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Two- and three-family houses with stoops and parked cars in Harrison

Roofing in Newark, NJ: A Big City of Small Buildings

Call (862) 418-5296

Branch Brook Park covers 360 acres and holds more than 4,000 cherry trees. Essex County Parks calls it the nation's first county park, and the Newark Light Rail runs along its west side. The city around it spans 24.144 square miles of land.

The Census Bureau counts 121,546 homes in Newark: 15,303 detached, 22,366 in two-unit buildings and 26,968 in buildings of three or four.

Small checks worth making in Newark

  1. In a larger building, learn who handles the roof before a stain spreads: the owner, a manager or a board. The right phone call is theirs.
  2. Save a photo of any ceiling stain with the apartment number in the file name. An owner with twenty units can place the damage sooner.
  3. Buying a house? Ask the seller about past roof work. The city's FAQ puts the burden of any permits left open by a previous owner on whoever owns the house now.
  4. Check the date of the last heavy rain and the last hard freeze before the phone call. The pattern tells a roofer where to look first.
  5. When a stain spreads to a second room, or water drips during a dry week, call (862) 418-5296 and say which apartment, which wall and since when.

Roofs over many households

Newark counts 113,384 occupied homes, and 85,720 of them, give or take 2,170, are rented. About 49,300 homes sit in buildings of two to four units. A roof job in the city often involves an owner, a manager and several tenants.

The median home was built in 1966, give or take 2 years. Another 28,833 homes (margin 1,512) were built in 1939 or before. The age range is wide, so one block's roofs may not match the next block's.

The town office

Newark's Building Division and Office of Uniform Construction Code is at 920 Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson Boulevard, Room B23. Its page lists 973-733-3957 and 973-733-5132, and City Hall is 973-733-4311. A city FAQ lists payment hours of 8:30 AM until 4:15 PM on weekdays, by check or money order, and says incomplete applications are not accepted.

The same FAQ says the current owner has to close permits a previous owner left open. The city's 2026 construction checklist lists a home improvement contractor license among its requirements. None of the pages names roofing, so ask the Division about the job in front of you.

Short answers

Who handles construction paperwork in Newark?

The Building Division and Office of Uniform Construction Code, at 920 Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson Boulevard. Its page lists 973-733-3957 and 973-733-5132 and names no roofing rule, so the office is the one to ask about a particular job.

What happens to paperwork a past owner left open?

A city FAQ says the current owner has to close permits a previous owner left open. It also says incomplete applications are not accepted. Both points matter to anyone who has just bought a house.

Who can call from Newark?

Owners, landlords and building managers can call (862) 418-5296 about a roof they answer for. A tenant starts by sending the landlord or manager dated photos.

The other three towns

The contractor who covers Newark also covers Harrison roofing, Kearny roofing and East Newark roofing.

Read the town overview to compare the four.

What the year does to a roof here

The National Weather Service's Newark station recorded 8.44 inches of rain during the remnants of Ida on 1 and 2 September 2021, and September that year set the station's record month at 10.5 inches.

Winter has its own records there: a one-day snowfall of 24 inches on 23 January 2016, and 18.8 inches on 12 February 2006.

Ready to describe the roof?

Ready for the call: the street address, where the damage shows and a guess at the roof's age. Dial (862) 418-5296. Renters: the dated photo goes to your landlord or property manager at the outset. Covered: Harrison, Kearny, East Newark and Newark.

Call (862) 418-5296
Call (862) 418-5296