Barndominium Builders in Belton, SC

Barndominium builders in Belton are building in old cotton country. Belton, a city in eastern Anderson County, was once the state's cotton ginning center, and the land around it still runs to fields, pasture and woodlots. That is the kind of ground where a barndominium makes sense: room for a wide shop, a long drive and a house that does not have to match a subdivision.

Where Belton sits

Belton is 11 miles east of Anderson on US 76 and US 178, and Honea Path is 8 miles further southeast on the same road. SC 20 runs 26 miles north to Greenville. The city stands at 883 feet and covers just under 4 square miles. It had 4,335 residents in 2020, up 4.9 percent from 4,134 in 2010. Slow growth inside town; plenty of rural acreage outside it.

Born on the railroad

A line linking the Piedmont to the Columbia and Charleston railroad was finished in 1853, with a spur to Anderson, and the state incorporated Belton in 1855 with limits set within a half-mile radius of the depot. The town takes its name from John Belton O'Neal, the first president of the Columbia and Greenville Railroad. The 155-foot concrete Belton Standpipe from the 1908 water system still stands and lends its name to the yearly Standpipe Festival.

Before you buy acreage

• Confirm the jurisdiction. If the parcel is inside the city, check with Belton City Hall on permits and zoning. Outside the limits, Anderson County Building & Codes issues the permit through its OpenGov portal.
• Check precinct zoning. Anderson County zones unincorporated land precinct by precinct after a petition and referendum. Some rural parcels carry no zoning district; others do.
• Get the soil evaluation done. South Carolina requires SC DES approval and a permit for any septic system, and the county cannot issue a building permit without it. The approved drain field area often decides where the house and shop can go.
• Plan the driveway. Concrete trucks and a steel delivery need a firm, drained gravel base to the pad.

Soils and slab

The Upstate Piedmont is red clay country. USDA's Cecil series, for example, is a very deep, well drained Piedmont upland soil with a sandy loam surface over red clay subsoil, on slopes from 0 to 25 percent. Clay holds water after rain and can be slick to work, so we schedule pad work around wet spells, compact in lifts, and slope the finished grade away from the slab on all sides.

River and flood ground

The Saluda River passes not far from town, and Holiday Dam on the Saluda sits near Belton. Bottomland near the river and the larger creeks may be in a mapped flood zone. Anderson County requires a development permit there and a lowest floor at least two feet above base flood elevation. The higher part of a tract is usually the better house site.

Plans that fit Belton land

One simple layout puts the living area and the shop under one long roof line. Hay, tractors and trailers want 12- or 14-foot doors and a clear-span steel frame. A smaller hobby shop can go post-frame. Inside, a mudroom with a washer and a utility sink between the shop and kitchen keeps red clay off the floors.

Call (864) 326-0632 or

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