Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
A cedar roof in Springs has curled and split along the south slope, and the owner wants it gone before the next nor’easter. Before anyone books a roofer, two questions settle the paperwork. Is the house inside a village? Is it inside one of the town’s historic districts? The rest of an East Hampton permit follows from those two answers.
The town code’s permit rule and the word alteration
Chapter 255 of the Town of East Hampton code says a building permit from the Building Inspector is required for “the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, demolition, razing or moving of all or any part of any building, structure or part thereof.” The list after it runs through clearing, mobile homes, conversions and fuel tank removal. Roofing never appears by name. We also looked for a line in the code or on the Building Department’s pages that exempts a reroof, and found none.
So everything hangs on one word: alteration. The same article of the current code defines it, for a building, as “a change or rearrangement of the structural parts or in the exit facilities thereof,” or an enlargement by extending a side or adding height. It says “remodel” means the same thing.
A real case shows how that plays out. In Town of East Hampton v. Buffa, a New York appellate court applied the definition to an owner who swapped a flat roof for a gable roof. The court held that the change “concerned the structure of the building itself” and needed a permit. The decision cites the code under its older section numbers (153-1-20 and 153-1-30), so treat it as an example of how the words were applied, not as the current text.
The practical line: a new roof shape or new framing falls on the permit side. A shingle-for-shingle swap on a sound deck sits in the gray zone.
| Roof work on a house under town jurisdiction | Where it lands |
|---|---|
| Same material over sound decking, no framing touched | Not addressed in writing, so ask the Building Department |
| Rafters or other framing sistered or replaced | A change to structural parts under the code’s definition, so plan on asking for a permit |
| Dormer, raised ridge, new roof shape | An alteration, and Buffa held a flat-to-gable change needed a permit |
| Any change on a landmark or in a historic district | Possible Architectural Review Board step first |
Filing with the East Hampton Building Department
The Building Department works out of 300 Pantigo Place, Suite 104, and the inspector’s office number is 631-324-4145. The department’s FAQ gives office hours of 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, with building inspectors at the counter only from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. If the question needs an inspector’s answer, go early.
For a permit, the FAQ asks for two sets of plans at quarter-inch scale, a completed application that is signed and notarized, a licensed contractor, workers’ compensation insurance and a survey. It also calls for a HERS rating or ResCheck, and the plans must show square footage plus the gross floor area allowed and proposed. A plain reroof may not need all of that. Describe the job on the phone first, before anyone assembles a stack of drawings.
The licensed contractor line has a local twist. East Hampton requires its own town home improvement license on top of the county one, and our Suffolk license guide explains how the two fit together.
The town’s Planning Department moved its own applications onto an OpenGov portal. It also posted that New York’s revised minimum elevation rules for flood hazard areas apply to permit applications filed on or after December 31, 2025. That matters for a house in a flood overlay near the bay or ocean, where a roof job can grow into raising or rebuilding. Ask about the rule before the design is set.
One thing we could not find: a fee schedule for roofing permits on the town’s Building Department pages.
Architectural review in Amagansett, Springs, Bluff Road and Montauk
The town’s Architectural Review Board looks at the design and compatibility of historic landmarks and of work within designated historic districts. Its own page says it has five members appointed by the Town Board, each on a five-year term.
The appendices to the town’s Comprehensive Plan name four town historic districts: Amagansett, Bluff Road, Springs and the Montauk Association. Individual landmarks such as the Conklin House and the Cedar Point Lighthouse are on the list too. The code carries written guidelines for each district, and they do not treat roofs alike.
| District | What its guidelines say about the roof |
|---|---|
| Amagansett | Roof material “is not a critical factor” and is exempt from review for a single-family house or a church. Rear-wall work on a single-family house that needs no building permit is also exempt |
| Montauk Association | Roofs are called “an important design element.” Six of the seven original houses have cedar shingle roofs. A composition roof is weighed case by case and should use small rectangular shingles in a uniform gray no lighter than weathered wood |
| Bluff Road | On the six non-historic houses, work that needs no building permit is exempt and work that needs one is reviewed. New houses should have a roof form typical of the historic houses, which have gable, gambrel or hip roofs |
| Springs | We did not find the roof section of the Springs guidelines, so ask the board |
For a special historic landmark, Appendix E says the owner files a Historic Districts and Landmarks Approval Form with the board’s secretary at 300 Pantigo Place, Suite 105, and that the board meets on the second and fourth Thursdays at 6 p.m. If the review applies, plan the roofing schedule around those Thursdays.
East Hampton Village has its own permit desk and design board
Cross into the Incorporated Village of East Hampton and the town drops out of the picture. The village Building Department is at 88 Newtown Lane and takes calls at 631-324-4150, option 6 from the main menu. Village code section 104-5 requires a permit for erection, alteration, improvement and similar work, but it adds that “no building permit shall be required for the performance of ordinary repairs which are not structural in nature” unless the state code calls for one.
The village’s historic districts and landmarks sit under Chapter 176. That chapter bars any change in the appearance of a protected property’s exterior, other than normal maintenance as section 176-9 defines it, without a certificate of appropriateness from the Design Review Board. The application asks for elevation drawings and samples of color or materials. No certificate, no building permit. Taking a village landmark from cedar to asphalt is exactly the kind of change that belongs in front of that board.
Sag Harbor straddles two towns and keeps its own rules
Suffolk County lists the Village of Sag Harbor among the East Hampton municipalities, and a county grant guide puts the same village under the Town of Southampton too. Either way, a house inside the village line goes to the village Building Department at 55 Main Street, 631-725-0224.
Sag Harbor’s section 92-7 mirrors East Hampton Village: a permit for construction, alteration and improvement, with an exception for ordinary repairs that are not structural. The historic district is the bigger hurdle. A 2025 village law describes approximately 698 contributing historic primary structures on the National Register.
The village code bars any material change visible from an adjacent street or property that affects the look of the district without a certificate of appropriateness from the Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review. No building permit issues before that certificate. So a street-facing roof in the village core, with a new material or a new look, is likely headed for that board’s agenda.
Amagansett, Montauk, Springs and Wainscott are hamlets, not incorporated villages on the county’s list. Houses there file with the town on Pantigo Place. Our East Hampton town page lists the roofing companies based in the town.
