Horry County, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

C bans a list of business types from operating as home occupations anywhere in unincorporated Horry County, and Auto Repair Services is on that list alongside kennels, welding, escort services and tattoo parlors. For most residential lots the prohibition is absolute: nothing in Sec. E, which govern home occupations on parcels of one acre or less and on parcels over one acre outside the county's agricultural zones, reopens the door for a home-based repair shop. The ordinance only carves an exception in the county's rural and agricultural districts: AG1, AG2, FA, LFA and CFA.

Sec. ' Sec. G repeats the identical exception, word for word, for tracts of one and one-half acres and larger in the same five districts. In both cases the business may be based at the home for licensing and dispatch purposes, but no vehicle may sit on the property awaiting or undergoing repair, and no wrench turns there either. Outside AG1, AG2, FA, LFA and CFA, none of these exceptions apply, so a home auto repair or body shop in a standard residential district such as SF or MSF is a zoning violation regardless of lot size.