Rockdale County, Georgia - Department of Planning and Development

Rockdale County, Georgia

county

Conyers, GA

Required

Required

Rockdale County permitting and inspections are run by the Department of Planning and Development, 1117 West Avenue SW, Conyers, GA 30012, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, on 770-278-7100, with the permits desk on 770-278-7163 and a mailing address at P.O. Box 289, Conyers, Georgia 30012. Applications, permits, inspection requests, business licensing and code-enforcement complaints all go through the Planning and Development Citizen Portal. The Department says its review "is streamlined to minimize the time necessary to issue a permit" and that it coordinates review with stormwater, the fire department, water and sewer and, where necessary, environmental health; section 102-7(7) of the Unified Development Ordinance requires it to approve, approve with conditions or deny a complete application within 30 days. New and major renovation permits are issued as master permits, so individual permits for each activity are not required. The County also runs a sustainable-development incentive under which an applicant can receive up to a 100 percent rebate of permit fees for new or renovated construction following green building certification, green affordable housing, solar energy or smart-growth practices - worth asking about on a job that includes a roof-mounted solar array. The Unified Development Ordinance applies to the unincorporated county only, so work inside the City of Conyers goes to the City.

STATE-SET AND FLOATING, ADOPTED INSIDE THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE, AND THE APPENDIX CLAUSE IS THE PART TO READ TWICE. Georgia has no local code adoption to look up. The International Residential Code, 2024 Edition, with Georgia Amendments 2026 is a mandatory state minimum standard code adopted by the Department of Community Affairs and effective January 1, 2026, and under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) it binds any structure built in Georgia whether or not the local government chooses to enforce it locally. Compliance is statewide and automatic; enforcement is local, and Rockdale County enforces. WHERE THE ADOPTION LIVES. Rockdale has no buildings chapter in its Code; the construction codes are adopted in the Unified Development Ordinance at section 102-8, "Adoption of certain codes", which provides at (a): "Pursuant to O.C.G.A. Sec. 8-2-25 and other applicable authority, the latest edition of each of the following Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes, as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, shall be applicable and enforced", and then lists ten - the International Building, Fuel Gas, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire, Energy Conservation, Residential, Property Maintenance and Existing Building Codes and the National Electrical Code. "The latest edition ... as adopted and amended by" the Department is a floating adoption, so the County moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 without passing an ordinance of its own. Section 102-4 states the ordinance's reach: "The UDO shall apply to all unincorporated areas of Rockdale County, Georgia", so work inside the City of Conyers goes to the City. THE APPENDIX CLAUSE, AND WHY IT MATTERS FOR ROOFING. Section 102-8(b) reads: "In addition, chapter 1 and all appendices of the aforementioned codes referenced in subsection (a) above are hereby adopted by reference as though they were copied herein fully." Most Georgia jurisdictions run the opposite rule, switching appendices off unless specifically referenced. Rockdale switches them on as a class. The Department of Community Affairs adopts the Disaster Resilient Building Code IRC Appendix - Appendix U, carrying enhanced roof-deck sealing and prescriptive shingle fastening - as an optional permissive code, and the appendix states its own condition: its provisions "are not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance" of the jurisdiction. Whether a blanket adoption of "all appendices" of the residential code is a specific reference to Appendix U, and whether a clause enacted in 2006 and amended in 2007 reaches an appendix the state adopted in 2026, are questions this record does not answer and cannot answer for you - they are legal questions, not sourceable facts. WHAT A ROOFER SHOULD DO ABOUT IT IS CONCRETE: ask the Department of Planning and Development, before you bid a Rockdale County job, whether it enforces Appendix U and in particular Section AU408, because the answer changes the underlayment and the shingle fastening. Section 102-8(b) also takes chapter 1 of each code, which is the model administrative chapter carrying the permit, exemption and inspection provisions; that ICC text is behind the ICC paywall and is not restated here. The energy code is off-cycle from the rest at the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code with Georgia supplements, which is the state position. Section 102-8 derives from Ordinance No. 0-2006-32 of November 28, 2006 and Ordinance No. 2007-09 of May 22, 2007, and the Code of Rockdale County is codified through Ordinance No. O-2026-01, enacted January 27, 2026 (Supplement No. 47).

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT COUNTY-SET, AND IN FORCE IN UNINCORPORATED ROCKDALE COUNTY UNAMENDED. 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 in Rockdale County whether or not the County elects to enforce it locally; the Department of Community Affairs publishes the current mandatory list, on which the residential code is the International Residential Code, 2024 Edition, with Georgia Amendments 2026, effective January 1, 2026. The Department's amendment packet for that edition carries no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, so the Chapter 9 drip-edge provision at Section R905.2.8.5 stands as written, neither deleted nor rewritten for Georgia. There is no county rewrite either. Rockdale County has no buildings chapter; its construction codes are adopted in the Unified Development Ordinance, and the ordinance was opened for this record - Title 1 Administration in full, being chapter 102 General Provisions at sections 102-1 to 102-8, chapter 106 Definitions and Abbreviations, and chapter 110 Enforcement and Penalties, together with the whole of chapter 302 in Title 3 - and searched for drip, for Section R905, for Chapter 9 and for shingle. Chapter 102 contains no occurrence of R905, of R908 or of Chapter 9; chapter 302 contains no occurrence of the word roof at all. The only uses of drip and shingle anywhere in what was read are in definitions - a drip line around a tree, and the appearance standards that require a manufactured home's roof to be finished "with a type of shingle that is commonly used in conventional residential construction" - neither of which is a roof-covering requirement for a conventional house. Section 102-8 adopts the state's residential code as the Department of Community Affairs amends it and amends nothing in it, so the County neither adds to the roofing chapter nor takes anything away. ONE ROCKDALE-SPECIFIC POINT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THIS ANSWER BUT CHANGES THE NEXT QUESTION: section 102-8(b) adopts "chapter 1 and all appendices" of the adopted codes by reference, so unlike most Georgia jurisdictions Rockdale does not switch the appendices off by default. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction adds fastening and deck-sealing rules and could not remove a drip edge in any event, so it cannot disturb this field; but whether it is enforced here is worth asking the department, because it would add requirements. The operative ICC text of R905.2.8.5 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 here unamended, and the section number is a pointer to where to read it rather than a summary of what it says. Note finally that the Unified Development Ordinance applies only to the unincorporated county; for work inside the City of Conyers, ask the City. About drip edge

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Rockdale County. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Rockdale County's own Unified Development Ordinance contains any UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement; both were searched for each of those terms and none occurs in either. The Georgia packet does not amend the Code's roofing chapter at all, and the County adopts the state's codes as the Department of Community Affairs amends them while writing no roofing rule of its own. The County publishes no completed table of climatic and geographic design criteria and states no local hail or impact criterion. This answer is not disturbed by the County's blanket adoption of the adopted codes' appendices: the Georgia permissive appendix on disaster resilient construction contains no UL 2218, Class 4 or Class IV requirement either, its roofing content being about fastening and secondary water barriers. An insurer may still offer a premium credit for an impact-rated shingle east of Atlanta, but that is an insurance matter and not a code requirement.

REPAIR IS INSIDE THE PERMIT DEFINITION ITSELF, AND ROCKDALE COUNTY PUBLISHES NO LOCAL EXEMPTION LIST OF ITS OWN. The Unified Development Ordinance defines the instrument at section 106-1: "Permit, building: A permit issued by the director, or his designee to the owner that is required for undertaking any construction, alteration, addition, or repair of a structure under the provisions of title 3." The Department of Planning and Development says the same thing to the public on its permits page: "Appropriate permits are required for any new construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or demolition of structures", adding that permits may also be required for electrical, mechanical or plumbing work, and that new and major renovation permits are issued as master permits so that individual permits for each activity are not required. Section 102-7(7) puts the review duty on the department, which is to receive and review applications for land disturbance, land development and building permits and to act within 30 days of a complete application. WHERE THE EXEMPTIONS COME FROM, AND WHY THEY ARE NOT QUOTED HERE. Rockdale's Unified Development Ordinance was read for this record - Title 1 Administration, chapters 102, 106 and 110, and the whole of Title 3's chapter 302 on subdivision and site development standards - and it contains no work-exempt-from-permit list and no dollar, area or layer threshold for roofing. What supplies the exemptions instead is section 102-8(b), which adopts "chapter 1 ... of the aforementioned codes" by reference - the model administrative chapter of each adopted code, which is where the model exemption list sits. That ICC text is behind the ICC paywall and this record deliberately does not restate it or rely on any third-party republication of it. So the practical answer for a Rockdale County reroof is that the permit is required by the County's own definition, and any exemption a roofer wants to rely on has to be found in the adopted code's own administrative chapter and confirmed with the department. Ring Planning and Development on 770-278-7163 for permits or 770-278-7100 for the department, or email the building permits and inspections address on the County's permits page, and ask before you start. One further condition worth knowing on a job that involves any land disturbance: section 302-44(3) provides that a land disturbance permit "shall not be issued unless the applicant provides a statement by the Rockdale County Tax Commissioner certifying that all ad valorem taxes levied against the property and due and owing have been paid."

Set by the state code, not by Rockdale County. The residential code in force is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, and the Georgia amendment packet makes no change to the Code's roofing chapter, so the base International Residential Code reroofing and roof-recover provisions apply as published and Georgia adds no layer cap of its own. On the local side, Rockdale County's Unified Development Ordinance was read for this record - Title 1 Administration in full and the whole of chapter 302 in Title 3 - and it contains no provision on roof coverings, no limit on how many layers of covering may remain in place and no layer condition attached to any permit; chapter 302 contains no occurrence of the word roof at all. No Rockdale County ordinance limits the number of roof-covering layers. The operative text of the base Code's re-cover provisions sits behind the ICC paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it, so a roofer planning to recover over an existing roof should read the adopted Code itself or put the job to the Department of Planning and Development.

NOT SET BY THE COUNTY, AND THE ONE OPEN QUESTION HERE IS THE APPENDIX. The Georgia Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code makes no change to the Code's roofing chapter, so the base International Residential Code provisions on the deck beneath a roof covering apply as published, and Rockdale County writes no roof-deck or sheathing specification of its own: its Unified Development Ordinance was read for this record and the word sheathing does not occur in the chapters opened. That ICC text is behind the ICC paywall and this record deliberately does not reproduce it from any third-party republication. THE APPENDIX QUESTION BEARS DIRECTLY ON THE DECK. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is the Georgia permissive appendix that carries enhanced roof-deck sealing - taped sheathing joints and sealed deck penetrations - and prescriptive shingle fastening. In most Georgia jurisdictions it is switched off by a default-off appendix rule. Rockdale's Unified Development Ordinance section 102-8(b) instead adopts "chapter 1 and all appendices of the aforementioned codes ... by reference as though they were copied herein fully", while the appendix itself provides that its provisions are not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance. This record does not decide whether that blanket clause reaches Appendix U. If it does, note that the appendix limits itself to new development and to substantial improvements to existing development, and does not define substantial improvement, so whether a like-for-like reroof is inside it is a further unresolved question. Ask the Department of Planning and Development whether Section AU408 is enforced before ordering underlayment or fasteners for a Rockdale County job.

7% in Rockdale County. The Georgia Department of Revenue's rate chart in force from July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 122 "Rockdale" at 7%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks E, H and S - an educational tax, a HOST or EHOST homestead option tax, and a special purpose local option tax. Rockdale is one of the Georgia counties whose local mix carries a homestead option tax rather than the more usual local option tax, which does not change what a roofer pays but does explain why the components differ from a neighbouring county's. The chart states its own state component in its first line: "Code 000 - The state sales and use tax rate is 4%." The Department has already published the chart taking effect on October 1, 2026 and the Rockdale row is unchanged at 7% in it, so the figure holds through that reissue; both charts were read from the Department's own PDFs and the Rockdale row confirmed on a rendered image of each page rather than by text extraction. Rockdale is not one of the Georgia counties the chart splits by city, so the same rate applies in Conyers as in the unincorporated county. FOR THE ROOFER, THE TAX FALLS ON YOU AT THE SUPPLIER. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-2-.26(1) makes anyone who contracts to furnish materials and perform services in "constructing, altering, repairing or improving real property in this State ... the consumer of all tangible personal property used or consumed in performing such contract" who "shall pay the tax thereon at the time of purchase, use, storage or consumption in this State, whichever occurs first". So the tax on the shingles is the contractor's, paid when the materials are bought, and not a line the homeowner is charged as a resale item. The same rule requires every contractor improving real property in Georgia to file for a Certificate of Registration on Form CRF-002 before its first construction activity in the state, which is a tax registration rather than a contractor credential. The rate chart is reissued quarterly, so check the Department's rates page before quoting a large job.