Savannah, Georgia Building Permit Guide

Savannah building permits come from City of Savannah Development Services, which reviews plans, issues permits, and inspects across life safety, structural integrity, energy conservation, accessible design, and the electrical, plumbing, fuel gas, and heating and air conditioning systems.

The most useful thing to know here is a clock. Trade inspections requested between 7:15 and 8:30 a.m. are performed the same day in most cases; building inspections requested between 7:15 a.m. and 4 p.m. are booked for the next day.

Applies inside the Savannah city limits. Unincorporated Chatham County files with the county's Building Safety department, and Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, and Tybee Island each permit their own work.

What requires a permit in Savannah?

A Savannah building permit is required before most construction, alteration, repair, demolition, or change of occupancy inside the city limits. City of Savannah Development Services is responsible for ensuring public safety through the enforcement of federal, state, and local codes governing construction — reviewing plans, issuing building permits, and performing inspections.

The department's own description of its scope is useful because it names the disciplines it checks: life safety, structural integrity, energy conservation, accessible design, and the electrical, plumbing, fuel gas, and heating and air conditioning systems. A submittal that addresses the building but not the energy or accessibility questions is an incomplete one.

Savannah sits inside Chatham County but the county does not permit city work. It is also a coastal city in a first-tier coastal county, and a historic city where design review attaches to a great deal of the older building stock — two separate overlays that both sit outside the building code.

Georgia’s State Minimum Standard Codes apply statewide; the Department of Community Affairs adopts them, with Georgia Amendments, and city and county building departments enforce them under their own permit rules. Georgia rules

Savannah building department: who handles permitting

Development Services reviews plans, issues permits, and inspects from 20 Interchange Drive, Savannah, GA 31415 (912-651-6510, Monday to Friday 8:15am to 5:00pm), with permits tracked in the city’s eTRAC website. The Building Official is reached directly on 912-644-7784, and the department publishes separate lines for each inspection discipline rather than routing everything through one queue.

The inspection windows are the most operationally useful thing about Savannah, and they differ by discipline. Building inspections are requested by calling 912-651-6530, extension 2498, or by email, between 7:15am and 4:00pm for a next-day inspection. Trade inspections are requested by calling between 7:15am and 8:30am, and in most cases are performed the same day.

That distinction is worth building a schedule around. A trade crew that calls before half past eight can often be inspected and moving on the same day; the same call at nine o'clock buys a next-day slot at best. Electrical, mechanical, and plumbing each have their own extension on the main number, and the city asks that you have your permit number and job address ready so the inspection is scheduled against the correct permit.

Savannah is in Chatham County but is not permitted by Chatham County, and the county’s own Building Safety & Regulatory Services office sits inside the city at 1117 Eisenhower Drive. The county runs its own intake; the city runs its own process with its own inspection lines. Filing one with the other is a wasted trip in a city where the two offices are minutes apart.

Savannah permits: record types and what each covers

Savannah's records reflect a full-service city department reviewing across several disciplines, with utility, coastal, and historic approvals sitting alongside. These are the records you will file:

Residential permit types

Commercial permit types

Records you will actually see in Savannah

Solar permits in Savannah

Solar in Savannah is an electrical-led record inspected by the electrical inspector on their own extension. Book the inspection in the morning window and you will usually be inspected the same day — a real advantage on an install where the crew is only on site for one.

Roofing permits in Savannah

Reroofs inside the city are Savannah permits, not Chatham County ones, even though the county's own office sits within the city. On property in a historic district, expect the materials and appearance question to be asked separately from the code question.

Solar and roofing work are built to the statewide codes, permit rules are set locally, and utilities run interconnection on their own timeline. Georgia rules

Savannah permit cost

Savannah prices from the city's adopted fee schedule, with trade permits carried as their own records. Because the department reviews across life safety, structural, energy, accessibility, and all four trade disciplines, a commercial submittal usually generates several records rather than one.

On commercial renovations the utility step carries its own cost and its own lead time. The water and sewer form has to be completed and signed by the Water and Sewer Planning and Engineering Department before it reaches Development Services, and that is a different department with a different queue.

Coastal and historic work add further separate tracks. Neither the state coastal permit nor the historic design review is priced by Development Services, and neither runs on the building permit's clock.

Savannah trade permits

Savannah gives the trades their own inspection lines and their own window, and using both properly is the difference between same-day and next-day service on almost every rough-in.

Georgia licenses residential contractors through a state board once a job passes $2,500, licenses commercial general contractors at any job value, and licenses electrical, plumbing and conditioned air contractors separately at any job value. Georgia rules

Savannah permit application: how to apply step by step

Here is how to get a building permit in Savannah, from confirming the requirement through to close-out. Each step below corresponds to a real decision point where projects commonly stall.

Inspections in Savannah

Savannah's inspection service is organised by discipline and by clock. Building inspections are requested by phone on extension 2498 or by email between 7:15am and 4:00pm for a next-day visit. Trade inspections requested between 7:15 and 8:30am are performed the same day in most cases, with electrical, mechanical, and plumbing each reached on their own extension.

Every request needs the permit number and the job address. On a site carrying several permits — a building permit plus four trade records is normal on commercial work — booking against the wrong one sends an inspector to the right address for the wrong scope.

Keep the permit and approved plans on site throughout, and keep the permit numbers where the crew can read them out. a Georgia building permit generally becomes invalid if work does not begin within 180 days of issuance, or if work is suspended or abandoned for 180 days after commencing, under the administrative provisions of the adopted International Building and Residential Codes — local ordinance may set a different period, and extensions are usually available in writing on request.

Georgia law lets an applicant use a private professional provider for plan review, with set deadlines for the building official. Georgia rules

Savannah permit search and official resources

Savannah publishes its permit forms, utility requirements, and inspection contacts through Development Services, with the state coastal approvals handled by the Department of Natural Resources.

• City of Savannah building permits
• Savannah inspections — lines and windows
• DNR Coastal Resources Division — marsh and shore permits
• Georgia Coastal Management Program — service area
• Chatham County Building Safety — separate authority
• DCA — current Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes

Frequently asked questions

Who issues building permits in Savannah, GA?

City of Savannah Development Services, which reviews plans, issues building permits, and performs inspections inside the city limits. Unincorporated Chatham County files with the county's Building Safety department instead.

How do I get a same-day inspection in Savannah?

Request a trade inspection by calling between 7:15am and 8:30am — the city performs those the same day in most cases. Building inspections are requested between 7:15am and 4:00pm for the next day.

What number do I call for a Savannah inspection?

Building inspections are on 912-651-6530, extension 2498, or by email. Electrical, mechanical, and plumbing each have their own extension on the same main number. Have your permit number and job address ready so the inspection is scheduled against the correct permit.

What is the Savannah water and sewer form?

A form every commercial renovation needs before the building permit can issue, and without which the city will not accept the application. The applicant is responsible for having it completed by the Water and Sewer Planning and Engineering Department; once they have approved and signed it, the signed document is submitted to Development Services. Water and Sewer Planning and Engineering can be reached on 912-651-6573.

What does Savannah Development Services review?

Code compliance across life safety, structural integrity, energy conservation, accessible design, and the electrical, plumbing, fuel gas, and heating and air conditioning systems. A submittal needs to answer all of those, not just the building question.

Does Chatham County permit work in Savannah?

No. The city permits inside its own limits. The county's Building Safety office happens to sit inside Savannah on Eisenhower Drive, but it permits unincorporated Chatham County, not the city.

Do I need a coastal permit for a dock in Savannah?

Very likely. Work in marsh, on tidal water bottoms, or in the jurisdictional shore area needs a permit from the Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act or the Shore Protection Act. It is a separate approval from the building permit.

Is Savannah in a coastal permitting county?

Yes. Chatham is one of the 11 Georgia Coastal Management Program counties and one of the six that front the ocean. Enforcement reaches the whole coast and roughly 55 miles inland.

Does a building permit let me start marsh work?

No. A state coastal permit does not travel with the building permit, and a local department can issue a building permit for a project that still needs coastal clearance. The resulting stop-work is the most common coastal delay in the state.

Does historic review apply to my Savannah project?

It applies across much of the city's older building stock. Historic design review runs on its own track alongside the building code review, and it addresses appearance and materials rather than code compliance.

What code does Savannah enforce?

The Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes — the 2024 International Building and Residential Codes with Georgia Amendments and the 2023 National Electrical Code with the 2026 Georgia Amendments, effective January 1, 2026. The energy code remains the 2015 IECC with Georgia supplements.

When is a Georgia contractor licence required?

For residential work, once the total value of the work, or the contractor's compensation if higher, exceeds $2,500; commercial general contractors need a licence at any value. Trade licences under Title 43, Chapter 14 are required regardless of job value.

Simplify Savannah permitting with Alliance Permitting

Savannah is a well-run city department with three things worth knowing in advance: a morning window that converts trade inspections from next-day to same-day, a utility approval that commercial renovations need signed by another department before the application is accepted, and two overlays — coastal and historic — that sit entirely outside the building code. A permit expediter for Savannah is working all three in the right order.

Trusted by leading builders, developers, and national contractors — 21+ years of filing in the jurisdictions we write about.

Contractors and builders choose Alliance for Savannah because the work is done by people who have stood at the counter:

• Right authority — city, unincorporated county, or a neighbouring municipality, resolved from the parcel.
• Upstream approvals in hand — water and sewer signed, coastal and historic questions settled before the building submittal.
• Complete oversight — every Savannah permit, trade record, coastal approval, and inspection tracked across your jobs in one place.

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and expediting service. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice, and we are not the permitting authority.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Savannah permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.