Anyone quoting you 105 mph for a Richardson roof is working from the wrong city. Richardson is still on the 2021 IRC, and its adopted wind speed is 115.
Richardson remains on the 2021 International Residential Code under Ordinance 4464, and its adopted Table R301.2(1) prints an ultimate design wind speed of 115 mph, three-second gust, with ice barrier underlayment answered No.
That number is the single most commonly botched fact about roofing in this city. The 2024 regional amendment package specifies 105 mph, and several of Richardson's neighbours have moved to it — Plano, Farmers Branch, Fairview, Lucas. Richardson has not. A contractor detailing a Richardson roof to 105 mph is under-specifying it by 10 mph against the code the city actually enforces. It is a quiet error with real consequences at the eave and the rake, and it is exactly the kind of thing that only surfaces after a wind event.
Richardson's permit threshold is a percentage, not a flat rule. A permit is required where the work exceeds 25% of the roof area. The city's FAQ and its code do not perfectly agree about what happens at exactly 25%, so on a borderline repair it is worth a call rather than an assumption. On a full replacement the answer is obviously yes.
There is a genuine oddity in Richardson's adopted code worth knowing if you own an older house with a wood roof. Richardson's R904.5 permits unclassified wood shingle repairs up to 25% of the roof covering in any twelve-month period. Most North Texas cities have written wood shakes out entirely. Richardson has left a narrow, explicit repair allowance in place.
Weekday work stops at 6:00 p.m. in Richardson. That is earlier than most of the metro — Garland and Rowlett run to ten, The Colony to ten, Sachse to nine. It means a Richardson tear-off has to be planned as a genuinely full-day job with a hard stop, not an open-ended one that runs into the evening to get dried in. We schedule Richardson roofs with the dry-in landing well before six, because a roof that is not watertight at the stop time is a problem the ordinance will not negotiate about.
Debris hauling here runs through a construction-and-demolition hauler permit under Section 19-6, priced at 5% of gross receipts.
Richardson's real story, though, is its age. The median home was built in 1986, and 43.9% of the city predates 1980. Richardson Heights alone is roughly 3,000 lots of 1948-to-1960 housing in one contiguous area — the single densest concentration of genuinely old single-family roofs in any of the north-side cities. Canyon Creek dates from 1962, Azalea Park from 1953, North Rich Acres from 1954. These are roofs on their third and fourth covering, on framing and decking that has seen seventy years of Texas weather.
And Richardson takes hail. On 24 September 2023 the city measured 2.25-inch hail, the same storm that hit Garland — the event that puts the September spike into the Dallas County record, which otherwise peaks hard in April.
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View Roof Maintenance →Richardson is on the 2021 IRC under Ordinance 4464 and its adopted table reads 115 mph three-second gust, ice barrier not required. The 2024 regional package says 105, and several neighbouring cities have moved to it. A crew working one mental checklist across the metro will under-specify a Richardson eave and rake by 10 mph. We work from the ordinance for the city we are actually standing in.
Weekday construction stops at six here, earlier than Garland, Rowlett, Sachse or The Colony. That turns a Richardson tear-off into a hard-stop day, not an open-ended one. We size the crew and the exposed area so the roof is watertight well before the cutoff, rather than racing the clock with your attic open.
Richardson Heights is roughly 3,000 lots of 1948-to-1960 housing in one contiguous area, with Azalea Park at 1953, North Rich Acres at 1954 and Canyon Creek at 1962 alongside it. These roofs are on their third or fourth covering. We open them, price the board decking and the ventilation honestly, and show you the photos before anything gets covered up.
Don't see your question? Call us at (469) 936-7663 — we're happy to talk it through.
115 mph ultimate design wind speed, three-second gust, from Richardson's adopted Table R301.2(1) under the 2021 IRC, Ordinance 4464. Ice barrier underlayment is answered No. This matters because the 2024 regional amendment package specifies 105 mph and several nearby cities now use it — but Richardson does not. A quote built around 105 mph for a Richardson roof is built on the wrong figure.
A permit is required where the work exceeds 25% of the roof area, so any full replacement needs one. The city's FAQ and its code do not line up perfectly about what happens at exactly 25%, so on a borderline repair it is worth confirming with Building Inspection rather than guessing.
To a limited extent, yes — and Richardson is unusual here. Its adopted R904.5 permits unclassified wood shingle repairs up to 25% of the roof covering in any twelve-month period. Most North Texas cities have removed that allowance entirely. It does not let you re-roof a house in wood, but it does keep a narrow repair path open for an existing wood roof.
Richardson's construction hours end at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays — notably earlier than Garland, Rowlett, The Colony or Sachse, which run to nine or ten. Practically, it means a Richardson tear-off has to reach dry-in well before that stop, which is a scheduling and crew-size decision made before the job starts, not a problem discovered at 5:30.
Richardson Heights is roughly 3,000 lots platted between 1948 and 1960 — the largest block of genuinely old single-family housing on the north side of the metro. Expect a third or fourth roof covering, board decking rather than sheet goods in places, original or undersized ventilation, and flashing that has often been reused across multiple re-roofs. None of that is a crisis, but it is why a Richardson Heights roof should never be priced off an aerial measurement.
Richardson measured 2.25-inch hail on 24 September 2023 — the same storm that hit Garland, and the reason the Dallas County record carries a secondary September peak on top of its usual April maximum. Across Dallas County from 2015 to 2025 NOAA logged 202 hail reports on 66 distinct hail days.
Construction and demolition hauling in Richardson runs under a hauler permit issued through Section 19-6, priced at 5% of gross receipts. We arrange the permitted hauler as part of the job; you should not be the one sorting out who is allowed to pick up your driveway.
Not as a code requirement — Richardson's adopted table answers the ice barrier question No. We still recommend a self-adhering membrane in valleys and around penetrations on most roofs, because those are where leaks actually start in North Texas, and the cost of doing it is small compared with a ceiling repair. But it is a recommendation, not a code citation, and we will not dress it up as one.
Our building is at 601 N 1st Street in Garland, which puts most of Richardson inside a fifteen-minute drive. Emergency tarping in Richardson is a same-day response for us.
Yes. Several Richardson neighbourhoods run active associations — JJ Pearce's is unusually engaged — and colour and profile approvals sit outside what state law protects. We prepare the architectural submittal with the manufacturer's product data and colour sample so it goes through the first time.
Call us at (469) 936-7663, or request your free estimate online — most inspections are scheduled within 24–48 hours.
(469) 936-7663