.4 by number. The descriptor the ordinance prints beside that citation is out of date - it still calls it the "Council of American Building Officials One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code", a title Article 14 carried under an earlier rule - but the citation is to the article by number, and the same result follows from state law independently: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that 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". In Indiana a local code citation floats forward by statute, the opposite of the frozen default in most states. The edition is not a local choice in any event: IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter, and (c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than those rules. Two local points worth knowing. Sec. 7-6(d) separately adds the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, which is what the City enforces against an existing roof rather than against a reroof in progress. And the Engineering Department's plan review page states a different and older list, giving its "Current Building Code followed" as "IBC 2012 edition, Mechanical 2006, Plumbing 2006, Electrical NEC 2008, Accessibility 2009, and Fire 2012". That list is addressed to the plan review process for new commercial construction and residential construction of two or more units, and names no residential code at all. A one- or two-family reroof is not a plan review project, so it is governed by the Indiana Residential Code through Sec. 7-6(a).

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

Not required — Not required by the climatic table in Vigo County. Indiana deletes the model Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, and the Vigo County row is marked "No" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's 92 counties, all in the northern tier, are marked "Yes"; Vigo, on the western edge of the state roughly halfway down, is not one of them, and neither is any county bordering it. This is a state answer Terre Haute has no power to change, because IC 22-13-2-3 bars a local ordinance more stringent or more detailed than the state building rules, and nothing in the City Code addresses ice barriers. The table is not the only route to an ice barrier on a particular job - roof coverings must still be installed to the manufacturer's instructions, and where those instructions call for one it governs that installation. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No roofing inspection stage exists in Terre Haute, so on an ordinary reroof nothing has to be left open for an inspector part way through. City Code Sec. 7-52(b) sets out the complete list of stages at which the permit holder must notify the Department of Engineering that work is available for inspection on the construction of, remodeling of or addition to a structure, and there are three: a "foundation inspection" after poles or piers are set and any reinforcing steel is in place but before concrete is placed; a "frame and masonry inspection" after the roof, masonry, all framing, firestopping and bracings are in place and all electrical wiring, pipes, chimneys and vents are complete, but prior to the interior covering of walls; and a "final inspection" once all work on the structure and site is complete. Separate rough inspections under Sec. 7-52(c) are for plumbing, electrical and heating and cooling work only. Two caveats a roofer should carry. The frame and masonry stage is scheduled after the roof is on rather than during the covering, so it bites where a tear-off turns into structural work. And Sec. 7-52(e) lets the Department "add a reasonable number of other construction stages by communicating the additional stage requirements to the person or entity obtaining the building permit", so an inspector can attach a stage to a particular permit; what the Code does not do is impose one on every roof. Inspections are booked through the Cityworks portal and must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance.

Not required — No impact-rated roof covering is required in Terre Haute, and the City has no power to require one. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact-resistance requirement anywhere in its 245 sections; its only amendments to the roof assemblies chapter are word deletions in the rooftop photovoltaic section and in the asphalt-shingle attachment and flashing sections. On the local side the Terre Haute City Code, read as the City publishes it, carries no impact, hail or impact-rating provision at all - the only "Class IV" in the whole book is a grade of city electrical examination and licence. IC 22-13-2-3(c) independently bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than the state building rules, so a local impact mandate could not be enacted here. An insurance discount for an impact-rated shingle is a matter between the homeowner and the carrier, and is not a code requirement.

There is no dollar or square-footage threshold - a reroof needs a permit whatever it costs. Terre Haute City Code Sec. 7-30(a) makes it "unlawful for a person, partnership or corporation to engage in any construction activity in the City, including excavation, fences, or any other site work, unless a permit issued by the Department of Engineering describing the activity has been obtained", and the Engineering Department says the same thing in plainer words: "If you are performing any construction activity inside the City limits, you will most likely need a permit. Our office issues permits for general construction, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, demolition, sign, tree removal in right of way, and right of way permits." Sec. 7-30(b) then sets out the complete list of exemptions for one- and two-family dwellings, and all ten items are interior or appliance work - wall and floor coverings and similar fixtures, storm protection against severe weather, attic and bathroom and range-hood and whole-house fans, painting and papering, ordinary maintenance and repair of building equipment, household appliance installation, plumbing fixture and trap replacement, like-for-like water heater replacement, electrical equipment under 50 volts, and real estate signs. Roofing is not among them, and neither is any general small-works exemption. The separate commercial exemption list in Sec. 7-30(c) does not reach roofing either. On price, the fee schedule codified at Sec. 7-60 puts a residential general repair permit at a flat $100.00 and a residential remodel at $150.00 plus $0.10 per square foot of structure per dwelling unit; the commercial general repair permit is $150.00, less $75.00 per floor above one story. Note that the Engineering Department's own FAQ page still answers the cost question with an older figure - "It is $15.00 for the first $1,000 worth of work and $1.00 for each additional $1,000 or part thereof" - so confirm the amount with the office when you apply. Starting without a permit is enforced under Sec. 7-74 with a fine that "shall not be less than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00)", and each day the offense continues is a separate violation.

115 mph. Indiana deletes the model International Residential Code Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, and the row for Vigo County reads: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, ground snow load 20 psf, frost line depth 24 inches, winter design temperature 9 degrees F, weathering severe, termite moderate to heavy. All 92 Indiana counties carry the same 115 mph figure, and Terre Haute cannot raise or lower it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3 bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than the state building rules.

No local layer cap, and Terre Haute has no power to write one. The residential code in force is the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule contains no amendment to the International Residential Code's reroofing and roof-recover section - the section is not referenced anywhere in the rule - so the base International Residential Code provisions on recovering an existing roof apply as published. On the local side, the Terre Haute City Code contains no layer limit, no tear-off requirement and no overlay rule; its Chapter 7 building regulations adopt the state articles by reference and add administration, permits, inspections, fees, penalties and property-maintenance standards rather than roof-covering rules. Under IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) and (c) no Indiana city, town or county may adopt an ordinance covering the same subject matter as the state building rules, or one more stringent or more detailed than they are. What Terre Haute does add, and it is the rule most likely to catch a roofer out mid-job, is a limit on how long a roof may stay tarped: under the City's property maintenance code at Sec. 7-168(f), "Inappropriate or temporary roofing coverings, including but not limited to tarps, shall be deemed inadequate protection and not uniform and as such, shall be prohibited for a period exceeding thirty (30) consecutive days."

7% statewide. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate with no county or municipal add-on, so there is no Terre Haute or Vigo County component to add to a materials invoice; the Department of Revenue's own page on county-level taxes states that "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%", and the county-level taxes Indiana does levy are an income tax, an innkeeper's tax and a food-and-beverage tax, none of which reaches roofing materials. How the tax falls depends on the shape of the contract rather than on the trade. Under a lump-sum contract the roofer pays the 7% on materials as the consumer and charges the homeowner no sales tax. Under a time-and-material contract - one stating the cost of materials and the cost of labor separately - the roofer buys the materials for resale and collects the 7% from the homeowner on the material portion, with separately stated installation labor not included in the taxable amount. Indiana's Department of Revenue names roofing directly in its definition of a contractor for this purpose.