Pole barns and barndominiums in Kent County, Delaware.
Building in Kent County.
Our office sits at 575 N Dupont Hwy in Dover, the county seat, and the Kent County permit office is in Dover too, at 555 Bay Road. The county had 181,851 residents in 2020, and it stretches from the state capital to small towns like Hartly, Delaware’s least populous municipality, bayfront Bowers Beach and river towns like Leipsic and Frederica. In between is farmland, and a great deal of it, which is a big part of why post-frame buildings make so much sense here.
We have been a family-run post-frame builder since 2012, when Gary Sensenig started the company. Our designers produce the drawings and an organized, easy-to-read quote, we manage the permits, our crews build, and project managers keep you posted. Final payment comes after the county’s final inspection, and the work carries a 5-year workmanship warranty. Financing is available through HFS Financial, with home-improvement loans that need no home equity and use a soft credit check.
- County seat
- Dover
- Population
- 181,851 (2020 Census)
- Permits
- Kent County Levy Court, Department of Planning Services, Inspections & Enforcement Division
- Permit office
- (302) 744-2451
- Building code
- 2018 IRC and 2018 IBC with Kent County amendments (adopted 08/18/2020, effective 10/05/2020; Kent County Code Chapter 105)
- Town pages
- 20
Pole barn permits in Kent County.
In unincorporated Kent County, and in the towns that rely on the county for building permits, permits come from the Kent County Levy Court, Department of Planning Services, Inspections & Enforcement Division, at the Kent County Administrative Complex, 555 Bay Road, Dover (302-744-2451), open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 5:00. Applications are filed online through My Government Online (MGO), and zoning or setback questions go to Kent County Planning Services (302-744-2471). The county requires a permit for a detached garage, carport, pole building, pool house or animal shelter of any size. Electrical and plumbing permits come from the State, not the county.
Each accessory-building application uploads a plot plan, construction plans and the manufacturer’s design certification for every engineered component, such as roof trusses, LVLs and steel beams. The county posts sample pole-building drawings, and the post layout must show overall dimensions, every post location and spacing, truss certification, door and window locations and header sizes. Kent also amends the IRC with post-frame sections R611 through R614: plans must meet the Table R301.2(1) design loads and state uplift reactions, truss drawings with permanent bracing come in at plan submittal, steel siding must be isolated from preservative-treated lumber, and footings must reach at least 40 inches below grade.
Kent County Code § 105-24(B)(1) fills in the IRC design table: a ground snow load of 25 psf, a wind design speed of 115 mph, a frost line depth of 24 inches, seismic design category A, Severe weathering and termite damage marked Yes. The county works from the 2018 IRC and 2018 IBC with its own amendments in Chapter 105. For a residential accessory building, two more limits shape the design: it may not be larger than the house, and its average roof height, measured at the midpoint between peak and eave, may not exceed 20 feet.
Farm buildings follow their own path. Under Kent County Code § 105-4(B)(30), farm buildings other than dwellings, used exclusively for farming on a parcel of at least five acres with a reasonable expectation of at least $2,500 in gross annual farm income, are exempt from the building code. You still provide a plot plan showing the building’s location and get an agricultural building use permit from the Division of Inspections and Enforcement, with the fee set by Levy Court. State law (9 Del. C. § 4901(b)) also keeps county zoning from applying to land and structures devoted to agricultural use.
Where this comes from
- kentcountyde.gov (opens in a new tab)
- kentcountyde.gov (opens in a new tab)
- kentcountyde.gov (opens in a new tab)
- ecode360.com (opens in a new tab)
- kentcountyde.gov (opens in a new tab)
- ecode360.com (opens in a new tab)
Permit details checked October 2026. Rules change, so we confirm the current requirements for your parcel before anything is drawn.
Farming in Kent County.
Kent is farm country by the numbers. The USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 770 farms on 187,248 acres, an average of 243 acres each, and $570.7 million in agricultural products sold, 27% of Delaware’s total. Poultry and eggs brought in $384.9 million, livestock and poultry made up 70% of county farm sales, and broiler and other meat-type chickens numbered 12,831,080 at the end of 2022. Corn for grain covered 67,544 acres, soybeans 66,870 and wheat 17,737, and vegetables were harvested from 9,519 acres. That is a lot of equipment and hay to keep under a roof.
Source: USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture county profile (opens in a new tab)
Towns we build in across Kent County.
Which office you deal with depends on where the land is. Nine places issue their own building permits, and Kent County lists them as needing no county permit: Camden, Cheswold, Clayton, Dover, Frederica, Harrington, Milford, Smyrna and Wyoming. In eleven others (Bowers, Felton, Hartly, Houston, Kenton, Leipsic, Little Creek, Magnolia, Viola, Woodside and Farmington), the town’s zoning official approves the project first with a permit or written approval, and Kent County then issues the permit and handles plan review and inspections. Inside any town, setbacks come from the town, not the county. Everywhere else, including the Delaware side of Marydel, the county handles zoning and the permit itself.
- Bowers Beach25 min from Dover, pop. 278
- Camden11 min from Dover, pop. 3,715
- Cheswold9 min from Dover, pop. 1,923
- Clayton20 min from Dover, pop. 3,961
- Dover4 min from Dover, pop. 39,403
- Felton20 min from Dover, pop. 1,316
- Frederica20 min from Dover, pop. 1,073
- Harrington27 min from Dover, pop. 3,774
- Hartly18 min from Dover, pop. 73
- Houston35 min from Dover, pop. 381
- Kenton17 min from Dover, pop. 215
- Leipsic11 min from Dover, pop. 178
- Little Creek11 min from Dover, pop. 195
- Magnolia15 min from Dover, pop. 277
- Marydel18 min from Dover
- Milford31 min from Dover, pop. 11,190
- Smyrna16 min from Dover, pop. 12,883
- Viola18 min from Dover, pop. 140
- Woodside15 min from Dover, pop. 190
- Wyoming12 min from Dover, pop. 1,680
Kent County questions.
Still wondering about something? Call us at 302-399-4420.
Do I need a permit for a pole barn in Kent County?
Yes. Kent County requires a permit for a detached garage, carport, pole building, pool house or animal shelter of any size, while sheds, gazebos and pavilions need one above 300 sq ft. In the nine towns that issue their own permits, the town handles it instead. Farm buildings that qualify for the agricultural exemption still need a plot plan and an agricultural building use permit.
How deep do post-frame footings have to be?
At least 40 inches below grade, which is deeper than the county’s 24-inch frost line. Kent County’s post-frame amendments also require footings at least 18 inches in diameter and 12 inches thick, and each post needs a lumber cleat or another noted means to resist uplift. We design every Kent County pole barn to those numbers.
How close to the property line can I build?
In unincorporated Kent County, the county’s stated common minimums are 5 ft from side and rear property lines, 5 ft from the house and 10 ft from septic equipment. An accessory building cannot sit forward of the house’s front wall unless it is at least 100 ft from the front property line. Kent County Planning Services (302-744-2471) gives the exact setbacks for a parcel.
What if my land is in a flood plain?
Then any work there needs a permit, sheds of any size included. A 2011 University of Delaware analysis put 94 sq mi of Kent County, 16% of its land, in the mapped 100-year floodplain, with the St. Jones River watershed holding the most structures. The county’s floodplain ordinance is Chapter 188, adopted in 2014, and we confirm its details with Planning Services.
What does a barndominium need on land without sewer?
DNREC on-site wastewater approval, in three steps: a site evaluation by a licensed Class D soil scientist, a system design and permit by a licensed Class B or Class C designer, and installation by a licensed Class E contractor. A well must be drilled by a DNREC-licensed water well contractor. In our experience, homes usually take 3 to 5 months to permit, depending on the county.
How far from your office do you work in Kent County?
Across the whole county. From 575 N Dupont Hwy, the center of Dover is about 4 minutes away, Cheswold 9, Smyrna 16, Harrington 27 and Milford 31, and Houston, about 22 miles south, is 35 minutes. Call 302-399-4420, Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, to set up a site visit.
Let’s plan your building in Kent County.
Tell us what you’d like to build and where, and we’ll come back with drawings and a free quote.
- info@pbuincde.com
- Office
- 575 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901 (opens Google Maps in a new tab)
- Hours
- Mon to Fri, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
- We build in
- All of Kent County, Delaware