How building permits work in South Carolina
These rules apply across South Carolina. Each local guide above covers what is specific to that city or county: its building department and contacts, permit types, fees and inspections.
The South Carolina Building Codes and the 2027 changeover
The enforced code is the South Carolina Building Codes — the International Codes as adopted with South Carolina modifications by the South Carolina Building Codes Council under S.C. Code Ann. § 6-9-50, then administered and enforced locally. South Carolina is mid-changeover. The codes in force today are the 2021 South Carolina Building Codes, effective 1 January 2023. On 26 August 2025 the Building Codes Council adopted the next cycle — the 2024 editions of the International Building, Residential, Fire, Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes, together with the 2023 National Electrical Code — and set the implementation date for every municipality and county as 1 January 2027. Design to the 2021 codes for a permit applied for now. For a project that will be filed close to 1 January 2027, ask the building department whether it applies the code in force on the application date or the issue date. The energy code does not change: it stays the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code, which is set by statute (S.C. Code Ann. § 6-10-30).
Every county and municipality must enforce the building, residential, fire, plumbing, mechanical, fuel gas, electrical and energy codes (S.C. Code Ann. § 6-9-10), and may change them only with the Council’s approval. The property maintenance, existing building and swimming pool codes are different: they apply only where a county or city has adopted them by ordinance (§ 6-9-60).
Contractor licensing: two boards
On homes, the trades usually work under Residential Builders Commission licences: residential electricians, plumbers and heating and air-conditioning installers need one for jobs over $500 (S.C. Code Ann. § 40-59-20), and a residential builder licensed by examination may also do that work. A Contractor’s Licensing Board mechanical licence with the matching subclassification (Electrical, Plumbing, Air Conditioning or Packaged Equipment) is the commercial route, required once a job is over $10,000. The Board’s Heating subclassification covers hot-water and steam systems and Refrigeration covers food and process systems, so neither is the home HVAC licence. Residential pool work over $10,000 needs a Swimming Pools subclassification or a Residential Builder licence.
An owner may build a home for their own or their family’s use without a licence, but not to sell or rent: a sale or rental within two years of completion is treated as evidence that it was built for sale or rent (S.C. Code Ann. § 40-59-260). The owner must sign the permit application in person and file an owner-built notice with the register of deeds; some cities and counties add their own disclosure forms.
Solar: licensing and interconnection
Solar is reviewed on two tracks at once across South Carolina: the electrical side (conductors, overcurrent protection, rapid shutdown, labelling, and the service or supply-side connection, against the adopted National Electrical Code) and the structural side (attachment detail, rail spacing, and whether the existing framing carries the added dead load).
Licensing for solar depends on the kind of work. On commercial work, South Carolina places solar panel installation in the general contractor Miscellaneous Metals subclassification; roof mounting is limited to general contractors holding Roofing or Building, wiring and connections to mechanical contractors holding Electrical, and structural upgrading of the roof to Building or Structural Framing (S.C. Code Ann. § 40-11-410). On homes, the Residential Builders Commission registers solar panel installers, and the wiring goes to a licensed residential electrician (§ 40-59-20). Confirm the route with LLR before filing.
Utility interconnection runs on its own clock alongside the permit. Dominion Energy South Carolina, Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress follow the Public Service Commission’s South Carolina Generator Interconnection Procedures; Santee Cooper, the electric cooperatives and municipal utilities such as Rock Hill, Greer CPW and Orangeburg DPU run their own. Permission to operate is not something the building department controls, so plan for the two tracks to finish at different times.
Roofing permits
A roof covering replacement needs a permit across most of South Carolina. The permit is usually quick, but it is not optional, and the inspection that matters happens before the covering goes on rather than after.
South Carolina has no statewide product-approval system, so there is no approval number to cite on the application. The assembly has to comply with the adopted code and the manufacturer's listed installation instructions, and that pairing is what the inspector checks — which makes the manufacturer's instructions a document worth having on site.
Sequencing is where reroofs go wrong. The deck and dry-in condition has to be visible when the inspector arrives, so covering it first means opening it back up. Where a previous layer has been torn off, expect attention to deck fastening and to any sheathing replaced along the eaves.