News and Updates for Rutherford County Building Code
Hours for the Rutherford County Building Codes Department are 8:00am until 4:30pm Monday - Friday excluding major holidays. For accounting purposes, our office cannot accept payments after 4:15pm each day, in light of this please allow sufficient time to obtain all the necessary paperwork for permit issuance prior to your visit.
A complete list of major holidays for the current year may be found here.
2018 International Code Amendments
Resolution to Adopt the 2018 Building Codes
Click
here for the full update.
Significant Changes from the 2012 IRC - 2018 IRC
Builder/Contractor Presentation available
here.
State Electrical Permit Issuance
As of December 3, 2018, all electrical permits for Rutherford and Cannon Counties will be issued by the Rutherford County Building Codes Department located at #1 S. Public Square in Room 101. The previous entrance at the rear of the building will be locked and will no longer be accessible to the public, so entry by the front door will be required.
We are making every effort to make this transition as seamless as possible, but inevitably there will be some minor changes to the permit issuance and inspection request processes. We apologize in advance if this causes any inconvenience, but ultimately we hope the modifications we make will be positive changes for all involved. Our goal is to make both the issuance and inspection processes as easy as possible for you, the contractor and/or homeowner.
Some of the changes that will be effective immediately are as follows:
- With the exception of major holidays, our office will be open Monday-Friday from 8:00am to 4:15pm.
- On your first visit with us, please be prepared to produce the required licensure with which to obtain an electrical permit, and if applicable, a list of authorized employees who have your permission to obtain a permit on your behalf. Please put this list on your company letterhead or printed on paper with a copy of your business card attached.
- We can accept check, cash and credit card for payment of the permit (please note: a fee applies when a credit card is used).
- For ease in issuing permits and tracking inspections, all inspections will be issued on a separate permit, e.g. rough-in, final and service releases will now be issued as three separate permits- there will be no exceptions to this policy. Contractor may still obtain all permits for the same project at the same time, but they will be issued on separate permits.
- To obtain an electrical permit you must provide the complete street address of the property upon which the permit will be issued. Please be warned that permits will not be issued without it and a second trip to obtain the permit may be required, so please have this ready when you come to the office to obtain your permit.
- Inspections will be requested through the Building Codes Department instead of directly with the inspector. You can request an inspection by calling our office at 615-898-7734, emailing us at buildingcodes@rutherfordcountytn.gov or on this website under the Electrical tab here. For both scenarios, you will be required to provide the permit number and the complete street address of the property.
- Please note that the Building Codes staff will only be responsible for issuing permits and scheduling inspections, our staff cannot answer any technical questions regarding your inspections. The assigned inspectors contact information, i.e. telephone and email, will be made available at the time of permit issuance and contractors are encouraged to call that inspector with any questions regarding their inspections.
We thank you in advance for your patience with us during this transition and if you have any questions or concerns regarding this memo please do not hesitate to call our office and we ill be happy to discuss.
Environmental Court
Rutherford County Government has established an Environmental Court, wherein all Building Code and Zoning Enforcement violations will be heard.
Court will be held on the first Wednesday of every month at 1:00pm beginning June 6, 2018 with Judge Eischeid presiding. The Environmental Court will be a division of General Sessions Court. It is designed to deal strictly with local environmental issues and will be utilized by various County Departments, to include, but not limited to:
Building Codes- Zoning Ordinance enforcement, property maintenance, tall weeds & grass, vacant/dilapidated buildings, construction without approval/permits, unapproved business operation
Animal Services (PAWS)- violations such as at large or vicious dogs, cruelty to animals, failure to vaccinate
Fire and Rescue- illegal burning, Fire Code violations
Solid Waste- illegal dumping, littering
Engineering- Storm Water violations
Emergency Management- illegal burning, HazMat violations
Here is a helpful example of the required diagram to be filled out at the time of permit issuance for pools and accessory structures.
