HVAC Replacement permits across Texas
Where each city draws the line on hvac replacement 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
23
Depends on size
0
| Where the line falls | Fee | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | 2,390,125 | Yes | Replacing a whole air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump … | — |
| San Antonio | 1,526,656 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump requi… | — |
| Austin | 993,588 | Yes | Swapping an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump is mec… | The code does not print a dollar amount. Austin sets permit… |
| El Paso | 681,723 | Yes | Swapping out an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump ne… | You pay the established mechanical permit fee when the perm… |
| Corpus Christi | 317,317 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | Residential mechanical trade permit is $0.075 per square fo… |
| Plano | 293,286 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | You pay the mechanical permit fee set in the City of Plano … |
| Laredo | 261,260 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | — |
| McKinney | 227,526 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | — |
| Grand Prairie | 207,331 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump is me… | — |
| Amarillo | 203,729 | Yes | Swapping an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump is mec… | The code prints an HVAC permit fee schedule but the dollar … |
| Brownsville | 191,967 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | A mechanical permit fee is charged for all mechanical syste… |
| Denton | 165,998 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | — |
| Killeen | 160,616 | Yes | Swapping an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump is mec… | The code does not print a dollar amount. The city sets perm… |
| Mesquite | 150,140 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | Residential mechanical permit (includes condenser and furna… |
| Pasadena | 149,617 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | Mechanical permit fees are set in Ch. 16, Art. IV (amount n… |
| Waco | 146,608 | Unconfirmed | — | The code does not print a dollar amount. The city council s… |
| Midland | 143,687 | Unconfirmed | — | The code does not print a dollar amount; fees are set in th… |
| Lewisville | 135,983 | Unconfirmed | — | Mechanical permit fees are set by the city fee schedule (Se… |
| Round Rock | 135,359 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Abilene | 130,501 | Unconfirmed | — | — |
| Pearland | 129,620 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | Set by Appendix A, Building Fee Schedule; the code does not… |
| College Station | 128,023 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | — |
| League City | 118,456 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | Permit and plan-review fees are set by city council in the … |
| Richardson | 118,221 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | Set by the Master Fee Schedule |
| New Braunfels | 116,477 | Yes | Replacing a whole air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump … | Appendix D Section B lists mechanical permit fees that are … |
| Conroe | 114,581 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | A mechanical permit fee applies, set by the adopted mechani… |
| Allen | 113,746 | Yes | No size threshold in the code | — |
| Sugar Land | 109,851 | Yes | Replacing an air conditioner, furnace, or heat pump needs… | Residential HVAC replacement mechanical permit: $115.00 (Se… |
“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.