Find the form you actually need
Santa Fe's paperwork is spread across two separate authorities, a document library, an overlay-district map and a portal — which is why most people give up and let the contractor handle it. Answer two questions and the exact documents for your situation appear, each one linking to the city's or county's own file.
Pick one from each row and the exact paperwork for that combination appears below.
City of Santa Fe — re-roof permit
There is a dedicated re-roof application, and it must be filed online through the CSS portal — the form says so on its second page.
- Commercial and Residential Re-Roof Application & Checklist PDF The form itself. Asks for roofing square footage, roof pitch, number of existing layers, roof classification (A, B or C), construction valuation — and both a State License # and a City License # for the contractor.
- Citizen Self Service (CSS) portal Portal Where it gets submitted. Re-roof permits are online-only.
- How to create a CSS profile PDF Do this first if you've never filed with the city.
- How to check permit status PDF
- Planning & Land Use fee schedule PDF
What you have to attach — two sets of each: a roof plan showing the type of roof system, the roof slope and the roof drainage; and the manufacturer's specifications and installation instructions. That second one is the item most often missing, and it comes from whoever makes the membrane rather than from your contractor's letterhead.
Two overlay districts require pre-approval before the permit. The application has a tick-box for each, and getting to the counter without them is the classic Santa Fe delay:
Historic Preservation Districts. Exterior work on a property in one of the five historic districts needs review — minor maintenance can be a staff approval, but anything more goes to the Historic Districts Review Board, which sits on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. Plan around that calendar, not around your roofer's.
Escarpment Overlay District. There is a re-roof-specific acknowledgment letter for this one, linked below. Most homeowners have never heard of it and find out it applies to them late.
- Re-Roof Escarpment Acknowledgment Letter PDF
- Historic districts pre-application request PDF
- HDRB submittal requirements PDF
- Historic Districts Handbook (2021) PDF
- City GIS map — turn on the Historic Districts layer Map The fastest way to find out whether either overlay lands on your parcel.
Doing it yourself? The form has an Owner/Builder section, and the city has a separate affidavit for it.
Commercial re-roofs additionally require professional seals certifying the structure can carry the new dead load, that the deck is sound, that drainage is sufficient, that the existing system is securely attached, that the assembly above the deck is dry, and that fire-retardant requirements are maintained. Residential re-roofs do not.
Santa Fe County — the threshold is different here
This is the single most useful difference between the two jurisdictions. The County's own checklist states that permits for re-roofs are required "when the roof structure is being modified or a change of slope" — a narrower trigger than the City's. A like-for-like county re-roof that changes neither may fall outside it. Confirm your own case with the County at 505-986-6225 before relying on that, because the consequence of getting it wrong runs one way only: see the after-the-fact fee below.
- Residential Interior or Exterior Remodel and Re-Roof Checklist PDF The controlling document. Read the first page before anything else.
- Development Permit Application PDF
- County permit packets Page
- County online permitting portal Portal
The county asks for property paperwork the city doesn't. Per that checklist: the Multi-Purpose State Building Application (or the Homeowner Permit Application if you're applying as an owner-builder), a recorded warranty deed, an approved survey plat signed off by the Land Use Administrator, proof that taxes are paid, and an approved E-911 assigned address form with a GIS information form. Deeds and plats come from the County Clerk; the tax proof comes from the Treasurer. Start collecting those early — they are the long pole, not the roof itself.
Do not start work first. The checklist provides for an after-the-fact fee equal to one times the base fee where a pre-development inspection finds the project already under way. Current fee amounts are on the checklist itself; treat the copy you download today as the authority, not anything quoted second-hand.
City of Santa Fe — repair, not a full re-roof
The city publishes a form for re-roofs. It does not publish a threshold that tells you where a repair stops and a re-roof begins, and that judgement is the contractor's to make and the city's to confirm — so the honest answer is to ask rather than to assume. Two minutes on the phone to Land Use beats an unpermitted tear-off.
- Building Permits — Land Use Department Page Contact point for which category your job falls in.
- Inspections and Enforcement Division Page
- Commercial and Residential Re-Roof Application & Checklist PDF If the answer comes back “that's a re-roof”, this is the form.
- Standard permit application PDF
If the property sits in a historic district, exterior work can need review even at repair scale. The city GIS map will tell you in about thirty seconds — switch on the Historic Districts layer.
Santa Fe County — repair, not a full re-roof
The County ties its re-roof trigger to the roof structure being modified or the slope changing. A leak repair that touches neither is a different animal from a permitted re-roof — but the checklist is written in general terms, so confirm your specific case on 505-986-6225 rather than reading a permission into it.
- Residential Interior or Exterior Remodel and Re-Roof Checklist PDF States the trigger in its own words, on page one.
- County permit packets Page
City of Santa Fe — stucco and exterior walls
Stucco doesn't have a form of its own the way re-roofing does. What decides the paperwork is scope and whether you're in a historic district — and in Santa Fe the second one catches a great many houses, because colour and finish on a visible elevation is precisely what the historic districts govern.
- City GIS map — turn on the Historic Districts layer Map Do this before anything else. It changes the whole answer.
- Historic Preservation Division Page Minor maintenance can be a staff approval; more than that goes to the review board, which sits on the second and fourth Tuesday.
- Historic districts pre-application request PDF
- Historic Districts Handbook (2021) PDF What the districts actually require of a finish. Worth reading before you agree a colour.
- Standard permit application PDF
- Construction permit submittal checklists Page
If the stucco work is on a parapet and there's water inside, treat it as one job with the roof rather than two — see stucco repair.
Santa Fe County — stucco and exterior walls
The County's exterior-remodel trigger is about openings: its checklist states that permits for exterior remodels are required when new openings are proposed, or existing openings are made larger. Re-coating a wall proposes no openings. Confirm your case on 505-986-6225.
Verifying the contractor — same everywhere
Licensing is a state matter, so this part doesn't change with the jurisdiction. Roofing is classification GS-21, which requires two years of foreman-level practical or related trade experience.
- New Mexico RLD licence lookup Search Check three things: that it's active, that the classification covers your job, and that the name on the licence matches the name going on your contract.
- All 65 NM licence classifications, searchable On this site The scope of work each classification authorises, in the rule's own words — including GS-21 roofing and GS-30 stucco. No need to go and read the PDF.
The one almost nobody knows. The City of Santa Fe's re-roof application has a field for a City License # as well as the State License #. A contractor working inside city limits is expected to carry both. Asking for the city number is a short question with a very informative answer.
Then close the loop: confirm in writing who pulls the permit, and ask for the permit number once it's issued. That last step is the one that proves the rest of it happened.
Settle the jurisdiction first — it changes everything downstream
A Santa Fe mailing address does not mean you're inside the city limits, and the two authorities run different forms, different portals, different thresholds and different offices. Everything else depends on this answer, so get it first.
- City of Santa Fe GIS map Map Find your parcel. If it isn't in the city's layer, you're in the county. Turn on Historic Districts while you're there.
- City of Santa Fe — Land Use / Building Permits Page
- Santa Fe County — permit packets Page County permit desk: 505-986-6225.
Once you know, come back and pick the right one above — the difference is not cosmetic. The County ties a re-roof permit to the structure being modified or the slope changing; the City runs a dedicated re-roof application that has to go through its online portal.
Nothing on this page is stored or sent anywhere — the questions above just filter what's already on the page. Every document link goes to the city's or county's own file, never a copy kept here, so you always get the current version. Links last verified 2026-08-04.
Verify a contractor in about five minutes
Four steps, in order. All four are public information, and all four are things a straightforward contractor answers without hesitating.
1 Work out which jurisdiction you're in
2 Get the licence number and look it up yourself
3 Confirm in writing who pulls the permit
4 Ask for the permit number once it's issued
This page exists to be used and quoted rather than to sell you anything — there's no quote form on it. If you want quotes after you've done the checking, the service pages have one.
The permit
The City of Santa Fe requires a permit to re-roof. Applications go through the Building Permit Division, which publishes its checklists and forms at City of Santa Fe Building Permits. Santa Fe County handles property outside the city limits separately, so confirm which jurisdiction you're actually in before you start — the city and the county are not the same process.
In practice your contractor pulls the permit and schedules the inspection. What you should do is confirm in writing that they're doing it, and ask for the permit number once it's issued.
Why it's worth caring about. The permit isn't only bureaucracy — it's the inspection. Unpermitted work also has a habit of resurfacing at the worst moment, when a buyer's inspector or a title company asks what happened to the roof and there's no record of it. A contractor proposing to skip the permit is proposing to move their risk onto you.
The licence
New Mexico licenses roofing as its own classification. From 14.6.6 NMAC:
GS-21. Roofing. Requires two years of foreman level practical or related trade experience. Install, alter or repair roof systems on new or existing roof decks to create a weatherproof and waterproof protective membrane, with or without insulation, using asphalt, pitch, tar, sealants, felt, shakes, shingles, roof tile, slate, urethane or any other approved materials…
The scope also covers the sheet-metal work that goes with roofing — flashing, cornices, skylights (short of structural framing changes), roof coatings, gutters and downspouts. That's useful to know, because it means a GS-21 roofer is licensed to handle the flashing and canale work where most Santa Fe leaks actually start.
Verify any contractor's licence in the New Mexico RLD license lookup. You want the number, the classification, and that it's active.
Where to check things yourself
- City of Santa Fe Building Permits — permit applications, checklists, and the Building Permit Division.
- New Mexico RLD license lookup — New Mexico contractor licence lookup.
- 14.6.6 NMAC — the classification definitions themselves, including GS-21.
We link to primary sources rather than summarising them and hoping. Rules change; the source is what's current.