City or county for my permit?

County, most likely. Cumming is the only incorporated city in Forsyth and holds barely three percent of its housing, so the overwhelming majority of Cumming addresses permit through Forsyth County's Department of Building and Licensing rather than the city. We confirm which one you are in before we file anything.

How far is Cumming from your office?

Twenty-three miles and about forty minutes east on GA-20, the Cumming Highway. There is no interstate on that route, which is why it takes longer than the mileage suggests.

March through June, peaking in April. Across these counties roughly a quarter of all severe hail reports land in April alone and about seven in ten fall in that four-month window. Damaging wind peaks later, in July. If you are going to have a roof inspected once a year, the useful time is late spring.

Roofing in Cumming, GA | Lockridge Roofing & Exteriors

The facts

County

Forsyth County

Residential ZIPs

30040 · 30041 · 30028

From the office

23 miles, about 37 minutes free-flow

How you get here

GA-400 Exits 12 through 18, where the limited access ends, plus GA-20, GA-9 and GA-141. From our office the route is GA-20 east — the Cumming Highway — with no interstate involved

Who issues the permit

Almost certainly Forsyth County's Department of Building and Licensing rather than the City of Cumming's Planning and Zoning Department — see below. They are different counters and different queues.

The housing stock

Forsyth has the youngest housing stock of the eight counties in this region: 6.8% predates 1980 and the county median year built is 2004. Inside the city, 22.6% of the stock is from 2000–09 and 16.8% predates 1980.

What the storm record says

4.00-inch hail fell in Cumming on 7 May 1998 — the same day it fell on Acworth and across southern Cherokee. Forsyth records 2.33 hail days a year over thirty years, 1.27 at an inch or more, 14 days at 1.75 inches or more, and a 4.00-inch maximum.

What we run into in Cumming

A "Cumming" address is usually a Forsyth County address

Cumming is the only incorporated city in Forsyth County, and the arithmetic is stark: the city holds 2,879 of the county's 92,575 housing units — 3.1% — and 12,494 of its 282,805 people, or 4.4%. The county's own description notes that most Forsyth residents consequently have a mailing address naming a city in another county entirely. The practical consequence for a roof is the permit. If you are inside the city limits it is the City of Cumming's Planning and Zoning Department; if you are not, and statistically you are not, it is Forsyth County's Department of Building and Licensing. Those are different counters with different queues, and getting it wrong is the difference between a job that starts Monday and one that starts the Monday after.

Forsyth is a four-inch county too

On 7 May 1998 the same system that dropped softballs across southern Cherokee put 4.00-inch hail on Cumming. Forsyth's longer record runs 2.33 hail days a year, 1.27 of them at an inch or more, 14 days at 1.75 inches or more, and that same 4.00-inch maximum. The seasonality is worth planning around: across these eight counties, severe hail reports run about 10% in March, 25% in April, 20% in May, 17% in June and 11% in July, so March through June carries roughly seven in ten of the year's severe hail and April alone carries a quarter of it. Against that, Forsyth has the youngest housing stock of the eight counties — 6.8% predating 1980, county median year built 2004 — so the exposure is a young roof meeting a big stone, not an old roof giving up.

Do not let anyone sell you the growth number

Cumming's population is up more than seventy percent since the last census on paper, and you will see that figure used to describe the market. It is mostly annexation rather than migration — the series shows step functions, jumping from 7,679 to 9,468 across 2022–23 and from 10,109 to 12,494 across 2024–25, which is what boundary changes look like, not what people moving in looks like. It is a true number telling a false story. We mention it because a contractor who leads with it is reading you a real-estate brochure, and that tells you something about the rest of what they are about to say.

Questions about Cumming

City or county for my permit?
County, most likely. Cumming is the only incorporated city in Forsyth and holds barely three percent of its housing, so the overwhelming majority of Cumming addresses permit through Forsyth County's Department of Building and Licensing rather than the city. We confirm which one you are in before we file anything.
How far is Cumming from your office?
Twenty-three miles and about forty minutes east on GA-20, the Cumming Highway. There is no interstate on that route, which is why it takes longer than the mileage suggests.
When is hail season?
March through June, peaking in April. Across these counties roughly a quarter of all severe hail reports land in April alone and about seven in ten fall in that four-month window. Damaging wind peaks later, in July. If you are going to have a roof inspected once a year, the useful time is late spring.

Roofing in Cumming, Georgia