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

Barndominium Builders in Rutherford County, TN

Rutherford County runs its own building codes department for the unincorporated area, and it is one of the few Tennessee jurisdictions enforcing the 2024 International Residential Code rather than the state's 2018 edition. It also singles out post-frame and pre-engineered steel dwellings by name: those drawings have to be sealed by a Tennessee registered architect or engineer before a permit is issued. If your land sits outside the Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne or Eagleville city limits, this department — not a city hall — is the one you deal with.

Rutherford County at a glance

County
Rutherford County
Population
376,996
ZIP codes
37037, 37060, 37085, 37118, 37127, 37128, 37129, 37130, 37149, 37153, 37167
Site visits
Same-day reply to most enquiries
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Building conditions in Rutherford 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 Rutherford County , Tennessee: design wind speed Set by the county; ask before design. BUILD CONDITIONS RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TNMiddle TennesseeCRITERIA SET LOCALLY DESIGN WIND SPEED Set by the county; ask before designTennessee leaves Table R301.2 for each jurisdiction to fill in, and Rutherford County does not…ZONING · AR AGRICULTURAL RESIDENTIAL5 acres (217,800 sq ft)AR is the rural-character district where most of the county's…PERMIT REVIEW CLOCK2 business daysPublished review target of the issuing authoritySCHOOL FACILITIES TAX$1.50 per square foot of floor areaLevied under the County Powers Relief Act (T.C.A. § 67-4-2901 et…WHO ISSUES THE PERMITRutherford County Building Codes…1 South Public Square, Room 101, Murfreesboro TN 37130. Phone…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 Rutherford 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.
Adopted residential code
Rutherford County enforces the 2024 International Building and Residential Code series, adopted by the Board of Commissioners. Tennessee's statewide residential code is still the 2018 IRC, so the county is running six years ahead of the state minimum — the county quotes 2024 IRC R105.1, R105.5 and R108.6 on its own permit pages.

Rutherford County Building Codes Department, Building Code FAQ, rutherfordcountytn.gov/building-faq

Pole-barn and steel dwellings need a sealed design
The county's residential plans review list names "pole barn type structures with living space regardless of square footage". Its footnote is explicit: drawings for pole barns or pre-manufactured steel structures intended for occupation must be design drawings prepared and sealed by a Tennessee registered architect or engineer, labelled as designed to the 2024 IRC. Allow a minimum of three working days for that review. Container houses and heavily glazed designs are called out in the same list.

Rutherford County Building Codes Department, Residential permits page, Residential Plans Review tab

Who issues your permit outside the cities
The county states it plainly: if the property is in the unincorporated area you get the permit from Rutherford County, and if it is inside the Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne or Eagleville city limits you go to that municipality's own building codes department. Tennessee counties and cities are separate permitting authorities, and only Nashville-Davidson is consolidated.

Rutherford County Building Codes Department, Residential Building Permits page

School Facilities Tax on every square foot
$1.50 per square foot of floor area on residential development, up from $1.00 on 1 October 2024, levied under the County Powers Relief Act and collected before the certificate of occupancy. It replaced the county's Development Tax in July 2021 and it applies countywide, not just outside the cities.

Rutherford County, School Facilities Tax page, rutherfordcountytn.gov/school-facilities-tax

The permit fee counts the shop, not just the living space
The residential permit fee for a new dwelling is $0.70 per square foot under beam, and the county's fee schedule defines that as "all square footage under beam, finished/unfinished, conditioned/unconditioned, interior/exterior". On a barndominium with a large unheated workshop bay and deep porches, that is a materially bigger number than the heated area alone. Plans review adds $200.

Rutherford County Residential Permit Fee Schedule, effective 1 July 2023

No minimum house size in the county zoning ordinance
The residential bulk table sets lot area, lot width, setbacks, height and coverage — and no minimum floor area for a dwelling. AR Agricultural Residential requires 5 acres, RL 1 acre, RM 15,000 sq ft. There is also no minimum roof pitch, no required overhang, no siding-material restriction and no required porch or garage for a single-family dwelling anywhere in the ordinance.

Rutherford County Zoning Ordinance, Table 1 Residential Districts Bulk Regulations, as amended through 11 December 2025

Also worth knowing before you build in Rutherford County

The metal-facade ban does not apply to houses
The county ordinance does prohibit a building whose exterior facade is 100 percent metal construction — but only inside the special conditions for mini-warehouses, alongside rules on storage-unit size and building separation. It does not reach a single-family dwelling. Metal cladding on a house in unincorporated Rutherford County is not restricted by zoning.

Rutherford County Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 11 special conditions, mini warehouses

You cannot put the shop up first and live in it later
An accessory structure may not be built on a lot before the principal structure it is accessory to. A non-commercial garage, shop or workshop can go first only by special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals, and that exception forbids living quarters, commercial activity and off-site business storage. Combined accessory floor area is capped at 2,000 sq ft on an acre or less, or 5% of lot area above an acre.

Rutherford County Zoning Ordinance, Section 1101 D, accessory structures

The agricultural exemption has three conditions and a dwelling fails one
Rutherford County exempts farm structures from building permits only where the property is at least 5 acres, has an established agricultural use, and the structure is used exclusively for agricultural purposes. The Building Codes Department asks for an affidavit backed by an IRS Schedule F, a Tennessee agricultural sales and use tax exemption certificate, other tax records, or a site inspection confirming a working farm. Put a dwelling unit inside the building and the exclusivity test fails.

Rutherford County Planning & Engineering FAQ and Building Code FAQ, citing T.C.A. 43-1-113

Electrical is a state programme here
The county issues state electrical permits as an agent only, for unincorporated Rutherford County, Eagleville and La Vergne, and a state-contracted inspector carries out the inspection. The State Electrical Division line is 615-741-7170. Murfreesboro and Smyrna sit outside the state programme and run their own electrical inspections inside their city limits.

Rutherford County Building Code FAQ and the State Fire Marshal's exempt-jurisdictions electrical list published by the county

Three wastewater routes, and the state office is in the same building
A new dwelling needs either a TDEC subsurface sewage disposal permit or a Consolidated Utility District STEP permit before the county will issue a building permit; some properties outside the city are on Murfreesboro city sewer. The county sends applicants to the state environmental office at 1 South Public Square, Room 215 — two doors from Planning in Room 200 and Building Codes in Room 101. Bedroom counts on a permit must match the septic record.

Rutherford County Planning & Engineering FAQ and the county Residential Building Permits checklist

Where the buildable acreage actually is
Of roughly 396,000 acres countywide, 315,000 lie in the unincorporated area, and about 70% of that is farmland, pasture or forest, with residential use accounting for 22%. Every residential building permit issued in the unincorporated area in 2020 was for a single-family structure, and owner-occupancy there reached 88%.

PlanRutherford comprehensive plan, approved by the Rutherford County Planning Commission 8 September 2025

Growth pressure on the farmland
The county's comprehensive plan records it as the second fastest-growing Tennessee county in absolute terms over two decades — a 74% population rise, with the unincorporated area up 37%. It also cites American Farmland Trust's Farms Under Threat 2040 finding that Rutherford's farmland is the most threatened in Tennessee, with up to 40,000 further acres of agricultural land developed by 2040. The plan floats a voluntary agricultural district with a 15-acre residential minimum.

PlanRutherford comprehensive plan, chapter 2, approved 8 September 2025

The fees before the building permit
A zoning compliance certificate from Planning & Engineering costs $250 for a new principal residential structure, addition or ADU, and $150 for a detached accessory structure. Plans review is $200, whole-house plumbing $175, gas $40 plus $6.50 per fixture, mechanical $35 per ton, and a third or subsequent re-inspection $95. Starting work before the permit issues doubles the permit fee.

Rutherford County Planning & Engineering fee schedule and Residential Permit Fee Schedule, both effective 1 July 2023

Envelope and duct testing are required, with numbers
The county's energy code form requires a building envelope tightness result below 7 ACH50, with mechanical ventilation required if the result comes in under 5 ACH50. Unless all ductwork sits inside the conditioned envelope, one duct test must pass: leakage to outdoors under 8%, post-construction total under 12%, rough-in total with air handler under 6%, or rough-in with no air handler under 4%. The tester must hold HERS, BPI or DET Verifier certification.

Rutherford County, Energy Code Requirements for Building Envelope and Duct Testing form

Living on site while you build
You may occupy a recreational vehicle on your own land while the principal residence goes up, but only under a temporary use permit good for six months, extendable once by a further six. The building permit for the dwelling has to be issued first and stay valid, the unit needs approved water, sewer and electric, and residential use of the RV stops when the house is approved for occupancy.

Rutherford County Building Code FAQ, recreational vehicle occupancy

Splitting land: the 5-acre line
Any division producing a lot under 5 acres needs a subdivision plat prepared by a registered engineer or surveyor and signed off by the electric, water, environmental and planning departments. Two lots or fewer can be approved administratively where they meet minimum area, water access, 75 ft of road frontage and an adequate soil site; three or more go to the Planning Commission. Lots of 5 acres or more can be created by deed with water access and 50 ft of road frontage, with soil sites still required before building.

Rutherford County Planning & Engineering FAQ, legal division of property

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 Rutherford County

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 Rutherford 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 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 Rutherford County

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 Rutherford County 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 Rutherford County allows.

Barndominium Cost Guide

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

Read it

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 Rutherford 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.

Murfreesboro

Rutherford County
Williamson County

Williamson County
Wilson County

Wilson County

Building in Rutherford County: common questions

10 questions we get asked most often about building in Rutherford 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 unincorporated Rutherford County?
Yes. Rutherford County enforces its own building code and issues its own permits, and the county's zoning ordinance makes it unlawful to begin excavation before the permit is issued. The permit application follows a zoning compliance certificate and a land disturbance permit from Planning & Engineering, and proof of an approved wastewater system. Once the county has the complete package it asks for 24 to 48 hours to prepare the permit, which has to be collected in person because it needs a signature.
Which code edition does Rutherford County actually enforce?
The 2024 International Building and Residential Code series, adopted by the Board of Commissioners. That matters because Tennessee's statewide residential code is the 2018 IRC — the county is enforcing a newer book than the state minimum. It shows up in practice: the county defines a tiny house from Appendix BB of the 2024 IRC, and its plans review footnote requires drawings labelled as designed to the 2024 IRC.
Does the county treat a pole barn or steel-frame house differently from a stick-built one?
Yes, and this is the most important thing to know before you buy a kit. Pole barn type structures with living space go to residential plans review regardless of square footage, and the drawings must be design drawings prepared and sealed by a Tennessee registered architect or engineer, labelled as complying with the 2024 IRC. A conventional house without a basement and under 5,000 sq ft of finished space usually skips that step. A clear-span building exceeds the prescriptive tables, so under IRC R301.1.3 it is an engineered structure — Rutherford County has written that conclusion into its own submission procedure.
My land is outside the Murfreesboro city limits. Who do I deal with?
Rutherford County, not the city. The county is explicit that permits for property in the unincorporated area come from its Building Codes Department at 1 South Public Square, Room 101, and that property inside the Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne or Eagleville city limits goes to that municipality instead. The county and the cities adopt codes separately and charge separate fees, so a quote or a timeline from one does not carry over to the other. If you are unsure which side of the line your parcel sits on, the county publishes a jurisdiction map.
Can I call it an agricultural building and skip the permit?
Not if anyone is going to live in it. Rutherford County exempts farm structures from building permits only where the property is at least 5 acres, has an established agricultural use, and the structure is used exclusively for agricultural purposes — and the Building Codes Department asks for an affidavit supported by an IRS Schedule F, a state agricultural sales and use tax exemption certificate, other tax records, or a site inspection confirming a working farm. A building containing a dwelling unit is not used exclusively for agriculture, so the exemption falls away. This is the most expensive misunderstanding in this category.
Is metal siding allowed on a house here?
Yes. The county zoning ordinance contains one prohibition on a 100 percent metal exterior facade, and it sits inside the special conditions for mini-warehouses alongside rules about storage-unit size and building separation. It does not apply to a single-family dwelling. There is no exterior-material standard, no minimum roof pitch and no required overhang for a house in the county's residential districts. The one place appearance is regulated is an accessory dwelling unit, which has to match the main house's facade, roof pitch, siding and windows unless the Planning Director approves otherwise.
Can I build the shop first and finish living quarters in it later?
Not by right, and the workaround is closed off. An accessory structure may not be built before the principal structure it serves. A non-commercial workshop or garage can go up first only by special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals, and that exception expressly bars living quarters. If the plan is to live in the building, permit it as the dwelling from the start — which is what puts it into the sealed plans review. You may live on site in an RV while the house is under construction under a six-month temporary use permit, extendable once, provided the building permit is already issued and stays valid.
What will the county charge me before I break ground?
The building permit for a new dwelling is $0.70 per square foot under beam, and the county counts all square footage under beam — finished or unfinished, conditioned or unconditioned, inside or out — so the shop bay and the porches are in the calculation. Add $200 for plans review, $250 for the zoning compliance certificate, $175 for whole-house plumbing, $40 plus $6.50 per fixture for gas and $35 per ton for mechanical. The School Facilities Tax of $1.50 per square foot of floor area is collected later, before the certificate of occupancy. Starting work before the permit issues doubles the permit fee.
What are the design wind speed and seismic category for Rutherford County?
Tennessee leaves Table R301.2 for each jurisdiction to fill in, and Rutherford County does not publish its adopted values on its website or its permit forms. Ring the Building Codes Department on 615-898-7734 and ask the Building Official before a design is sealed. For this building type it is worth doing properly rather than reading a national map: Tennessee replaced the 2018 IRC seismic figure by amendment and works from the 2015 IRC Site Class D map instead, so a lookup against a current code figure is a lookup against a map the state does not use.
Who permits the septic system?
The state, not the county. A new dwelling needs a TDEC subsurface sewage disposal permit, or a Consolidated Utility District STEP permit where the property connects to that system; a few properties outside the city limits are on Murfreesboro city sewer. The county will not issue a building permit without proof of approved wastewater disposal. Conveniently, the state environmental office sits at 1 South Public Square, Room 215 — the same building as Planning in Room 200 and Building Codes in Room 101. A soil site evaluation comes before the permit, and on a lot created by deed it is required before you can build.

What clients say

4.9 out of 5 based on 8 reviews Placeholder content

The shop side and the living side needed completely different specs and they caught that early. Only reason this is not five stars is the slab pour slipped about two weeks waiting on an inspection.

Jenna P. March 14, 2026

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

Building in Rutherford County?

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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