Greenwood County, SC Noise Ordinances: Construction Hours (2026)
Construction hours in Greenwood County, SC, sometimes called construction noise rules or contractor work-hour ordinances, set when contractors can run power tools, hammers, and heavy equipment.
Key Facts
- Governing section
- § 11-3-2(a)(8)
- Allowed hours
- 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. weekdays
- After-hours work
- Requires sheriff permit + urgent necessity
- Maximum penalty
- $200 fine or 30 days jail
- Applies to
- Erection, excavation, demolition, alteration, repair
- Adopted
- Ordinance No. 30-96, 11-19-96
Summary
Greenwood County limits building erection, excavation, demolition, alteration, and repair work in residential or business districts to between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays. Work outside those hours needs both an urgent-necessity public-safety justification and a sheriff's permit.
(a)It shall be unlawful for any persons to make, continue, or cause to be continued, any loud, excessive, unnecessary, or disturbing noise, or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others, within the limits of the unincorporated area of the county, except with the permit of the sheriff. ... (8)Building operations. The erection (including excavation), demolition, alteration or repair of any building in a residential or business district other than between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, except in cases of urgent necessity in the interest of public safety, and then only with a permit from the sheriff.
Full Breakdown
Greenwood County Code § 11-3-2(a)(8), titled "Building operations," declares it a loud, excessive, unnecessary, or disturbing noise violation to erect (including excavating), demolish, alter, or repair any building in a residential or business district "other than between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, except in cases of urgent necessity in the interest of public safety, and then only with a permit from the sheriff." The clause is one of the enumerated examples under the county's general noise prohibition in § 11-3-2(a), which otherwise bars any loud, excessive, unnecessary, or disturbing noise in the unincorporated county without a sheriff's permit.
Subsection (b) sets an objective violation standard: a regulated noise is one "plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from its source." Subsection (d) lets the complaints of three or more residents, or one complaint joined with a report from the sheriff or a deputy, count as prima facie evidence of a violation, and subsection (e) lets the sheriff abate offending construction noise on public streets or places as a nuisance. Certain equipment is separately exempted regardless of hours: subsection (c)(1) excuses lawn mowers and agricultural equipment and vehicles that meet the state highway department's muffler requirements, and (c)(4) excuses noise from emergency work. Adopted by Ordinance No. 30-96, § I, November 19, 1996, the hours restriction applies only within unincorporated Greenwood County.
Violations & Fines
Construction noise outside the 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. weekday window violates § 11-3-2(a)(8) and is punishable under subsection (f) by a fine of up to $200.00 or imprisonment of up to 30 days, with each day of the violation a separate offense. A contractor may work outside those hours only for urgent public-safety necessity and only with a permit from the sheriff.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a contractor get a permit to work at night in Greenwood County?
Do the construction hours apply on weekends?
Are lawn mowers or farm equipment covered by the construction-hours limit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Greenwood County
How Greenwood County compares: Cities with the Strictest Construction Hours·Compare Greenwood County to another location·View the South Carolina noise ordinances overview
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