City of Rome, Georgia - Rome-Floyd County Building Inspection Department

City of Rome, Georgia

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Rome, GA

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ONE DEPARTMENT SERVES ROME AND FLOYD COUNTY, SO CHECK WHICH GOVERNMENT YOUR ADDRESS SITS IN BUT RING THE SAME OFFICE. The department describes itself as "The Rome-Floyd County Building Inspection Department" and says it "is responsible for the review, permitting, and inspection of all construction projects within the City of Rome", also enforcing nuisance abatement, zoning compliance, historic preservation, land disturbance permits, sediment and erosion control and floodplain management. Floyd County's own site carries Building Inspection in its departments menu and links it to the same City page. The City's Permits page confirms the split of functions: "The City of Rome manages permits for building inspection, business license, alcohol license, rezoning and special use permits", routing Building Permits to Building Inspection, and it is careful to add that "the city does not manage the county departments that provide these permits" for driver's licences, firearm permits and marriage licences. THE ROOFING PATH. Rome publishes a "PERMIT APPLICATION ROOFS OR MISC.", a one-page form asking for the date, project address, property owner name, address, mobile number and email, the contractor's details where different from the owner, a job description and the job cost. The form directs the applicant to email it to two named departmental addresses and gives a postal address for a cheque. The Department states that permits are issued at 607 Broad Street, that the office is open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and that "On some simple jobs, a permit can be obtained during the first visit", with more time needed where plans must be reviewed. FEES are on the Rome/Floyd County Building Inspection Department fee schedule and run off the cost of the job under a Remodels/Buildouts table, with the payment of fees due when the permit is applied for, any fee not in the schedule set by the Director, a doubled fee where work starts before the permit issues, permits valid for six months from the issue date, and a $60.00 re-inspection fee. INSPECTIONS need a minimum of 24 hours' notice, are scheduled through the Building Inspection office, and require the address, permit number and inspection type when booked; none is made if erosion control measures are not in place. Contact the Department on 706-236-4480, or customer service on 706-236-4481; the Chief Building Official is James Martin, and the mailing address is P.O. Box 1433, Rome, GA 30162.

STATE-SET AND LOCALLY ENFORCED, ON A FLOATING ADOPTION, AND ROME PUBLISHES THE CURRENT EDITIONS ITSELF. 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 therefore statewide and automatic; what is local is enforcement, and Rome enforces. The City's adoption floats: Code section 5-2 adopts "that certain state minimum standard codes known as the International Residential Code, as adopted and as amended by the State of Georgia, except such portions as are deleted, modified, or amended in this article", and closes "The provisions of this section shall be controlling in construction of one- and two-family dwelling buildings within the corporate limits of the City." Section 5-75 does the same for the International Building Code. So the City moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 by operation of its own ordinance. UNUSUALLY FOR GEORGIA, THE DEPARTMENT ALSO STATES THE CURRENT EDITIONS ON ITS OWN PAGE, and the list is current rather than stale. Its published answer to "What are the codes and design criteria for the City of Rome and Floyd County?" gives "2024 International Building, Residential, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Plumbing, 2015 Energy Code, and 2023 National Electrical Code", adds that "City/County codes, except for fire sprinkler requirements, mirror Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes listed on the Georgia Department of Community Affairs website", and warns that "Codes include Georgia amendments made by the state and amendments supersede the codes". Read the fire sprinkler carve-out as what it says: on that one subject the City does not merely mirror the state codes. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED, AND ROME ANSWERS THE QUESTION BY ENUMERATION RATHER THAN BY SILENCE. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is adopted by the Department of Community Affairs as optional, and by its own terms it binds only where an adopting ordinance specifically references it. Rome's adopting sections say which appendices they take and take no others: section 5-2 adds to the Residential Code only "Chapter 1 and any appendix or other section addressing Manufactured Housing Used as Dwellings of the International Residential Code, including but not limited to Appendix E of the 2018 edition of such code", and section 5-75 adds to the Building Code only "Chapter 1 and Appendix B Board of Appeals". Chapter 5 was read in full and names no other appendix and never names Appendix U or the Disaster Resilient appendix. WHAT ROME AMENDS is a single administrative point: section 5-76 deletes and replaces Section B101.2.2 to fix the Board of Appeals at five members and one alternate. There is no local amendment to the Residential Code's technical chapters at all. CURRENCY: the Code is codified through Ordinance No. 26-01-02, adopted January 26, 2026, and section 5-2 was last amended by Ordinance No. 24-10-01, adopted October 14, 2024.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and it applies in Rome 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 in Rome whether or not the City elects to enforce it locally - and Rome does enforce, issuing a re-roof permit and inspecting. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs amendment packet for the 2024 IRC 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. Rome's own building instrument was opened in full for this entry: Chapter 5 of the Code of the City of Rome, Buildings, all ten articles and every section from 5-1 to 5-497, of which not one mentions drip edge, roof covering, shingles, underlayment or roof-covering fastening. Rome's only amendment to an adopted code is at section 5-76, which deletes and replaces Section B101.2.2 of the Building Code to set the membership of the Board of Appeals, and the City states on its own page that its codes "mirror Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes" apart from fire sprinkler requirements. So there is no Rome rewrite of Chapter 9 either. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, which the Department of Community Affairs adopts as optional and which carries extra deck-sealing and shingle-fastening rules, is not adopted in Rome: sections 5-2 and 5-75 name the appendices the City takes, being a manufactured-housing appendix and the Building Code's Appendix B Board of Appeals, and they name no other. In any event it could not remove the drip-edge requirement. 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 Rome unamended. About drip edge

Not required — NO IN-PROGRESS ROOFING INSPECTION IS PRESCRIBED, AND THE DEPARTMENT PUBLISHES ITS STAGE LIST BY NAME SO THE NEGATIVE IS CHECKABLE. The Rome/Floyd County Building Inspection Department's "1&2 Family Dwellings Inspection Procedures" sets out twelve stages in order: footing prior to concrete placement; underslab plumbing with a test required; slab prior to concrete placement; basement wall prior to concrete placement; foundation prior to framing; floor joist; "Sheathing Inspection - Prior to siding"; rough-ins for plumbing, electrical, HVAC, gas lines and fireplaces; framing after or concurrent with the rough-ins; electrical meter for service; gas for service; and finals concurrently for the certificate of occupancy. There is no dry-in, felt, underlayment, tear-off or mid-roof stage anywhere in it, and the one sheathing stage is timed "prior to siding", which is a wall stage. Chapter 5 of the Rome Code, read in full, prescribes no inspection stages at all. WHAT STILL APPLIES TO A RE-ROOF: the same document's inspection policies require a minimum of 24 hours' notice, require every inspection to be scheduled through the Building Inspection office, and require the caller to have the address, the permit number and the type of inspection to hand. No inspection is made if erosion control measures are not in place and acceptable, and a re-inspection fee is then charged; re-inspection fees are $60.00. Read the inspection requirements attached to your own permit rather than assuming a re-roof draws only a final.

Not required — NO IMPACT-RESISTANT OR HAIL-RATED ROOF COVERING IS REQUIRED IN ROME - AND THE CITY'S OWN "CLASS A OR B" IS A FIRE RATING, NOT AN IMPACT ONE. Read that carefully, because it is the sentence most likely to be misread. The Building Inspection Department states that "Re-roofing requires the replacement of any dry rot or fungus damaged wood and the replacement with new minimum Class A or B, 25 year roofing, flashing and ventilation of enclosed spaces." Class A, B and C are the FIRE classifications of a roof covering, tested to ASTM E108 or UL 790. The impact classes that answer the hail question are Class 1 to Class 4 under UL 2218, or FM 4473, and they are a different test of a different property. Rome's requirement is that the covering carry a minimum Class A or B fire rating and a 25-year product life; it says nothing about impact resistance. Beyond that, neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Chapter 5 of the Rome Code contains any UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement. The Georgia packet does not amend the Code's roofing chapter at all, and Chapter 5, read in full across all ten articles, amends an adopted code only at section 5-76, on the size of the Board of Appeals. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is not adopted here, and its roofing content is about secondary water barriers and fastening rather than impact in any event. An insurer may still offer a premium credit for an impact-rated shingle, but that is an insurance matter and not a code requirement here.

RE-ROOFING HAS ITS OWN PERMIT TYPE IN ROME, AND THE PERMIT-FREE LIST DOES NOT REACH IT. The Building Inspection Department publishes the permit types it issues, and one of them is roofing in its own right: "Re-roof Permit : Re-roofing requires the replacement of any dry rot or fungus damaged wood and the replacement with new minimum Class A or B, 25 year roofing, flashing and ventilation of enclosed spaces." The building permit type separately covers "repairs to either residential or non-residential structures". THE EXEMPTION LIST WAS READ IN FULL AND CONTAINS NO ROOFING ITEM. The Department's published answer to "When don't I need a permit?" names, as the projects which do not require a building permit: retaining walls or planter boxes no more than 4 feet in height that do not support another structure, fence or additional loads; prefabricated swimming pools less than 24 inches deep; and single storey residential detached buildings used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and the like, so long as the floor area does not exceed 200 square feet and there is no plumbing or electricity. It then lists "Minor Improvements Typically Not Needing a Permit": building or installing movable counters, cases or partitions; building uncovered concrete patios; installing carpeting or resilient floor covering; installing draperies or blinds; and interior or exterior painting. Roofing appears in neither list. The same page warns that even for those projects "the construction of such projects should be in conformance with all applicable codes". THE ORDINANCE BEHIND IT: Code section 5-1(d) makes it unlawful for any person "To design, construct, erect, build, alter any building ... unless such person complies with the regulations and restrictions in this chapter", with each day a separate offence. 🔴 DO NOT MISTAKE THE FEE TABLE FOR A THRESHOLD. The Building Inspection fee schedule's Remodels/Buildouts table is headed "COST OF JOB" and its first bracket is printed ">100&<500" at $65. That is the bottom rung of a fee scale, not a statement that work under $100 needs no permit, and the schedule is a fee document with no exempting language in it. The exemption list above is the operative one. TWO OTHER THINGS TO PRICE IN: section 5-1(c) provides that where work requiring a permit is started before the permit is obtained "the fees specified shall be doubled", and the fee schedule says the same; building permits are valid for six months from the issue date; and a re-inspection costs $60.00.

115 MILES PER HOUR ON THE DEPARTMENT'S OWN PUBLISHED CRITERIA - AND IT DOES NOT STATE THE AVERAGING BASIS, SO DO NOT ASSUME ONE. The Rome-Floyd County Building Inspection Department publishes a short set of design criteria for the City and the County together, in answer to its own question "What are the codes and design criteria for the City of Rome and Floyd County?". The wind entry reads "Wind speed management up to 115 miles per hour". Alongside it the Department gives a frost depth minimum of 12 inches, a ground snow load of 8 pounds per square foot, Seismic Design Category C, and a soil bearing capacity of minimum 1500 pounds per square foot. WHAT IS NOT STATED is whether 115 is an ultimate design wind speed, a nominal three-second gust or another basis. Those are different measurements and they are not interchangeable; no conversion is performed here. Confirm the basis and the exposure category with the Chief Building Official before designing to the number. Note also that the Department's list gives no ice barrier entry, so that question is not answered by these criteria.

Set by the state code, not by Rome, and the City's own re-roof statement does not cap layers. The residential code in force is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, 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, Chapter 5 of the Rome Code, Buildings, was read in full - all ten articles, every section from 5-1 to 5-497 - and no provision in it addresses roof coverings or how many layers may remain on a building. Rome's only amendment to an adopted code, section 5-76, deletes and replaces Section B101.2.2 to set the size of the Board of Appeals. WHAT ROME DOES SAY ABOUT A RE-ROOF is about materials and substrate rather than layers: the Building Inspection Department states that "Re-roofing requires the replacement of any dry rot or fungus damaged wood and the replacement with new minimum Class A or B, 25 year roofing, flashing and ventilation of enclosed spaces." A requirement to replace rotten decking implies exposing it, which in practice is hard to reconcile with a recover over an existing covering, but the Department does not say so and this record does not read a layer cap into it. Answer the layer question out of the base Code and confirm the intended recover with the Chief Building Official before ordering materials.

ROME IMPOSES A REAL LOCAL DECK REQUIREMENT ON A RE-ROOF, AND IT IS THE ONE TO PRICE. The Building Inspection Department's published description of the Re-roof Permit reads: "Re-roofing requires the replacement of any dry rot or fungus damaged wood and the replacement with new minimum Class A or B, 25 year roofing, flashing and ventilation of enclosed spaces." So on a Rome re-roof, decking or framing that is rot- or fungus-damaged is to be replaced, not covered over, and the flashing and the ventilation of enclosed spaces come with it. Quote the tear-off accordingly and expect the inspector to look. Note what the fire class in that sentence is and is not: Class A or B is a fire classification under ASTM E108 and UL 790, not an impact or hail rating. Beyond that the deck itself is set by the state code. The Georgia amendment 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 Chapter 5 of the Rome Code, read in full, prescribes no roof-deck material, thickness or fastening. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, where Georgia keeps its optional enhanced deck-sealing provisions, is not adopted here. ONE TRAP: the Department's 1&2 Family Dwellings inspection list includes "Sheathing Inspection - Prior to siding". That is a WALL sheathing stage in a new-construction sequence and it is not a roof-deck inspection.

7% in Rome. The Georgia Department of Revenue rate chart in force for July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 057 "Floyd" at 7%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks LOST, Educational and SPLOST. Rome lies wholly within Floyd County and the chart gives Floyd no city-level split, so 7% is the figure everywhere in the city. The chart states the state component in its own first line: "Code 000 - The state sales and use tax rate is 4%. Other than 803 Fulton (Cent. Yards), state tax is included in the jurisdiction rates below." The Department of Revenue has already published the chart taking effect on October 1, 2026 and the Floyd row is unchanged in it at 7%, so the figure holds through that reissue - worth knowing, because three other Georgia counties do rise on that date. Both charts were read at their published rates and confirmed against a rendered image of the page rather than a text extraction. FOR THE ROOFER, WHO PAYS IT: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-2-.26(1) makes anyone who contracts to furnish materials and perform services improving real property "the consumer of all tangible personal property used or consumed in performing such contract" and 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 at the supplier, 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 and not a contractor credential.