Building a commercial building in Myrtle Beach starts long before concrete is poured.
One of the biggest mistakes an owner can make is to begin with the building itself:
I want a 10,000-square-foot office. What will it cost to build?
That is an important question, but it is not the first question.
Before we can answer it, we need to know where the property is, which jurisdiction controls it, what the property is zoned for, what can physically fit on the site, how stormwater will be handled, what design professionals are required, and what approvals the project will need.
Commercial construction is as much about understanding the property and the process as it is about constructing the building.
Here is what that process generally looks like in the Myrtle Beach area.
First: Are You Actually in the City of Myrtle Beach?
This sounds like a strange place to start, but it matters.
A property can have a Myrtle Beach mailing address without actually being located inside the municipal limits of the City of Myrtle Beach. It may instead be in unincorporated Horry County.
That changes which planning, zoning and permitting departments have jurisdiction over the project.
Horry County Planning & Zoning administers the County's zoning ordinance and land-development regulations and coordinates commercial development requirements involving zoning, stormwater, flood prevention and other development regulations.
Inside the City of Myrtle Beach, there is another important part of the development process: the Community Appearance Board, commonly called the CAB.
Horry County does not use Myrtle Beach's CAB process.
So before designing anything, determine exactly where the property is located and which jurisdiction governs it.
What Is the Property Zoned For?
Once jurisdiction is established, zoning becomes one of the first major questions.
What you want to build and what you are legally allowed to build on a particular property are two different things.
A medical office, professional office, neighborhood commercial project, highway commercial use, retail building, warehouse or industrial facility may all have different requirements.
Zoning can affect much more than the basic use of the property. Depending on the jurisdiction and zoning district, it can affect:
- setbacks and building location
- building height and density
- parking requirements
- landscaping and buffers
- lot coverage and impervious area
- signage
- access and circulation
Horry County, for example, specifically identifies allowable uses, density, building height, setbacks, floor-area ratio, pervious and impervious coverage and parking as matters governed by zoning.
That is why we like to answer the zoning question early.
There is little value in spending significant money designing a building before establishing that the intended use and basic development plan work on the property.
The first question isn't really, “What do you want to build?”
It is:
“Where is the property, and what does that property allow you to build?”
Do You Need a Draftsman or an Architect?
Once you understand the property, another early decision is determining who needs to design the building.
This can have a meaningful effect on the soft costs of a commercial project.
South Carolina law provides an exemption from architectural services for certain buildings that are fewer than three stories and contain fewer than 5,000 square feet of total floor area. There are important exceptions. Assembly, institutional, educational and hazardous occupancies require architectural services regardless of size.
That makes the 5,000-square-foot threshold important.
For a relatively simple building that qualifies for an exemption, basic drafting may sometimes be sufficient, although engineering and other professional services may still be required. Once a project falls outside the exemption, a registered architect becomes part of the process.
And there can be a meaningful difference in cost.
In our experience, straightforward drafting might sometimes be measured around $0.50 per square foot, while architectural services can be closer to $3 per square foot or more, depending on the building and the scope of services.
Those are not government-established rates, and every project is different. They simply illustrate why the design team belongs in the budget from the beginning.
A building that grows from 4,500 square feet to 6,000 square feet may not simply cost more because there is more building. Crossing a regulatory threshold can change the professional services required to get the project designed and permitted.
Don't Just Budget the Building. Budget the Site.
This may be one of the most overlooked parts of commercial construction.
If somebody asks what a 10,000-square-foot commercial building costs, the answer isn't simply:
10,000 square feet × construction cost per square foot.
Because you're not only building a building.
You're developing a site.
That site may need parking, drive aisles, utilities, grading, drainage, stormwater infrastructure, landscaping, fire access, sidewalks, ADA access, lighting, dumpster enclosures and other improvements.
And in coastal South Carolina, elevation and flooding can become major considerations.
Horry County's commercial permitting requirements illustrate how much goes into the site itself. New commercial projects require civil/site plans in addition to architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing plans. Sewer verification and stormwater documentation may also be required. Properties within designated flood hazard areas can require additional information.
Two similarly sized commercial buildings can therefore have very different total development costs.
The buildings might be almost identical.
The sites may not be.
Flooding and Elevation Matter in Commercial Construction Too
Flooding isn't just a residential construction issue along the Grand Strand.
A commercial property's flood designation, existing site elevations and required building elevation can influence both design and cost.
Depending on the property, getting the finished building to the appropriate elevation can affect grading, fill requirements, drainage, parking transitions and accessibility.
This is another reason we want to understand the land before getting too far into the building.
The building and site cannot really be designed independently of one another.
Stormwater Can Shape the Entire Site
Stormwater deserves its own discussion because it isn't something that gets figured out after the building is designed.
Think about what happens when an undeveloped or lightly developed property becomes a commercial site.
You add a roof.
You add a parking lot.
You add driveways and sidewalks.
Suddenly, a significant portion of the property that once absorbed rainfall is impervious.
Where does all that water go?
That question can influence the entire site plan.
Horry County's stormwater requirements address grading and drainage, erosion and sediment control, impervious area, retention or detention, runoff, treatment facilities and long-term maintenance. Qualifying stormwater reports must be prepared and certified by a South Carolina-licensed professional engineer.
Depending on the development, stormwater management may require ponds, underground systems or other engineered solutions.
And every square foot devoted to stormwater is a square foot that may not be available for the building or parking.
That's why stormwater isn't merely an engineering detail.
It can help determine what actually fits on the property.
Inside Myrtle Beach: Meet the Community Appearance Board
If the property is within the City of Myrtle Beach, the Community Appearance Board can become an important part of the process.
And this is one area where our opinion may be different from what some developers expect.
We're fans of the Community Appearance Board.
Additional review can mean additional preparation. A project may require revisions before approval.
But that's also the point.
Myrtle Beach has used architectural review through its Community Appearance Board for decades. The City's regulations describe objectives that include encouraging good design, discouraging incompatible development, protecting the visual character of Myrtle Beach, supporting investment and enhancing property values.
We think there is real value in that.
Myrtle Beach is a place millions of people experience every year. Commercial buildings constructed here can remain part of the community for generations.
Requiring an owner, architect and builder to think seriously about how a project looks, how it relates to its site and what it contributes to the surrounding area isn't necessarily an obstacle to good development.
It can be part of what creates good development.
What Is the Community Appearance Board Actually Looking At?
The Community Appearance Board isn't simply deciding whether it likes the color of your building.
The board looks at the development as a whole.
That can include the architecture, site layout, parking and circulation, landscaping, exterior materials and colors, signage, utilities, dumpster enclosures and other visible elements of the property. The City's application materials call for items including site plans, traffic flow and parking information, landscaping plans, tree surveys, utility locations, architectural elevations and exterior material information.
In practical terms, that means thinking about things such as building massing.
Is the building essentially one large flat box? Or does the architecture use changes in plane, roof forms, openings, canopies and materials to break down its scale and create a more intentional building?
It means thinking about the roof. Roof form, parapets, visible mechanical equipment and materials can all contribute to the architecture. Elements such as standing-seam metal roofing can become an important part of the overall design rather than simply a roofing decision.
It means thinking seriously about landscaping. Where are the existing trees? What can be preserved? What gets planted? How does landscaping soften parking areas, screen service functions and help the development relate to the street and surrounding properties?
It means thinking about the things nobody puts on the rendering.
Where does the dumpster go?
Where are the utilities?
Where is the service area?
Can those necessary parts of a commercial property be screened with walls, fencing, landscaping or architectural elements so that they don't become the first thing somebody sees?
And it means thinking about parking and circulation. Cars have to get into the property, move through it and park somewhere, but the parking lot doesn't necessarily have to become the dominant architectural feature of the project.
These individual decisions add up.
The Community Appearance Board is essentially asking the design team to look beyond the building footprint and consider the entire property as one composition.
That's one reason we have a positive view of the process.
The CAB forces the development team to think about more than whether a building technically meets code. It asks whether the building, landscaping, parking, materials and site design work together to create something that contributes positively to Myrtle Beach.
Design Something That Belongs There
Our approach isn't to design the cheapest box possible and then fight with the appearance standards until somebody lets us build it.
We would rather understand the standards early.
If the Community Appearance Board is going to care about landscaping, massing, roof design, exterior materials, parking and screening, those things should be considered while the building is being designed—not added at the end as decorations.
That's really not very different from how we think about residential construction.
A good building should respond to its site.
The architecture, land and surroundings should make sense together.
Commercial Development Isn't a Perfectly Linear Process
It would be convenient if commercial construction worked like this:
Buy property → design building → get permit → build it.
In reality, several pieces develop together.
Zoning affects the site plan.
The site plan affects parking.
Parking and building coverage affect impervious area and stormwater.
Stormwater can affect the amount of usable land.
Flood requirements can affect elevation and grading.
The intended use can affect parking, fire protection and building requirements.
The size and occupancy of the building can affect which design professionals are required.
And inside Myrtle Beach, architecture and site design can affect Community Appearance Board approval.
A change in one area can force a change somewhere else.
That's why some of the most valuable work on a commercial project happens before construction begins.
Changing a line on a drawing is considerably less expensive than changing something in the field.
Then Comes the Building Permit
Once the project has progressed through the applicable zoning, civil engineering, architectural, appearance and other reviews, it moves toward building-plan review and permitting.
The exact requirements depend on the jurisdiction and project.
For example, Horry County currently requires a complete digital plan package for new commercial buildings and additions that includes architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and civil/site plans. New buildings and additions also have additional documentation requirements involving areas such as special inspections and energy-code compliance.
Inside Myrtle Beach, Community Appearance Board approval is not itself the building permit. It is a separate approval that can be required before the applicable permit is issued.
That distinction matters.
There isn't necessarily one single approval called “the commercial permit.”
A commercial project is the result of multiple disciplines, reviews and requirements eventually coming together into an approved project.
Construction, Inspections and Certificate of Occupancy
Once permits are issued, we finally get to the part most people pictured when they first decided to build:
Construction.
Sitework begins.
Utilities are coordinated.
Foundations go in.
The structure comes out of the ground.
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems follow.
Exterior and interior finishes progress.
Required inspections occur throughout construction.
Eventually, the project works toward final inspections and a Certificate of Occupancy.
But by that point, many of the decisions that determine whether the project succeeds were made months earlier.
Start With the Property, Not the Building
If there is one lesson we would give someone considering a commercial building in Myrtle Beach, it is this:
Start with the property, not the building.
Determine the jurisdiction.
Verify the zoning and intended use.
Understand the site.
Understand flood and stormwater requirements.
Determine the appropriate design team.
If you're inside Myrtle Beach, understand the Community Appearance Board process.
Then start putting the pieces together.
Commercial construction has more layers than many first-time owners expect. But those layers aren't inherently bad.
Zoning helps determine appropriate land uses.
Civil engineering makes the site function.
Stormwater requirements help manage what happens to water once a property is developed.
Building codes protect occupants.
And in Myrtle Beach, the Community Appearance Board asks one additional question:
What are we adding to the community?
We think that's a fair question.
A commercial building isn't temporary. Done well, it can serve its owner and become part of Myrtle Beach for decades.
It should be worth building well.
