The Barrow County License and Permits Department is responsible for administering the Building Ordinance, Occupational Tax Ordinance, Sign Ordinance as well as the Building Codes adopted by the County and the State of Georgia. 1,517 permits were issued during 2005 from the Department. The breakdown of permits is as follows:

• Accessory Structure 88
• Church 2
• Commercial 40
• Driveway 14
• Electrical 126
• HVAC 9
• Mobile Home 23
• One Family 1,092
• Other/Addition 33
• Plan Review 30
• Plumbing 16
• Sign 13
• Swimming Pool 31

The number of One Family (housing permits) is down from 2004, which was 1,139. However, in 2004 the average square footage of a house was 1,825 and in 2005 it was 1,960. The increase in the size of a One Family house represents an 8 percent increase from 2004 to 2005. For January and February 2006 the average house size has been 2,156 which represents an additional increase of 196 square feet per house or 10 percent. The most significant commercial project for Barrow County was the permitting of the Home Depot Store at Highway 316 and Highway 81. The growth in the digest for 2005 was $156 million dollars as a result of the new construction and added values associated with the a growing community. In addition to issuing the above permits the County Building Inspector Staff conducted 10,640 inspections, which is more than 40 per working day.

The Permit Office is also responsible for the management of Occupation Tax Certificates. During the 2005 year a total of 1,580 Tax Certificates (Business Licenses) were issued, and these businesses employed 5,362 people. The largest private employer in the unincorporated portion of Barrow County is Anderson Merchandisers with 556 employees. Anderson Merchandisers is located in the industrial park between Patrick Mill Road and Kilcrease Road. The table to the left (Occupation Tax Certificates) provides a graph of the increased businesses and employees for the Barrow County Community. The increase in number of business from 2002 to 2005 is 724 which is an 85 percent increase. The number of employees for businesses in unincorporated Barrow County has grown from 3,650 to 5,362 which represents a 47 percent increase in employment. The 2006 Tax Certificates are currently being renewed, and at present the renewed and newly created businesses are reporting a total of 5,771 employees with is already an increase of 409 jobs over 2005, and 75 employers in the County account for 4,058 of these jobs.