Barndominium Builders in Harriman, TN

Barndominium builders in Harriman are building right on the edge between two landscapes. Harriman lies on the boundary of the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland Plateau, and Walden Ridge, the Plateau's escarpment, rises several hundred feet above the city on the west. The Emory River enters the valley at Emory Gap just west of town and loops around the original part of the city in an oxbow. The city is mostly in Roane County, with a small piece in Morgan County, and counted 5,892 people in 2020, down from 6,350 in 2010. The ground changes quickly from river bottom to steep ridge.

The Walden Ridge Overlay

The City of Harriman has a Walden Ridge Overlay District, with its own ordinance and guidelines and a separate Certificate of Appropriateness application. If your land inside the city is on or near the ridge, the overlay is the first thing to check, because it can add a review step before you build. We read the current ordinance and the application with you for your specific parcel, and design within it.

Historic districts in town

Harriman also publishes historic design guidelines (effective 2015) and district guidelines for Cornstalk Heights and Roane Street, with a Certificate of Appropriateness process. A metal-sided barndominium is rarely a fit inside a historic district, but it can be very much at home on acreage outside town. If your lot is inside the city, confirm which district it falls in using the city's zoning ordinance and zoning map before paying for plans.

City permits, county permits

Inside Harriman, the city takes building permit applications and administers its own zoning ordinance. Outside the city, Roane County Planning and Zoning enforces zoning in unincorporated areas, and Roane County Building Codes in Kingston enforces the 2024 International Residential Code and 2024 International Building Code. The county wants permit applications and inspection requests in by 3:30 p.m. For the Morgan County slice of Harriman, we confirm the right office for that parcel.

The Emory River and floods

In 1929 a flood on the Emory River, together with the stock market crash, wiped out much of the city's industry. The oxbow that wraps around old Harriman and the low ground along the river are the places to be careful. On any lot near the Emory, we check the flood maps and the site elevation before we pick the pad, and we keep the septic field and the slab on the high side of the property.

Building at the base of a ridge

U.S. 27, Roane Street in town, runs north and south along the foot of Walden Ridge. Lots along that line can have steep back slopes, runoff coming down from above, and rock close to the surface. A barndominium on that kind of ground often sits most easily with the long side running along the contour, a shop door on the downhill end, and drainage cut in above the building to carry water around it. Interstate 40 runs east and west through the south side of the city, which keeps Knoxville and Kingston within reach.

Septic on mixed ground

For homesites without sewer, Tennessee requires a septic permit and an on-site evaluation by a TDEC environmental scientist. The evaluator may ask for a site plan or a soils map from a private soil consultant, and processing can take up to 45 days after a complete application. Mark the property lines, stake the pad corners, cut the brush and do not grade first. Between the river bottoms and the ridge slopes, Harriman lots can vary a lot in what they will support, so we let the evaluation steer the layout.

A town built on a plan

Harriman was founded in 1889 as a temperance town by activists led by Frederick Gates. The East Tennessee Land Company bought several hundred thousand acres around the site, held a land auction in 1890 and went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893. The town carries Walter Harriman's name and much of its original street grid still sits inside the river's bend.

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