City of West Fargo, North Dakota - Building Inspection Division

City of West Fargo, North Dakota

city

2515 6th Street E., West Fargo, ND 58078

Required

Re-roofing is handled inside West Fargo's ordinary building-permit system, not outside it. The City's Building Inspection Division names re-roofing as one of the permits it can issue on the spot: "Some permits, such as mechanical, residing, and reroofing, can be issued at the time you apply if time allows." Applications go through the City's online citizen portal, which offers exactly four application types - Commercial Building Permit, Residential Building Permit, Mechanical Permit and Sign Permit - so a residential re-roof is filed as a Residential Building Permit. The fee is driven by project valuation (materials and labour), and under Section 5-0702 the building official may deny a permit where the valuation is underestimated, so state the real job value. Most other building permit applications take up to two business days, and plan-reviewed projects three to five. Inspections are requested from the Building Department at 701-515-5380 and no work may be covered until the requested inspection has been signed off. Note two things that are NOT West Fargo's to issue: electrical permits and inspections come from the North Dakota State Electrical Board, and plumbing permits and inspections from the North Dakota State Plumbing Board. Appeals from a decision of the Code Official go to the West Fargo City Commission sitting as the Board of Appeals, in writing within 20 days, heard within 30 days, and reversible only by at least three Commission votes; the Commission has no authority to waive a Code requirement. The Building & Inspections Division is at West Fargo City Hall, 2515 6th Street E., open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The City of West Fargo has elected to enforce a building code and adopts the 2024 International Residential Code by its own ordinance. West Fargo City Ordinance Title V (Buildings), Chapter 5-07, Section 5-0701 adopts by reference "that certain code known as the International Residential Code, recommended and compiled by the International Code Council, being particularly the 2024 edition thereof," and applies it "within the city limits of West Fargo, North Dakota, as well as for any area within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of the City" - so a job in West Fargo's ETJ is under the same code as one inside the city. Its printed enactment chain is Ordinance 1011 (2014), Ordinance 1088 (2017), Ordinance 1230 (2023) and Ordinance 1274 (2026). On the commercial track, Chapter 5-01, Section 5-0101 adopts the 2024 International Building Code, chain Ordinance 1006 (2014), Ordinance 1081 (2017 and 2021), Ordinance 1224 (2023) and Ordinance 1265 (2026). Section 5-0701 also reserves to the City Commission the power to adopt amendments to the 2024 edition by resolution, so a resolution can move a West Fargo requirement without a new ordinance number appearing in the code. Two points of North Dakota context a roofer should hold. First, North Dakota imposes no building code on a municipality that has not elected one: NDCC 54-21.3-03(6) provides that a city, township or county "that elects to administer and enforce a building code shall adopt and enforce the state building code", and then adds that "the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs" - with no stringency limit, no state approval and no notice requirement attached. Second, and because of that, a neighbouring city's answer is never West Fargo's answer. West Fargo happens to sit on the same ICC vintage as the City of Fargo next door, but it got there on its own instrument, Ordinance 1274 of 2026, and its roofing provisions must be read from West Fargo's Title V rather than borrowed. West Fargo's other adopted codes in Title V are the International Property Maintenance Code (Chapter 5-05), the International Existing Building Code (Chapter 5-08) and the International Energy Conservation Code (Chapter 5-09); its Fire Department separately reports adopting the 2021 International Fire Code with amendments, codified at Title VI.

Required — West Fargo City Ordinance Chapter 5-07 adopts the 2024 International Residential Code (Section 5-0701, Ordinance 1274 of 2026). Its amendment section, 5-0702, was read in full and amends or deletes thirty-five provisions, none of which lies in IRC Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). The base 2024 International Residential Code drip-edge requirement therefore applies in West Fargo unmodified, with no West Fargo-specific variation, exception or added condition. About drip edge

Required — Sourced from West Fargo's own local amendment to the International Residential Code rather than inferred from climate. West Fargo City Ordinance Section 5-0702 amends Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria), and the column headed Ice Barrier Underlayment Required reads "yes" for West Fargo. The amended table does not itself restate how far the barrier must extend up the slope; West Fargo's amendment list touches no section of IRC Chapter 9, so the extent is governed by the unamended 2024 International Residential Code text rather than by any West Fargo-specific rule. About ice & water barrier

Not required — West Fargo runs no in-progress roof-covering inspection. Its adopted code is the 2024 International Residential Code (West Fargo City Ordinance Section 5-0701), and the City's amendment section 5-0702 was read in full: its administrative amendments reach only Sections R101.1, R103.1, R104.8, R104.8.1, R105.2, R108.3 and R112 (deleted in its entirety), none of which creates a roofing inspection stage, and no amendment anywhere in the chapter touches IRC Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). Consistently with that, each of the three residential inspection schedules the City publishes - for remodeling, for additions and for accessory structures - runs Site/Footing, Foundation wall, Framing, Insulation and Final, with no separate deck, underlayment or mid-roof stage. What does bite on a roof job is the framing inspection, which is taken "after completion of structural frame, sheathing and roof to the building frame, and prior to covering the structural frame", so on work that exposes or replaces roof structure the deck must be left visible until the inspector has signed it off. The City states plainly that "No work shall commence until the permit has been paid and inspection is complete and approved."

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in West Fargo. West Fargo City Ordinance Section 5-0702 is the City's complete list of amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, read in full: its thirty-five amendment and deletion directives run from Section R101.1 through Section R602.7.5 and then into the mechanical and fuel-gas series, and not one of them reaches IRC Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). No UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact reference appears anywhere in the chapter. Neither West Fargo's adopted code nor its amendments requires an impact-rated roof covering. An insurance carrier may still price impact-rated shingles differently; that is a policy question, not a code requirement.

West Fargo publishes no dollar figure and no square-foot figure for roofing work. The City's Building Inspection Division names re-roofing as one of its own permit types and issues it over the counter: its homeowner FAQ states that "Some permits, such as mechanical, residing, and reroofing, can be issued at the time you apply if time allows." Two consequences for a roofer. First, there is no small-job carve-out to aim under - the City's published "When don't I need a permit?" answer lists exactly six exempt activities (painting, wallpaper, cabinets and similar finish work, an accessory building of 120 square feet or less, concrete sidewalks and patios wholly on your own property, and insulating an existing building where no structural changes are made) and roof work is not among them. Second, the permit fee is driven by project valuation rather than by work type: the residential fee schedule runs $37.00 up to and including $1,000 of valuation, then $37.00 for the first $1,000 plus $5.00 for each additional $1,000 or fraction thereof up to $100,000, with a $37 plan review fee on all residential permits. Structural work carries its own trigger independent of the roof covering - the City's remodeling guideline requires a permit for "Replacing structural sheathing on roof, floors and walls."

Read directly from West Fargo's own local amendment to Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria) at West Fargo City Ordinance Section 5-0702, with each cell aligned to its printed column heading: Ground Snow Load 44 psf; Wind Speed 111 mph, Topographic effects No, Special wind region No, Wind-borne debris zone No; Seismic Design Category "Zone A" as printed; Subject to Damage From - Weathering Severe, Frost line depth 4.5 feet, Termite None; Winter Design Temp -18; Ice Barrier Underlayment Required yes; Flood Hazards 1978; Air Freezing Index 4000; Mean Annual Temp 41.5. The ordinance also prints a Manual J design block: Elevation 869, Latitude 46, Winter Heating -17 degrees, Summer Cooling 88 degrees, Altitude Correction Factor None, Indoor Design Temperature 70 degrees, Design Temperature Cooling 75 degrees, Heating Temperature Difference 87 degrees, Cooling Temperature Difference 13 degrees, Wind Velocity Heating 15 mph, Wind Velocity Cooling 7.5 mph, Coincident Wet Bulb 70, Daily Range M, Winter Humidity 30 percent, Summer Humidity 50 percent. One caution before this 111 mph figure is put into a wind calculation: West Fargo's codified table carries the model code's footnote markers but does not reprint the footnotes, so the instrument itself does not say on its face whether 111 mph is a nominal or an ultimate design wind speed. The two bases are not interchangeable and differ by roughly the square root of 0.6, so confirm which basis your fastening or uplift method expects before applying this number.

West Fargo City Ordinance Chapter 5-07 adopts the 2024 International Residential Code (Section 5-0701, Ordinance 1274 of 2026). Its amendment section, 5-0702, was read in full and its thirty-five amendment and deletion directives reach no section of IRC Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). West Fargo therefore imposes no local cap of its own on how many existing roof-covering layers may remain before a tear-off is required, and the question is governed by the base 2024 International Residential Code provisions on roof recover and reroofing as adopted, unmodified. Before quoting a recover job in West Fargo, read those base-code reroofing provisions in the edition the City has adopted and confirm the condition of the existing covering, since the model code conditions recover on the type and state of what is already on the deck as well as on the number of layers.

West Fargo City Ordinance Chapter 5-07 adopts the 2024 International Residential Code (Section 5-0701, Ordinance 1274 of 2026). Its amendment section, 5-0702, was read in full: its thirty-five amendment and deletion directives fall in IRC Chapters 1 through 6 (Administration through Wall Construction) and then in the mechanical, fuel-gas and energy-appendix series, and it contains no amendment to IRC Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction), the chapter carrying the roof sheathing and decking provisions. The base 2024 International Residential Code roof sheathing requirements therefore apply in West Fargo unmodified. Two West Fargo specifics a roofer should still plan around, both from the City's own published material rather than from the model code. First, replacing roof sheathing is separately permit-triggering work: the City's remodeling guideline lists "Replacing structural sheathing on roof, floors and walls" among the projects requiring a building permit. Second, where a permit involves the roof structure, the City's framing inspection is taken "after completion of structural frame, sheathing and roof to the building frame, and prior to covering the structural frame", and no work may be covered until that inspection has been signed off.