Fence Company in Mount Pleasant, SC

The seven-foot rule almost nobody knows about

Mount Pleasant is unusual. Under the town's accessory use table, a fence seven feet or under does not require a zoning permit — with three exceptions that catch people out. You do need one if:

• The fence is brick, stone or concrete — masonry always requires a permit, at any height.
• The fence sits on a corner lot, along a lot line adjacent to a street right-of-way.
• The fence exceeds seven feet.

Note that the town rewrote its zoning code effective 2025, and how fences are classified changed with it. Older guides floating around online quote the previous limits. We confirm the current standard against your lot and zoning district rather than trusting a blog post — including a call to Building Inspections when a permit question is genuinely borderline.

Your HOA is the real gatekeeper

In practice, the town is the easier approval. I'On, Park West, Carolina Park, Belle Hall and Snee Farm all run architectural review boards, and their covenants are routinely stricter than the town's ordinance — dictating material, colour, height and sometimes the exact picket profile. A town permit does not override an ARB rejection.

We ask for your HOA's architectural guidelines before we design anything. Getting an ARB approval first, then permitting, then building, is the sequence that avoids tearing something out.

The Old Village is a historic district

Fences on residential property inside the Old Village Historic District are separately regulated. The town's planning department (843-884-1229) reviews them. If you're inside the district, treat that conversation as step one, not an afterthought.

Where you cannot build, regardless of height

The town does not allow fencing in a buffer, easement or right-of-way. On the newer Park West and Carolina Park lots, drainage and utility easements often run along exactly the rear line where a homeowner assumed the fence would go. We read your plat first.

Coastal materials, east of the Cooper

You're close to salt water. Powder-coated aluminum and vinyl hold up well and stay low-maintenance; wood needs the right species and hardware. We specify hot-dip galvanized or stainless fasteners as standard here — the fence outlives its screws only if the screws were chosen for the air they're sitting in.