The Roofing Book

Home / Roofing by City / Wahpeton, North Dakota

Roofing in Wahpeton, North Dakota

Hail belt

Yes — a permit is required to replace a roof in Wahpeton, ND, issued by City of Wahpeton, North Dakota - Building Official. Permits are pulled from the Building Official at 1900 4th Street North, PO Box 490, Wahpeton, on 701-642-6565 or 701-642-8448; Todd Johnson is the Building Official. The application is made by the owner or lessee, an agent of either, the person employed or contracted to do the work, or the engineer or architect on the job, and where it is made by someone other than the owner in fee it must be accompanied by a verified affidavit from the owner. Two sets of plans are checked; one approved set is retained by the Building Official for at least 90 days after completion and the other must be kept on the job at all times while work is in progress, and approved plans may not be changed without the Building Official's authorisation. Plans left unactioned for 90 days are returned and need a new plan check fee. The permit is void if work has not commenced within 180 days or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, and a reinstatement permit costs half the original fee where the plans have not changed. Fees are valuation-banded under the schedule effective 1 June 2018, from $26.00 at the bottom, with plan review at half the permit fee, a $50 charge for a second and later re-inspection at the Building Official's discretion, and inspections outside 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday billed at a two-hour minimum at $50 an hour. Electrical inspections are done by the North Dakota State Electrical Board and plumbing and mechanical by the State Board of Plumbing, not by the City; water and sewer connection is booked separately with the City. The application form also asks for the contractor licence number of the builder, electrician, plumber and mechanical contractor, so have both the City and state licence numbers to hand. Wahpeton, North Dakota sits in one of the country's most hail-prone regions. This hub aggregates Wahpeton'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 Wahpeton

Roofing permit and contractor-licensing rules in Wahpeton are set locally by City of Wahpeton, North Dakota - Building Official. North Dakota licenses contractors at the state level under N.D.C.C. 43-07-02, which bars acting as a contractor on work costing more than $4,000 without a licence, and cities stack their own licensing on top of it — the city requirement is usually the one that bites first — while the State Building Code adopted under N.D.C.C. chapter 54-21.3 is administered locally, so a city may carry its own adopted edition and amendments — always confirm the current requirements with the authority before starting work.

Roofing permit
Required
Contractor registration
Required
Adopted building code
THE CITY'S OWN ORDINANCE NAMES ONE EDITION AND THEN FLOATS TO ANOTHER IN THE NEXT SUBSECTION, and the state has since moved again - so confirm the edition with the Building Official before working to a code table. What the ordinance says. Wahpeton Code of Ordinances Section 8-85 (Codes adopted), as amended by Ordinance No. 1016 of 6 April 2020 and effective 1 May 2020, reads at (a): "The City of Wahpeton hereby adopts the North Dakota State Building Code with local amendments consisting of the 2018 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)." Subsection (b) then reads: "The city hereby adopts the most current version of the aforementioned codes as promulgated by the International Code Council. Any further compilation of any or all of the aforementioned codes, or any amendments, extensions, modifications or additions thereto shall be in full force and effect when received by the city." So the City names the 2018 suite and, in the same section, carries forward to the most current version once received. Note also that Wahpeton adopts the International Property Maintenance Code, which the North Dakota State Building Code does not include and which a jurisdiction must adopt separately. The City's own handout on its Building Official page still describes the position as of 1 January 2020 and names the same 2018 suite. WHAT THE STATE SAYS NOW. The 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book states that "Effective January 1, 2026, the North Dakota State Building Code consists of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code, and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)," and adds that "NO APPENDICES ARE ADOPTED." Under NDCC 54-21.3-03(6) a city that elects to enforce a building code "shall adopt and enforce the state building code," but "may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs." Wahpeton is listed as a code enforcing city by the North Dakota Department of Commerce. FOR ROOF WORK THE EDITION QUESTION IS NARROWER THAN IT LOOKS: Chapter 8 of the Wahpeton Code, read in full, contains no roofing amendment, and neither the North Dakota amendments to the 2024 residential code nor those to the 2018 residential code reach the roofing chapter, so the base residential code roofing provisions govern under either edition.
Registration details
  • city_level: CITY LEVEL - a City of Wahpeton contractor licence is required once a building project exceeds $2,000. The City's contractor letter of 21 January 2026 states that "City Ordinance 22-238 to 22-263 defines a contractor as any person engaged in the business of construction, repair, alteration, dismantling or demolition of buildings, tanks, towers and every other type of structure, project, development or improvement coming within the definition of real or personal property to be held either for sale or rental. The term 'contractor' includes all subcontractors and nonresident contractors," and that "The City of Wahpeton requires that any contractor or business entity doing contracting business within the City of Wahpeton are required to be licensed by the City of Wahpeton. The requirement incurs when the building project exceeds $2,000." Requirements are an application, a valid State of North Dakota contractor's licence, a current certificate of liability insurance and payment - $100 for a new licence and $25 to renew, with the renewal date 1 March each year. The insurance limits are stated: "$1,000,000 general liability/occurrence, $1,000,000 bodily injury/occurrence, $1,000,000 general aggregate," with the City named as certificate holder. The sanction is sharp: a contractor in violation of the article "shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall immediately forfeit the license." The licence application asks for the contractor's name exactly as it appears on the North Dakota state licence.
  • state_level: STATE LEVEL - a threshold, not a flat requirement, and the threshold is per job. NDCC 43-07-02(1) provides that "A person may not engage in the business nor act in the capacity of a contractor within this state when the cost, value, or price per job exceeds the sum of four thousand dollars nor may that person maintain any claim, action, suit, or proceeding in any court of this state related to the person's business or capacity as a contractor without first having a license as provided in this chapter." Roofing is not named in the chapter, but it falls inside the definition of contractor at 43-07-01(1), which covers "any person engaged in the business of construction, repair, alteration, dismantling, or demolition of ... buildings" and expressly "includes subcontractor." The classes are VALUE TIERS rather than trades - class D is capped at one hundred thousand dollars on a single contract project, class C at three hundred thousand, class B at five hundred thousand, and a class A licence "is subject to no limitation as to the value of any single contract project" - so there is no roofing classification at either level. The state licence year runs "March second through March first," which lines up neatly with the City's 1 March renewal. WHAT THIS MEANS FOR A ROOFER: a re-roof over $2,000 needs the City licence, a re-roof over $4,000 needs the state licence as well, and the City's own building permit application carries a CONT. LIC. NO. field for the builder, electrician, plumber and mechanical contractor.
Permit process
Permits are pulled from the Building Official at 1900 4th Street North, PO Box 490, Wahpeton, on 701-642-6565 or 701-642-8448; Todd Johnson is the Building Official. The application is made by the owner or lessee, an agent of either, the person employed or contracted to do the work, or the engineer or architect on the job, and where it is made by someone other than the owner in fee it must be accompanied by a verified affidavit from the owner. Two sets of plans are checked; one approved set is retained by the Building Official for at least 90 days after completion and the other must be kept on the job at all times while work is in progress, and approved plans may not be changed without the Building Official's authorisation. Plans left unactioned for 90 days are returned and need a new plan check fee. The permit is void if work has not commenced within 180 days or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, and a reinstatement permit costs half the original fee where the plans have not changed. Fees are valuation-banded under the schedule effective 1 June 2018, from $26.00 at the bottom, with plan review at half the permit fee, a $50 charge for a second and later re-inspection at the Building Official's discretion, and inspections outside 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday billed at a two-hour minimum at $50 an hour. Electrical inspections are done by the North Dakota State Electrical Board and plumbing and mechanical by the State Board of Plumbing, not by the City; water and sewer connection is booked separately with the City. The application form also asks for the contractor licence number of the builder, electrician, plumber and mechanical contractor, so have both the City and state licence numbers to hand.

View the full Wahpeton permitting authority record →

Impact-resistant roofing materials for Wahpeton hail

Wahpeton, North Dakota 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 Wahpeton, North Dakota - Building Officialcity

Roofing guides

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

Sources