Texas
Houston, TX permit fees and requirements
Houston prices building permits off project valuation
using a nine-bracket schedule in Bldg. Code Sec. 118.2.1. Electrical and plumbing permits work differently: they are priced per item — per meter loop, per outlet, per fixture. Both schedules are published in the City-Wide Fee Schedule, which is what every figure on these pages is read from.
Permit costs we have worked out
Each page shows the fee components, the formula the jurisdiction uses, and a worked example you can follow by hand.
Estimate your potential Houston permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Houston building permit cost | structural | 2026-09-23 |
| Houston electrical permit cost | electrical | 2026-09-23 |
| Houston plumbing permit cost | plumbing | 2026-09-23 |
Local context
What is specific to Houston
Three things about Houston are worth knowing before you read any number here.
The first is geography. Houston's fees apply to property inside the city limits. A Houston mailing address does not establish that, and unincorporated Harris County issues its own permits under its own fee order. If you are not certain which authority covers your property, ask the Permitting Center before you budget from these figures.
The second is the shape of the building schedule. It is not a simple percentage. Each bracket pairs a published Base Charge with a rate per additional $1,000 of valuation, rounded up to the next $1,000 — the schedule's own words are 'or fraction thereof'. That rounding is not decorative: one cent over a bracket boundary moves you into the next bracket and pays a whole $1,000 increment.
The third is that the Base Charges do not chain arithmetically. Houston adjusts fees periodically and rounds each bracket independently, so over time the brackets drift apart. For example, the arithmetic at the top of the $7,001–$150,000 bracket produces $813.48 for a $150,000 valuation, while the next bracket publishes a Base Charge of $815.07 for the same figure. We reproduce the city's published Base Charge rather than reconciling it, because those are the numbers the permit office will charge you.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
Houston defines valuation as the total cost of construction to the end user, excluding land purchase costs and the overhead attributed to land purchase. Donated goods and services are included in the value.
Separately, Bldg. Code Sec. 118.2.1 references a construction-type valuation table (Table 601, adopted by Ord. No. 2023-907) that establishes valuation from building construction type and floor area. That table is published in the schedule and has not yet been transcribed here, so no page on this site derives a valuation from square footage. Where a figure is required, you supply it.
Who to contact
The office that issues the permit, with the details we have verified. Confirm current hours before travelling.
What these fees do not include
The list is not a disclaimer: on a new house the fees left out can outweigh the permit fee several times over. Every entry here is stated on the permit page as well.
Not included in our estimates
These figures are the City of Houston's building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permit fees as published in the City-Wide Fee Schedule. They are not a total project cost, and they do not include:
- Fees administered by other City departments, which the City's own estimator lists as Planning & Development; Utility Planning & Analysis; Flood Plain Management; Engineering Services; the Health Department; and Administration & Regulatory Affairs (for commercial permits).
- Sidewalk and alarm permit fees, which the City's estimator states are excluded from the building permit fee.
- Plan review by the City Engineer, billed at $134.28 for administrative review plus $96.67 per plan sheet.
- The administrative fee under Code Sec. 1-14, which the fee schedule says fees 'may be subject to'.
- Re-inspection fees ($94.00) when a re-inspection is required.
- Any Fire Department, health or utility fee.
Official sources for this jurisdiction
The documents these figures are transcribed from. Where a source contradicts itself we keep both readings and say so on the permit page.
- Official calculatorCityPrimary source
Building Permit Fee Estimator (Residential and Commercial)
Used for two published statements only: the city's own definition of 'valuation', and its list of which other departments may charge separate fees. The estimator's own outputs are not used as a source; we calculate from the schedule so the arithmetic is inspectable.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Authoritative current fee schedule for all City departments. Each row carries a statutory authority (for example 'Bldg. Code Sec. 118.2.1'), the amount or a 'Calculation' note, and an 'As Of' date. The HPW department section was read in a browser; the page renders its tables client-side, so it cannot be fetched as plain HTML.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Houston Code of Ordinances — Houston Amendments to the Building Code, Section 118
The ordinance text behind the fee schedule. Identified but NOT YET READ. Needed for the definition of 'unit valuation' used by Bldg. Code Sec. 118.3.1, which is why the HVAC percentage-of-valuation component is not modelled.