Repair Permits in Augusta-Richmond County and the Cities Inside It

Which government issues a building permit in Augusta and Richmond County?

The Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government issues building permits for its consolidated area, which it has been since it was formed on 1 January 1996. The office that covers the address is the one to ask before any work that may need a permit.

The city of Augusta and Richmond County operate as one consolidated government, formed on 1 January 1996. Its official site is the place to find the building office and its contact details, and the office answers permit questions for the consolidated area.

A homeowner does not need to know the history to ask the question. The address is what matters. Give the office the address and the work you plan, and ask whether a permit applies before any wall, floor or structure is changed.

How do Hephzibah and Blythe differ?

Hephzibah and Blythe are cities inside Richmond County that keep their own municipal governments. A permit for work inside either city is a question for the city's own office, not the consolidated government's.

Being inside Richmond County does not mean being inside the consolidated government's permit area. The two cities keep their own municipal governments, and the office that handles building work inside each city's limits is the city's own. A homeowner in either city should ask the city office, with the address, before the work starts.

A house just outside a city's limits can fall under a different office from the one the city uses. The address and the boundary decide the question, and the answer should be confirmed in writing.

Which repairs usually raise a permit question?

Repairs that open a wall, change a structural member, rebuild a subfloor or change plumbing or wiring are the kinds of work that most often raise a permit question. A surface repair to a finished wall or ceiling often does not, but the office makes that decision.

A water loss can lead to several kinds of repair. A replaced section of wall, a new subfloor, a changed rafter or a rerouted supply line can each need a permit. A fresh coat of paint or a new carpet usually does not, though the office is the one to confirm.

The technician records each opening and each structural change during the water work. That record is what the office will want to see when a permit question is put to it, so keep it with the repair plan.

What should I ask the office before the repair starts?

Ask whether a permit applies to the work at the address, what documents the office needs, whether an inspection is required and in what order the work should be done. Put the questions in writing, and keep the reply with the water records.

Describe the work exactly. An office can answer a specific question, such as whether a new subfloor section needs a permit, far more easily than a general one. Include the address, the area of the house affected and the change planned.

Ask whether the office needs to see the repair before it is closed up. An inspection that happens after a wall is closed can mean opening it again, so the question should be asked before the work begins.

Does the water work need a permit?

Drying and extraction are usually separate from a permit, but the openings the technician makes to dry a cavity are recorded, and any repair that follows them may need a permit. The office that covers the address decides whether a permit applies.

The water work is a cleanup and a drying, not a rebuild. The openings made for drying are small and photographed, and they are patched once the readings confirm the cavity is dry. The patch and any structural repair come after, and that is when the permit question usually arises.

Ask the office whether the drying openings need to be noted in any permit application, and give the technician's record to the office if it asks for it.

Ask also whether the office wants the drying openings listed in the application, or whether the patch is simply recorded. Either answer should be written down, and the openings should be kept on the technician's record with the readings that show why each one was made.

Who answers the question if I am not sure which office covers my address?

The consolidated government's office can confirm whether an address is inside the consolidated area. If it is not, the office that covers the address, such as a city office, is the one to ask. Ask before any work is planned.

Mailing addresses do not always match the boundary of a city or the consolidated area. Give the full street address when you ask, and ask the office to confirm which government covers it.

Keep the reply in writing. A written answer about which office covers an address is one of the most useful documents to hold in a water claim, because it settles the question of who must approve the repair.

What should the owner keep on file for a permitted repair?

Keep the permit application, the office's written reply, the inspection notices, any approval and the final sign-off in the same file as the water records. A repair that was permitted and inspected is easier to explain to an insurer and to a later buyer.

The file should show the date of each step, the name of the office and the reference number it gave. If an inspection was required before a wall was closed, the notice and the approval should sit next to the readings from the same wall.

Ask the repair contractor to give you copies of the same records. A repair without a written record of the permit answer leaves a gap that is difficult to close later, even when the work was done correctly.

How long should a permit answer be kept?

Keep a permit answer for as long as you own the house. It is part of the record of the building, and it may be asked for by an insurer, a repair contractor or a buyer long after the work is done.

Store the paper or the electronic copy with the water file and with the house papers, and note the reference number on the outside of the folder. A copy kept only by the contractor is not enough, because the contractor may not be available when the copy is needed.

If the office's records and yours differ, ask the office to confirm its version in writing. A short written confirmation is much easier to resolve than a disagreement about what was approved.

Who do I contact if the office does not answer?

Put the question in writing again, name the address and the work, and say when you last asked. A written request with dates is the clearest way to show that a question was put and not answered.

If the office still does not respond, ask whether another office covers the address and whether the question should go there instead. Keep a copy of every request and every reply in the file, so that the sequence can be shown to anyone who asks.

Do not begin the repair on the affected wall or floor while a permit question is open. The question is easier to resolve before the structure is changed, and a changed structure is harder to inspect afterward.