The Roofing Book

Home / Roofing by City / Goshen, Indiana

Roofing in Goshen, Indiana

Hail belt

Yes — a permit is required to replace a roof in Goshen, IN, issued by City of Goshen, Indiana - Building Department. WHERE AND HOW. The Building Department is in the Annex Building at 204 E Jefferson St, Suite 5, Goshen, on (574) 534-1811. Its own handout states the filing route: "Permits may be obtained in person by visiting the at the Building Department, located at the Annex Building, 204 E Jefferson St, Suite 5, Goshen, or by applying online, using the City of Goshen's web portal. We accept cash, check or credit/debit cards." The wording "the at the" is in the City document as published. WHO MAY APPLY: "For residential construction: Homeowners may apply for any permits related to their own properties", while electrical, HVAC and plumbing permits must be applied for by licensed contractors. A zoning clearance may be required on top of a permit, though the City ties that requirement to new construction rather than to a re-roof. PERMIT LIFE: Goshen City Code 6.1.1.8 provides that "A permit shall expire one (1) year from the date of issue." INSPECTIONS are open-ended rather than staged in the code - 6.1.1.12 provides that after a permit issues the Building Commissioner "shall make, or shall cause to be made, inspections of the work being done as are necessary to insure full compliance with the provisions of this Code article and the terms of the permit", and re-inspection of work found incomplete or not ready is charged at the rate in the current fee ordinance. The City publishes no roofing inspection stage, so agree the timing with the inspector; the department has four inspectors and a building commissioner listed by name and direct line on its page. STARTING WITHOUT A PERMIT: the City describes the stop-work power in its own words - "Whenever any work is being done contrary to the provisions of the codes and/or ordinances, the Building Commissioner or his/her designee may order the work to be stopped", by written notice served on the people doing the work or posted at the site, and the work must stop "until authorized by the Building Commissioner or his/her designee to proceed". APPEALS go first to a five-member Board of Building Appeals under Goshen Municipal Code 6.1.1.19, within fifteen days of the decision appealed from, and from there to the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, which "may modify or reverse any order that is issued by the City of Goshen". COMMERCIAL WORK is a different track: a Construction Design Release from the State may be required before the City will issue anything, and 6.1.1.6 requires a copy of it before a permit issues for construction covered by one. Goshen, Indiana sits in one of the country's most hail-prone regions. This hub aggregates Goshen's roofing permit and contractor-registration requirements and impact-resistant material options — every fact linked to its sourced directory record.

Roofing permits & building code in Goshen

Roofing permit and contractor-licensing rules in Goshen are set locally by City of Goshen, Indiana - Building Department. Indiana does not license roofing contractors at the state level — roofing and general contracting are absent from the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency’s list of licensed professions — so any contractor credential is a city or county one, while the Indiana Residential Code applies statewide and limits how far a local ordinance may depart from it — always confirm the current requirements with the authority before starting work.

Roofing permit
Required
Contractor registration
Not required
Adopted building code
STATE-SET, AND GOSHEN WROTE THE FLOATING REFERENCE INTO ITS OWN CODE - WHICH IS WHY ITS OWN OUT-OF-DATE HANDOUT DOES NOT CHANGE THE ANSWER. The operative 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 formally readopted November 18, 2025, and it is the newest rule in the article. Goshen City Code 6.1.1.5, headed "Adoption of rules by reference", takes it up in the widest possible terms: building rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission set out in listed articles of Title 675, item (2) being "675 IAC 14 - ONE AND TWO FAMILY DWELLING CODES", "are incorporated by reference into this Code article and shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date the rule is written and any later amendments thereto." That matches what Indiana law does anyway - IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a local 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" - so the Goshen adoption moves forward with the state rule instead of freezing. READ THIS BEFORE TRUSTING THE CITY HANDOUT: Goshen still publishes a page headed "CURRENT CONSTRUCTION CODES IN EFFECT IN INDIANA - 2015 (revised 1/22/15)", which lists the residential code as "Indiana Residential Code 2008 (IAC-675-14-4.2.1) Based on: International Residential Code (2003 Edition)". That handout is a decade old and the edition it names has been superseded; the floating clause in the City's own code and the state rule both point to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, and the Indiana State Building Commissioner states that "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide." Goshen could not be on a different edition in any event: 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. One vocabulary warning: "Class 2" in Indiana is a STRUCTURE class, broadly one and two family dwellings, and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering.
Registration details
  • license: NO ROOFING CREDENTIAL AT EITHER LEVEL, AND GOSHEN SAYS SO IN ONE LINE. Indiana licenses no contractor trade at state level: the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency's published list of regulated professions covers thirty-nine occupations, including plumbing, and carries no contractor, roofing, building or home improvement credential, so in Indiana the question is always local. Goshen answers it on its Building Department page under the heading CONTRACTOR LICENSING: "General contractors do not have to be licensed by the City of Goshen nor is a bond required"; "Electrical and Mechanical (HVAC) contractors working within the city limits of Goshen must be licensed by the City"; and "Plumbing Contractors must have a current license with the State of Indiana." The codified position matches: the only contractor-licensing article in the Goshen City Code is Title 6 Article 2, headed "Licensing of Contractors", whose single chapter is headed "Mechanical and Electrical Contractors". Roofing appears nowhere in it. So a roofer needs no City licence and no bond to work in Goshen. THREE PRACTICAL QUALIFICATIONS. A permit is still required for the roof itself, and 6.1.1.7 makes obtaining it a joint obligation of the owner and the contractor, with penalties reaching both. If the job takes in electrical or HVAC work, that portion needs a City-licensed contractor - the City adds that those licences run for three calendar years, that renewal notices go out in November of the expiry year, and that "A late fee will be charged for licenses that are not renewed by January 31st" - and the current licensing terms sit in Ordinance 5120, amending Ordinance 3757 as amended by Ordinance 4702. Subcontractors apply for their own permits rather than the general contractor doing it for them, and the City warns that "No inspections for electrical, HVAC or plumbing will be performed until the subcontractor permits have been issued." A general business registration, if a firm needs one to trade in the city, is not a roofing credential and does not change this answer.
Permit process
WHERE AND HOW. The Building Department is in the Annex Building at 204 E Jefferson St, Suite 5, Goshen, on (574) 534-1811. Its own handout states the filing route: "Permits may be obtained in person by visiting the at the Building Department, located at the Annex Building, 204 E Jefferson St, Suite 5, Goshen, or by applying online, using the City of Goshen's web portal. We accept cash, check or credit/debit cards." The wording "the at the" is in the City document as published. WHO MAY APPLY: "For residential construction: Homeowners may apply for any permits related to their own properties", while electrical, HVAC and plumbing permits must be applied for by licensed contractors. A zoning clearance may be required on top of a permit, though the City ties that requirement to new construction rather than to a re-roof. PERMIT LIFE: Goshen City Code 6.1.1.8 provides that "A permit shall expire one (1) year from the date of issue." INSPECTIONS are open-ended rather than staged in the code - 6.1.1.12 provides that after a permit issues the Building Commissioner "shall make, or shall cause to be made, inspections of the work being done as are necessary to insure full compliance with the provisions of this Code article and the terms of the permit", and re-inspection of work found incomplete or not ready is charged at the rate in the current fee ordinance. The City publishes no roofing inspection stage, so agree the timing with the inspector; the department has four inspectors and a building commissioner listed by name and direct line on its page. STARTING WITHOUT A PERMIT: the City describes the stop-work power in its own words - "Whenever any work is being done contrary to the provisions of the codes and/or ordinances, the Building Commissioner or his/her designee may order the work to be stopped", by written notice served on the people doing the work or posted at the site, and the work must stop "until authorized by the Building Commissioner or his/her designee to proceed". APPEALS go first to a five-member Board of Building Appeals under Goshen Municipal Code 6.1.1.19, within fifteen days of the decision appealed from, and from there to the State Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission, which "may modify or reverse any order that is issued by the City of Goshen". COMMERCIAL WORK is a different track: a Construction Design Release from the State may be required before the City will issue anything, and 6.1.1.6 requires a copy of it before a permit issues for construction covered by one.
Portal
Permit portal

View the full Goshen permitting authority record →

Impact-resistant roofing materials for Goshen hail

Goshen, Indiana sits in one of the country's most hail-prone regions. For hail exposure, the highest impact rating a roof covering can earn is UL 2218 Class 4. These cataloged material categories reach Class 4:

Class 4 impact-resistant materials

Class 4 Impact-Resistant Shingle Corrugated Metal Panel Metal Shingle Rubber (Polymer) Shingle Standing-Seam Metal Roof Stone-Coated Steel Synthetic Shake Synthetic Slate Synthetic Tile

Browse every option on the Class 4 impact-resistant materials hub, and read the Class 4 impact-resistant shingles buyer's guide. Many insurers offer premium credits for a documented Class 4 roof — confirm terms with your carrier.

Local permitting authority

City of Goshen, Indiana - Building Departmentcity

Roofing guides

Class 4 Impact-Resistant ShinglesGuide Asphalt vs. Metal vs. TileGuide Wind & Fire RatingsGuide

Sources