Roofing for Unincorporated Berkeley County homes: replacement, leaks and storm damage. In Unincorporated Berkeley County, the 2021 IRC is in force. Any permit the job needs is ours to pull.
This page covers the parts of the county that are not inside a city — where the county, not a municipality, runs building and permits. The Census does not publish population or housing totals for that remainder on its own, so this page quotes none for it: the county-wide figures further down include every municipality as well.
Outside a town's limits, Berkeley County's Permitting Department issues the permit and its Building and Codes Enforcement department does the inspections. The county's residential application has its own “Roofing Only” permit type. The county does not issue business licenses, but every contractor must hold a valid South Carolina contractor's license.
No completed roof in Unincorporated Berkeley County is logged in our job records yet.
For Berkeley County as a whole — every city in it as well as the unincorporated land — the Census Bureau counts 100,600 homes, with a median year built of 2002. 1,003 of them (1%) went up before 1940 and 54,038 (54%) in 2000 or later. The 2010s were the busiest decade, adding 23,400 of today's homes (23%).
About 20 years is the usual service life of an asphalt shingle roof, by the figure in HUD's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide. By that measure, 46% of Berkeley County's homes — the 46,562 built before 2000 — are past their first roof, and 9% (9,272 homes) go back before 1970, two roof lives and more. The 21,862 homes from the 2000s are where first replacements come up now, while the 32,176 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with.
By building type: 66,089 detached houses (66%), 4,600 attached (5%). 5,594 homes (6%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 10,521 (10%) in buildings of ten units or more, whose roofs are normally an owner's or a board's call rather than a resident's. The count also takes in 13,647 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 69,861 of 93,711 occupied homes (75%) are lived in by their owners. Read together, those figures point toward first replacements on 2000s builder-grade shingles and hail checks on newer roofs that look fine from the driveway.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 1,003 | 1% | |
| 1940s | 695 | 1% | |
| 1950s | 2,259 | 2% | |
| 1960s | 5,315 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 10,245 | 10% | |
| 1980s | 14,909 | 15% | |
| 1990s | 12,136 | 12% | |
| 2000s | 21,862 | 22% | |
| 2010s | 23,400 | 23% | |
| 2020 or later | 8,776 | 9% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 100,600 homes, 93,711 occupied. Survey estimates.
Between 2016 and 2025 there were 33 reports of 1-inch-plus hail in Berkeley County as a whole in the records of NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, on 21 separate days. 5 of them were 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 2 inches, came on June 10, 2024. The most recent was 1.5 inches on June 11, 2025. These are reports, not a full record: they come from spotters and the public, so busier areas log more.
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
Berkeley County's residential construction application lists "Roofing Only" as a permit type. The county says an approved permit must be in hand before any construction begins, and if work starts without one, the fees for all related permits are doubled. Some buildings are exempt from permits, so the county asks owners to call the permit office about their specific project.
Unincorporated Berkeley County enforces the 2021 IRC. Berkeley County enforces the latest versions of the International codes adopted by the State of South Carolina. Its residential construction application lists the 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2020 National Electrical Code and 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. No local amendments are listed.
The published number is 843-719-4292. The building official on record is Hank Jackson, Chief Building Official. The department page is here.
Design wind here is set by location, not one figure for the whole area: across greater Charleston the published ultimate design wind speeds run 133–150 mph, depending on where a house stands. The building department for Unincorporated Berkeley County can tell you which figure applies. What it does to a roof is in the roofing code guide.
Also in Berkeley County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unincorporated Berkeley County | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
| Bonneau | Not published | Not published | 1984 |
| Daniel Island | Yes | 2021 IRC | — |
| Goose Creek | Yes | 2021 IRC | 2002 |
| Hanahan | Not published | 2021 IRC | 1986 |
| Ladson | Yes | 2021 IRC | 1990 |
| Moncks Corner | Not published | 2021 IRC | 2007 |
All 10 Berkeley County cities side by side →
Berkeley County's residential construction application lists "Roofing Only" as a permit type. The county says an approved permit must be in hand before any construction begins, and if work starts without one, the fees for all related permits are doubled. Some buildings are exempt from permits, so the county asks owners to call the permit office about their specific project.
Unincorporated Berkeley County enforces the 2021 IRC. Berkeley County enforces the latest versions of the International codes adopted by the State of South Carolina. Its residential construction application lists the 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Building Code, 2021 International Existing Building Code, 2020 National Electrical Code and 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. No local amendments are listed.
The building official on record is Hank Jackson, Chief Building Official. The department's own number is on this page, beside its name.
Not yet: no completed roof in Unincorporated Berkeley County is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-10-24; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · berkeleycountysc.gov · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · web.archive.org · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
