Do I need a permit for a full kitchen remodel in
Conway, South Carolina?

Conway kitchen remodel permits — the key details

Conway requires separate Building, Plumbing, and Electrical permits for any kitchen remodel that involves structural, plumbing, or electrical changes. Per South Carolina Code Section 6-22-2510 and the adopted 2018 IBC, the City of Conway Building Department is the lead authority, and the plumbing and electrical work must be performed or inspected by SC-licensed contractors or approved owner-builders. If you're moving a wall, removing a wall, or adding a window or door opening in the kitchen, you'll need a Building permit. If you're relocating a sink, dishwasher, or any water fixture — or adding a new one — you'll need a Plumbing permit. If you're adding a new electrical circuit, installing a new range hood with exterior ducting, or relocating outlets and switches, you'll need an Electrical permit. The Building Department does NOT automatically issue Plumbing and Electrical sub-permits; you must apply for each separately, and each has its own fee (typically $75–$150 for each trade sub-permit, plus a building permit of $200–$400 depending on valuation). Many homeowners miss this detail and only pull a building permit, resulting in rejections during rough-in inspections.

Load-bearing walls are the first structural hurdle. If your kitchen has an interior wall running perpendicular to floor joists (common in older Conway homes built 1970s–1990s), removing or significantly cutting that wall requires a structural engineer's letter and often a beam design. Conway's code enforcement will reject any kitchen plan that removes a bearing wall without engineering certification. IRC R602.3 defines load-bearing walls, but in practice, if the wall runs over a basement or crawlspace (common in Conway's piedmont-clay areas inland and in some Myrtle Beach-adjacent neighborhoods) or runs parallel to the roof pitch, assume it is bearing. Hire a local structural engineer (~$400–$800) to certify removal designs before pulling permits; this saves you weeks of back-and-forth with the city. If you're only removing drywall and studs on one side of a non-bearing wall to open the kitchen to a living room, you still need the Building permit, but you're only dealing with plan-check review, not structural review.

Electrical circuits are the second major trigger. Per NEC Article 210, kitchens require a minimum of two 20-amp small-appliance branch circuits dedicated to counter receptacles, plus a 20-amp circuit for the refrigerator (which cannot share a circuit with anything else). If your kitchen does not currently have two separate small-appliance circuits — or if you're adding new counter outlets as part of the remodel and the existing circuits are already loaded — you must add a new circuit. The range or cooktop must be on its own 50-amp (electric) or 15-amp (gas ignition) circuit. A microwave can share a small-appliance circuit, but a dedicated microwave circuit is cleaner. Range hoods with exterior ducting (cutting through an exterior wall) trigger an Electrical permit because you're running a new 120V dedicated circuit to the hood motor; range hoods recirculating through a filter do not need a dedicated circuit and do not require a permit if the hood is hardwired to an existing outlet. The City of Conway Building Department plan-check staff will reject any electrical layout that doesn't show two clearly labeled 20-amp circuits for counter receptacles, each outlet labeled GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter), and spacing no more than 48 inches apart.

Plumbing fixture relocation always requires a Plumbing permit and a plumbing design drawing. If you're moving the sink to a different wall, adding an island sink, relocating the dishwasher, or changing the main drain routing, the City of Conway will require a plumbing isometric drawing showing trap arms (must be 1.5x the pipe diameter, max 3.5 feet from trap weir to vent), vent sizing per IRC P3103, and drain slope (minimum 1/4 inch per foot). Many homeowners and even some contractors overlook trap-arm geometry, resulting in slow drains or siphoning; Conway's plumbing inspector will call out violations during the rough-in. If your kitchen sink drain ties into a 3-inch main drain, and you're adding an island sink 12 feet away, you'll need a secondary 1.5-inch vent loop or a wet vent, depending on fixture unit loading — this detail must be on your plumbing drawing or the city will reject it. Plumbing permits typically cost $100–$150 in Conway, but re-inspections due to failed rough-ins cost time and can add $300–$500 in re-inspection fees and contractor callbacks.

Gas line modifications (if you have a gas range or cooktop) and range-hood exterior termination are the final common triggers. Per IRC G2406, gas appliance connections must be made with approved gas tubing or rigid pipe, and the shutoff valve must be accessible and clearly labeled. If you're relocating a gas range or adding a new gas line to an island cooktop, you need a Building permit for the structural work (if any) and an Electrical permit if you're adding a new ignition circuit; some gas-line modifications also require a licensed plumber or gas fitter (South Carolina requires SC state licensure for gas work). Range hoods with exterior ducting require cutting through an exterior wall and installing a roof cap or wall termination with damper; this counts as an exterior alteration and needs a Building permit plus an Electrical permit. The range-hood duct must be rigid (not flex) for the first section and cannot reduce in diameter; ductwork smaller than the hood outlet will choke airflow. Conway's code inspector will ask for a detail drawing showing the exterior termination, duct diameter (typically 6 inches for a 400-600 CFM hood), and the damper location. Missing this detail is a common rejection reason.

Three Conway kitchen remodel (full) scenarios

Conway's three-permit model and why plan review takes 4–6 weeks

Unlike some small South Carolina municipalities that allow a single combined permit, Conway requires separate Building, Plumbing, and Electrical permits for kitchen work. This is not unusual in cities over 20,000 residents, but it surprises homeowners expecting a one-stop process. When you submit your kitchen remodel plans to the City of Conway Building Department, the staff checks whether the work triggers plumbing and electrical trades, then directs you to apply for those sub-permits separately (or your contractor submits all three simultaneously). Each permit enters its own queue: Building goes to a general inspector and plan-reviewer; Plumbing goes to the city's contracted plumbing inspector (often the county health department in SC coastal towns); Electrical goes to an electrician-certified plan reviewer (sometimes an outside consultant).

Plan review takes 3–4 weeks for initial comments because the three trades review in parallel, and the Building reviewer often waits for Plumbing and Electrical signoffs before approving. If the electrical plan is missing GFCI labeling or the plumbing drawing is missing trap-arm details, the whole package is returned as incomplete. Once corrections are submitted, you wait another 1–2 weeks for final approval. Conway's online portal (accessible through the city website, though exact URL varies) theoretically tracks permit status, but the Building Department staff recommend calling or emailing for status updates rather than relying on the portal alone. Permit fees are assessed per trade: Building typically $250–$400 (based on project valuation); Plumbing $100–$150; Electrical $125–$200. Smaller towns might bundle these at a flat $300–$500 total; Conway's three-permit structure often runs $500–$750 for a mid-range remodel.

South Carolina state law (SC Code § 40-11-360) allows owner-builders to pull permits for their own primary residence without a general contractor's license, but the owner is legally responsible for all code compliance and is often held to the same standard as a licensed contractor. Many homeowners in Conway attempt to do electrical or plumbing work themselves after pulling permits, then fail inspection because they didn't know about trap-arm geometry or GFCI spacing. If you go the owner-builder route, hire a licensed electrician or plumber as a consultant ($150–$300 per hour) to review your work before rough-in inspections; this usually saves money and time compared to failing, correcting, and re-inspecting.

Coastal Conway considerations: pluff mud, frost depth, and kitchen drainage

Conway sits at the intersection of the Lowcountry and the Piedmont; some neighborhoods are on coastal sandy soil (near the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway or Waccamaw River), while others sit on piedmont clay 20–30 miles inland. For kitchen remodels, the soil difference matters for drainage and foundation considerations. If your kitchen is in a coastal-sandy area (Barefoot Landing, proximity to the Waterway), the soil drains quickly but offers poor bearing capacity for deep foundations; if you're pouring a new support post for a header beam removal, the contractor may need to dig to 12 inches (Conway's frost depth per local code, though SC coastal zones rarely frost below 6 inches) and use concrete piers or a shallow footing. Pluff mud (saltmarsh soil common near Myrtle Beach and Conway waterfront neighborhoods) is compressible and corrosive to steel; gas and water lines must be plastic or copper, never bare steel. If your home is waterfront or near the Waterway, assume your plumbing is already in plastic; if it's an older inland home on clay, the gas and water lines may be copper or galvanized steel, which corrodes faster in SC's humid salt air.

Kitchen drain sizing changes based on location. A kitchen sink drain is typically 1.5 inches; if you're adding an island sink in a sandy-soil home close to a septic system (common in rural Conway), the plumbing inspector may require a larger drain line (2 inches) or a separate drain field tap because sandy soil leaches faster and the inspector wants to ensure adequate slope and no backups. If you're in a municipal sewer area (downtown Conway or suburban neighborhoods), the kitchen drain ties into the public sewer and size is less critical, but trap-arm length and vent routing remain non-negotiable. Frost depth of 12 inches is officially Conway's standard, but some inspectors also consider the National Building Code's 2018 recommendation (which suggests 18 inches for areas with moisture and clay); when your contractor runs a new drain line through a crawlspace or under a slab, ask the inspector if the trench needs to be deeper than 12 inches to avoid frost heave. In coastal sandy areas, frost is almost never an issue; in piedmont clay areas (Conway inland neighborhoods), 12 inches is typical.

Common questions