(A) No building permit shall be issued for any building, or structure, the estimated total cost of which is more than $30,000, unless the work is to be performed by a licensed general contractor.
(B) Where detailed plans, and specifications, are required under this article, no building permit shall be issued unless such plans, and specifications, have been provided.
(C) Pursuant to G.S. § 83A-13, nothing in this article shall be construed to require plans sealed by an architect where the building, or structure, to be permitted meets one of the following exceptions:
(1) A family residence, up to eight units attached with grade level exit, which is not a part of, or physically connected with, any other buildings or residential units;
(2) A building upon any farm for the use of any farmer, unless the building is of such nature, and intended for such use, as to substantially involve the health, or safety, of the public;
(3) An institutional, or commercial, building if it does not have a total value exceeding $90,000;
(4) An institutional, or commercial, building if the total building area does not exceed 2,500 square feet in gross floor area;
(5) Alteration, remodeling, or renovation of an existing building that is exempt under this section, or alteration, remodeling, or renovation of an existing building, or building site, that does not alter, or affect, the structural system of the building; change the building’s access or exit pattern; or change the live, or dead, load on the building’s structural system; or
(6) The preparation, and use, of details and shop drawings, assembly, or erection drawings, or graphic descriptions utilized to detail, or illustrate, a portion of the work required to construct the project in accordance with the plans, and specifications, prepared, or to be prepared, under the requirements, or exemptions, of G.S. Chapter 83A.
(Code 1976, § 8.22)