Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
The roofer finishes the walk-around on a shingled colonial a few blocks from the Village Green and starts pricing a tear-off for early spring. The owners have one question before they sign: who stamps the paperwork? Inside the Westhampton Beach line, the village does. And the village has written almost nothing about roofs.
Village Hall on Mill Road, not Southampton Town Hall
Suffolk County lists Westhampton Beach as one of six incorporated villages in the Town of Southampton, with a village hall phone of 631-288-1654. The Department of Building and Zoning works out of 165 Mill Road, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978. Its forms give 631-288-3478 for the department and take applications in person from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.
A Westhampton or Westhampton Beach mailing address will not tell you which side of the line the house is on. West Hampton Dunes, out on the barrier beach, is a separate village with its own number on the county list, and Quogue is its own village too. If the house sits outside all of them, our Southampton Town permit guide has the town’s rules.
What the village has put in writing about a reroof
Very little. The building chapter, Chapter 70, lives on eCode360, which blocked every attempt we made to read it. So we could not check whether it exempts any roof work. None of the department forms we read mention roofing at all.
State rules draw the outer edge. Section 1203.3 of the state’s code enforcement regulations lets a local building department exempt only listed categories of work from permits, and only where its own program says so. One of those categories is repairs that leave the structural system, the exits and the fire protection system untouched. Full roof replacement is not on the list. Whether a reshingle counts as an exempt repair is up to the village, so ask the department before the old shingles come off.
On a neighboring question, the village is blunt. Its FAQ asks whether a generator needs a permit and answers yes, plus an electrical permit from the Town of Southampton.
Westhampton Beach permit fees we could confirm
The village website has no general building permit fee schedule that we could find. Two department forms do list flat fees:
| Permit | Fee | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Accessory solar system, residential or commercial | $50 | Unified Solar Permit application (undated) |
| Whole house demolition | $100 | Demolition requirements, posted October 2020 |
The solar fee is payable by cash or check to the Village of Westhampton Beach. For anything else, including a reroof the department decides needs a permit, get the current figure on the phone. In what we could read, we also found no published permit time limit and no fine for unpermitted building work.
Filing a Westhampton Beach building permit
The only filing checklist we found is for a whole house demolition, posted in October 2020. Treat it as a rough guide for other jobs. The building permit application has to be completely filled out, signed and notarized. The owner writes a letter naming the contractor, architect or engineer as the owner’s agent on the permit.
Then comes the stack of paper: the owner’s most recent deed, and current certificates for workers’ compensation, disability and general liability insurance. For residential properties where structures will remain, the department also wants the contractor’s Town of Southampton home improvement license.
The solar application adds a few details. Completed packages can be emailed to the department or carried to Mill Road. For roof-mounted panels, the drawings must show the type of roof covering, how many roof coverings are on the house, and the type, size and spacing of the roof framing. On a complete solar package, the village promises a decision within five calendar days. Electrical inspections go through the Southampton Town Electrical Inspector at 631-287-5700, and the form says no other electrical inspection agency will be accepted.
Architectural Review Board thresholds in Westhampton Beach
Chapter 5 of the village code hands the Architectural Review Board the exterior of new construction, plus alterations or reconstruction covering more than 20 percent of a structure’s square footage. It also covers any new, replacement or changed facade equal to or more than 20 percent of the existing facade on any side, and signs in business zones.
The text we read never mentions roofs by name. Swapping one shingle for a similar one is a different job from a new roofline, a dormer or a move to standing seam metal. If your plans change how the house looks from the street, ask the Building Inspector, who prepares the board’s agendas, whether review applies. The village solar form treats ARB review as its own step, so a project that needs it cannot use the fast solar permit until the board signs off.
Dune Road, flood maps and the coastal erosion law
The village runs its own coastal erosion program under Chapter 74, adopted under Article 34 of the state Environmental Conservation Law. In the coastal erosion hazard area, work costing 50 percent or more of a structure’s full replacement cost counts as a restoration. The math is cumulative: the chapter adds up the costs of every earlier coastal erosion permit on the same structure. Replacement cost is the higher of two numbers, the Southampton Town assessor’s figure or one set by an independent certified appraiser the village picks. The applicant pays the appraiser up front.
Flood rules sit in a separate law, Chapter 91, adopted on August 21, 2009. We could not read its text. If a big storm tears up a roof in a mapped flood zone, bring the department in before any estimate is final.
Southampton Town license and village work hours
Chapter 75 of the village code treats a Town of Southampton home improvement license as the village license, so a roofer applies once, through the town. Working in the village without it can bring a fine of up to $500, up to 15 days in jail, or both, and every unlicensed contract counts separately. Our Southampton town page explains the town license, and the Suffolk County license guide covers the county one.
The noise chapter keeps construction to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. In July and August, Sundays are off entirely. A crew facing substantial hardship can ask the Code Enforcement Officer or Building Inspector in writing for different hours, and any approval has to stay on site.
