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 Beaufort | Apple Tree Contractors, Inc |
| City of Charleston | Huff+Gooden Architects, LLC |
| City of North Myrtle Beach | Liollio Architecture |
| Georgetown County | Metal Builders, Inc. |
| State of South Carolina | Walsh Krowka Associates |
Building and residential code resources for South Carolina
- View the 2021 South Carolina Building Code free online at ICC
- View the 2021 South Carolina Residential Code free online at ICC
- South Carolina Modifications to International Codes
- Purchase Plan Analyst for the 2021 IBC and IRC to automate and simplify your South Carolina plan reviews / code studies plananalyst.com.
- The ICC General Code website provides access to some municipal codes.
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.
DOE’s EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation (BEM) program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption (for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads) and water use in buildings. It supports a number of public and private-sector tools and services including EP3. EP3 is a user interface for EnergyPlus™ designed to streamline workflows for building energy modelers. EP3 is well-suited for tasks like modeling ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G baselines and evaluating energy efficiency measures in new and existing buildings.
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 2024 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