Dorchester County, SC Building Safety: Building Permits (2026)

Section 6-1 sets the framework for every building permit issued in the county: subsection (a) requires a fee for permit issuance and inspection services as set under the applicable codes, subsection (b) blocks issuance of a permit or performance of an inspection until all required business and contractor licenses are obtained and prescribed fees are paid, and subsection (c) ties the fee schedule to the county's adopted schedule of permit fees, amended from time to time. Reinspection triggers its own fee under subsections (g) and (h), covering a missing permit card, uncorrected code violations, a wrong or missing address, or work that simply is not ready when the inspector arrives; the reinspection fee equals the standard minimum inspection fee for each occurrence after the first.

Subsection (j) targets work started before a permit is obtained: the required fee is doubled, and that penalty does not excuse the contractor or owner from fully complying with the building code or from any other penalty elsewhere in the code. Section 6-25 backs the whole article with a misdemeanor penalty, up to a $200 fine or 30 days in jail per offense, though a first-time violator gets seven calendar days to fix a non-emergency problem before a second citation can issue, and each day counts as a separate offense once the violation is deemed to create imminent danger or once no progress is made after that seven-day window.

Section 6-26 requires the issued permit to be visually displayed on site, with a daily fine if the same permit is reused for more than one project or if false information was given to obtain it.