You just had your roof covering replaced, and you paid a permit fee to the city to have your roof inspected. What exactly does the city do for this fee? It’s probably a quick check from the ground and a review of photos taken by the roofing contractor.
Municipal inspectors don’t walk roofs
That’s right. When municipal inspectors in the Twin Cities come out to inspect roofs, they don’t set foot on the roof or even lean a ladder up against it.
So why don’t municipal inspectors walk on roofs? Because they don’t have to. And even if they wanted to, it’s the homeowner’s responsibility to give them access to the roof. Or put another way, to set up a ladder for them. It’s documented in the Minnesota Administrative Rules for Inspections (1300.0210, Subp. 4.):
“The person requesting an inspection required by the code shall provide access to and means for inspection of the work.”
So what does this mean? If you have any expectation of a municipal inspector getting on your roof, you better have a ladder set up for them.
But even then, they surely won’t get up there.
Roofing contractors all tell me the same thing; municipal roof inspections are anything but thorough. One roofer told me that city inspectors barely get out of their vehicles.
My survey
I surveyed municipal inspectors 15 years ago to find out exactly how they inspect roofs. Most won’t walk the roof. I did another survey this year, contacting the 20 largest municipalities in the Twin Cities via phone. The question was very simple:
“If a municipal inspector is coming out to inspect the work for a permit issued for a residential sloped roof replacement, are there any circumstances under which they will walk the roof to inspect it?”
They all said no. Every single one.
Also, one of the more hilarious (or sad?) city responses was, “You dont want anyone up walking on the roof after you get a new one, it would ruin the shingles”. That is utter nonsense.
How permits are approved
Many cities require photos from the roofing contractor showing the roof decking, the ice and water shield, flashing details, and some photos of the finished roof. But not all of them; for example, Minneapolis does not require photos. So how do they know any of this stuff was done correctly?
In all cases, the municipal inspector will make a site visit to the home to inspect the roof from the ground. Will they catch things like disconnected bath fan ducts in the attic? Disconnected furnace vents in the attic? Misaligned plumbing vents? Roof vents blocked by tar paper? Improper shingle nailing? Screens installed at dryer exhaust terminals? And on and on…?
No. They won’t catch any of this stuff. This stuff can only be caught by walking the roof, or at least leaning a ladder against the eaves, and by getting into the attic. And municipal inspectors do not do this.
What are your permit fees paying for?
When you pull a permit with a city, you pay a permit fee. This fee is supposed to cover the administrative cost of issuing a permit, and doing everything needed to get to final approval. It’s not supposed to be a huge money-maker for the city, but it usually is. And permit fees vary wildly. Just for fun, I looked up the permit fee for a $20,000 residential re-roof. Bloomington, Blaine, and Maple Grove charge a flat $100 for roof replacement permits. A bunch of cities were somewhere in the middle. And at the top of the list, I had Saint Paul at $484, with Eden Prairie and Edina close on their heels at $471 and $433, respectively.
You got that right. Saint Paul charges almost five times as much as Maple Grove for the same service, and they also do not walk the roof to inspect it. I think some of these fees are pretty messed up. If you’re paying almost $500 to approve a roof, the city ought to be walking the roof or inspecting it with a drone, and getting inside the attic whenever possible.
Ok, I’m on a bit of a tangent now.
Conclusion
Municipal inspections for roof replacements are cursory. Just because a roof passed the city inspection, it doesn’t mean the work was done properly. Also, permit fees are all over the board for the exact same service.