Barrow County, GA Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

The county adopts "the latest edition" of the Standard Plumbing Code, along with its appendices A through G and J (§ 22-31(a)(4), (b)(3)), and applies it to "every plumbing installation, including alterations, repairs, replacement, equipment, appliances, fixtures, fittings and appurtenances, and when connected to a water or sewerage system" (§ 22-34(a)(7)). Plumbing falls under the same permit rule as other technical-code work: an owner, agent or contractor must apply to the building official and obtain a permit before starting (§ 22-91(a)). The building official then runs three staged plumbing inspections under § 22-98(f)(3): an underground inspection after trenches are excavated and piping installed but before backfill; a rough-in inspection once framing and bracing are up and all soil, waste and vent piping is complete, before wall or ceiling membranes go in; and a final inspection once fixtures are connected and the building is ready for occupancy.

The code cross-references its own testing standard, directing inspectors to "section 417 of the Standard Plumbing Code for required tests" on top of the visual inspections. " That means those lines still go through the building official's own inspection rather than a contractor's self-certified sign-off, regardless of what state law allows elsewhere in Georgia.