Anderson County, SC Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Chapter 8's Division 3 does not print a plumbing code of its own. C. Code 1976, § 6-9-50, the statute that makes technical code adoption mandatory statewide. Under that state adoption schedule, South Carolina's amended edition of the International Plumbing Code is one of the mandatory technical codes counties and municipalities must enforce, alongside the building, residential, fire and mechanical codes. Anderson County's codes department, established by § 8-58, administers permits for all of the mandatory technical codes, including plumbing work performed as part of new construction or an improvement; because plumbing work tied to construction falls under the same Article III permit trigger, a plumbing installation bundled into a project costing $1,000 or more in owner-performed labor still needs the building permit described in §§ 8-110 through 8-117, inspected by the codes department under § 8-59's one-work-day inspection response rule.

Whenever the technical codes are revised and adopted by the state council, § 8-79(c) gives the county one year from the state's adoption date before the new edition must be implemented and enforced locally, and § 8-79(d) makes the Anderson County Code control over the adopted technical codes if the two conflict. The construction board of adjustment and appeals created by § 8-60 can vary a technical code requirement or modify the building official's decision, but only with at least three affirmative votes from its five members.