Mack Development Group builds custom mountain homes in Andrews and Murphy, North Carolina, in Cherokee County, NC — the market that includes Grand View Falls, our own community. Building in North Carolina requires separate North Carolina licensure, and we hold work here to that standard rather than assuming Georgia credentials carry over.

Neighborhoods & areas we build in

• Grand View Falls — Mack Development Group’s own community in Cherokee County, NC.
• Town of Andrews — zoning administered locally under the Andrews Development Ordinance.
• Town of Murphy — zoning certificates, rezonings, variances, and subdivision applications handled by the town.
• Unincorporated Cherokee County, NC — no countywide zoning ordinance; the Towns of Andrews and Murphy regulate zoning inside their limits.
• The Nantahala National Forest — adjacent public land and gorge.
• Hiwassee Lake and the Hiwassee River — a reservoir and river in Cherokee County, NC.

What’s different about building in Andrews & Murphy

The first honest difference is legal, not physical. North Carolina requires a state general contractor license for any project costing $40,000 or more, and a Georgia license does not carry over. The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors states plainly that it does not have full reciprocity with any other state; it holds examination waiver agreements with Georgia and several other states, but the qualifier must still pass the North Carolina Business and Law exam, and licenses cannot be transferred. License limits matter at custom-home price points: Limited covers projects up to $750,000, Intermediate up to $1,500,000, and Unlimited has no value limit. On the engineering side, an individual North Carolina professional engineer license is required to practice in the state, and a separate North Carolina firm license is required before a corporation may practice engineering there. We say this on the page because the alternative — implying Georgia credentials cover North Carolina work — is both wrong and a liability.

The building code in force is the 2018 North Carolina Residential Code. North Carolina delayed implementation of the 2024 code; until an official effective date is set, the 2018 code remains in effect, though the 2024 code may be used as an alternative method of construction if requested by a building owner or their agent. Plan review and inspection will be against the 2018 book.

Zoning is thin and utilities are mostly private. The county’s published ordinance list contains no countywide zoning ordinance, while the Towns of Andrews and Murphy do regulate zoning inside their limits — Andrews through the Andrews Development Ordinance and Murphy through zoning certificates, rezonings, variances, and subdivision applications. Septic and wells go through Cherokee County Environmental Health, within the county Health Department, and written approval from that office is required before a residential building permit issues. Where a town or service district provides water and sewer, written approval comes from them instead. On these grades the site work, not the house, is the variable: access road grade, rock, and foundation stepping dominate a Western North Carolina budget.

Permitting in Andrews & Murphy

Permits come from the Cherokee County, NC Office of Building Code Enforcement, which receives applications and issues or denies permits and also administers floodplain regulations, the county Watershed Ordinance, primary fire limit laws, special district regulations, and water supply watershed protection. The towns handle zoning, not building code: the county’s residential permit requirements include a copy of written zoning approval from the required town official or district where it applies. Neither the county nor the towns publish a plan review turnaround; permits are handled first-come, first-served, and a permit expires if work is not commenced within six months.

The residential permit package has several conditions that catch out-of-state builders. Written approval from Cherokee County Environmental Health is required for septic and well, or from the town or service district for water and sewer. A Notice of Lien Agent is required for residential projects over $40,000. A 911 address is required. If the property is located near any rivers, lakes, streams, or creeks, the county asks you to contact the department before the permit application, because floodplain and/or watershed ordinance regulations may apply. And if one acre or more will be disturbed, written approval from the state environmental agency is required before the permit application — not after, which is the sequencing error that costs mountain projects a month.

Two things we will not state on this page because we could not verify them from a primary source: specific Cherokee County, NC watershed buffer widths, and any county steep-slope or high-hazard ridge standards. On a specific lot, we confirm both directly with the county before we price the site. That is a shorter answer than most builder websites give, and it is the accurate one.

Frequently asked questions