Permits & licenses in Chatham County.
Permitting in Chatham County runs on Georgia's state minimum standard codes, adopted by the Department of Community Affairs and enforced at the local line. There is no state building permit: the county inspection department holds the unincorporated parcels and each city holds its own, on the same DCA edition.
- Building Safety & Regulatory Services issues county permits, runs inspections and tax certificates, and carries zoning administration and a licensing division; permit records sit in the county's EnerGov self-service.
- Inside Savannah, Development Services issues building, trade, site and plat permits through eTRAC and coordinates the city's plan reviews — stormwater, water and sewer, park and tree, traffic and streets, zoning, the Metropolitan Planning Commission, and the building trades.
- Zoning petitions on both sides of the city line go to the Chatham County–Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission.
Talk to a permit specialist — for your Chatham County project.
county seat: Savannah
Chatham County · drawn from Census boundaries
What we clear here
- Building permits — new construction, fit-outs, renovations
- Trade permits — electrical, plumbing, gas, mechanical
- Use & occupancy and the inspections behind it
- Business & contractor licensing
- Signs, site work, and right-of-way
How it moves
Your package is reviewed against the current Chatham County submission requirements before it's filed — forms, editions, scales, signatures. Then it's tracked in the queue and carried through comments. A resubmittal means the back of the line; the pre-filing review is there to help keep you out of it. The habit comes from volume: the team has processed 400+ permits annually across Maryland, D.C., and Virginia counters.
Straight answers
Who issues building permits in Chatham County?
Chatham County Department of Building Safety & Regulatory Services and City of Savannah Development Services — with the trade, health, and fire reviews that attach depending on the project.
Does DaKa work in Chatham County?
Yes — Chatham County is one of the Georgia markets we serve. Call (240) 344-5075, or send the project over, and we'll lay out your project's permits and licenses, in order, with what each review will take.
Talk to a permit specialist
Ten minutes on your project. You leave knowing the approvals it needs, in what order, and what each review will take. Or send the address, scope, and plans and we start from there.