Sterling Roofers repairs and replaces roofs on houses and townhouses with a Fairfax address. Before any of that, one question has to be answered: is your home inside the City of Fairfax, or in the county that surrounds it? The two have different offices, and this page sorts out which one applies to you.
Roofing for Fairfax homes
People who search for roofers in Fairfax, VA usually have one of two problems. Either water is getting in somewhere, or the whole roof has reached the point where another patch will not hold. Our roof repair work follows a leak to its source, whether that is a worn chimney surround, a cracked vent boot or a lifted valley, instead of painting over the stain on the ceiling.
When several areas are failing together, a roof replacement scope is the better plan. It puts tear-off, a decking allowance, flashing, ventilation and haul-away into one written document so you can compare it line by line with any other proposal. If you are not sure which side of that line you are on, start with a roof inspection.
Most roofs here are shingle, so the asphalt shingle roofing page is a good companion read. See all roofing services.
Which Fairfax?
The mailing address does not decide it. The parcel does.
The City is an independent jurisdiction of about six square miles, with City Hall at 10455 Armstrong Street. Its Office of Code Administration handles building permits and inspections at 703-385-7830, and Community Development and Planning handles zoning and architectural review at 703-385-7930.
Fair Oaks, Fairfax Station, Mantua, the County Government Center area and most of the George Mason University campus sit in unincorporated Fairfax County. For those homes, Fairfax County Land Development Services is the office, at 703-222-0801.
If you are not sure where your parcel falls, say so on the first call and we will help you work it out before anyone files anything.
| Where the house is | Building permits | Design review questions |
|---|---|---|
| City of Fairfax | Code Administration, 703-385-7830 | Community Development and Planning, 703-385-7930 |
| Unincorporated county (Fair Oaks, Mantua, Fairfax Station) | Fairfax County Land Development Services, 703-222-0801 | The county, plus your own association if you have one |
Permits
For a home in the City, the City’s own pages do not list roof replacement as a permit item or an exempt one. Virginia’s statewide building code is the rulebook the City applies, and it exempts many residential re-roofs, including roof-covering replacement on one- and two-family houses and townhouses under its wind-speed condition. It also exempts replacing 256 square feet or less of decking, except decking that had to be fire-rated when the building went up. Repairs that the code does not exempt, and structural work, do need a permit.
For a county-addressed home, Fairfax County’s permit guidance lists replacing roof shingles as work that does not need a building permit, while roof repairs, chimney repairs and solar panels do. Replacing less than 256 square feet of roof plywood is also exempt, unless the roof must be fire rated, as on townhomes.
Because the City and the county word this differently, we confirm your exact scope with the right office before work starts and write the answer into the scope. We do not tell anyone that a permit is always needed, or never needed. If damage is involved, see roof insurance claim help.
Old Town and design review
The City has local historic overlay districts: Old Town Fairfax, the Fairfax Public School district and Blenheim, plus a transition overlay around Old Town. In those areas, a material change to something visible from a public place needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Board of Architectural Review. The zoning code exempts ordinary maintenance that keeps the existing form, and it names matching in-kind replacement of missing shingles.
In plain terms, a like-for-like repair may be straightforward, while a different material or color seen from the street probably is not. Whether staff treat a full re-roof as ordinary maintenance is a question for Community Development and Planning, so ask them with your address before ordering anything. A National Register listing on its own does not control what an owner may do. The local overlay does. Compare options on roofing materials compared first.
Only 31 of the City’s 9,313 housing units date from before 1940, so most Fairfax roofs are on mid-century suburban houses.
The housing stock
Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 estimates describe the buildings, though not the roofs.
Across 9,313 housing units, and 57.4 percent were built before 1970. The 1950s and 1960s account for more than 5,000 of them.
Another 17 percent are townhouse-type attached homes and about 26 percent sit in buildings of five or more units.
Of 9,155 occupied homes, 6,399 are owner-occupied, so most roof decisions here belong to the person living under the roof.
The attached share matters for roofing. Townhouses often need fire-rated plywood decking, which is the exception to the usual plywood exemption, and how the City treats that case is something to confirm with Code Administration. Residents of apartment and condo buildings should ask their board, since those roofs are normally a building matter.
How a job runs
Five steps, each with a document you can ask to see.
The free 15-minute consultation covers what the roof is doing, your type of home and which Fairfax your parcel is in.
Someone looks at the roof at a time you pick, records what can be seen and notes what cannot.
The repair area or new system, tear-off, a deck allowance, flashing, venting, haul-away, exclusions, and how hidden rot is priced and approved.
Permit or review questions go to the City or the county before work begins.
The work follows the scope, and the paperwork matches what went on the roof.
Storms and trees
During the overnight storm of September 3 and 4, 2026, gusts topped 60 mph, and 607 City of Fairfax customers were without power the next morning, against 16,464 across the county. The reports describe outages and downed trees. They do not give a count of damaged roofs.
The June 29, 2012 derecho produced a 71 mph gust at Dulles, and the National Weather Service recorded trees falling through roofs that night. A thunderstorm on June 19, 2025 reportedly brought winds up to 66 mph at Dulles. The City’s canopy was about 40 percent in 2021, up from 35 percent in 2012. Canopy is not proof of damage, but limbs over a roof are worth checking after wind.
If a tree has landed on the roof, stay off it, photograph from the ground and read storm damage roofing before cleanup. Confirm tree removal rules with the City first. We do not remove trees.
Reviews
Word for word from the Google profile, rated 5.0 across 28 reviews.
“When some parts of my roof was damaged last winter, I had called another company. They said they would come by and email an estimate to me within a week. I waited for two weeks and never heard back.”
FAQ
Both exist. The City of Fairfax is an independent city of about six square miles, and Fairfax County is the much larger jurisdiction around it. Each has its own permit office, so the parcel location decides who you call.
No. Both are in unincorporated Fairfax County, as are Fairfax Station and Mantua. Homes there use Fairfax County Land Development Services at 703-222-0801, not City Hall.
If the parcel is within the City, that is the Office of Code Administration at 10455 Armstrong Street, Suite 208, phone 703-385-7830. Main Street and Chain Bridge Road are the City names of Routes 236 and 123, though a road name alone does not tell you the boundary, so confirm the parcel.
They can. The state code exempts small decking replacements unless the decking was required to be fire-retardant or fire-rated at original construction, and about 17 percent of City homes are attached. Ask Code Administration before the tear-off so a rotted section does not stall the job.
Possibly, if the change is visible from a public place and alters the material or color. Ordinary maintenance in kind is exempt under the zoning code. Call Community Development and Planning at 703-385-7930 with your address and your product choice.
Those figures, 25 psf ground snow and a 115 mph ultimate wind speed for residential construction, are the county’s posted design values. The City follows the statewide code, so ask Code Administration which design values apply to your parcel, and ask for the fastening and underlayment specification in the written scope.
Unlikely, though Census data does not record roof age. With 57 percent of City homes built before 1970, most roofs have been replaced at least once. Judge a roof by granule loss, curling, flashing and how many places leak.
Ranking tells you who is visible, not who fits your roof. Compare written scopes, ask what happens when decking is rotted, and check who confirms permits. Our Fairfax roof repair guide lists what to compare.
Nearby
Fairfax shares borders and school boundaries with several communities that have their own pages: Oakton, Vienna, Burke, Annandale and Springfield. See the full list under service areas, or read about Sterling Roofers.
The office is at 8466 Tyco Road, Suite B, Vienna, VA 22182. It answers calls and books visits, while the roof is examined at your address, so phone (703) 436-4445 before dropping by.
Talk through the next step
Share the property address, the condition you are seeing and the decision you need to make.
