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

Barndominium Builders in Murfreesboro, TN

Murfreesboro is 63.99 square miles of fully incorporated Rutherford County seat, the sixth-largest city in Tennessee and one of its fastest-growing. It is also one of the very few Tennessee jurisdictions that has actually filled in and codified IRC Table R301.2(1), so the wind speed, seismic category and frost depth for a build inside these city limits are published numbers rather than something a designer has to chase. The harder question here is land: the zoning ordinance contains no agricultural district of any kind, and RS-15, at a 15,000 square foot minimum, is the largest-lot district in the city.

Murfreesboro at a glance

County
Rutherford County
Population
152,769
ZIP codes
37127, 37128, 37129, 37130, 37132
Site visits
About 30 miles east of our Franklin office, out TN-96 or round on I-840
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Building conditions in Murfreesboro

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 Murfreesboro , Rutherford County, Tennessee: design wind speed 115 mph ultimate design wind speed. BUILD CONDITIONS MURFREESBORO, TNRutherford CountyCRITERIA SET LOCALLY DESIGN WIND SPEED 115 mph ultimate design wind speedMurfreesboro filled in IRC Table R301.2(1) by ordinance and codified it at City Code Sec. 7-12(N)…ZONING · RS-15 (SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL)15,000 sq ft minimumThe largest-lot district in the city, about 0.34 acre, with a 75 ft…PERMIT REVIEW CLOCK14 business daysPublished review target of the issuing authorityCITY OF MURFREESBORO DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEE$2.500 per sq ft of gross floor area…Adopted under Ordinance 23-O-21, schedule effective 1 July 2025. Split…WHO ISSUES THE PERMITCity of Murfreesboro Building and…111 West Vine Street. Residential permits on (615) 893-3750; the…
Build conditions for Murfreesboro, drawn from the sourced facts on this page. Every figure above is cited in the quick-facts panel below, with its source and vintage.
The city publishes its own design criteria table
Murfreesboro is one of the few Tennessee jurisdictions to have filled in IRC Table R301.2(1) and codified it: 115 mph wind design speed, seismic design category B, 12-inch frost line depth, 10 lb ground snow load, severe weathering, 14 °F winter design temperature, no ice barrier underlayment, no special wind region and no windborne debris zone. Termite exposure is recorded as moderate to heavy.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-12(N), as codified through Ord. No. 26-O-08 (12 Feb 2026, Supp. 18), and Ord. No. 18-O-71 Sec. 5; fetched 31 Aug 2026

Adopted residential code
The 2018 International Residential Code including Appendix Chapters D, G, H, J, K and T, reaching every detached one- and two-family dwelling, townhouse up to three storeys, and their accessory structures. Chapter 11 is deleted and replaced with the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code. The city has signalled a move to the 2024 codes, so we confirm the edition in force before drawings are stamped.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-11, codified through Ord. No. 26-O-08 (12 Feb 2026); murfreesborotn.gov/101/Building-Codes; fetched 31 Aug 2026

Facade material rule, and the districts it does not reach
Chart 2 Endnote 28 requires the facades of single-family detached dwellings to consist primarily of brick, stone or cementitious siding in all RS-A districts and in RS-4, RS-6, RS-8, R-D, RM-12, RM-16 and CL. EIFS, vinyl and wood are accent materials only, capped at 25% of any facade. RS-15, RS-12 and RS-10 — the three largest-lot single-family districts — are not on that list and carry no facade material rule.

Murfreesboro Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A) Chart 2 Endnote 28, last revision Ord. 26-O-13, 21 May 2026, fetched 31 Aug 2026

Where corrugated metal siding is actually prohibited
The prohibition on split-face or exposed concrete block, wood siding and corrugated metal siding on residential elevations visible from a right-of-way or an adjoining property sits inside the Gateway Design Overlay District — a mapped corridor overlay along Medical Center Parkway, Fortress Boulevard, Thompson Lane, Robert Rose Drive, Wilkinson Pike and Manson Pike, in sub-districts GDO-1 through GDO-4. It is not a city-wide rule, and outside the overlay it does not apply.

Murfreesboro Zoning Ordinance Sec. 24, Article III (GDO), subsections (A), (B) and (H)(3)(d), fetched 31 Aug 2026

No agricultural district and no minimum floor area
Section 13 lists every district in the city and none of them is agricultural or rural. RS-15, at a 15,000 sq ft minimum lot, is the largest-lot district in 63.99 square miles of fully incorporated ground. Chart 2 sets lot area, width, yards, height, density, floor area ratio and lot coverage — but no minimum floor area and no minimum dwelling size appears anywhere in the ordinance, and floor area ratio in every RS district is listed as none.

Murfreesboro Zoning Ordinance Sec. 13 and Chart 2 (last revision Ord. 26-O-13, 21 May 2026), full text reviewed; fetched 31 Aug 2026

Impact fee and the school facilities tax
The city assesses $2.500 per square foot of gross floor area on single-family residential, with the total capped at $10,952 per dwelling unit — reached at roughly 4,381 sq ft. The city's Permit Center also states that new construction permits may be subject to the Rutherford County schools facilities tax on top of the city fee, so a Murfreesboro build can carry both.

City of Murfreesboro Impact Fee Schedule for New Development, Ord. 23-O-21, effective 1 July 2025; murfreesborotn.gov/540/Permit-Center; both fetched 31 Aug 2026

Also worth knowing before you build in Murfreesboro

Residential sprinklers are not required
Section 7-12(T) of the city code reads: "Section R313 Automatic fire sprinkler systems. Delete this section in its entirety." Tennessee bars the state fire marshal from imposing mandatory sprinklers on one- and two-family dwellings but expressly lets local governments be more stringent. Murfreesboro has gone the other way and struck the section, so the answer inside these city limits is settled.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-12(T), codified through Ord. No. 26-O-08; T.C.A. Sec. 68-120-101(a)(8); fetched 31 Aug 2026

A detached shop needs a permit at 120 sq ft
Murfreesboro deleted the IRC's permit exemptions 1, 2 and 10 and replaced them with two. The only accessory-structure exemption left is a portable one-storey detached tool or storage shed, playhouse or similar, provided the floor area does not exceed 120 square feet. The IRC's own figure is 200. Any workshop worth building crosses that line.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-12(D), amending IRC Sec. R105.2, fetched 31 Aug 2026

The permit fee counts the shop at one third
New one- and two-family permits run $500 minimum under 1,000 sq ft, $500 plus $0.50 per sq ft from 1,000 to 2,000, $1,000 plus $0.60 per sq ft from 2,001 to 3,000, and $1,600 plus $0.65 per sq ft above 3,000. "Total square feet" means heated area on all levels plus one third of unheated and under-roof area — garage, unfinished basement, expandable space, carport, covered patio. A 3% technology fee is added to every permit.

City of Murfreesboro building permit fee resolution passed 5 March 2026, effective 1 June 2026, superseding Resolution 18-R-24, fetched 31 Aug 2026

The city rewrote the exterior wall separation rule
Section 7-12(P) deletes IRC R302.1 along with Tables R302.1(1) and R302.1(2). In its place: exterior walls and their projections, including fireplaces, decks and roof overhangs, may not sit within 5 ft of a side lot line, though a soffit or overhang may reach 12 inches into that 5 ft if it carries a one-hour rating on the underside or fire blocking between rafters. A dwelling must also stand at least 10 ft from other structures on the same lot, accessory structures excepted, and HVAC units at least 3 ft off a side lot line.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-12(P), amending IRC Sec. R302.1, fetched 31 Aug 2026

Bedrooms cannot be pass-throughs
Section 7-12(S) adds a local section R311.1.1: "Bedrooms shall not constitute the only means of access to other bedrooms or habitable spaces and shall not serve as the only means of egress from other habitable spaces." It is a small clause with real consequences for the open-plan and bunk-room layouts that turn up in stock barndominium plan sets, and it is worth catching at layout stage rather than at plan review.

Murfreesboro City Code Sec. 7-12(S), adding IRC Sec. R311.1.1, fetched 31 Aug 2026

Agricultural accessory buildings need five acres
Section 25(B)(9) permits barns, sheds, silos and storage structures used for agricultural purposes as accessory structures only on lots or tracts larger than five acres. Given RS-15's 15,000 sq ft minimum lot, five-acre parcels inside the city are scarce — and the statewide farm-building exemption in T.C.A. Sec. 68-120-101(c)(2) reaches only nonresidential farm buildings in any event, so a building with a dwelling unit in it is a dwelling.

Murfreesboro Zoning Ordinance Sec. 25(B)(9); T.C.A. Sec. 68-120-101(c)(2); fetched 31 Aug 2026

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 Murfreesboro

All nine services are available across Rutherford 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 Murfreesboro 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 Rutherford 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 Rutherford County. Tell us what you want to build and we will draw it to them.

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Where we build around Murfreesboro

Rutherford 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 Murfreesboro service area, covering Rutherford 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 Murfreesboro 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 Murfreesboro 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.

Rutherford County

Rutherford County
Williamson County

Williamson County
Wilson County

Wilson County
Nashville

Davidson County

Building in Murfreesboro: common questions

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

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Can I clad a house in metal inside Murfreesboro city limits?
It depends entirely on which district the parcel sits in, and the ordinance is precise about it. Chart 2 Endnote 28 requires the facades of single-family detached dwellings to be primarily brick, stone or cementitious siding, with EIFS, vinyl and wood allowed only as accents on no more than 25% of any facade. That endnote applies in all RS-A districts and in RS-4, RS-6, RS-8, R-D, RM-12, RM-16 and CL. It does not apply in RS-15, RS-12 or RS-10 — the three largest-lot single-family districts — which carry no facade material rule at all. Two more layers sit on top of that: the Gateway Design Overlay expressly prohibits corrugated metal siding on residential elevations visible from a right-of-way, and the City Core Overlay requires materials consistent with a traditional urban residential area. Both are mapped overlays covering defined corridors, not the whole city. Before anyone orders a package we get the district, the overlays and the material classification confirmed by Planning and Zoning in writing.
Is there a way round the facade material rule?
There is a named one, and it is written into the endnote. Alternative combinations of exterior materials may be permitted with the approval of the Planning Director, in consultation with the Building and Codes Director, after a review of the combustibility of the materials. Read the stated purpose of the endnote and you can see why that route exists: the rule is there "in order to minimize the extent of fire damage on adjacent structures." A non-combustible steel panel assembly is arguing on the rule's own ground rather than against it. That is a discretionary approval, not a right, and nobody should sign a land contract assuming it. But it is a documented process with named decision-makers, which is more than most jurisdictions offer, and it is the conversation to have with Planning at (615) 893-6441 before design rather than after.
What design criteria does Murfreesboro actually use?
Published ones, which is unusual in Tennessee. The state leaves IRC Table R301.2 for each jurisdiction to fill in, and most never do. Murfreesboro filled it in by ordinance and it is codified at Section 7-12(N): 115 mph wind design speed, seismic design category B, 12-inch frost line depth, 10 lb ground snow load, severe weathering, 14 °F winter design temperature, air freezing index 366, mean annual temperature 59 °F, no ice barrier underlayment required, no topographic effects, no special wind region. The same amendment fills in the Manual J criteria — 615 ft elevation, 35 degrees north, 94 °F summer cooling, 74 °F coincident wet bulb, daily range M. A clear-span building is an engineered structure under R301.1.3 rather than a conventional one, so it gets designed by a Tennessee-licensed engineer against those exact numbers.
Do I need a permit from the city or from Rutherford County?
From the city, if the parcel is inside the city limits. Murfreesboro adopts and enforces its own codes, commercial and residential, through the Building and Codes Department at 111 West Vine Street, and the county does not permit inside the boundary. That distinction matters more in Tennessee than people expect, because a city and the county around it can sit on different code editions and different amendments — Murfreesboro's residential code is the 2018 IRC with a long list of local amendments in Section 7-12 of the city code, and the county has been moving on its own timetable. Applications go in by email or in person, and the city says processing can take up to two weeks. Residential permits: (615) 893-3750.
Is there a minimum house size in Murfreesboro?
No. Chart 2 of the zoning ordinance sets minimum lot area, lot width, front, side and rear yards, maximum height, maximum gross density, floor area ratio, landscape and open space ratios and maximum lot coverage — and that is the whole list. There is no minimum floor area column and no minimum heated square footage anywhere in the ordinance; floor area ratio in every RS district is listed as none. The constraints that actually shape a building here are the facade materials in the small-lot districts, the 35 ft height cap and 35% lot coverage in RS-15, the 40 ft front yard, and Section 7-12(P)'s rewritten rule keeping walls, decks and roof overhangs 5 ft clear of a side lot line. That last one catches wide-eave buildings on narrow lots more often than anything else.
Honestly, is Murfreesboro the right place to build one?
For the building, yes. For the land, usually no — and it is fairer to say so early. The zoning ordinance has no agricultural district anywhere in it. Across 63.99 square miles of fully incorporated ground, the largest-lot district is RS-15 at 15,000 square feet, about a third of an acre, and even the agricultural accessory buildings allowed under Section 25(B)(9) need a tract larger than five acres. If the appeal is a shop and a house under one roof with room around them, the parcels that suit it are outside the city limits, in unincorporated Rutherford County or the counties either side, where a different permitting authority and a different set of adopted criteria apply. What the city is genuinely good for is certainty: published design criteria, no sprinkler requirement, no minimum dwelling size, a two-week processing target and a published fee schedule. If you already own ground inside the limits, that is a workable set of conditions and we will design to it.

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 Murfreesboro?

Start with the plan. Tell us what you want to build and we will draw it, then confirm what Rutherford 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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