A like-for-like re-roof in the City of St. Louis needs no building permit — as long as you replace with the same material and remove no more than 25 percent of the roof sheathing. Then consider that 57.9 percent of the City's housing was built in 1939 or earlier. On a plank deck that old, crossing the 25 percent line is a realistic outcome of a tear-off, and an unpermitted job becomes a permitted one halfway through. That is the single most useful thing a St. Louis homeowner can know before signing anything.
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The City requires a permit for an entire new roof, for roof work that is not replacement of like material, and where more than 25 percent of the roof sheathing is removed and replaced. It does not require one for a like-material replacement with 25 percent or less sheathing work. On a house from the 1920s that has never been fully decked, nobody knows which side of that line the job falls on until the shingles are off. We scope for both outcomes and tell you in advance which way we expect it to go.
The Cultural Resources Office states that in a City Historic District a permit is required for all exterior work except painting wood trim, and that work which does not need a building permit is regulated by the Historic District Standards instead. There are eighteen districts on the City's current list, and they include exactly the neighborhoods with the most roof-worthy housing — Soulard, Lafayette Square, Shaw, Hyde Park, Benton Park, Compton Hill, Central West End, Tower Grove East. A permit-exempt re-roof elsewhere in the City is a permitted job at those addresses.
RSMo 407.725 prohibits a contractor from advertising or promising to pay or rebate any portion of your insurance deductible, from offering allowances, discounts, gifts, bonuses or referral fees as a sales inducement, and from representing or negotiating your insurance claim for roof or exterior repair work. A violation is an unfair practice under the Missouri merchandising practices act. When a door-knocker offers to make your deductible disappear, they are describing conduct the statute bars.
Under RSMo 407.725, where the work is insured, you may cancel a written contract prior to midnight on the fifth business day after you have received written notice from the insurer that all or any part of the claim or contract is not a covered loss. The clock starts at the insurer's notice, not at signing. The contractor must give you a boldface statement in at least 10-point type explaining the right, plus a duplicate, easily detachable NOTICE OF CANCELLATION form attached to the contract — and must return all payments within ten days of cancellation.
The ACS 2020–2024 estimates put the City at 174,111 housing units with 100,811 of them — 57.9 percent — built in 1939 or earlier, and a median year built of 1938 that is effectively bottom-coded at the Census's oldest category. Three quarters predate 1960. Owner occupancy runs 45.3 percent and vacancy 16.8 percent, about two and a half times Denver's. That combination means original plank decking, parapets, masonry adjacency and a real chance that roof work pulls repointing along with it.
Despite a 5°F winter design temperature and an air freezing index of 963, the City's own adopting ordinance amends Table R301.2(1) to read that ice shield underlayment is not required, and nothing else in that 133-page ordinance reinstates it. We frequently recommend a self-adhering membrane anyway, for performance and because manufacturers often condition their warranties on it. We will always tell you which of those two reasons applies rather than calling it code.
First we establish whether you are in the City, the County or a County municipality, and whether the address falls in a historic district or a floodway — all three change what the job is. Then we get on the roof and photograph condition, decking where visible, flashings and penetrations. You keep the photographs whether or not you hire us.
We estimate the likely extent of deck replacement and tell you plainly what happens if it crosses 25 percent, because at that point a permit is required and the schedule changes. Where a historic district applies, the Cultural Resources Office application goes in early. The contract meets RSMo 407.725, including the boldface cancellation statement and the detachable notice form.
The deck is only visible once, and on a house of this vintage it is the whole question. We inspect, photograph and replace what needs replacing at the agreed rate, then get underlayment, valley lining, drip edge and flashings in before the crew leaves. If the deck work crosses the permit threshold, we stop and permit it rather than quietly continuing.
Magnet sweep and ground walk with you, and a closeout file: permit record where one applied, CRO approval where the district required it, warranty registration, and the deck and flashing photographs. Disposal handled commercially, because the City will not accept contractor debris at its facilities.
A laminated architectural shingle is the sensible default across most of the City, and it keeps you inside the permit exemption as long as it is replacing like material and deck work stays under a quarter of the roof. We install with six-nail patterns and starter at eaves and rakes against a 115 mph design wind speed, and we handle valleys to the City's amended R905.2.8.2 — which is more prescriptive than most people realize.
District standards commonly require that where historic roof material exists on a sloped roof, that material or an approved replica be used. You cannot quietly convert a visible slate roof to asphalt in a City Historic District, and roof form, slope, height, shape and dormer configuration are treated as fixed. This is a genuine cost difference and it belongs in the estimate, not in a conversation after a stop-work order.
St. Louis housing carries an enormous amount of flat and near-flat roof — rear additions, porches, and whole rowhouse roofs behind parapets. District standards we have read treat flat-roof replacement as general maintenance, but state that any repair or reconstruction of parapets requires a permit. The parapet is usually where the water is actually getting in, and we will tell you when the roof is not the problem.
Most laminated shingles carry a limited lifetime warranty with a non-prorated initial period. We read the document with you — it is tied to your ownership, it prorates after the initial window, and it is usually material-only unless the full system is installed by a certified contractor.
Where underlayment, starter, field shingle, hip and ridge and ventilation come from one manufacturer and are installed by a contractor that manufacturer has certified, coverage extends into workmanship for a defined term. In St. Louis this is also the honest reason for a self-adhering ice barrier and for drip edge — the City makes drip edge mandatory specifically where the shingle manufacturer's warranty requires it.
Our own coverage on the installation. Behind it sits Missouri's statutory framework: the deductible prohibition, the bar on a contractor negotiating your claim, the five-business-day cancellation right after an insurer's written notice, and the ten-day refund obligation on cancellation.
Don't see your question? Call us at (573) 370-7663 — we're happy to talk it through.
Often not — and that genuinely surprises people. The City's residential permit criteria require a permit for an entire new roof, for roof work that is not replacement of like material, and where more than 25 percent of the roof sheathing is removed and replaced. A like-material replacement with 25 percent or less sheathing work is permit-exempt. Two overrides apply: a property in a City Historic District needs approval regardless, and work in a floodway may require a Floodway Development Permit.
That is the live risk on a City house, and we plan for it. With 57.9 percent of the City's housing built in 1939 or earlier, exceeding 25 percent sheathing replacement is a realistic outcome of a tear-off — and the moment it does, the job needs a permit it did not need that morning. We tell you before we start which way we expect it to go and what the permitted path costs, rather than discovering it with your roof open and presenting it as a change order.
No. The Cultural Resources Office states that in a City Historic District you need a permit for all exterior work except painting wood trim, and that work not requiring a building permit is instead regulated by the Historic District Standards. The City currently lists eighteen districts — ten Local and eight Certified Local, the latter also meeting National Register eligibility standards. And a property can be outside all eighteen and still be reviewable as a City Landmark or within a Preservation Review district, so we check the address rather than the neighborhood name.
Outside a district, changing material takes the job out of the permit exemption and into permitted work — that is the rule either way. Inside a City Historic District it may not be permitted at all: the district standards we have read require that where historic roof material exists on a sloped roof, that material or an approved replica be used to replace it. So a visible slate roof in a district is a slate conversation. We read that district's specific standards document before writing your scope, because each district's ordinance is its own.
No. RSMo 407.725 prohibits a contractor from advertising or promising to pay or rebate all or any portion of an insurance deductible, and also from offering allowances, discounts, gifts, bonuses or referral fees as a sales inducement. The same statute bars a contractor from representing or negotiating your insurance claim for roof or exterior repair work. A violation is an unfair practice under the Missouri merchandising practices act. It is also a reliable signal about how the rest of the job will be handled.
For insured work, until midnight on the fifth business day after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or any part of the claim is not a covered loss. Note the trigger — it is the insurer's notice, not the signing date. Cancellation must be in writing, and if mailed it is effective on deposit. Your contractor must give you a boldface statement in at least 10-point type explaining the right, plus a duplicate detachable NOTICE OF CANCELLATION form, and must return all payments within ten days — retaining only compensation for emergency services you acknowledged in writing were necessary to prevent damage.
No. Ordinance 70795, which adopted the 2018 IRC for the City, amends Table R301.2(1) to read that ice shield underlayment is not required, and a search of the full ordinance finds nothing that reinstates R905.1.2. Given a 5°F winter design temperature and an air freezing index of 963 that surprises people, and we often recommend a self-adhering membrane anyway on performance and warranty grounds. We simply will not tell you the City requires it, because it does not.
To commercial disposal, priced into the job. The City's guidance states that refuse from any business will not be accepted at its facilities, that any load appearing to be commercial waste will be rejected, and that anyone suspected of hauling for hire will be rejected — so you cannot take your contractor's tear-off to a transfer station on their behalf either. Commercial trucks are not allowed, and transfer-station eligibility is limited to City residents. Any bid that waves at 'we haul it away' without a number has a gap in it.
Free inspection, honest scope, real warranty. Most service work scheduled within 24–48 hours.
(573) 370-7663