Service Areas

We build across the parts of South Carolina below and east of the Upstate, and each region asks for something different.

The Midlands and the fall line

Columbia sits right on the fall line, where the hilly Piedmont ends and the Coastal Plain begins. North and west, around Chapin, Newberry and Greenwood, the ground is Piedmont country: gently rolling to steep, with red clay subsoils like the Cecil series, which is kaolinite clay with mica under a sandy loam topsoil. That clay drains slowly, so we watch grading and where roof water goes. The Midlands also have the state's record heat, 113 degrees at USC Columbia in 2012, and freezing rain is more common than snow around and southeast of Columbia.

The Sandhills

A band of old wind-blown sand runs through the inner Coastal Plain, around Lexington, Camden, Aiken and North Augusta. Soils like the Blaney series carry about two feet of sand before reaching sandy clay. The sand drains fast and builds easily, but it needs care at slab edges and around downspouts so water does not wash it out.

The Pee Dee and the Coastal Plain

Around Florence, Darlington, Hartsville, Sumter and Orangeburg, the land flattens into the state's farm belt. Many Coastal Plain soils are poorly drained, with better ground on sandy ridges and slopes. South Carolina also has about 5,000 mapped Carolina bays: shallow, oval depressions that may hold a pond or swamp or sit dry. On flat, wet ground, house pad height and drainage matter as much as square footage.

The Grand Strand and the Lowcountry

From Conway and Loris through Georgetown, Charleston, Summerville, Walterboro, Beaufort and Bluffton, the land is nearly level flatwoods, marsh edges and sea islands. Wind design climbs here (Goose Creek uses 140+ mph and Charleston 150 mph), Charleston's frost depth is zero, and Goose Creek rates termite hazard as heavy. Flood maps decide a lot: in Horry County, a house in a flood plain needs a pre-construction elevation certificate, and VE zones have their own requirements.

York and Lancaster counties

Rock Hill, Fort Mill, York, Lancaster and Chester sit in the Piedmont near the North Carolina line. The state's map puts York County at 115 mph wind and seismic category B, lighter loads than the coast, with red clay ground that needs the same attention to drainage as the rest of the Piedmont.