Greenville County Zoning Ordinance Sec. 6:2(13) limits a home occupation to an activity "clearly incidental" to the dwelling, conducted only inside the principal structure, on no more than 25% of its floor area, with at most one (1) non-resident employee in addition to the resident family. No outdoor storage, no on-site retail sale of off-premises merchandise (except service-related products like beauty supplies), no display visible from the street, no alteration of residential character, and no nuisance. Off-street parking must comply with Table 12.1. These rules together cap how many customers, clients, or deliveries can realistically occur at the home.
Section 6:2(13) opens with a definitional gate: home occupations are "Occupations, professions, or trades customarily carried on by occupants of dwelling units as secondary uses which are clearly incidental to use of dwelling units for residential purposes." That "clearly incidental" standard is the umbrella under which the more specific limits live. A use that generates customer traffic, parking demand, or visual presence that would seem at home in a commercial district is, by definition, no longer "clearly incidental" — and therefore no longer a permitted home occupation, regardless of literal compliance with the line-item rules.
The line-item rules nonetheless give applicants and Code Enforcement concrete benchmarks. Sub-paragraph (A) caps non-resident employees at one — meaning the operator and immediate family living in the home, plus at most one outside employee, can be on site at a time. (B) requires the work to happen inside the principal structure: a backyard hair-cutting station, a detached studio repair shop, or a converted shed-based business is not permitted. (C) caps the working footprint at 25% of the dwelling's floor area. (D) bars on-site retail sale of merchandise manufactured off the premises, with a narrow exception for products directly related to the service (e.g., shampoo at a home beautician). (E) forbids display of merchandise visible from the street. (F) prohibits outdoor storage. (G) requires the property to keep its residential character (no commercial-grade lighting, no commercial dumpsters, no addition of parking lots). (H) is the catch-all nuisance/undue-disturbance standard — the lever that lets Code Enforcement act on smell, noise, traffic, and chemical-handling complaints from neighbors even when the line-item rules technically appear satisfied.
Off-street parking must comply with Table 12.1 (Off-Street Parking Requirements) referenced at the end of Sec. 6:2(13). The required residential parking spaces for the dwelling remain mandatory, and any customer parking generated by the home occupation must fit on the lot — not in the street right-of-way, on neighboring lots, or in commonly held HOA areas. In practice this means most legitimate home occupations under Sec. 6:2(13) are appointment-based, low-volume professional or service uses; high-throughput retail, walk-in clinics, restaurants, salons with multiple chairs, and similar uses cannot fit within these conditions and must locate in a commercial zoning district.
The ordinance lists permitted home occupations including: barber/beautician (one chair), child day care home, home-based food production under SC Cottage Food Law (S.C. Code §44-1-143), academic tutor, music teacher, dance instructor, internet retail sales (mail-order/online — not walk-in), locksmith, manufacturer's representative, notary public, photographer, accountant/bookkeeper, attorney, insurance agent, information technology professional, residence as business mailing address, secretarial service, and tailoring (Am. Ord. 4684, §1, passed 3-17-2015). Other home occupations may be permitted by the Board of Zoning Appeals after a hearing under Article 3.
Violations of Sec. 6:2(13) are handled by Greenville County Code Enforcement (864-467-7425). The typical sequence is: complaint intake -> site inspection -> written Notice of Violation specifying which sub-paragraph is violated -> compliance deadline -> re-inspection -> summons to Magistrate Court if not corrected. Common violations include: (a) hiring a second non-resident employee in violation of (A); (b) running the business from the garage or a detached structure in violation of (B); (c) using more than 25% of the dwelling for business activity in violation of (C); (d) storing inventory or equipment outdoors in violation of (F); (e) customer traffic that backs up onto the street or onto neighbors' lots in violation of the nuisance standard at (H) and Table 12.1 parking requirements. Magistrate Court fines under the general penalty section of the Greenville County Code can be issued per day of continuing violation. A determination that the activity has outgrown the "clearly incidental" gate triggers an order to cease operations or relocate to a commercial zoning district. The County may also revoke any business license tied to the address.
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