City of Stonecrest, Georgia - Building and Permitting Division

City of Stonecrest, Georgia

city

Stonecrest, GA

Required

Required

Stonecrest runs everything through CitizenServe. The Building and Permitting Division, in the City own words, "is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Georgia State minimum standard code and related procedures for permitting and inspections of buildings within the city", and it lists the permits it issues: building for residential and non-residential work, deck, pool and spa, demolition, interior finish, remodeling and additions, retaining wall, ROOF, trade permits, and any additional permits required. Applications go in through the online Building Permitting Portal, and the City publishes a help guide for the portal alongside a Building Permit Application form. Before applying, check the Permit Required Checklist, which is the fastest way to settle whether a particular scope needs a permit at all. INSPECTION REQUESTS ARE PORTAL-ONLY. The City states that inspection requests "will no longer be accepted via email, text messages, or phone calls, effective June 1, 2022" and that all requests must be made through the CitizenServe Permitting Portal, using the Inspection Information Form. Other forms a roofing contractor will meet are the Authorized Permit Agent Form, the Homeowner Affidavit for owner-performed work, the Owner Permission Affidavit, the Sub-contractor Affidavit and the Energy Code Compliance Certificate. Fees are on the City published Fee Schedule. Timing is written into the ordinance: permits must be obtained at least eight hours before beginning work, permits for emergency work must be obtained within 24 hours after work is commenced, and the Building Official must act on a complete application no later than 60 calendar days after it is filed. Contact the Division at [email protected] or 770-224-0200; City Hall is at 3120 Stonecrest Blvd, Stonecrest, Georgia.

STATE-SET AND LOCALLY ENFORCED, BY A FLOATING ADOPTION. 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. Stonecrest enforces, and its adoption floats rather than naming an edition. Code section 7-23(a) provides that "It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council to enforce and adopt the State Minimum Standard Codes, as defined by O.C.G.A. 8-2-20(9). The adoption includes the latest edition of the following State Minimum Standard Mandatory Codes, as adopted and amended by the State Department of Community Affairs. All new construction, installations, repairs or alterations shall be in conformance with the current edition of the following codes and referenced appendixes with state amendments", and lists nine, the second of which is "International Residential Code and Appendix G". Section 7-23(b) adds the International Property Maintenance Code and the International Existing Building Code as permissive codes. So the City moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 by operation of its own ordinance, with nothing further to pass. WATCH THE CITY WEBSITE ON THIS POINT: the Building Department page still sets out a "Current Mandatory Codes as Adopted by DCA" list built on the 2018 editions with 2020 to 2023 Georgia amendments, which was the state position before January 1, 2026. The ordinance and the Department of Community Affairs both point to the 2024 editions; the web page has not caught up. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED, and Stonecrest answers the appendix question by enumeration rather than by silence. Section 7-23(c) provides: "The appendices included in any code adopted pursuant to this chapter are not intended for enforcement unless specifically referenced in this chapter or specifically included in this Code." The only Residential Code appendix section 7-23 names is Appendix G, so the optional Appendix U "Disaster Resilient Construction", with its enhanced roof-deck sealing and shingle fastening, is not enforceable here. Note that the Building Department page separately reproduces the Department of Community Affairs list of PERMISSIVE state codes, which includes the Disaster Resilient Building Code IRC Appendix - that is a list of what the State makes available for local adoption, not a Stonecrest adoption of it. Chapter 7 was read in full and the City amends the Residential Code in only two ways, neither about roof coverings: it fills in Table 301.2(1) and it adds seven local supplemental requirements about plans on site, staking surveys, concrete, driveways, garages and topsoil. The Code is codified through Ordinance No. 2024-11-03, adopted November 25, 2024.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT LOCALLY SET, and it applies in Stonecrest 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. Stonecrest does enforce it, and it says so from the local side in a floating adoption: City Code section 7-23(a) declares the City Council intention "to enforce and adopt the State Minimum Standard Codes, as defined by O.C.G.A. § 8-2-20(9)", provides that "All new construction, installations, repairs or alterations shall be in conformance with the current edition of the following codes and referenced appendixes with state amendments", and names the "International Residential Code and Appendix G" second of nine. The edition currently in force under that floating adoption 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 City's own building instrument was re-opened in full for this entry and not taken from an earlier report: Chapter 7 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Stonecrest, Buildings and Construction, all six articles and all 74 documents of it, sections 7-1 through 7-257, searched on anchored terms with zero hits for "drip", zero for "R905", zero for "shingle" and zero for any 905-series section number. Stonecrest amends the Residential Code in exactly two places, and section 7-24(b) is where both sit: it fills in the blanks in Table 301.2(1) with twelve entries, and it adds seven local supplemental requirements dealing with plans kept on the site, a sealed staking survey at footing or slab inspection, concrete reinforcing and batch tickets, driveway aprons and slopes, garage floor elevation and parking depth, and topsoil and disturbed areas. None of the nine reaches a roof covering. The single mention of a "chapter 9" anywhere in Chapter 7 is in section 7-119(c), which requires fire protection system shop drawings to "contain all information as required by the referenced installation standards in chapter 9 of the International Building Code" - that is the BUILDING code's fire-protection chapter, not the Residential Code roofing chapter, and it has nothing to do with roofing. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED, and Stonecrest answers the appendix question by enumeration rather than by silence. The Department of Community Affairs adopts Appendix U, Disaster Resilient Construction, as optional, so it reaches a Georgia jurisdiction only by that jurisdiction's own act. Section 7-23(c) provides that "The appendices included in any code adopted pursuant to this chapter are not intended for enforcement unless specifically referenced in this chapter or specifically included in this Code", and the only Residential Code appendix section 7-23 names is Appendix G. So Appendix U is not enforceable in Stonecrest. 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. 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 Stonecrest unamended. A practical note on scope: the City Permit Required Checklist puts "New roof covering or roof decking (residential)" in the Yes column and "Minor repairs to roof covering" in the No column, so an ordinary Stonecrest reroof is permitted and inspected, while a small repair is not. Where a scope falls on the no-permit side, the absence of a permit removes the City inspection and not the requirement - O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) binds the construction either way. About drip edge

Not required — STONECREST ANSWERS THIS ITSELF, WHICH ALMOST NO GEORGIA JURISDICTION DOES. The Residential Code leaves its climatic and geographic criteria table for the local jurisdiction to complete, and Code section 7-24(b)(1)a provides that "Table 301.2(1) in chapter 3 shall be completed by adding the following information to the blank spaces", then gives twelve entries. Entry 11 reads, in full: "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required — No." So no ice barrier underlayment is required by the City determination. The other entries in the same list are a ground snow load of 8 pounds per square foot, wind speed (fastest mile) 90, seismic design category B, moderate weathering, a 12-inch minimum frost line depth, very heavy termite damage, moderate to severe decay damage, a winter design temperature of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, flood hazard yes, an air freezing index of 225, and a mean annual temperature of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Two cautions. This is the City statutory determination and not a waterproofing recommendation: a shingle manufacturer warranty, a low-slope detail or a valley or eave condition can still call for a self-adhering membrane, and nothing here relieves you of the manufacturer instructions the Code makes binding. And the entry is part of an ordinance codified through November 2024, so confirm it has not been amended when you pull the permit. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Stonecrest ordinance sets out no in-progress roofing inspection. Code section 7-170(c) lists the required inspections by name and was read in full: six trade groups - Building, Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical, Gas and Energy - with the Building group being foundation and slab, damproofing, pre-cladding/sheathing, frame (rough) and final. The closest thing to a roofing stage is the pre-cladding/sheathing inspection, "To be made after the roof, wall bracing, are installed and prior to placement of exterior cladding", which is about the shell before siding rather than about a roof covering as it goes down. There is no dry-in, felt, underlayment or tear-off stage anywhere in the list. Section 7-170(a) still requires that work "shall remain accessible and exposed for inspection purposes until approved", and it is the permit holder duty to keep it so, so do not assume a reroof carries no inspection at all - read the inspection list attached to your own permit in the CitizenServe portal. Inspection requests are no longer accepted by email, text message or telephone; the City stopped that on June 1, 2022 and everything now goes through the portal, using the City Inspection Information Form.

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Stonecrest. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Chapter 7 of the Stonecrest Code of Ordinances contains any UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement. The Georgia packet does not amend the Code roofing chapter at all, and Chapter 7, read in full across all six articles, amends the Residential Code only by filling in Table 301.2(1) and by adding seven local supplemental requirements about site plans, surveys, concrete, driveways, garages and topsoil - none of which is an impact rating. Stonecrest has not adopted Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, whose roofing content is about water barriers and fastening rather than impact in any event. An insurer may still offer a premium credit for an impact-rated shingle in the Atlanta hail belt, but that is an insurance matter and not a code requirement here.

STONECREST ANSWERS THIS ON ITS OWN FORM, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, AND THE LINE IS BETWEEN REPLACEMENT AND REPAIR. The City publishes a Permit Required Checklist of 41 numbered kinds of work with a Yes and a No column. Item 29, "New roof covering or roof decking (residential)", is checked YES. Item 28, "New roof covering or roof decking (commercial)", is checked YES. Item 27, "Minor repairs to roof covering", is checked NO. So a reroof needs a permit in Stonecrest and a genuine patch repair does not. The ordinance behind that sits in Code section 7-118. Subsection (a): "A permit shall be obtained before beginning construction, erection, alteration or repair to a building or structure, mechanical system, gas system, plumbing system, electrical system, and energy conservation system, other than ordinary repairs. Permits shall be obtained at least eight hours before beginning work. Permits for emergency work shall be obtained within 24 hours after work is commenced." Subsection (b) is the exception and it carries a dollar cap: "Ordinary repairs to a single-family residential building or structure for which the wholesale cost does not exceed $1,000.00 shall not be required to obtain a permit." READ BOTH LIMBS. The work must be an ordinary repair AND under $1,000.00 wholesale cost, and section 7-1 defines the term against you on a replacement: "Ordinary repairs means nonstructural repairs to a building or structure or repairs to a mechanical system, gas system, plumbing system, electrical system, and energy conservation system for which the codes specify no minimum requirements or standards or do not address the repair. The term 'ordinary repairs' does not include additions, alterations, relocations, or replacements to buildings or structures". A roof replacement is a replacement and the construction codes plainly do address roof coverings, so it fails that definition twice over, which is why the City checklist puts it in the Yes column. The separate section 7-118(d) list of work exempt from permit was read in full - fences under eight feet, retaining walls under four feet, small water tanks, finish work under $3,000.00, stage sets, shallow above-ground pools, playground equipment, window awnings, low movable partitions, and electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing items - and roofing appears nowhere in it. PRACTICAL EFFECT: price the permit into every Stonecrest reroof, and do not start early. Section 7-118(c) adds "a penalty of 100 percent of the usual permit fee in addition to the required permit fee as well as a Stop Work Order" for work commenced before the permit issues.

READ THE BASIS BEFORE USING THE NUMBER. Stonecrest fills in the Residential Code climatic and geographic criteria table itself, and it states its wind figure in an older averaging basis. Code section 7-24(b)(1)a provides that "Table 301.2(1) in chapter 3 shall be completed by adding the following information to the blank spaces" and gives, as its second entry, "Wind speed (fastest mile) — 90." Fastest-mile wind speed is a different measurement basis from the three-second gust that modern editions of the Residential Code and ASCE 7 use, and different again from the ultimate design wind speed those documents tabulate, so 90 miles per hour fastest mile is NOT interchangeable with 90 miles per hour three-second gust and must not be dropped into a fastening or uplift calculation that expects one of the newer bases. This record states the City own figure and its stated basis and does not convert it. The remainder of the same table entry gives a ground snow load of 8 pounds per square foot, seismic design category B, moderate weathering, a frost line depth of 12 inches minimum, very heavy termite damage, moderate to severe decay damage, a winter design temperature of 22 degrees Fahrenheit, flood hazard yes, an air freezing index of 225, no ice barrier underlayment requirement, and a mean annual temperature of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Confirm the design wind speed and exposure category with the Building Official before designing to a number, and note that the ordinance is codified through November 2024.

Set by the state code, not by Stonecrest. 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 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 7 of the Stonecrest Code, Buildings and Construction, was read in full - all six articles and all 51 sections, from 7-1 to 7-257 - and no provision in it addresses how many layers of roof covering may remain on a building. Stonecrest amends the Residential Code in exactly two places, neither of them about roof coverings: section 7-24(b)(1)a fills in the blanks in Table 301.2(1), and section 7-24(b)(2) adds seven local supplemental requirements dealing with plans kept on site, a sealed staking survey at footing or slab inspection, concrete reinforcing and batch tickets, driveway aprons and slopes, garage floor elevation and parking depth, and topsoil and disturbed areas. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is not enforceable here under the section 7-23(c) appendices rule, so nothing in that appendix bears on the question either. Answer the layer question out of the base Code and confirm on the permit.

Set by the state code, with one local inspection stage that reaches the deck. The Georgia amendment packet to the 2024 International Residential Code makes no change to the Code roofing chapter, so the base International Residential Code provisions on the deck beneath a roof covering apply as published, and Chapter 7 of the Stonecrest Code, read in full, prescribes no roof-deck material, thickness or fastening. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, which is where Georgia keeps its enhanced deck-sealing provisions, is not enforceable in Stonecrest. What the deck attracts locally is a sequencing rule. Code section 7-170(c)(1)c requires a "Pre-cladding/sheathing inspection. To be made after the roof, wall bracing, are installed and prior to placement of exterior cladding. Rough inspections on trades need not be complete for pre-cladding inspection." That stage is written for new construction rather than for a reroof, but it is the point at which the City looks at sheathing. Worth knowing on a tear-off: the City Permit Required Checklist treats "New roof covering or roof decking (residential)" as one permitted item, so replacing decking is inside the same permit as replacing the covering.

8% in Stonecrest. The Georgia Department of Revenue rate chart in force for July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 044 "Dekalb (Not Atlanta)" at 8%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks MARTA, Educational, HOST or EHOST and SPLOST. Stonecrest lies wholly within DeKalb County and is not part of the City of Atlanta, so 8% is its figure. DEKALB IS ONE OF THE THREE GEORGIA COUNTIES THAT SPLIT BY CITY, so do not carry a single DeKalb number around in your head: the same chart gives code 044A "DeKalb (Atlanta)" at 8.9% for the part of DeKalb inside Atlanta city limits. The Department of Revenue has already published the chart taking effect on October 1, 2026 and both DeKalb rows are unchanged in it, so 8% holds through that reissue. For the roofer, 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 tax, 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.