South Carolina Residential Construction Standards

The Residential Builders Commission of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation that licenses residential/home builders and specialty/sub-contractors, adopted the Residential Standards as the Guidelines by which all investigations shall be conducted, as approved July 26, 1995 and revised October 29, 1997.

Adopted by the Commission on February 18, 1998.

Download an official pdf version of these standards as published by the SC RBC.

Information on getting problems and issues resolved with your builder, and how to get the most out of these Standards

Expert Insights into the South Carolina Residential Construction Standards

The links below will take you to a web version of these standards. A significant attempt has been made to make the information in these pages identical to the original document, with the exception of correction of minor typographic errors as well as the addition of “Craig’s Comments”. In spite of attempts to not introduce errors or changes into the document, no warranty or guarantee is made as to the information in these pages. The above link to a PDF version was created by Adobe Acrobat from a Microsoft Word version of the official document. An official copy can be obtained from the SC Residential Builders Commission or the HBA of SC.

Craig’s Comments: Under many of the problems or situations contained in these standards, I have added comments of my own. These comments may contain information on how to reduce the chances for a problem to develop, a suggested standard to include in a contract document before construction or some other interpretation or explanation of the problem.

Table of Contents

APPLICABLE TIME LIMITS
INTRODUCTION TO STANDARDS

CARPENTRY STANDARDS – ROUGH
CARPENTRY STANDARDS – FINISH

CAULKING & WEATHER-STRIPPING STANDARDS
DRYWALL AND PLASTER STANDARDS
ELECTRICAL STANDARDS
FIREPLACE STANDARDS

FLOORING STANDARDS
CARPETING STANDARDS
CERAMIC AND QUARRY STANDARDS
RESILIENT FLOORING STANDARDS
WOOD FLOORING STANDARDS

GARAGE DOOR STANDARDS
GRADING, GROUND REMOVAL, GRAVEL, AND FILL STANDARDS
HARDWARE AND LIGHTING FIXTURE STANDARDS

HEATING & SHEET METAL STANDARDS
INSULATION STANDARDS
MASONRY & CONCRETE STANDARDS

MOISTURE STANDARDS
PAINTING, STAINING AND WALLPAPERING STANDARDS
PLUMBING STANDARDS

ROOFING STANDARDS
SIDING STANDARDS

WINDOW STANDARDS
SKYLIGHT STANDARDS

SITE DRAINAGE & EROSION STANDARDS