Barndominium Builders in Knoxville, TN

Barndominium builders in Knoxville work in a county of long ridges and narrow valleys. Knoxville is the seat of Knox County and counted 190,740 residents in 2020, up from 178,874 in 2010. The city sits in the Great Appalachian Valley, part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, with Sharp's Ridge, Beaver Ridge, Brown Mountain and parts of Bays Mountain and McAnnally Ridge running across it. We plan barndominiums, shop houses and hillside builds on land inside the city and out in the county.

City lot or county lot: two code books

The first question on any Knoxville barndo is which side of the city line the land sits on. Inside city limits, the City of Knoxville Inspections Bureau lists the 2024 International Residential Code and the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code as its adopted codes. Out in unincorporated Knox County, the county's own code history shows it adopted the 2018 ICC codes, including the IRC, by ordinance on November 19, 2018. Knox County issued its first building permit on April 2, 1985, so rural parcels here have been under a local code for decades. Two code editions means two different plan reviews, and we draw to the one that governs your parcel.

Septic approval comes before the building permit

On a county lot without sewer, the Knox County Health Department's groundwater office sets the pace. Its FAQ states that a subsurface sewage disposal system (SSDS) permit is required before Codes Enforcement will issue a residential building permit. The installation permit application asks for:

• the number of bedrooms
• whether there is a basement and whether it will have plumbing
• whether water comes from a public utility or a private well
• a sketch showing property lines, the house site, planned driveways and utilities
• soil maps prepared by a soil consultant

That means the bedroom count has to be settled early. Adding a bedroom after the septic design is approved can send you back to the health department.

Hillsides and ridgetops

Knox County is not flat. The Knoxville-Knox County Hillside and Ridgetop Protection Plan counts 67.0 percent of county land at 0 to 15 percent slope, 18.5 percent at 15 to 25 percent, and 10.1 percent, about 34,127 acres, at 25 to 40 percent. City Council adopted the plan on December 13, 2011, and the County Commission followed on January 23, 2012. The plan notes that slope failures mostly happen on ground steeper than about 15 percent and that an uncovered lot can shed as much as 30 tons of soil in a single rainstorm. For a barndominium on a slope that translates into practical choices:

• A level pad needs a cut, a fill, or a walkout lower level, and each option changes the foundation design.
• Driveway grade matters. The plan records a fire truck transmission failing on a road grade of roughly 18 percent.
• Erosion control and quick seeding belong in the schedule from the first day of clearing.

Limestone clay and chert

Much of the valley ground around Knoxville weathered out of limestone. USDA describes the Dewey series as limestone residuum with a silty clay or clay subsoil on slopes of 2 to 40 percent, and notes that some Dewey areas are pitted with sinks and depressions. The Fullerton series, found in the Southern Appalachian Ridges and Valleys of eastern Tennessee, carries 10 to 45 percent chert gravel and cobbles in some layers. We read the soil report before sizing footings for a wide clear-span frame, and we ask about any low spots or depressions on the property.

Weather a metal shell has to handle

Knoxville is humid subtropical. The daily average runs 38.2 F in January and 78.4 F in July, with just under 52 inches of precipitation a year and about 4.6 inches of normal seasonal snowfall, though one February day in 1960 brought 17.5 inches. Humid summers are the bigger issue for a steel roof and walls: condensation is what closed-cell spray foam or a well-detailed vapor control layer is for, and the HVAC system should be sized for moisture as well as heat. The National Weather Service office in Morristown names April as the peak tornado month for its area, with a smaller second peak in November.

River and creek frontage

The Tennessee River begins in southeast Knoxville where the Holston and French Broad rivers meet, and through the city it is part of Fort Loudoun Lake. Creeks such as Ten Mile, Turkey, Sinking and First Creek wind through neighborhoods. Land near any of them gets a flood map check before we set a finished floor height.

Call (865) 273-0759 or

Get a Free Estimate

to walk through your Knoxville land and plans.