About eleven miles down GA-400 and seventeen free-flow minutes from the studio. Dunwoody is the oldest housing stock we work in by a clear margin, and it is the only town on our list where the pre-1978 lead conversation is a routine part of the first meeting rather than an occasional one.
County
DeKalb County
From the studio
10.8 miles, about 17 minutes with no traffic
Who issues the permit
City of Dunwoody — Community Development
Housing stock
44.1% of housing units were built before 1980; dominant decade the 1970s, at 27.9% of the housing stock
Residential ZIPs: 30338, 30346, 30360. Arriving via GA-400 south to exit 5, or I-285 exits 27 through 30. Housing figures are American Community Survey five-year estimates and describe construction before 1980, which is the boundary the Census actually publishes — there is no 1978 bucket in any Census table.
What we run into in Dunwoody
The only town on our list whose dominant decade is the 1970s
Forty-four percent of Dunwoody's housing was built before 1980 — the highest share of any city we serve, and roughly six times Alpharetta's — with the 1970s as the single largest decade at 27.9% and a median year built of 1984. Nowhere else on our list is the 1970s the dominant decade. That single statistic reshapes a remodel here. Framing from that era is dimensionally real rather than nominal in places, and it has had fifty years to move. Wiring, panels and plumbing are frequently at or past the end of their service lives rather than approaching it. And most consequentially, a large share of Dunwoody houses predate 1978, which means the federal lead-paint rules govern how any work disturbing a painted surface is carried out. Containment, specific cleaning and verification are a line in the schedule and a line in the number, and on this side of our service area we write them into the proposal as a matter of course.
Two subdivisions with a documented build date, and what they tell you
Dunwoody's older neighborhoods can be dated precisely enough to be useful. Dunwoody North was developed in 1963 and 1964 by Tom Cousins, according to the neighborhood association's own history. Dunwoody Club Forest is four hundred and ninety-five homes whose first residents arrived in 1971, built out after the country club relocated in 1969 — which is why the subdivision has no swim and tennis club of its own. Those dates are not nostalgia. A 1963 house and a 1971 house in the same city have different ceiling heights, different bath layouts, different electrical service and different assumptions about where a kitchen sits relative to everything else, and knowing which era we are walking into changes what we look for on a Discovery visit. Both eras predate 1978, and both get the lead-rule treatment.
A city since 2008, and its mail still says Atlanta
Dunwoody incorporated on 1 December 2008, which means every house here older than that was permitted by DeKalb County rather than by a city, and the paperwork trail for anything done before 2009 lives with the county. The city now issues permits through its own Community Development department. One quirk worth knowing for anybody trying to research their own address: Dunwoody has no postal identity — 30338, 30346 and 30360 all resolve to Atlanta as the primary city name — so an online lookup keyed to a mailing address will not tell you which jurisdiction governs your permit. That trips up homeowners more often than any code provision does.
We write one of these only where the town and the work genuinely change each other — a permitting rule, a housing type, a site condition. Where there is nothing specific to say, we have not said it.
Our house was built in 1972. Does that change the project?
Yes, in three ways. Federal lead-paint rules apply to any work disturbing a painted surface, and window replacement and demolition of painted surfaces are covered no matter how small the area — that affects containment, cleaning, verification, the schedule and the number. Framing from that era has moved. And the electrical service is usually at the end of its life whether or not you were planning to touch it.
Is Dunwoody far enough that it changes how you schedule?
It is our second-furthest town by drive time and it is a straight run down GA-400. It does not change how we schedule, but it is worth saying plainly that free-flow times are a floor: GA-400 southbound at five o'clock is a different road from GA-400 at ten in the morning.
Who issues the permit for a Dunwoody address?
The City of Dunwoody's Community Development department. For work done before the city incorporated at the end of 2008, the records are DeKalb County's.
Tell us about a house in Dunwoody
The town is pre-filled. Four short steps, and it ends with a call from Priscilla within one business day.
