Basement permits across Texas
Where each city draws the line on basement work. Sort any column — useful if you build across several towns and need to know where the rules change.
Cities compared
28
Always need one
3
Depends on size
0
| Where the line falls | Fee | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 2,390,125 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| San Antonio | 1,526,656 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | Permit fee per city fee schedule based on estimated project… |
| Austin | 993,588 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | — |
| El Paso | 681,723 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | — |
| Corpus Christi | 317,317 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Plano | 293,286 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Laredo | 261,260 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| McKinney | 227,526 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Grand Prairie | 207,331 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Amarillo | 203,729 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Brownsville | 191,967 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Denton | 165,998 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Killeen | 160,616 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Mesquite | 150,140 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Pasadena | 149,617 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Waco | 146,608 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Midland | 143,687 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Lewisville | 135,983 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Round Rock | 135,359 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Abilene | 130,501 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Pearland | 129,620 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| College Station | 128,023 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| League City | 118,456 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Richardson | 118,221 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| New Braunfels | 116,477 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Conroe | 114,581 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Allen | 113,746 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Sugar Land | 109,851 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
“Unconfirmed” means the city's code doesn't state the rule plainly enough to publish. Those city pages link straight to the ordinance section instead.
Why neighboring cities disagree
Every city starts from a model code and then edits it. One town raises the shed cutoff, the next lowers the fence height, a third exempts the structure where its neighbor only exempts repairs to it. None of that is visible from a national article — you have to read each ordinance, which is what these pages do.