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Roofing in Richmond, Indiana

Hail belt

Yes — a permit is required to replace a roof in Richmond, IN, issued by City of Richmond, Indiana - Permits and Inspections. WHERE AND HOW. Permits and Inspections is at 50 North 5th St, Richmond, on (765) 983-7341. Filing is through the City's BS&A online system: contractors need a BS&A account and a City-issued PIN, homeowners may apply online too, and inspection requests are made online or by telephoning the division. HOW LONG IT TAKES, in the City's own words: "Once your application is received, it will be reviewed for completeness. If any further information is needed, our office will contact you. Small projects typically take 5 business days to process. Larger projects may take up to 15 business days to process. While the online system will send email updates throughout the process, we will call you to let you know when your permit is ready to be paid for and picked up." A permit is not live until it is paid for - the City's own application form states that "NO PERMIT IS VALID UNTIL IT IS BOTH PAID & SIGNED FOR". THE APPLICATION asks for the owner and project address, a description of work, dimensions where applicable, and the total job cost including labour and materials - which is the figure that decides both whether the $500 permit threshold is crossed and what the fee is. WHAT IT COSTS: a re-roof is priced as a remodel or repair, "$2.00 per $1,000.00 of actual cost - minimum - $50.00". IS A ZONING PERMIT NEEDED TOO? Richmond requires an Improvement Location Permit before construction, installation, addition, alteration or relocation of a structure, and the examples the City lists are new dwellings, new commercial units, garages and carports, room additions, impervious surface, a change in a structure's height, ponds, manufactured homes, pools, driveways, decks and patios over 400 square feet, and any structure over 200 square feet. A like-for-like re-roof appears in none of them, but a job that changes the roof height or adds structure is a different matter, so raise it with the office before filing. INSPECTIONS are requested at least twenty-four hours ahead, the person responsible for the work must be on site, and no work may be covered or concealed until inspected and approved. STOPPING WORK: under section 150.11 the Director may order work stopped on part or all of a project by posting a Stop Work Card on the site, it is the owner's responsibility to see that the order is obeyed, and continuing work other than corrective work is a $100 fine for the owner, the contractor and anyone else who continues it, each day counting as a separate offence. COMMERCIAL WORK is a different track - section 150.04 requires a Design Release issued by the State Building Commissioner, with stamped plans, to be lodged with the City before a permit issues for construction covered by one. Richmond, Indiana sits in one of the country's most hail-prone regions. This hub aggregates Richmond'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 Richmond

Roofing permit and contractor-licensing rules in Richmond are set locally by City of Richmond, Indiana - Permits and Inspections. 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 RICHMOND'S OWN ADOPTION CITES THE STATUTE THAT MAKES IT FLOAT. The residential rule is the state's: 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 its article. Richmond adopts it whole and dates itself forward on purpose. Section 150.03 of the City Code, headed "ADOPTION OF RULES BY REFERENCE", provides: "Pursuant to IC 22-13-2-3-(b), the rules of the Indiana 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 code and shall include any later amendments to those rules." The list that follows runs from 675 IAC 13 Building Codes through "675 IAC 14 Indiana Residential Code" to the plumbing, electrical, mechanical, energy, swimming pool, fire and fuel gas articles. The statute it cites says the same thing: 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 to the Indiana Administrative Code." So there is no stale Richmond edition to argue about, and no Indiana city could be on a different residential code 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. THE SCOPE OF THE CITY CHAPTER, in its own words at section 150.02: "The provisions of this Code apply to the construction, alterations, repair, use, occupancy, maintenance, demolition, moving and additions to all buildings and structures, other than fences, in the City of Richmond, Indiana." One vocabulary warning that catches people in Indiana: "Class 2" 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 RICHMOND 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. Richmond answers it on its own Contractor Licensing page: "General Contractors and Homeowners do NOT require a license to perform work. Regardless of license, all work must adhere to all building codes and zoning regulations." The codified position matches. City Code section 150.14, "LICENSE REQUIREMENTS", creates an Electrical Examining Board and a Heating and Air Conditioning Examining Board and licenses only those two trades; section 150.15 requires plumbing contractors, who must already hold a State of Indiana licence, to register with the City Enforcement Authority. The chapter creates no general building, home improvement or roofing licence or registration, and roofing is named in it only as a kind of work that needs a permit. So a roofer needs no Richmond trade licence and no bond. WHAT A ROOFER DOES STILL NEED. A BS&A account to file online. The City requires contractors to hold a BS&A account with the City of Richmond in order to apply for permits and schedule inspections online, and states that "A unique PIN from the city will be required to complete registration." That is an account for the permitting system, not a trade credential, and homeowners may apply online as well. IF THE JOB TOUCHES ANOTHER TRADE: electrical work in the city or in the Richmond Power and Light service area must be done by a City-licensed Electrical Contractor or someone in that contractor's employ under their supervision, and heating and air conditioning work likewise by a City-licensed Heating and Air Conditioning Contractor. Both licences run on the calendar year, are issued to an individual rather than a company, must be posted at the licensee's principal place of business, and require a passing score of at least seventy-five percent on the examination; an electrical applicant must also provide a $5,000 licence bond. The City publishes the current cost as $25 plus the testing agency fee to apply for the examination and $100 for the annual City trade licence. Plumbing contractors register with the City on top of their state licence and must carry a copy of the licence or registration certificate on site. None of that reaches a roofing crew doing roofing work.
Permit process
WHERE AND HOW. Permits and Inspections is at 50 North 5th St, Richmond, on (765) 983-7341. Filing is through the City's BS&A online system: contractors need a BS&A account and a City-issued PIN, homeowners may apply online too, and inspection requests are made online or by telephoning the division. HOW LONG IT TAKES, in the City's own words: "Once your application is received, it will be reviewed for completeness. If any further information is needed, our office will contact you. Small projects typically take 5 business days to process. Larger projects may take up to 15 business days to process. While the online system will send email updates throughout the process, we will call you to let you know when your permit is ready to be paid for and picked up." A permit is not live until it is paid for - the City's own application form states that "NO PERMIT IS VALID UNTIL IT IS BOTH PAID & SIGNED FOR". THE APPLICATION asks for the owner and project address, a description of work, dimensions where applicable, and the total job cost including labour and materials - which is the figure that decides both whether the $500 permit threshold is crossed and what the fee is. WHAT IT COSTS: a re-roof is priced as a remodel or repair, "$2.00 per $1,000.00 of actual cost - minimum - $50.00". IS A ZONING PERMIT NEEDED TOO? Richmond requires an Improvement Location Permit before construction, installation, addition, alteration or relocation of a structure, and the examples the City lists are new dwellings, new commercial units, garages and carports, room additions, impervious surface, a change in a structure's height, ponds, manufactured homes, pools, driveways, decks and patios over 400 square feet, and any structure over 200 square feet. A like-for-like re-roof appears in none of them, but a job that changes the roof height or adds structure is a different matter, so raise it with the office before filing. INSPECTIONS are requested at least twenty-four hours ahead, the person responsible for the work must be on site, and no work may be covered or concealed until inspected and approved. STOPPING WORK: under section 150.11 the Director may order work stopped on part or all of a project by posting a Stop Work Card on the site, it is the owner's responsibility to see that the order is obeyed, and continuing work other than corrective work is a $100 fine for the owner, the contractor and anyone else who continues it, each day counting as a separate offence. COMMERCIAL WORK is a different track - section 150.04 requires a Design Release issued by the State Building Commissioner, with stamped plans, to be lodged with the City before a permit issues for construction covered by one.
Portal
Permit portal

View the full Richmond permitting authority record →

Impact-resistant roofing materials for Richmond hail

Richmond, 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 Richmond, Indiana - Permits and Inspectionscity

Roofing guides

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

Sources