City of Tucker, Georgia - Building and Permitting Division, Community Development

City of Tucker, Georgia

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Tucker, GA

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The Building and Permitting Division is part of Community Development and, in the City own words, "process permits, review building plans, collect fees, issue permits, and conduct building inspections", enforcing the International and State Building, Mechanical, Plumbing and Electrical Codes and the other regulations governing construction and land use. SUBMISSION IS BY EMAIL OR PORTAL: the City states that "All building and trade permits can be submitted electronically to [email protected]", and it also runs a permit portal and a separate request-an-inspection route. Residential forms are published on the same page - a Residential Building Permit Application, separate electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing applications, a Residential Demolition Application, a Residential Homeowner Affidavit and a Residential Fee Schedule - along with an Authorized Permit Agent Affidavit, a Subcontractor Affidavit and a Renovation Firm Certification Application. The Building Official is Ken Miller and the plan reviewer is Kerry Caldwell; the office is reachable on 678-597-9040 and at [email protected], Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Before quoting, check two things the City flags itself: whether subdivision covenants, conditions and restrictions govern the work even where the City does not, and whether the address is actually inside Tucker, which is a young city with an annexation history and unincorporated DeKalb County on several sides. Under Code section 8-100(e) the permit card must be posted on the premises before work commences and kept there, protected from the weather, until the certificate of occupancy or completion issues.

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. Tucker enforces, and its adoption names no edition: Code section 8-1(a) provides that "The city enforces the latest edition of the following state minimum standard codes, as adopted and amended by the state department of community affairs, and as set forth in O.C.G.A. 8-2-20, which codes may also be referred to as 'the construction codes'", then lists ten of them including the "International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings", with section 8-1(b) adding the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code. So the City moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 by operation of its own ordinance. Chapter 8 of the Tucker Code, Buildings and Construction, was read in full - both articles, all 24 sections from 8-1 to 8-102 - and the City writes only two local amendments to the state codes, neither of which touches roofing: section 8-1(c) amends the International Building Code to remove a sprinkler provision and require NFPA 13 sprinklers throughout new multifamily buildings over three units, and section 8-1(d) fills in the bracketed blanks in seven sections of the International Property Maintenance Code. The Residential Code is adopted unamended. WHETHER APPENDIX U APPLIES HERE IS NOT SETTLED, AND THIS RECORD DOES NOT SETTLE IT. Most Georgia jurisdictions bar unreferenced appendices; Tucker does the opposite. Section 8-2 provides: "Any appendices referenced in this chapter or made part of the state minimum standards codes shall be considered an integral part of the construction codes." The Department of Community Affairs adopts Appendix U "Disaster Resilient Construction" as OPTIONAL and treats it as a permissive code that a local government must adopt by its own ordinance or resolution, with a copy forwarded to the Department; the appendix itself states at AU101.3.1 that "The provisions of this appendix are not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance of [NAME OF JURISDICTION]", and that where adopted they apply to new development and substantial improvements to existing development. Chapter 8 nowhere names Appendix U. So there is a real question whether section 8-2 reaches it, and a roofer who needs the answer should put it to the Building Official rather than assume either way. Note that on the appendix own scope terms it would not reach an ordinary like-for-like reroof in any event. The Code of Ordinances is codified through Ordinance No. O2026-04-04, enacted May 11, 2026.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT LOCALLY SET, and it applies in Tucker 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 City elects to enforce it locally. The City Code says the same from the local side: section 8-1(a) provides that "The city enforces the latest edition of the following state minimum standard codes, as adopted and amended by the state department of community affairs, and as set forth in O.C.G.A. § 8-2-20", and lists the "International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings" sixth of ten. That adoption names no edition, so the operative residential standard here is the 2024 edition with Georgia Amendments 2026. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs amendment packet for the 2024 Residential Code carries no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies; the packet's full text is archived in this project and was 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 rather than taken from an earlier report: Chapter 8, Buildings and Construction, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Tucker, Georgia - both articles, all three divisions and every one of its 24 sections from 8-1 to 8-102, some 54,000 characters - searched on anchored terms with zero hits for "drip", zero for "R905", zero for "Chapter 9" and zero for "shingle". The four occurrences of "roof" in the whole chapter are the frame inspection and three rough-in inspection descriptions in section 8-100. Tucker writes exactly two local amendments to the state codes and neither touches roofing: section 8-1(c) amends the International BUILDING Code to remove a sprinkler provision and require NFPA 13 sprinklers throughout new multifamily buildings over three units, and section 8-1(d) fills in the bracketed blanks in seven sections of the International Property Maintenance Code. The Residential Code is adopted unamended, and Chapter 8 is the Code's only buildings and construction chapter. WHETHER APPENDIX U APPLIES IN TUCKER IS NOT SETTLED, AND THIS RECORD DOES NOT SETTLE IT. Most Georgia jurisdictions enumerate the appendices they take; Tucker writes a broad clause instead. Section 8-2 provides that "Any appendices referenced in this chapter or made part of the state minimum standards codes shall be considered an integral part of the construction codes", and Chapter 8 nowhere names Appendix U. The Department of Community Affairs adopts Appendix U, "Disaster Resilient Construction", as an optional permissive code that a local government must adopt for itself, and the appendix limits its own reach at AU101.3.1 to new development and to substantial improvements to existing development. A roofer who needs that answer should put it to the Building Official rather than assume it either way. It does not disturb the drip-edge position: the requirement sits in the base Chapter 9 text, which Georgia has not amended and Tucker has not amended. 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 Tucker unamended. About drip edge

Not required — Tucker ordinance sets out no in-progress roofing inspection. Code section 8-100(f) lists the required inspections and was read in full: five trade groups, with Building being foundation and foundation wall, slab, frame, insulation, moisture barrier and final. The frame inspection is "To be made after the roof, all framing, fireblocking, bracing and fasteners are in place", which is a structural stage on new construction rather than a check on a roof covering as it goes down, and there is no dry-in, felt, underlayment or tear-off stage anywhere in the list. Do not read that as "no inspection on a reroof". The same subsection has the building official make "the following inspections and such other inspections as necessary", section 8-100(d) requires inspection "at various intervals" of all work for which a permit is required plus a final inspection, and section 8-100(a) has the building official inspect buildings "from time to time, during and upon completion of the work for which a permit was issued." Read the inspection list attached to your own permit and request inspections through the City permit portal. Under section 8-100(e), work requiring a permit shall not commence until the permit card is posted in a conspicuous place on the premises and protected from the weather.

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Tucker. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Chapter 8 of the Tucker 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 8, read in full across both articles, writes only two local code amendments - a multifamily sprinkler requirement in the Building Code and fill-in-the-blank inserts in the Property Maintenance Code - neither of which is an impact rating. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, whose application to Tucker is unsettled, is about water barriers and shingle fastening rather than impact and carries no impact rating either. 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.

THE FLOOR IS $2,500 AND IT IS NOT SELF-EXECUTING. The permit trigger is Code section 8-93(a): "Any owner, authorized agent, or contractor who desires to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert, or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by the construction codes, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit for the work." A reroof is repair or alteration of a building, so it is inside that sentence. The exception is section 8-93(c), quoted in full: "Ordinary minor repairs, with a value of less than $2,500.00, may be made with the approval of the building official without a permit, provided that such repairs shall not violate any of the provisions of the construction codes." READ THAT AS THREE CONDITIONS. The work must be an ordinary minor repair, its value must be under $2,500.00, and the building official must approve - so it is not a licence to start a small job without speaking to the City, and the ordinance does not say how the value is measured. A full replacement is not an ordinary minor repair and a Tucker tear-off is over the figure in any event, so price the permit into every reroof. The City publishes its own list of "Examples of Projects Not Requiring a Permit" and roofing is not on it; the list is detached non-habitable structures under 200 square feet, walls three feet or less other than retaining walls, low-voltage landscape accent lighting, "Minor repairs of non-structural items such as glass panes and door hardware", repairing existing landscape irrigation piping, interior and exterior paint, and repairing existing plumbing fixtures in the same location. Two further limits sit on the same section: a permit "shall not be issued to an owner, who is neither a licensed contractor nor the occupant of a residential structure being altered", and an application is deemed abandoned six months after filing unless a permit has issued. One Tucker-specific caution the City itself gives: subdivision covenants, conditions and restrictions may govern work the City does not regulate, so check the homeowners association before proceeding.

Set by the state code, not by Tucker. 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 8 of the Tucker Code, Buildings and Construction, was read in full - both articles and all 24 sections, 8-1 to 8-102 - and no provision in it addresses how many layers of roof covering may remain on a building. The City writes exactly two local amendments to the state codes and they are a multifamily sprinkler requirement in the Building Code and seven fill-in-the-blank inserts in the Property Maintenance Code; the Residential Code is adopted unamended. The only appearances of a roof anywhere in the chapter are the points in the required-inspection list at which framing is examined. Answer the layer question out of the base Code and confirm it with the Building Official when you take the permit. Note that whether Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction reaches Tucker is unsettled because of the way section 8-2 is worded, but that appendix carries no layer rule in any event.

Set by the state code. 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 8 of the Tucker Code, read in full, prescribes no roof-deck material, thickness, span or fastening. What is local is the inspection sequence. Section 8-100(f)(1) sets out the Building inspections as foundation and foundation wall, slab, frame, insulation, moisture barrier and final, with the frame inspection "To be made after the roof, all framing, fireblocking, bracing and fasteners are in place, all concealed wiring, all pipes, chimneys, ducts, and vents are complete." That sequence is written for new construction rather than for a reroof; agree with the Building Official what will be looked at on your own permit before you cover anything. Section 8-3(a) is also worth knowing before you resolve a conflict between two requirements yourself: "Where, in any specific case, different sections of the city construction codes specify different materials, methods of construction, or other requirements, the most restrictive shall govern."

8% in Tucker. 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. Tucker 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.