South Carolina Building and Residential Codes

The 2021 South Carolina Codes have been adopted by the South Carolina Building Codes Council and came into effect January 1st, 2023. You can view the modifications here. South Carolina is a home-rule state, meaning that each jurisdiction interprets code for that jurisdiction alone, and the state cannot quote code to the public.

Building Code Compliance Software for South Carolina

Plan Analyst code compliance software programs make it easy for building officials, architects and other designers to quickly perform commercial and residential building code plan reviews / code studies.

Plan Analyst for the 2021 IBC and Plan Analyst for the 2021 IRC simplifies the plan review / code study process enabling compliance with the codes and allowing modifications to accommodate amendments, where applicable.  Specifically, all of the questions in the checklist and most of the analysis report items are stored in files that can be edited.  Users have the ability to add code requirements and to add to the checklist.  Changes can be made permanent by changing the data file using the setup section of Plan Analyst, or specific reports can be edited for special conditions.

Plan Analyst Calculators: Deck – Sign – Beam & Column

Plan Analyst Deck, Sign and Beam & Column Calculators are additional simple and effective design and code review software tools that will quickly become your go-to resources when working on associated tasks.

Users of Plan Analyst in South Carolina have included:

City of BeaufortApple Tree Contractors, Inc
City of CharlestonHuff+Gooden Architects, LLC
City of North Myrtle BeachLiollio Architecture
Georgetown CountyMetal Builders, Inc.
State of South CarolinaWalsh Krowka Associates

Building and residential code resources for South Carolina

Energy Code Compliance Software for South Carolina

Visit the U.S. Department of Energy website to see the latest on energy code adoption in South Carolina, including the use of the COMcheck and REScheck Energy Code compliance software. COMcheck enables architects, builders, designers, and contractors to determine whether new commercial or high-rise residential buildings, additions, and alterations meet the requirements of the IECC and ASHRAE Standard 90.1.

The “Building Codes Assistance Project” also provides information on South Carolina’s building energy codes.

FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking

The FEMA Building Code Adoption Tracking program reports on the status of hazard-resistant building code adoption in each state. South Carolina is in FEMA Region 4. Read the 2023 Region 4 fact sheet showing the annual metric of the percent of communities adopting hazard-resistant building codes in South Carolina.

AIA and ICC

American Institute of Architects  – AIA South Carolina – represents architects in the state.  There are over a combined 4,000 registered and reciprocal architects in South Carolina.

South Carolina code adoption status on the ICC website