General Contractor in Georgia
General Contractor in Georgia — Headquartered in Cumming
Bowser Construction Group is a licensed general contractor in Georgia operating from 1225 Squire Lane in Cumming, Forsyth County. We hold an active contractor license through the Georgia Secretary of State and carry general liability insurance, workers’ compensation, and bonding on every project.
Georgia construction has its own set of challenges that contractors from outside the state routinely underestimate. Red clay soil that expands and contracts with moisture. A frost line that sits at 12 inches across most of the state but deepens in the North Georgia foothills. Mandatory termite pretreatment on every new structure. Tree ordinances in cities like Roswell, Milton, and Alpharetta that can kill a site plan if the contractor doesn’t account for specimen trees before grading. We’ve been navigating all of it since 2016 because this is our home market — not a satellite operation.
What We Build as Your General Contractor in Georgia
From Buckhead office build-outs to Cherokee County custom homes and Suwanee distribution centers — we handle every sector of Georgia construction under one license.
Commercial
Office, restaurant, medical, and retail build-outs. Tenant improvements on lease clocks across Metro Atlanta.
Learn MoreResidential
Custom homes, luxury builds, additions, and whole-home renovations. Engineered foundations for Georgia red clay.
Learn MoreMultifamily
Apartments, townhomes, senior living, and mixed-use. Wood-frame, podium, and stick-built for Georgia developers.
Learn MoreIndustrial
Warehouses, distribution centers, and flex space. Tilt-up, structural steel, and pre-engineered metal buildings.
Learn MoreGeorgia Site Conditions That Affect Every Project
If your general contractor doesn’t understand Georgia’s soil, climate, and code requirements before they bid, you’ll pay for that ignorance in change orders. These are the conditions we engineer around on every project.
Red Clay Soil
Georgia’s Piedmont red clay expands when wet and shrinks when dry. Foundations need proper footing depth, compacted fill, and drainage design — or you’ll see cracks within two years. We specify geotechnical testing on anything larger than a simple slab.
Frost Line Depth
Georgia’s frost line sits at 12 inches across most of the state, but runs deeper in Dawson, Lumpkin, and the North Georgia foothills. Footings poured above the frost line will heave. We engineer every foundation to the site-specific depth, not a statewide guess.
Termite Pretreatment
Georgia requires termite pretreatment on every new structure before the slab is poured. The Georgia Department of Agriculture mandates a soil treatment barrier meeting state specifications. We coordinate this inspection before concrete — not as an afterthought.
Tree Ordinances
Milton, Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, and the City of Atlanta enforce strict tree protection ordinances. Specimen trees over a certain caliper require permits to remove and often carry recompense requirements. A site plan that ignores tree surveys will get rejected.
Stormwater Management
Forsyth County, Fulton County, and the City of Atlanta all enforce different stormwater runoff and erosion control requirements. Georgia EPD mandates NPDES permits on sites disturbing more than one acre. We handle the SWPPP and install silt fence and inlet protection before the first shovel.
Radon & Soil Gas
North Georgia — particularly Forsyth, Cherokee, Hall, and Dawson counties — sits in EPA Radon Zone 1, the highest risk category. Residential construction requires radon-resistant new construction techniques: sub-slab depressurization piping, sealed vapor barriers, and proper ventilation.
Metro Atlanta — Commercial Corridors, Infill Sites, and Tight Timelines
Most of our Georgia volume runs through Metro Atlanta. That means tenant improvements in Dunwoody’s Perimeter Center where the building engineer requires after-hours work. Restaurant build-outs on Canton Street in Roswell where city approval includes a design review board. Medical office construction in Sandy Springs where the landlord’s architect has opinions about everything down to the door hardware finish.
Metro Atlanta’s permitting landscape is fragmented. The City of Atlanta operates its own building department with its own plan review timeline — which is different from Fulton County’s unincorporated process, which is different from how Johns Creek handles commercial permits, which is different from Dunwoody. As a general contractor in Georgia who pulls permits across all of these jurisdictions, we know which offices accept electronic submittals, which require wet-stamped plans, and which ones will reject your application if the site plan doesn’t show the dumpster enclosure detail.
North Georgia — Septic, Well Water, Slopes, and County Roads
Construction north of GA-20 is a different animal. Properties in Dawsonville, Ball Ground, and upper Cherokee County are often on well water and septic systems instead of municipal utilities. That means soil percolation testing, septic system design by a licensed engineer, and health department approval before you can pull a building permit.
Steep grades are common in the foothills. A flat lot in Cumming might need a standard monolithic slab. A sloped lot two miles north in Dawson County might need a daylight basement with stepped footings and retaining walls. The grading plan, erosion control, and foundation design all change based on topography. We build on both — and we price each one accurately because we’ve done the site work enough times to know what the actual conditions require, not what a flat-lot budget template says.
Cities We Serve as Your General Contractor in Georgia
Click any city for local construction details — neighborhoods, commercial corridors, permitting offices, and project types we handle in that market.
Georgia Contractor Licensing, Insurance, and What to Verify
Georgia requires contractors performing residential or commercial work to hold a license through the Georgia Secretary of State. There are different license classifications — Residential Basic, Residential Light Commercial, and General Contractor — and the scope of work each allows is different. Bowser Construction Group holds a license that covers commercial, residential, and industrial projects across Georgia.
Beyond the license, verify insurance. A general contractor in Georgia should carry general liability insurance (covering property damage and third-party injury on the job site), workers’ compensation (required by Georgia law for employers with three or more employees), and bonding for projects where the owner or lender requires it. We provide certificates of insurance before starting any project — you don’t have to ask.
Georgia Counties Where We Pull Permits and Build
Every county building department operates differently. Forsyth County accepts electronic plan submittals and typically reviews residential permits within 5-7 business days. Fulton County’s unincorporated process is slower. Cherokee County requires a pre-application meeting for commercial projects over a certain threshold. We’ve pulled permits in all of them and know what each office expects before we submit.
Why Georgia Clients Choose Bowser Construction Group
Local to Georgia
1225 Squire Lane, Cumming. Our project managers drive to your job site. They know the inspectors, the trade base, and the county offices because they’ve been working in these jurisdictions for years — not weeks.
Accurate Estimates
Line-item pricing based on Georgia material costs and local sub rates. Not a template from another state with a “Georgia multiplier” slapped on top. If we quote $14/SF for drywall finish in Forsyth County, it’s because that’s what our drywall sub actually charges here.
Every Sector, One License
Commercial, residential, multifamily, industrial, and design-build. One contractor who handles all of it — so a developer who just finished an apartment project with us can call the same team for their next office build-out.
Frequently Asked Questions — General Contractor in Georgia
Almost always. Georgia requires building permits for new construction, additions, structural modifications, and most commercial build-outs. Even projects like deck construction, HVAC replacement, and electrical panel upgrades require permits in most jurisdictions. Forsyth County, Fulton County, the City of Atlanta, and each municipality within Metro Atlanta operate their own permitting offices with different requirements. As your general contractor in Georgia, we handle the entire permit process — application, plan submission, revision responses, and inspection scheduling.
Georgia’s Piedmont red clay is an expansive soil that swells when saturated and shrinks during drought. This movement puts stress on foundations, which is why proper footing depth, compacted structural fill, and perimeter drainage are critical. On residential projects, we typically specify spread footings at a minimum of 12 inches below grade (deeper in North Georgia). On commercial and industrial projects, we recommend geotechnical boring reports before design to identify clay depth, bearing capacity, and water table conditions specific to the site.
It varies by jurisdiction. Forsyth County residential permits typically take 5-7 business days for plan review. Fulton County unincorporated areas run longer. The City of Atlanta commercial permits can take 4-8 weeks depending on complexity and revision cycles. Johns Creek, Sandy Springs, and Dunwoody each have their own timelines. We account for permit review time in every project schedule and submit complete applications to avoid rejection and resubmission delays.
Yes. Georgia law requires termite pretreatment on all new construction. The Georgia Department of Agriculture regulates the treatment standards. A licensed pest control operator must treat the soil before the slab is poured and provide a certificate that gets filed with the building permit. We coordinate this as part of our standard pre-slab inspection sequence — it happens automatically, not as a last-minute scramble.
Yes. We hold active contractor licenses in both states. Our headquarters is in Cumming, Georgia and our Florida office is in Winter Park. Developers and business owners with projects in both states get one general contractor, one standard, and one relationship. Learn more about our Florida operations.
Call (470) 230-3331 or submit a request through our contact page. Tell us what you’re building, where in Georgia, and share any plans or budget range you have. We’ll schedule a site visit or plan review and deliver a detailed line-item estimate — typically within 48 hours of scoping the project.
Start Your Georgia Construction Project
Tell us what you’re building, where in Georgia, and what your timeline looks like. Detailed estimates delivered within 48 hours of scope review.