Do I need a permit for plumbing fixture or repiping in Unincorporated Duplin County?

It depends. Whether plumbing fixture or repiping needs a permit in Unincorporated Duplin County comes down to the details of your project.

Repiping a home is plumbing work and requires a permit; it is never covered by the NCGS 160D-1110 minor-work exemption regardless of cost. If walls are opened and re-closed, the framing patch and insulation may need to be inspected before cover; confirm the inspection sequence with your local department. Duplin County's own permitting office is the Duplin County Building Inspections office, reachable on 910-296-2124 at https://www.duplinnc.gov/182/Building-Inspections. It issues permits for the unincorporated county. If your city does not run its own building department, this is the office that will handle the job, and that is more common in North Carolina than most states: the county is often the building authority even inside city limits, with the city handling only zoning. The rough inspection has to happen before walls are closed, so confirm scheduling lead time when you pull the permit. NCGS 160D-1110(c)(2) excludes any addition or change in the design of plumbing from the $40,000 exemption and exempts only replacements that do not change size or capacity, so a repipe that reroutes or resizes lines needs a Duplin County plumbing permit. Confirm with Duplin County Building Inspections at 910-296-2124 before starting. Duplin County's Do It Yourself guide notes that state law requires every plumbing contractor, including subcontractors, to hold a North Carolina license regardless of job cost, and that inspections requested before 5 p.m. are normally done the next workday.