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Permitting Authorities / City of West Des Moines, Iowa - Development Services Department, Building Inspection Division

City of West Des Moines, Iowa - Development Services Department, Building Inspection Division

Adopted code

The permitting authority for the City of West Des Moines, Iowa, a fast-growing western suburb of Des Moines that sits primarily in Polk County but also extends into Dallas, Warren and Madison counties. The city's own Development Services Department, Building Inspection Division, issues residential building permits directly through its online City Access Portal (CAP) rather than through any county building department. Iowa does not impose a single mandatory statewide residential building code; West Des Moines has adopted its own construction codes by city ordinance, currently the 2021 International Building Code and 2021 International Residential Code (both with local amendments), the 2024 International Fire Code, and the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code. Contractor registration, however, is a genuine statewide requirement administered by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing (DIAL); West Des Moines's own residential permit checklist directs contractors to register with the state before starting work.

Jurisdiction
City of West Des Moines, Iowa
Jurisdiction type
city
Address
4200 Mills Civic Parkway, Suite 1D, West Des Moines, IA 50265
Contact
  • url: https://www.wdm.iowa.gov/government/development-services/building-inspection
  • phone: 515-222-3630
Permit portal
Permit portal
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
  • license: STATEWIDE registration, not a city licence and not a competency licence -- and it is a requirement the City of West Des Moines itself flags to residential applicants. Iowa Code Section 91C.2 provides that "A contractor doing business in this state shall register with the director and shall meet all of the following requirements as a condition of registration": compliance with Iowa workers' compensation insurance law with annual evidence of coverage; possession of an employer account number or a special contractor number issued under the Iowa employment security law (chapter 96); and, for an out-of-state contractor, either a $25,000 surety bond or a statement of prequalification to bid on Iowa DOT projects. Under Iowa Code Section 91C.1(1)(a), a person "who earns less than two thousand dollars annually or who performs work or has work performed on the person's own property is not a contractor for purposes of this chapter," so the duty attaches at $2,000 of annual earnings. Registration is administered by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing (DIAL); DIAL's own contractor-registration page states the definition of construction is broad and specifically lists "Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, painters and many others" as required to register, and separately notes that sub-contractors must register independently -- they are not covered under a general contractor's registration. The City of West Des Moines's own "One and Two Family Residential Plan Submittal Requirements" checklist reiterates this to applicants directly: "REGISTER: Contractors need to be registered with the State of Iowa Division of Labor." No separate West Des Moines city roofing-contractor registration or licence was found on the city's own site.
Permit process note
Residential permit applications, including plan sets for new construction and remodels, are submitted online through the City Access Portal (CAP); the city's own new-single-family-home checklist states that e-mailed and paper plans or applications are no longer accepted. Most permit fees are valuation-based, calculated from the Fee Estimator I table (a $62 minimum fee, rising with project valuation) rather than a flat roofing fee; the Building Division ([email protected], 515-222-3630) handles specific fee questions. The city publishes permit checklists for new single-family homes, additions and attached garages, remodels and basement finishes, decks and porches, detached garages and sheds, fences, pools, solar energy systems, and demolition, but does not publish a roofing-specific checklist or application of the kind some neighboring Iowa cities offer.
Adopted code
West Des Moines adopts its construction codes locally rather than relying on a state-mandated residential code; Iowa Code Section 103A.10(2) leaves ordinary city building regulation to each adopting city. The city's own Building Inspection "Building Codes" page states that West Des Moines has adopted the 2021 International Building Code (with amendments), the 2021 International Residential Code (with amendments), the 2024 International Fire Code (with amendments), and the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, alongside the state-set Iowa Electric Code (2023 NEC with amendments), Iowa Mechanical Code (2021 IMC with amendments), Iowa Plumbing Code (2024 UPC with amendments), and Iowa Energy Code (2012 IECC). The city's own "One and Two Family Residential Plan Submittal Requirements" checklist lists a very similar but not identical set -- 2021 IRC, 2020 NEC, 2012 IECC, 2021 IMC, 2021 UPC, and 2021 IFC -- indicating that checklist has not been reprinted to match the current adopted-codes page. The ordinance number, effective date, and the text of any Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies) amendments adopted by the city are not addressed on the city's own building-inspection web pages and are not reflected in this record.
Ice & water shield
Required — The City of West Des Moines's own "One and Two Family Residential Plan Submittal Requirements & General Code Review Conditions" checklist instructs applicants to "Install ice and water membrane per building code where required on shingle roof systems," and separately states that "eave overhangs use may be exempted if energy efficient trusses are used." The checklist does not cite a specific code section number or state the underlayment's required extension distance up the roof slope; those figures would be set by the city's own climatic and geographic design-criteria table, which was not located as an independently published document on the city's own site. About ice & water barrier
Wind design criteria
Frost depth 42 inches, ultimate design wind speed 105/115/120 mph depending on building risk category, ground snow load 30 psf (24 psf roof snow load), and Seismic Design Category A, per the climatic and geographic design criteria published on the City of West Des Moines's own "One and Two Family Residential Plan Submittal Requirements & General Code Review Conditions" checklist, which lists the 2021 International Residential Code among the codes and design criteria used for plan review.
Sales & use tax
West Des Moines straddles four counties with different Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) status, per the Iowa Department of Revenue's own published LOST rate file: in the Polk County portion of the city (the bulk of West Des Moines), the combined rate is 7.000% -- the 6% state sales/use tax plus a 1% local option tax in effect since July 1, 2019; the Dallas County portion is also 7.000% combined, with its 1% local option in effect since July 1, 2018; the Warren County portion is likewise 7.000% combined, with its 1% local option in effect since July 1, 2016; the Madison County portion, however, has NOT adopted the local option tax and is 6.000% state rate only. A roofing contractor should confirm which county a given jobsite falls in before quoting material tax.

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