Greenwood: a permit when the decking comes off, not for the shingles
The City of Greenwood's Building Commissioner puts it plainly on the city's own "Do I need a permit?" page: if your roof project involves removing 25 percent or more of the decking, a permit is required. If the job is new shingles over sound decking, with unsound boards patched as they turn up, no permit is needed. That is the whole rule for Greenwood, and it decides most of our jobs here. Every Reasonable roof replacement is a full tear-off down to the deck, and we check the decking board by board and replace what is soft or rotten. If less than a quarter of the deck needs replacing, no permit. If more does, the permit applies, and we pull it. We know which it is after the inspection, before you sign.
When it does apply: the permit runs through Community Development Services at 300 S. Madison Ave. The city reviews a residential application in about seven business days (a $250 fee buys an expedited review), the city's current fee schedule lists residential remodeling permits at $75 including the technology fee, and the work has to start within 45 days of issue. Skipping a permit that was required doubles the fee when the city catches it, and the city inspects permitted work before the permit closes; we schedule that inspection.
Who pulls it, and what that costs you: nothing extra
When a permit is required on your job, we pull it, schedule the inspection, and put the paperwork in your file next to the drone photos. You do not fill anything out. Indiana has no state roofing license, so what stands behind that promise is our insurance and, for jobs in unincorporated Johnson County, the county's contractor listing: a contractor has to be listed with the county and carry a $15,000 surety bond to pull a permit there, or the homeowner has to sign a notarized exemption affidavit and take it on themselves. We are the ones who should be carrying that, not you.
Outside the city limits: every town does it differently
- Unincorporated Johnson County (Center Grove and the county roads): Planning & Zoning at 86 W. Court St in Franklin does not list roofing among its permit triggers, so we confirm by phone before any tear-off. If one is required, the county's fee is $150 plus 10 cents a square foot, with a 7 to 10 business-day review.
- Franklin runs its own building department, and its fee schedule carries a $15 roof upgrade and repair permit, so roofing permits are a normal thing there.
- Whiteland requires a permit for any improvement over $500, which a roof always is, with a 5 to 10 business-day review and the fee quoted on approval.
- Bargersville and New Whiteland each have their own permit office and neither publishes a re-roof rule. We call the office with your address before the job, not after.
What the code requires on the roof itself
Indiana builds to the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which is the 2018 International Residential Code adopted under 675 IAC 14-4.4. Three parts of it shape a replacement. A roof replacement means removing the existing roof coverings down to the deck (R908.3), which is why a shingle-over is not a replacement in our book or the code's. A recover is not allowed at all where two or more layers already exist, or where the base is water-soaked or deteriorated (R908.3.1.1). And drip edge is required at the eaves and the rakes (R905.2.8.5), lapped 2 inches and extending a quarter inch below the sheathing. Johnson County is marked "ice shield underlayment required: No" in the state's amended climate table, which makes ice barrier a manufacturer's-instructions item here rather than a county mandate. We install it anyway, along the eaves, up the rakes and down the valleys, because that is where Indiana ice dams and wind-driven rain get in.
Permit questions, answered first
Only if 25 percent or more of the roof decking is being removed. New shingles over sound decking, with a few bad boards patched, need no permit. We tell you which side of that line your roof is on after the inspection, before you sign anything.
We do, whenever one is required, and we schedule the inspection. In unincorporated Johnson County a homeowner can only pull it themselves by signing a notarized exemption affidavit, which shifts the responsibility onto you. Let us carry it.
Greenwood reviews in about seven business days, the county in 7 to 10. We fold that into the schedule up front, so the start date we give you already accounts for it.
No. Indiana's Professional Licensing Agency licenses plumbers, not roofers or general contractors. What you should ask any roofer for is proof of insurance and, for county jobs, their county contractor listing.
Sources
- City of Greenwood, Building Commissioner: Do I need a permit? and Ordinance 25-08 fee schedule
- Johnson County Planning & Zoning: Building Department and Ordinance 2016-13 fee schedule
- Town of Whiteland building permit form; City of Franklin fee schedule
- Indiana Residential Code adoption: 675 IAC 14-4.4; drip edge and ice barrier: Indiana DHS State Building Commissioner letter, Feb 25, 2020; roof replacement sections: 2020 Indiana Residential Code, Chapter 9
- Indiana Professional Licensing Agency: licensed professions