Hendersonville, TN Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Hendersonville adopts the plumbing code that governs every permit in the city at Municipal Code § 12-301: 'Pursuant to authority granted by Tennessee Code Annotated, § 6-54-502, the 2021 Edition of the International Plumbing Code as prepared by the International Code Council is hereby adopted by reference as though copied herein.' The city has amended that code repeatedly since 1995, most recently by Ordinance 2025-04 on April 8, 2025, which added a new outdoor gas appliance and fire pit standard requiring listed equipment set at least 4 inches above grade.

Section 12-302 folds dozens of local amendments into the adopted code. Permit fees run 'as indicated in the adopted fee ordinance' rather than a flat citywide number (§ 109.2), and a withdrawn application can recover 'not more than fifty (50%) percent of the permit fee' if work already began under an issued permit, or 'not more than ninety (90%) percent of the plan review fee' if the application is withdrawn before any plan review effort. The code official can halt noncompliant or unsafe work immediately with a written stop-work order under amended § 113.1, and anyone who keeps working after being served one 'shall be liable to a fine as indicated the adopted fee schedule.'

The amendments also set concrete technical minimums enforced through the permit process: building sewers connecting to septic systems must sit at least 18 inches below finished grade (§ 305.4.1), gravity sewer lines must run at least 4 inches in diameter, and floor drains need at least a 3-inch outlet unless the code official approves 2 inches for structural reasons (§ 413.3).

Section 115.4 makes anyone who erects, installs, alters, or repairs plumbing 'in violation of the approved construction documents or directive of the code official, or of a permit or certificate issued under the provisions of this code' subject to 'penalties as prescribed by law.'