cob in Georgia, zoning, code, Engineers?

Hey guys, I'm feeling pretty hopeless looking at how hard it is to build in my state of Georgia. I live North of Atlanta and have been looking at land in the Dawsonville County and Pickens County because they're about an hour away from work and land is within our price range. I have been dreaming about building with cob for years and did a workshop in Tennessee.

We're finally getting out of debt this year (college paid off, credit cards empty etc, car payment ending in April) and I was so excited to look at land to purchase. Right now I am doing training for my job (reality selling overpriced modern houses) and not making any money for a few months. We just entered middle class with a sole income of 60k after years of both of us doing minimum wage or close to it. So now I'm wondering if there's even a way to make our home...

I feel really blessed with the new income and our new jobs but also upset because it's looking like it's not legal to do a cob homes and I really don't want to live a life paying off a huge mortgage. I want to build free and live free with animals and a garden etc. Currently we have no children, but I'd like to find a way to get the home county approved for child-adoption purposes in the future.

It's like we got to the finish line with our income increase and ran into red tape I'm worried we can't break through.

There's plenty of unrestricted acreage north of us but I suppose that means the building codes still apply, but build whatever structure (industrial/agriculture/mobile home) you want? I've sent messages to realtors of these counties and haven't heard back yet.

Does anyone know an engineer to hire in GA sympathetic to the alternative building movement?
We can't move as we have no savings and our jobs are both in GA....

Thank you guys for your time, sorry about writing such a novel... just feeling a bit emotional about it all

Hi, Liz and welcome to permies! I hope bumping up your thread will give you a chance at some input.
Congratulations on being debt free...that is a wonderful way to begin a new adventure!

We are also interested in moving to Atlanta and want to build a Cob house but are not sure how to get through the permit process. Have you had any success in finding an engineer that will work with you?

Thanks!
Tari

I think I'm late to this, but we are also in the Atlanta area and own land near Ellijay, GA. We are looking to build a earth sheltered / cob home on the land too!
Was wondering if anyone has found out about the codes / regulations on building.

Love to keep the forum going if there are more people to join in!

I'm really wondering about this too. Anyone have any ideas? It seems like I'm searching for something that isn't there.

Check out this thread regarding cob/earthen homes in GA:
https://permies.com/forums/posts/list/51610#416421

check out this guy possibly? http://www.georgiaadobe.com/

Hello guys! Has anyone found any good tips and tricks on getting past the codes/zoning rules? I live near Atlanta, but I want to build my earthbag house a little outside of the city, to avoid crazy taxes and traffic and all that jazz. Also, if anyone knows of anyone building a cob house soon, I would love to come help and lend a hand so that I could also learn how to build my own. Thank you for reading all of this!
Elise

Has anyone here in Ga built any cob homes?  I’m looking into this as well.  I know this post was from 2015 and it’s now 2023 so I hope you all had success.  Please let me know.  Thank you!

Hi Shelley and welcome to the forums. Wishing you well in your building adventures. Hopefully someone here can help. Did you check out the links above https://permies.com/t/51610/North-GA-Mountian-earth-home#416421 ?