What Are the Mobile Home Pad Requirements in Georgia?
Georgia’s installation rule says a manufactured home must sit on a properly prepared stand. The site needs a grade that lets water drain away from that stand. All drainage must slope at least one-half inch per foot away from the foundation for the first ten feet. The federal HUD installation standards set the same slope.
A low home site can hold water up under the home. On flat or low ground, a built-up mobile home pad of compacted fill is one way to get that slope. This is a plain summary of the sources, not legal advice.
What does Georgia’s installation rule say?
The rule is 120-3-7-.13, part of the Georgia Safety Fire Commissioner’s rules for manufactured homes. It makes the installer responsible for proper site preparation. Organic matter, debris, grass and sod must come out where footings or piers will go.
A written agreement settles who does the site prep. The parties can be the homeowner, the retailer, a retail broker or the installer. The agreement still leaves the installer responsible for setting the home on a properly prepared stand. The rule says the installer shall decline to install the home if the site is not properly prepared.
Before 2025, the rule already called for a properly prepared stand graded to drain. An amendment that took effect May 27, 2025 added the federal slope figure. It also added the installer’s responsibility for site prep and the duty to decline a site that is not ready.
What do the federal HUD standards add?
HUD’s Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards sit in 24 CFR Part 3285. They set the minimums for installing a new manufactured home. A state’s own installation program must equal or exceed them.
Section 3285.201 aims to help prevent settling or sagging. The foundation must sit on firm, undisturbed soil or on compacted fill. That fill must reach at least 90 percent of its maximum relative density. Grass, roots, twigs and wood scraps must come out where footings go.
Section 3285.203 says drainage must direct surface water away from the home. That protects the foundation supports from erosion and keeps water from building up under the home. Where property lines, walls, slopes or other conditions block the full slope, the site needs drains or swales. On a sloped site, the home must be protected from runoff off the land around it.
If the soil looks like uncompacted fill or peat, a professional such as an engineer must classify it. When skirting will enclose the space under the home, a vapor retarder must cover the ground. The standard calls for at least six mil polyethylene sheeting or its equivalent.
Where is each requirement written?
| What the site needs | Where it is written |
|---|---|
| A properly prepared stand, graded so water drains away | Georgia Rule 120-3-7-.13 |
| Grass and other organic matter removed where footings go | Georgia Rule 120-3-7-.13 and 24 CFR 3285.201 |
| At least one-half inch per foot of fall for the first ten feet | Georgia Rule 120-3-7-.13 and 24 CFR 3285.203 |
| Firm, undisturbed soil or fill compacted to at least 90 percent of maximum relative density | 24 CFR 3285.201 |
| Drains or swales where the full slope will not fit | 24 CFR 3285.203 |
| A vapor retarder over the ground when skirting encloses the space | Georgia Rule 120-3-7-.18 and 24 CFR 3285.204 |
| Special elevations and anchoring on a site prone to flooding | Georgia Rule 120-3-7-.18 |
Every new manufactured home also comes with an installation manual. Georgia’s rule says that manual gives instructions for site preparation, and state law requires following it.
How is a graded mobile home pad built?
- Clear the brush and small trees from the home site.
- Strip the grass and roots from the pad area.
- Bring in fill and compact it as the pad goes up.
- Shape the top so the ground falls away from the home.
- Cut a swale or add a drain where the lot cannot fit the full slope.
- Turn runoff from higher ground around the pad.
At one-half inch per foot, the ground drops five inches over the first ten feet. So the graded area reaches ten feet out from the foundation where the lot allows. Some lots need a ditch or a culvert to carry water off, and our excavation work covers that.
Georgia law requires a Georgia 811 locate request before mechanized digging. The law’s definition of excavating includes grading. After the pad, the installer builds the foundation system and sets the home on it.
Who checks the site before the home is set?
Every installation in Georgia needs a permit from the Safety Fire Commissioner’s office. The temporary permit application goes in at least 48 hours before installation begins. Local building inspectors may inspect the installation, and the Commissioner’s office has the final say.
Counties add their own steps. Coffee County’s manufactured home ordinance calls for a location permit to place a home. After set-up, the county’s final inspection covers setbacks and an approved septic tank or sewer system, among other items. The home needs an occupancy permit before anyone moves in.
The federal standards make the installer check the local flood maps before a new home goes in. Georgia’s rule calls for special elevations and anchoring on a site prone to flooding. It says to consult an engineer and the local building official. FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center shows the mapped flood zone for an address.
Where does the septic system fit with the pad?
Rule 120-3-7-.18 expects each home site to have a water supply and a sewer the home can attach to. Where public sewer is not available, the Georgia Department of Public Health’s rules require an approved septic system. No one may begin physical development of a lot that will use septic before the county construction permit is issued. The county environmental health office issues it only after a site inspection of the soil and groundwater.
On a septic lot, plan for that permit to come before the pad work. The Southeast Health District, which covers Coffee County, uses one standard septic application. It asks whether the house site is staked and whether the site is cleared.
Under the same rules, grading or filling after the final septic inspection that may harm the system voids the approval. So the pad and the drain field should be laid out together, before either job starts.
We install a new septic tank and drain field as part of the same site job. When the whole lot needs work, the pad becomes one piece of site preparation for a new home.
What should you settle before delivery day?
Under Georgia’s rule, the installer must decline a site that is not ready. Settle these before the home arrives:
- Who does the site prep, in the written agreement the state rule describes
- The septic construction permit, if the lot will use septic
- The county’s own permits and inspections for placing the home
- Whether the lot sits in a mapped flood zone
- A Georgia 811 locate request before any machine digging
Need a mobile home pad built around Broxton?
Southern Grind Solutions builds graded mobile home pads around Broxton and the surrounding counties. We clear the home site, then build up a pad of fill graded so water drains away from the home. Call or text (912) 381-6261, and we look at the lot and put the quote in writing.