Barndominium Builders in Spartanburg, SC

Barndominium builders in Spartanburg are working in a county that keeps adding people. Spartanburg County went from 284,307 people in 2010 to 327,997 in 2020, and covers about 820 square miles, from the city to the North Carolina line. The city of Spartanburg, the county seat, had 38,732 residents in 2020 on about 20 square miles. Most of the open land suited to a barndo is out in the county.

Who permits what

City lots. The City of Spartanburg runs its own Building Permits office for property actually inside city limits, with fees updated August 1, 2023.

County land. Spartanburg County Building Codes, at 366 N Church St, handles the rest. Applications go through the county's Citizen Self Service portal, where Planning, Engineering and Building Codes approvals can be submitted together. A residential project may carry separate building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits, and you request inspections and download the certificate of occupancy in the same portal. The county estimates permit fees once it has the building use, construction type, square footage and total cost.

Codes in use

Spartanburg County lists the 2021 International One and Two Family Dwelling Code for residential work, the 2020 National Electrical Code and the 2009 International Energy Code. The county also publishes residential requirements for retaining walls and decks, which come up on sloped lots where a walk-out shop or a raised porch is planned.

Zoning works differently here

The county runs two zoning ordinances. The Performance Zoning Ordinance covers the Southwest Planning Area and the Unified Land Management Ordinance covers the rest of the county. Neither one assigns traditional parcel-by-parcel classifications like residential or commercial. Instead, rules apply by area and by use, with appearance corridors and design standards on arterial and collector roads. For a barndominium, the practical step is to look up the parcel on the county's interactive zoning map and ask planning how your house-plus-shop will be reviewed.

Soils and terrain

Cecil is the most common soil series around Spartanburg, over bedrock that is mostly biotite gneiss. The USDA describes Cecil as very deep and well drained, with a sandy loam surface over red clay, on Piedmont ridges and side slopes from 0 to 25 percent. Morgan Square downtown sits on the western slope of a ridge that divides the Tyger and Pacolet watersheds. Red clay makes a solid base once it is compacted, but it needs grading that moves water away from the slab.

Floodplains

Lawson's Fork Creek flows to the Pacolet River, and its floodplain is considered unsuitable for development. County Engineering on Fairforest Road handles floodplain development applications, permits and verifications, and points owners to FEMA flood maps. If your land touches a creek, get a floodplain verification before you lay out the house.

Weather to design for

NOAA normals put Spartanburg's July average high at 90.1 degrees F and annual precipitation at about 50.24 inches, spread fairly evenly through the year. Snow averages under an inch a year in the 1991-2020 table. Records range from 106 degrees F to minus 5 degrees F. The design priorities are cooling, humidity control and condensation management under a metal roof, plus freeze protection for any plumbing in an unheated shop.

Why the Hub City name

Spartanburg was incorporated in 1831 and earned the Hub City name because rail lines spread out from it like spokes. Today I-85 and I-26 both cross the county, so steel deliveries reach most sites easily.

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