Service Areas

We build across the Knoxville metropolitan area, which is defined as nine counties: Knox, Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Loudon, Morgan, Roane and Union. We also work east toward Jefferson, Hamblen and Sevier counties and south toward Monroe and McMinn. The land is not the same from one end to the other.

The central valley

Knox County and the valley floors around it sit on limestone and dolomite, with red clay soils and scattered sinkholes. Inside the City of Knoxville, most lots have public water and sewer, plans go through the city Inspections Bureau under the 2024 IRC, and Knoxville's tree rules limit clearing on larger wooded tracts. In unincorporated Knox County, Codes Enforcement handles the building permit, and lots off sewer need a septic permit from the Knox County Health Department first.

Foothills and the Smokies

South and east, Chilhowee Mountain marks the line between the Ridge-and-Valley and the Blue Ridge in Blount County, and the land rises toward the Great Smoky Mountains. Sevier County has the greatest elevation difference of any county in Tennessee, from about 850 feet on the French Broad River to 6,643 feet at Kuwohi. Building sites there are steeper, driveways are longer, and the building pad usually takes more work than the building.

The northern ridges and lakes

North and east of Knoxville, Clinch Mountain splits Grainger County in two, and Norris and Cherokee lakes reach into Union, Campbell, Grainger and Jefferson counties. Long parallel ridges and lake coves mean narrow valleys, steep side slopes and a lot of rural land on well and septic.

Toward the Cumberland Plateau

To the west and northwest, Roane County straddles the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland Plateau, with Walden Ridge visible from most of the county, and Campbell County climbs into the Cumberland Mountains, reaching 3,534 feet at Cross Mountain. In LaFollette, the city's published design criteria list a 10 psf ground snow load, a 10-inch frost line and moderate to heavy termite risk; we check each jurisdiction's own table rather than assuming.

Each town page covers what is different about building there.