A finished barndominium at dusk with warm interior lighting glowing through its large windows.
Cumberland County 2018 IRC with Tennessee amendments

Barndominium Builders in Cumberland County, TN

Cumberland County sits on top of the Cumberland Plateau, and a third of its residents are over 65 — the highest share of any county in Tennessee. The county has run its own codes department in Crossville since January 2024, enforcing the 2018 IRC with a published frost depth of 12 inches. The constraint that shapes a Plateau build is not the code but the sandstone beneath it: the soil series named for Crossville carries bedrock 20 to 40 inches down, which the state's septic rules treat as generally too shallow for a septic tank system.

Cumberland County at a glance

County
Cumberland County
Population
65,618
ZIP codes
38555, 38571, 38572, 38558, 38578, 38574, 37723
Site visits
Within 2 business days
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Building conditions in Cumberland County

What actually changes from one Tennessee jurisdiction to the next: who issues the permit, whether the residential code is enforced there at all, what the structure has to be engineered to, and what the ground is like. These are the numbers your drawings have to satisfy.

Build conditions for Cumberland County , Tennessee: design wind speed Set by the jurisdiction; not published by Cumberland County. BUILD CONDITIONS CUMBERLAND COUNTY, TNCumberland PlateauCRITERIA SET LOCALLY DESIGN WIND SPEED Set by the jurisdiction; not published by Cumberland CountyTennessee leaves Table R301.2(1) for each jurisdiction to fill in, and Cumberland County has…ZONING · CROSSVILLE HAS NO RESIDENTIAL…20,000 sq ft on public water with…The City of Crossville states that its only zoning ordinances cover…BUILDING PERMIT FEE, BY PROJECT VALUATION$460 for the first $100,000 plus $3…From Exhibit B of the county's adopted fee schedule. The full scale…WHO ISSUES THE PERMITCumberland County Codes Department1760 S Main Street, Crossville, TN 38555. (931) 710-5727…Design criteria are filled in by the jurisdiction under Table R301.2 and are confirmed per parcel before any drawing is sealed.
Build conditions for Cumberland County, drawn from the sourced facts on this page. Every figure above is cited in the quick-facts panel below, with its source and vintage.
Enforcement status
Cumberland County is listed EXEMPT, meaning it enforces its own residential code. Crab Orchard, a town inside the county, is listed OPT OUT and sits outside residential code enforcement.

Tennessee State Fire Marshal's Office, Residential Jurisdictions & Inspectors, accurate as of 21 August 2026

Frost line depth
12 inches below undisturbed ground. Cumberland County publishes this figure, which most Tennessee jurisdictions leave blank in Table R301.2(1).

Cumberland County Building Codes and Expectations for Inspections, 2018 IRC

Depth to bedrock, Crossville soil series
20 to 40 inches. The soil series named for the county seat formed in residuum weathered from acid sandstone, on the gently sloping summits and crests that make the best building ground.

USDA NRCS Official Series Description, Crossville series

Septic clearance to rock
Rock formations must be more than four feet below the bottom of the disposal field trenches. Tennessee's own septic rule flags the Crossville and Ramsey soil series as generally too shallow to bedrock for a septic tank system.

TDEC Rule 0400-48-01-.04(3)(a) and Appendix I, note 3

Residents aged 65 and over
21,750 of 65,618, or 33.1 per cent — the highest share of any of Tennessee's 95 counties, against 17.7 per cent statewide. Median age is 53.6, also the highest in the state.

US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, vintage 2024

Tall walls trigger an engineer
Walls above 10 feet require a letter from an engineer, and footings or slabs on backfill require an engineered letter as well. A barndominium sidewall usually clears 10 feet, so this applies by default here.

Cumberland County Building Codes and Expectations for Inspections

Also worth knowing before you build in Cumberland County

Climate zone
Zone 4. The county enforces the 2009-era component table the state amendment restored: R-38 ceilings, R-13 walls, R-10 foundations and U-0.40 windows.

Cumberland County Building Codes and Expectations for Inspections, Table 402.1.1

Agricultural buildings need no county permit
The county's adopting resolution exempts agriculture buildings from requiring permits, and exempts accessory buildings, garages and decks that are not part of new residential construction. Neither exemption covers a building containing a dwelling.

Cumberland County resolution adopting the residential and commercial building codes, 18 December 2023

The codes department is new
The Cumberland County Codes Department began operation on 1 January 2024. Before that date the City of Crossville Codes Department handled inspections outside city limits.

Cumberland County Codes Department, cumberlandcountytn.gov/directory/codes

Crossville has almost no use zoning
The city's only zoning ordinances cover the airport, floodplains, signs, mobile homes and mobile home parks. It states it has no ordinances specifying commercial, industrial or residential areas, no parking requirements and no density requirements.

City of Crossville Codes Enforcement, zoning information page

Growth is entirely in-migration
In 2024 the county recorded 541 births against 1,106 deaths, a natural decrease of 565, while net migration added 1,328 people. Population rose from 61,145 in 2020 to 65,618 in 2024.

US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, components of change, vintage 2024

Minimum lot size is really a septic number
Subdivision regulations require 20,000 sq ft on public water with private sewage and 2 acres on private water with private sewage — each qualified by the words 'or as determined by the Cumberland County Environmentalist'.

Cumberland County Subdivision Regulations, minimum lot size, 2019 amendments

Slabs must bear on undisturbed soil
The county requires a slab to sit on undisturbed soil or on engineered backfill, with a 12-inch turn-down footer where the slab is monolithic. On a lot cut into rock this decides whether the excavation is dug out or built back up.

Cumberland County Building Codes and Expectations for Inspections, R506.1

Septic comes before the building permit
A copy of the septic permit and septic layout is one of five items the county requires before it will accept a building permit application, alongside the 911 address, proof of contractor's licence, workers' compensation cover or an affidavit of exemption, and a county business licence.

Cumberland County general information for builders, permit application requirements

An excavator grading a compacted building pad on a cleared lot, with survey stakes and a drainage swale visible.
Below the slab

The expensive surprises are in the ground, not the building

What moves a Tennessee budget is usually below grade: limestone sitting shallow, karst voids and sinkholes, and slope. Those are the same conditions that decide whether a septic field passes its soil and site evaluation, so the grading plan, the footing depth and the drainfield get resolved together rather than one at a time. We price the dirt before we price the building.

What we build in Cumberland County

All nine services are available across Cumberland County. What a build costs depends far more on the parcel than on square footage, so we price against your land rather than publishing a rate card.

Barndominium Kits

Engineered barndominium shell packages delivered to your Tennessee lot, stamped for the criteria your county adopted.

Turnkey Builds

Start to finish barndominium construction: we handle permits, slab, shell, and full interior finish.

Custom Plans

Barndominium floor plans drawn to your land, your family, and the residential code your county actually enforces.

Post-Frame Homes

Pole barn construction adapted into full residences, with wide clear spans and fast dry-in.

Steel Construction

Red-iron and light-gauge steel framing: no rot, no termites, engineered to your county’s adopted wind criteria.

Shouses

Shop and house in one building: workspace and living space under a single roof and a single permit.

Metal Homes

Full metal-clad residences: low maintenance envelopes specified to your Tennessee climate zone.

Site Preparation

Clearing, grading, pad, drainage, and utilities: the work that decides whether the build goes smoothly.

Permitting & Engineering

Sealed structural engineering and the permit that depends on it, from submittal through final inspection.

What a build looks like

Three stages every Cumberland County project passes through, from a raw parcel to a finished home. Site work first, because that is where the budget is decided.

Aerial view of an undeveloped rural lot with cleared grass, a cedar and hardwood treeline, and a pale gravel access track.
Stage one

The parcel

Zoning, setbacks, flood zone and utility access get checked before anything is drawn.

An excavator grading a compacted building pad on a cleared lot, with survey stakes and a drainage swale visible.
Stage two

Pad and permit

Clearing, grading and a compacted pad, while the submittal works through Cumberland County.

A finished barndominium at dusk with warm interior lighting glowing through its large windows.
Stage three

Frame to finish

Shell erected and dried in, then systems, insulation and interior finish through to CO.

Those are the rules for Cumberland County. Tell us what you want to build and we will draw it to them.

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Where we build around Cumberland County

Cumberland County and the rural land around it. The buildable acreage for a project this size usually sits outside the city limits, which is frequently what changes who issues your permit.

Our Cumberland County service area, covering Cumberland County and the surrounding rural acreage. We build across this area from our office in Franklin, TN — this map marks the territory we serve, not a branch location.

Keep reading

The questions that usually come next once you know what Cumberland County allows.

Barndominium Cost Guide

Sourced per-square-foot ranges by tier and by size, with a calculator built on the same figures.

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Is It Legal in Tennessee?

Classification, zoning, the HOA gate, and why "nonresidential farm building" does not cover a home.

Read it

How Long Does It Take?

Census build-duration data, and what actually sets the permit clock where you are building.

Read it

Sources for this page

The primary documents behind the Cumberland County figures above. We would rather you checked them than took our word for it.

Nearby areas we build in

Others we cover in this part of Tennessee. The permitting authority, the adopted design criteria and the zoning can all differ from one to the next.

Putnam County

Putnam County
Loudon County

Loudon County
Chattanooga

Hamilton County

Building in Cumberland County: common questions

8 questions we get asked most often about building in Cumberland County. If yours is not on the list, ask it directly.

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Do I need a building permit for a barndominium in Cumberland County?
In the unincorporated county, yes. The State Fire Marshal's Office lists Cumberland County as an exempt jurisdiction, which means it adopts and enforces its own codes rather than relying on the state programme, and the Cumberland County Codes Department has issued permits and inspected new residential construction since 1 January 2024. Inside Crossville the permit comes from the city instead, on (931) 456-1830. Inside Crab Orchard the picture is different: that town is listed as opted out, so residential code enforcement does not apply there. Statuses are recorded from the State Fire Marshal's list dated 21 August 2026, and an opt-out expires 180 days after the town's next legislative election unless it is re-passed, so confirm before you rely on it.
Cumberland County exempts agricultural buildings from permits. Does that cover a barndominium?
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in the category. The county's adopting resolution does exempt agriculture buildings from requiring permits, and separately exempts accessory buildings, garages and decks that are not part of new residential construction. But the state statute those exemptions sit under, T.C.A. § 68-120-101(c)(2), exempts nonresidential farm buildings. The word doing the work is nonresidential. The moment the building contains a dwelling unit it is a one- or two-family dwelling under the 2018 IRC the county adopted in the same document, and the exemption is gone. A detached shop raised on its own is genuinely exempt. The same shop with living quarters in it is not.
Will my Plateau lot pass a perc test?
That depends on the soil series more than on anything else. TDEC Rule 0400-48-01 requires rock formations to be more than four feet below the bottom of the disposal field trenches, and the rule's own Appendix I rates soils by series name. The Crossville series carries note 3: depth to bedrock is generally not sufficient to accommodate a septic tank system. The Ramsey series carries the same note and an absorption rate above the acceptable 10-to-75-minutes-per-inch range. The Lily and Hartsells series carry note 5, meaning depth is generally sufficient. Both notes allow for spots that run the other way, which is why the site evaluation is the thing that decides it. Get the soil and site evaluation before you buy, not after. TDEC is on (931) 698-4515.
How shallow is the rock, really?
Shallow enough to change the budget. The USDA soil survey puts the Crossville series at 20 to 40 inches to bedrock and the Ramsey series at 7 to 20 inches, noting that outcrops of bedrock are common in Ramsey soils. The Lonewood series, at 40 to 72 inches, is the forgiving one. This drives three things at once: what the excavation costs, whether a conventional septic field is possible, and how the foundation is built. Cumberland County requires a slab to bear on undisturbed soil or on engineered backfill, and requires an engineer's letter for footings or slabs placed on backfill, so a lot that gets levelled by filling rather than cutting brings an engineer into the job.
What design criteria does Cumberland County publish for the 2018 IRC?
More than most Tennessee jurisdictions, but not everything. The county publishes a frost line depth of 12 inches below undisturbed ground and states that it sits in climate zone 4, with the 2009-era envelope table the state amendment restored — R-38 ceilings, R-13 walls, R-10 foundations, U-0.40 windows. It does not publish an ultimate design wind speed, a ground snow load or a seismic design category. Tennessee leaves those cells of Table R301.2(1) for each jurisdiction to fill in, and the county's resolution replaces the IRC seismic figure with the 2015 IRC Site Class D map without naming a category. Ring the Codes Department on (931) 710-5727 for the current figures rather than reading them off a national map.
Are there zoning rules that would stop a barndominium here?
Fewer than almost anywhere. The City of Crossville states that its only zoning ordinances cover the airport, floodplains, signs, mobile homes and mobile home parks, and that it has no ordinances specifying commercial, industrial or residential areas, no parking requirements and no density requirements. In the unincorporated county the published land-use instrument is the subdivision regulations, which govern how land is divided and set minimum lot sizes rather than dictating what a house looks like. No minimum heated floor area, minimum roof pitch, overhang requirement or exterior-material restriction on site-built dwellings appears in the county or city instruments. Fairfield Glade and Lake Tansi are unincorporated, so the county rules apply, but a property owners' association there may set its own standards that the county does not — check the deed restrictions.
What will the county permit cost?
The county publishes its scale. Fees run on project valuation: $460 for the first $100,000 plus $3 for each additional thousand up to $500,000, with lower brackets below that and $1,660 plus $2 per thousand above it. Plumbing and mechanical inspection is $30 for the first 1,000 square feet plus $15 for each additional thousand. Two re-inspections are free and further ones are $100 each. Valuation is taken from the 2018 IBC square-foot construction cost table, which is indexed by construction type — a metal-framed building falls under Type IIB and a wood-framed house under Type VB — so ask the department how it values your construction type before assuming a figure.
Do I need a contractor's licence to build my own place here?
Tennessee requires a licence for projects of $25,000 or more as prime contractor, and counts the complete project cost including labour and materials, with separate phases or contracts unable to be used to stay under the threshold. A property owner may build on their own property for personal use under the owner-builder exemption, and Cumberland County has a homeowner's affidavit for exactly that. The county also requires proof of contractor's licence, workers' compensation cover or an affidavit of exemption, and a county business licence at application, plus its own $50 annual Special Plumbing/Mechanical Licence for plumbers and HVAC contractors, noting that projects over $25,000 require a state certified licence.

What clients say

4.9 out of 5 based on 8 reviews Placeholder content

We had ten acres outside town and no idea what we could legally put on it. They pulled the zoning and the A-1 lot minimum before we spent anything on drawings, which saved us from buying plans for a building that would not have been approved.

Dale W. July 18, 2026

Ordered the shell kit and erected it with my brother-in-law over about six weekends. The drawings were clear, the bolt schedule matched what showed up on the truck, and the county inspector had no issues with the engineering.

Marisol T. June 2, 2026

Turnkey from a cleared lot to certificate of occupancy. What I appreciated most was that when plan review came back with comments, I heard about it the same day along with what they were doing about it.

Ray B. April 27, 2026

Building in Cumberland County?

Start with the plan. Tell us what you want to build and we will draw it, then confirm what Cumberland County will actually let you put on the parcel and what wind load it has to meet. That conversation costs nothing.

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