Walton County, Georgia - Department of Planning and Development

Walton County, Georgia

county

Monroe, GA

Required

Required

Walton County permitting and inspections are run by the Department of Planning and Development at 126 Court Street in Monroe, with the County's mailing address at 303 South Hammond Drive, Monroe. Applications, commercial and residential permits, business licensing and fee payment all go through the Department's online Citizen Portal, and the Department warns on its own page that "WALTON COUNTY WILL NOT ASK FOR A WIRE TRANSFER FOR PAYMENT. THIS IS A SCAM." Fees are set by the board of commissioners on a published schedule rather than in the code; the schedule in force was approved on June 2, 2026 and prices a residential re-roof at $75.00, the same as the residential minimum permit fee. A permit expires 12 months from issue if no required inspection has been requested and passed, and also expires if no required inspection is requested and passed in any six-month period after the first six months, unless the building official determines the structure is at least 90 percent complete, in which case it goes inactive and can be renewed for a fee. The building official may grant no more than two extensions of up to three months each, requested in writing before expiry. Work requiring a building permit may not start until the permit yard card is posted at the construction pad at the front property line, and the permit holder has to replace a damaged, lost or stolen card before any further inspection. The County also runs an approved third-party inspection programme, publishing a Third Party List and a third-party inspection form, so some inspections are carried out by an approved private inspector; section 14-51(b) allows the building official to accept those reports where they are in writing and certified. Contractors should expect to register a valid state licence and a business licence with the Department before a permit is issued.

STATE-SET AND FLOATING, WITH A LOCAL AMENDMENT LIST THAT DOES NOT TOUCH ROOF COVERINGS. 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 Walton County enforces. WHAT THE COUNTY ADOPTED, AND HOW IT KEEPS UP. Chapter 14, article II of the Code of Walton County is "The Walton County Construction Code", enacted by the Ordinance of June 4, 2002. Section 14-33 states its purpose as providing "for the administration and enforcement of the Georgia State Minimum Standard Building, Energy, Gas, Mechanical, Plumbing, One & Two Family Dwelling, Electrical and the Standard Swimming Pool Code as adopted and enforced by the county", and section 14-31 keeps that list current by its own terms: "From time to time as future editions and amendments to these codes are published and adopted by the state they shall become a part of and/or replacement for these codes and shall be enforced on the date as mandated by state law." That is a floating adoption, so the County follows the state's editions without passing an ordinance of its own. READ THE LOCAL AMENDMENT LIST WITH THE DATE IN MIND. The County's residential amendments sit at section 14-63, headed "Amendment to the Georgia State Minimum Standard (CABO) One & Two Family Dwelling Code; adoption of appendices", from the same 2002 ordinance. The CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code is the code Georgia used before the International Residential Code, so the amendments are written against a code that has since been replaced while section 14-31 carries the County forward to whatever the state now adopts. All seven items of section 14-63 were read for this record. They fill in the blank spaces of the residential code's climatic and geographic design criteria table, add a supplemental administrative section, require two runs of number 4 reinforcing steel in footings, list acceptable mud sill anchors in place of half-inch anchor bolts, reserve one section, adopt seven named appendices, and set out a deck code. NOT ONE OF THEM TOUCHES A ROOF COVERING. Ask the Department of Planning and Development which of the 2002 figures it still applies before designing to one. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED, ESTABLISHED TWO WAYS. Section 14-36(j), headed "Appendices", reads: "Only those appendices which are either specifically mentioned and included in the amendments of this code or specifically referenced in the text of this code are intended to be enforced" - a default-off rule. Section 14-63(4) then names every residential appendix the County did adopt: "Appendix 'A' - Sizing and capacities of gas piping", "Appendix 'B'" on venting systems, "Appendix 'C'" on exit terminals, "Appendix 'E' - Manufactured housing used as dwellings", and Appendices "L", "M" and "N" on exterior insulation and finish systems. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix, which the Department of Community Affairs lists among the permissive codes a local government may take up by ordinance or resolution and adopts as optional, is not among them, so its enhanced roof-deck sealing and shingle fastening provisions do not apply in Walton County. The energy code is off-cycle from the rest at the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code with Georgia supplements, which is the state position. The Code of Walton County is codified through the Ordinances of September 2, 2025 (Supplement No. 30).

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT COUNTY-SET, AND IN FORCE IN WALTON 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 Walton 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. THE COUNTY DOES AMEND THE RESIDENTIAL CODE, WHICH IS WHY ITS AMENDMENT LIST WAS READ RATHER THAN ASSUMED. Walton County's Code chapter 14, Buildings and Building Regulations, was opened in full for this record - the whole of article II, The Walton County Construction Code, at sections 14-31 to 14-64, including the residential amendment list at section 14-63 and the appendix rule at section 14-36(j) - and searched for drip, for Section R905, for Chapter 9 and for shingle. The chapter contains no occurrence of drip, of R905, of R908, of Chapter 9 or of shingle. Section 14-63's seven amendments to the residential code fill in the climatic and geographic design criteria table, add a supplemental administrative section, set footing reinforcement, list mud sill anchors, reserve one section, adopt seven named appendices and set a deck code; none of them reaches a roof covering. So the County adds nothing to the roofing chapter and takes nothing away. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix, which the Department of Community Affairs adopts as optional and which adds fastening and deck-sealing rules but could not remove a drip edge in any event, is not adopted here. 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. One practical note: the County's scheduled inspections for a building permit run footing, slab, framing, firewall, ceiling cover and final, none of which is a roof-covering inspection, so on most re-roofs nobody from the County will look at the eaves - which changes who checks the work, not whether the requirement applies. About drip edge

Not required — No mid-roof, dry-in or roof-nailing inspection is on Walton County's required list. Code section 14-51(e), "Required inspections", was read in full. The building sequence is footing and foundation, monolithic slab, framing, firewall, ceiling cover, final building, and erosion control and energy code alongside them; the electrical, plumbing and mechanical sequences each run underground, rough-in and final. The only stages that mention the roof are the framing inspection, taken "after mechanical, plumbing and electrical roughs are complete and signed off; all framing complete; fireblocking, draftstopping and bracing; roof complete; pre-fab fireplace shall be set, vented through roof and capped", and the three rough-in stages, each taken "after the roof, framing, fireblocking, draftstopping and bracing are in place". Those are new-construction framing stages, not an inspection of a finished roof covering or of underlayment before the covering goes on. TWO CAVEATS THAT ARE PART OF THE ANSWER. Section 14-51(e) itself provides that the building official "shall make the following inspections and such other inspections as necessary", so an inspector may ask to see something the list does not schedule. And section 14-51(b) lets the building official accept the reports of recognised third-party inspection services, which the County administers through a published Third Party List and a third-party inspection form, so on some jobs the inspection is done by an approved private inspector rather than by County staff. Ask the Department of Planning and Development what it wants to see before covering any part of a permitted job.

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Walton County. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Walton County's own chapter 14 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. Walton County's own residential amendments at section 14-63 were read in full and reach the climatic and geographic design criteria table, administrative provisions, footing reinforcement, foundation anchorage, seven named appendices and a deck code - the completed criteria table carries no impact or hail entry. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix is not adopted here, and its roofing content is about fastening and secondary water barriers rather than impact in any event. 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.

WALTON COUNTY PRICES A RE-ROOF ON ITS OWN FEE SCHEDULE, AND IT PUBLISHES A DOLLAR LINE UNDER WHICH NOTHING IS NEEDED. The County's Amended Fee Schedule, approved June 2, 2026, lists under Building Permit Fees, RESIDENTIAL, a "Residential Minimum Permit fee" of $75.00 and, on the next line, "Re-Roof $75.00". So a Walton County re-roof is a permitted job with a price on it. THE PERMIT TRIGGER. Code section 14-44(a)(1) provides that "Any owner, authorized agent, or prime contractor who desires to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure ... shall first make application to the department of planning and development, building construction section, and obtain a building permit for the work being done after paying required fees." Section 14-44(a)(2)a adds a second rule aimed at structural work: "It shall be unlawful for any building to be located, erected, moved, added to or structurally altered if the value of the improvement is in excess of $2,500.00 building or alteration cost without obtaining a building permit issued by the planning and development office." THE EXEMPTION LIST IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, AND THE HEADING IS THE WHOLE POINT. Section 14-44(b) is headed "Exceptions" and opens: "Building permits shall not be required to be secured for the following mechanical work". Its seven items are portable heating appliances, portable ventilation equipment, portable cooling units, steam or water piping inside heating or cooling equipment, replacement of a part that does not alter its approval or make it unsafe, portable evaporative coolers, and small self-contained refrigeration systems. **It is a mechanical list.** Nothing in it reaches roofing, and no other exemption list appears in the chapter. THE ONE GENERAL ALLOWANCE, AND IT HAS A NUMBER. Section 14-44(e), "Minor repairs", provides: "Ordinary minor repairs under $600.00 in total cost 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 this code, including the technical codes." That is unusually concrete for Georgia - most jurisdictions leave ordinary repairs undefined - but note both halves of it: the cost has to be under $600.00 AND the building official has to approve. On any realistic residential re-roof the cost clears $600.00 on its own, which is consistent with the fee schedule carrying a re-roof line at all. WHAT IT COSTS TO GUESS WRONG. Section 14-50(b) provides that anyone starting work before obtaining the necessary permit "shall be subject to a penalty of 100 percent of the usual permit fee in addition to the required permit fees", and that paying it does not relieve anyone from complying with the code or from the other penalties. Section 14-50(e) also lets the department refuse a permit where the stated valuation "appears to be understated on the application", and requires valuations to include "materials, labor, overhead and profit".

90 MILES PER HOUR IS THE ONLY WIND FIGURE WALTON COUNTY HAS EVER PUBLISHED, AND IT NEEDS TO BE READ WITH ITS DATE. The residential code leaves a table of climatic and geographic design criteria to be filled in by the adopting jurisdiction, and Walton County filled it in. Code section 14-63(2), headed "Table R-301.2A Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria", directs: "Add: The following information to the blank spaces in Table R-301.2(1): 1. Roof snow load: five pounds per square foot. 2. Wind: 90 miles per hour. 3. Seismic conditions by zone: B. 4. Reserved. 5. Weathering: moderate. 6. Frost line depth: 12 inches minimum. 7. Termite damage: yes - very heavy. 8. Decay damage: yes - moderate to severe." TWO WARNINGS, AND THEY MATTER MORE THAN THE NUMBER. First, the County states no averaging basis. A wind speed can be a three-second gust, a fastest-mile figure or an ultimate design wind speed, those are three different things, and this record does not convert between them or assume which one the County meant. Second, the amendment carrying it is section 14-63 of the Ordinance of June 4, 2002, and it amends the Georgia State Minimum Standard (CABO) One & Two Family Dwelling Code - the code Georgia used before the International Residential Code - while section 14-31 carries the County forward to whatever editions the state now adopts. So a 2002 figure sits inside a table belonging to a 2024 code. The Georgia State Amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code carry only one wind figure in the mandatory chapters and it is not a design value: an exception to the foundation-anchorage section that applies where the basic wind speed does not exceed 115 miles per hour and the seismic design category is A or B. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix, whose adopting ordinance offers a jurisdiction a choice of minimum wind speeds, is not adopted here. CONFIRM THE DESIGN WIND SPEED, ITS BASIS AND THE EXPOSURE CATEGORY WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT BEFORE DESIGNING TO A NUMBER.

Set by the state code, not by Walton 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, Walton County's chapter 14 was read in full for this record, including the whole of the Walton County Construction Code at sections 14-31 to 14-64 and its residential amendment list at section 14-63. The chapter 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, exemption or fee; the word shingle does not occur in it. No Walton County ordinance limits the number of roof layers. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix, which the County has not adopted, says nothing about layers either. 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 building official on 770-267-1301.

NOT SET BY THE COUNTY. 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 Walton County writes no roof-deck or sheathing specification of its own: chapter 14 was read in full and the word sheathing does not occur in it. That ICC text is behind the ICC paywall and this record deliberately does not reproduce it from any third-party republication. The Disaster Resilient Construction appendix, which carries the enhanced roof-deck sealing provisions, is not adopted in Walton County - section 14-36(j) switches the appendices off unless specifically referenced, and section 14-63(4)'s list of adopted residential appendices does not include it - so those provisions do not apply here. WHAT WALTON COUNTY DOES SPECIFY IS STRUCTURE BELOW THE DECK, NOT THE DECK. Its residential amendments at section 14-63 reach footings, foundation anchorage and decks in the outdoor sense, and its framing inspection at section 14-51(e)(1)c is taken "after mechanical, plumbing and electrical roughs are complete and signed off; all framing complete; fireblocking, draftstopping and bracing; roof complete" - a stage on new construction that looks at the roof structure, not at the sheathing under a replacement covering.

7% in Walton County. The Georgia Department of Revenue's rate chart in force from July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 147 "Walton" at 7%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks L, E and S - a local option tax, an educational tax and a special purpose local option tax. 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 Walton 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 Walton row confirmed on a rendered image of each page rather than by text extraction. Walton is not one of the Georgia counties the chart splits by city, so the same rate applies in Monroe, Loganville, Social Circle, Walnut Grove and the unincorporated county alike. 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.