The Roofing Book

Permitting Authorities / Gwinnett County, Georgia - Department of Planning and Development, Building Services

Gwinnett County, Georgia - Department of Planning and Development, Building Services

Adopted code

The building-permit and inspection authority for the UNINCORPORATED areas of Gwinnett County, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta. The Department states its own reach in its own words: it issues building permits for all construction projects located in the unincorporated areas of the county, and for all county-owned and Gwinnett County Board of Education projects wherever they are. Gwinnett is home to seventeen municipalities, and whether any given one of them permits its own roofing work is a question for that city rather than for the County. The unusual thing for a roofer here is what the County does NOT exempt: its Construction Code lists fourteen kinds of building work that need no permit, and roofing is not among them, so an ordinary residential reroof in unincorporated Gwinnett is permitted work.

Jurisdiction
Gwinnett County, Georgia
Jurisdiction type
county
Address
Lawrenceville, GA
Contact
  • url: https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/government/departments/planning-development/services/building-services
  • phone: 678-518-6020
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
  • state_level: STATEWIDE, AND IT TURNS ON WHAT KIND OF CONTRACTOR YOU ARE RATHER THAN ON THE TRADE. Georgia licenses residential and general contractors through the State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors under O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 41, created by House Bill 1003 of 2004 and amended by Senate Bill 115 of 2007. There is no Georgia licence titled roofer: the chapter creates residential-basic, residential-light commercial and general contractor licences and no roofing class, and O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(e) names the Chapter 14 trades it deals with as plumbing, conditioned air contracting, utility contracting, electrical contracting and low-voltage contracting, which does not include roofing. Section 43-41-17(a) provides that from July 1, 2008 "no person, whether an individual or a business organization, shall have the right to engage in the business of residential contracting or general contracting without a current, valid residential contractor license or general contractor license". What pulls a roofing job inside that requirement is a definition rather than a trade: O.C.G.A. 43-41-2(9) makes a person a residential contractor where the work falls into the residential-basic or residential-light commercial category and "the total value of the work or activity or of the compensation to be received by the contractor for such activity or work, whichever is the higher, exceeds $2,500.00". That figure is per job, taken on the higher of work value or compensation; it is not an annual figure, not a materials-only figure, and not specific to roofing. TWO EXCEPTIONS REACH ROOFING AND NEITHER IS A DOLLAR TEST. The first is the specialty-contractor exception at O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(f), which begins "Nothing in this chapter shall preclude a specialty contractor from offering or contracting to perform or undertaking or performing for an owner limited, specialty, or specific trade contractor work". As Chapter 41 was first enacted in 2004 that sentence carried on to confine the exception to work that put no part of the job under anyone but the contractor's own direct employees; Senate Bill 115 struck that limitation out in 2007, so the exception no longer states a supervision test. In its place the same subsection directs that "The board shall by rule or policy by January 1, 2008 identify specialty contractors or other criteria to determine eligibility under the exemption of this subsection." The second is the repair exception at O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(g): "Nothing in this chapter shall preclude a person from offering or contracting to perform or undertaking or performing for an owner repair work, provided that the person performing the repair work discloses to the owner that such person does not hold a license under this chapter and provided, further, that such work does not affect the structural integrity of the real property." The board defined repair at Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 553-8-.01 to mean "fixing, mending, maintenance, replacement or restoring of a part or portions of real property to good condition", on four conditions: written disclosure to the owner that the person is not licensed as a residential or general contractor, no delegation of supervision to anyone but employees, work that does not affect the life safety requirements or structural integrity of the property, and obtaining the permits and inspections the local authority requires. Whether a full tear-off and replacement is repair within that definition is a legal question neither the statute nor the rule answers. WHAT THE BOARD HAS SAID ABOUT ROOFERS, AND WHERE IT STOPS. No rule identifying specialty contractors was ever made: the board's regulations at Department 553 of the Georgia Administrative Code run twelve chapters - organisation, examination exemption, qualifications for licensure in each division, procedural rules, fees, written warranty, definitions, disciplinary action, inactive licence, changes in status, and licence renewal and continuing education - and not one of them names a trade. The statute allowed policy as the alternative to a rule, and on the policy side the board does name roofers. Its own consumer publication for homeowners, headed "TIPS FOR CONSUMERS" and handed out by Cherokee County at its permit counter, says at item 11 that "Certain types of contractor services are considered specialty services and do not require that the person be licensed. These include roofers, painters, brick masons, and more." The Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division takes the same position on its Consumer Ed site: "Please note that certain specialty occupations such as roofers, painters, drywall contractors, and repair handymen are not required to be licensed by the state." Georgia building departments repeat it - Johns Creek's homeowner and contractor guidance states that under state law a building or trade contractor must have a valid professional licence from the Secretary of State and that "There are exceptions for limited specialty contractors such as pool and retaining wall installers, roofers, etc." DO NOT TREAT THAT AS AN EXEMPTION YOU CAN RELY ON WITHOUT CHECKING YOUR OWN POSITION. The complete specialty list those documents point to cannot be read: the web address the board's own guidance gives for it no longer resolves, and the Secretary of State's site refuses automated requests, so no reachable published document sets out the criteria a roofing business would have to meet. The Tips document carries no date either. Two state publications describing roofing as a specialty service is a good reason to put your own position to the board before you bid; it is not a rule saying you need no licence. THE SANCTION IS WHY THIS IS WORTH SETTLING BEFORE YOU SIGN. Under O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(b) a contract entered into on or after July 1, 2008 for work for which a licence is required, between an owner and a contractor who does not hold one, "shall be unenforceable in law or in equity by the unlicensed contractor", and "no lien or bond claim shall exist in favor of the unlicensed contractor for any labor, services, or materials provided under the contract". AND ONE THING THE STATE DOES TO THE LOCAL LAYER. O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(c) provides that "no municipality or county may require any such person licensed under this chapter to comply with any additional licensing requirements imposed by such municipality or county relative to the performance of construction work subject to the licensing requirements under this chapter", while preserving a local licence, registration or certification requirement already "in effect and operation as of the effective date of this chapter or July 1, 2004, whichever is earlier" - and even then the local requirement may not shut a state-licensed contractor out of the jurisdiction. So where a Georgia city or county credential is pressed against a state-licensed contractor, the date the local scheme was adopted is the test.
  • city_level: COUNTY. Gwinnett County operates no contractor licensing or registration scheme of its own - Chapter 14 of the County Code, the County Construction Code at Appendix B, and Chapter 18 Article II were each read and none creates one. Under O.C.G.A. 43-41-17(c) a county could only license a state-licensed contractor under a scheme in effect and operation on or before July 1, 2004, and Gwinnett has none to test. What the County does require is proof at the counter. County Construction Code section 106.3.2 provides that each permit holder engaged in construction activities which require state licensure as a contractor "shall provide proof of a valid contractor license issued by the state of Georgia at the time of permit application", and a contractor who is not the permit holder must show the same before commencing work. Section 106.3.1 separately requires each individual engaged in construction activities for which a building permit is required to show "a valid business license issued by a jurisdiction within the state of Georgia", excepting only an owner-occupier of a single-family dwelling. COUNTY OCCUPATION TAX. Doing business in unincorporated Gwinnett also means an occupation tax certificate under Chapter 18, Article II of the County Code. That is ordinary business taxation rather than a trade credential, but it is gated on the state licence: section 18-43(a) provides that each person licensed under O.C.G.A. Title 43 "shall provide evidence of proper and current state licensure before the occupation tax certificate can be issued", and section 18-44(b) separately conditions the certificate for a general contractor on a state licence. Roofing appears nowhere in that list of regulated businesses under its own name.
Permit process note
Applications and inspection requests go through Gwinnett County's ZIP Portal rather than over a counter, and the County's stated sequence is plan review, then fees, then contractor information, then issue of the permit to the contractor of record; inspections are scheduled online against the permit case number. Three things about the Gwinnett process catch out-of-county roofers. FIRST, THE SOLID WASTE PLAN. County Code section 14-208 requires that "each application for a building, land disturbing or development permit shall be accompanied by a solid waste management plan filed on forms provided by the department of planning and development for that purpose," identifying the hauler and naming the state-approved disposal site where the waste will go. A tear-off produces construction and demolition waste, so that form is part of the application rather than an afterthought, and County Code section 14-206 makes the requirement applicable to permitted sites in the unincorporated county. SECOND, TWO CREDENTIALS AT APPLICATION. Construction Code section 106.3.1 requires proof of a valid Georgia business licence from each individual engaged in the work, excepting an owner-occupier of a single-family dwelling, and section 106.3.2 requires proof of a valid Georgia state contractor licence from any permit holder whose work requires state licensure - a subcontractor who is not the permit holder must produce the same before starting. THIRD, A HOMEOWNER MAY PULL THEIR OWN PERMIT, but only on their own property and only on signing the County's Property Owner as Contractor Affidavit. Note also that Gwinnett authorises private third-party providers for some development and building services and publishes the list of approved firms. And keep the Georgia rule in view throughout: under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) the mandatory state codes bind any structure built in Georgia whether or not the local government enforces them, so compliance is statewide and automatic while enforcement is a local choice.
Adopted code
Two layers, and in Georgia the state layer sets the technical content while the local layer sets the administration. STATE: the International Residential Code, 2024 Edition, with Georgia Amendments 2026 is a mandatory state minimum standard code adopted by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, effective January 1, 2026. DCA states the consequence plainly - the mandatory codes mean "any structure built in Georgia must comply with these codes, whether or not the local government chooses to locally enforce these codes," and "it is not required that local governments have to adopt the mandatory codes. Local governments must, however, adopt administrative procedures in order to enforce them." So there is no local edition to look up in Gwinnett, and the County did not need to adopt the residential code for it to apply. COUNTY: what Gwinnett has adopted is the administrative half. The Gwinnett County Construction Code, Appendix B to the County Code of Ordinances, states at section 101.4 that "Chapter 1 of the Georgia State Minimum Standard Code is deleted and replaced with this Construction Code," and section 101.3 makes the adoption a floating one: "Subsequent editions and amendments to these codes as adopted by the State of Georgia shall become a part of this code and subject to enforcement on the date mandated by State Law." So Gwinnett's residential code moves with the state's, and today that is the 2024 IRC with Georgia Amendments 2026. Section 101.4.2 applies the Georgia State Minimum Standard One and Two Family Dwelling Code to detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. The Construction Code was read in full, all fifteen sections, and its only local technical amendments are to the PLUMBING code at section 101.4.6.2; it makes no amendment to any residential roofing provision. APPENDIX U, DISASTER RESILIENT CONSTRUCTION: the Department of Community Affairs "hereby adopts Appendix U 'Disaster Resilient Construction' as optional," effective January 1, 2026, and DCA lists it among the permissive codes, which a local government can enforce only by adopting it by ordinance or resolution and forwarding a copy to DCA. Gwinnett's Construction Code has a section that exists precisely to name adopted residential appendices - section 101.4.2.1, headed "Appendices" - and it names exactly one: "Appendix F of the Georgia State Minimum Standard One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code shall be considered part of the requirements of this code for new construction including basement foundations." Appendix U is not there, and Gwinnett has not been shown to have adopted it. Note the currency limit on that reading: the County's codification on Municode is stated as current through Ordinance No. (GCID 2025-0538) enacted June 17, 2025, which predates the appendix's January 1, 2026 availability, so a 2026 adoption would not yet be codified. In any event AU101.3.1 confines Appendix U, where it is adopted, to new development and to substantial improvements to existing development - it is not a rule about how an ordinary reroof is installed.
Drip edge
Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT LOCALLY SET, and it applies in Gwinnett County exactly as it applies everywhere else in Georgia. The International Residential Code is one of the codes Georgia designates as a mandatory state minimum standard, so under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) it binds construction here whether or not the local government chooses to enforce it locally. The Department of Community Affairs says the same in terms: any structure built in Georgia must comply with these codes, whether or not the local government chooses to locally enforce them. Gwinnett does enforce, and its adoption is a floating one. The Gwinnett County Construction Code, Appendix B to the County Code of Ordinances, provides at section 101.3 that "Subsequent editions and amendments to these codes as adopted by the State of Georgia shall become a part of this code and subject to enforcement on the date mandated by State Law", and section 101.4.2 applies the Georgia State Minimum Standard One and Two Family Dwelling Code to detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. The edition that floating adoption carries today is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, effective January 1, 2026. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs amendment packet for the 2024 Residential Code carries no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies: the packet was opened in full for this entry, all 43 pages of it, and measured rather than skimmed, at zero occurrences of any R9-hundred section number and zero of the phrase "Chapter 9". So the Chapter 9 drip-edge provision at Section R905.2.8.5 stands as written for Georgia. The County's own building instruments were re-opened in full for this entry and not taken from an earlier report, and there are two of them. Appendix B, the County Construction Code, was read in full, all fifteen sections from 101 General through 115 Environmental Sustainability Construction, and searched on anchored terms it returns zero hits for "drip", zero for "R905", zero for "shingle", zero for any 905-series section number and zero for the phrase "Chapter 9". Its only local technical amendments to any code are to the PLUMBING code, at section 101.4.6.2. Chapter 14 of the County Code, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full as well, all of its articles and all 138 documents of it, with the same result: zero hits for "drip", "R905", "shingle" or any 905-series section, and no amendment to the Residential Code. Chapter 14 does carry one section headed "Roofs", section 14-322, but it sits in the County's PROPERTY MAINTENANCE article and it regulates the upkeep of a roof that already exists rather than how a new one is built: it requires that roofs "be maintained so that they are structurally sound and in a safe condition and have no defects which might admit rain or cause dampness in the interior portions of a building", that the listed roof parts including fascia, eave, soffit, sheathing, rafter tail, barge rafter, vent screening, gutter, downspout, roof jack and metal flashing be complete and properly fastened, that gutters be free of vegetation and in good repair, and that roof drainage be adequate. It is worth a roofer knowing, but it is not an amendment to the roofing chapter of the Residential Code and it sets no edge-metal specification. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED, and Gwinnett answers the appendix question by enumeration rather than by silence. Section 101.4.2.1, headed "Appendices", names exactly one residential appendix: "Appendix F of the Georgia State Minimum Standard One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code shall be considered part of the requirements of this code for new construction including basement foundations." Appendix U is not there. Note what Appendix U is and is not: section AU101.3.1 provides that its provisions "are not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance" and that where they are adopted "the provisions shall apply to all new development and to substantial improvements to existing development", so it is a new-development and substantial-improvement appendix rather than a rule about how an ordinary reroof is installed. Note also the currency limit on this reading: the County codification is stated as current through Ordinance No. (GCID 2025-0538) enacted June 17, 2025, which predates the appendix becoming available on January 1, 2026, so a later adoption would not yet appear. The operative ICC text of R905.2.8.5, which sets the extent, lap and fastening specifics, sits behind the ICC paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it. What is recorded is the sourced fact that the requirement is in force in Gwinnett County unamended. One point in the roofer's favour here: unlike much of metro Atlanta, Gwinnett does not exempt reroofing from permit. Section 106.4 lists fourteen kinds of exempt building work and roofing is not among them, so an ordinary Gwinnett reroof is permitted and inspected. About drip edge
Mid-roof inspection
Not required — Gwinnett County sets no roofing hold point. The County Construction Code enumerates the inspections the building official is to make, at sections 110.3.1 through 110.3.10, and the whole list is footing and foundation, concrete slab and under-floor, rough electrical/gas/mechanical/plumbing, framing, lath and gypsum board, fire-resistant penetrations, energy efficiency, other inspections, special inspections and the final inspection. There is no dry-in, sheathing, nailing or mid-roof stage among them. The two that mention a roof are framing-stage inspections rather than roofing ones: section 110.3.3 places the rough inspection "after the roof, framing, fireblocking and bracing are in place," and section 110.3.4 places the framing inspection "after the roof deck or sheathing, all framing, fireblocking and bracing are in place." Two cautions. Section 110.3.8 lets the building official require "other inspections of any construction work" beyond the listed ones, so a specific job can still be given a stage the code does not name. And section 110.7 is a general rule with real force on a reroof that opens the deck: "work shall not be done beyond the point indicated in each successive inspection without first obtaining the approval of the building official," and any non-complying portion "shall not be covered or concealed until approved."
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — No impact-rated roof covering is required in unincorporated Gwinnett County. Neither instrument that could impose one does. The Georgia State Amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code - the whole of Georgia's residential amendment list, effective January 1, 2026 - amends Chapters 1 to 6, 8, 16, 19, 24 and 44 and two appendices, and reaches the Code's roof-ceiling framing chapter only to add an attic service access provision. It makes no amendment to the Code's roof-assemblies chapter, and no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement appears anywhere in it. On the County side, the Gwinnett County Construction Code at Appendix B was read in full, all fifteen sections, and Chapter 14 of the County Code, all eight articles, with it: neither contains any roof-covering provision at all, and neither imposes an impact rating. Chapter 14's only roofing text is a property-maintenance standard at section 14-322 requiring roofs to be kept structurally sound and weathertight, which says nothing about materials. Keep the categories apart on a Gwinnett job: an impact rating is UL 2218 or FM 4473 and answers hail, a Class A, B or C rating is ASTM E108 or UL 790 and answers fire, and a hail discount an insurer offers for an impact-rated shingle is a term of the homeowner's policy rather than anything the County requires.
Repair permit threshold
Gwinnett County publishes no dollar threshold for a roofing permit, and its permit exemptions are written by category of work rather than by cost. Start from the general rule. County Construction Code section 106.1 requires that "any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure ... shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit." Section 106.4, "Work exempt from permit," then lists fourteen kinds of exempt building work, and ROOFING IS NOT ONE OF THEM: the fourteen are small detached storage sheds under 120 square feet, fences to 8 feet, masonry or concrete fence walls to 4 feet, retaining walls to 4 feet, water tanks on grade to 5,000 gallons, sidewalks and driveways, "painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar finish work", temporary stage sets, small above-ground prefabricated pools, nursery shade-cloth structures, window awnings projecting no more than 54 inches, low nonfixed fixtures and partitions, stand-alone basketball goals, and private vehicular bridges with no clear span over 2 feet. The County's own Building Services page publishes a shorter version of the same list for the public and roofing is absent from that too, so a roofer should not read a reroof into its "similar finish work" wording - the ordinance puts that phrase alongside painting, carpet and cabinets. THE ONE PROVISION THAT COULD REACH A SMALL ROOF JOB is section 106.4.2, headed "Repairs", under which "application or notice to the building official is not required for ordinary repairs to structures." Read what that section excludes: ordinary repairs "shall not include the cutting away of any wall, partition or portion thereof, the removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support," any change to required means of egress, or work on piping, wiring or mechanical systems. Roof coverings are not named either way, and the County has not published a line between an ordinary repair and permitted work for roofing. What the County's own records show is that residential roofing work is permitted in practice: its published weekly Building Permits Issued report for August 24 to 28, 2026 lists residential single-family permits with the use of construction recorded as "RE-ROOF" and as "Roof Repair," each naming a roofing contractor. Treat a full tear-off and replacement as permitted work, and ask Building Services before treating a small patch as an ordinary repair. On fees, the Planning and Development fee schedule effective July 1, 2024 charges a Residential Renovation Permit of $125 for a minor renovation project valued at less than $75,000 and $4 per $1,000 of construction value for projects at $75,000 or greater - that is a FEE BRACKET, not a permit threshold, and the $75,000 figure does not exempt anything. There is also a penalty for starting first: the same schedule charges 100 percent of the permit fee for construction prior to issuance of the permit.
Roof layer limit / recover
Gwinnett County sets no overlay or layer rule of its own, and neither does Georgia. The limit that applies in unincorporated Gwinnett is whatever the base 2024 International Residential Code says, as adopted statewide. The Gwinnett County Construction Code adopts the Georgia State Minimum Standard One and Two Family Dwelling Code and carries its own edition forward automatically as the State amends it; read in full, its only local technical amendments are to the plumbing code, and it leaves the Code's roofing chapter untouched. The Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 IRC likewise makes no change to that chapter. So the numeric limit is the base Code's own, that text sits behind the publisher's paywall, and it is not restated here rather than guessed at. Two practical points for a Gwinnett job. The limit binds whether or not anyone checks it, because under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) the mandatory state codes apply to any structure built in Georgia regardless of local enforcement. And the County does permit residential reroofing work, so the layer question is one a Gwinnett inspector can reach - it is not a rule nobody enforces.
Deck & sheathing requirements
State-governed, not county-set. Roof-deck and sheathing requirements in unincorporated Gwinnett are the base 2024 International Residential Code provisions as adopted statewide in Georgia, unmodified at both levels: the Georgia State Amendments packet makes no change to the Code's roofing chapter, and the Gwinnett County Construction Code, read in full, amends only the plumbing code locally. The base Code text is behind the publisher's paywall and is not restated here. What IS local, and worth planning around, is the inspection consequence of opening the deck. Construction Code section 110.7 provides that work "shall not be done beyond the point indicated in each successive inspection without first obtaining the approval of the building official," and that any portion which does not comply "shall not be covered or concealed until approved." Section 110.1 puts the duty on the permit applicant to leave the work accessible and exposed until approved, and states that neither the building official nor the County is liable for the cost of removing or replacing material to allow an inspection. A reroof that turns into decking replacement is also leaving the territory of an ordinary repair under section 106.4.2 and becoming permitted building work under section 106.1.
Sales & use tax
6% everywhere in Gwinnett County, and it does not change at the October 2026 quarter. The Georgia Department of Revenue's rate chart effective July 1, 2026 lists Gwinnett at code 067 with a combined rate of 6%, made up of the 4% Georgia state rate plus the two local components the chart marks E for Educational and S for SPLOST. The Department's next chart, effective October 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026, carries the identical 6% for Gwinnett, so unlike Richmond, Houston and Dougherty counties this rate does not move at that quarter change. Gwinnett carries no city-by-city split of the kind the chart gives Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton, whose city rows are listed separately - the single Gwinnett row applies inside the county's seventeen municipalities as well as outside them. At 6% Gwinnett is among the lowest-rate counties in metro Atlanta. The chart is reissued quarterly, so check the current one before quoting a rate on a job that runs across a quarter boundary.

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