General building work permit checklist — Harris County, Texas
Assembled from Harris County’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
Harris County does not require a permit for general building work.
Harris County does not issue a building-code permit for this work in unincorporated Harris County. Texas counties have no general authority to adopt or enforce a residential building code: under Texas Local Government Code ch. 233 Subchapter F (where adopted by the commissioners court, Sec. 233.152) the International Residential Code applies per Sec. 233.153 to new single-family and duplex construction in the unincorporated area, but subsection (d) states the subchapter may not be construed to 'require prior approval by the county before the beginning of new residential construction,' and subsection (f) states a county 'may not charge a fee to a person subject to standards under this subchapter to defray the costs of enforcing the standards.' So there is no county plan review, no county building permit and no building permit fee. For a new single-family house or duplex (or an addition enlarging one by more than half), state law still requires the builder to build to the IRC and to hire a qualified third-party inspector at the foundation, framing and completion stages (Local Government Code Sec. 233.154) - the inspections are private, not county, and Harris County administers the builder-notice program through its Residential Building Code Inspection website. What Harris County does regulate is development itself, for floodplain and drainage compliance under the Regulations of Harris County for Flood Plain Management (which keep the county eligible for the National Flood Insurance Program). The county's own permit FAQ states 'A permit is needed for all development within Harris County.' Before you build, confirm whether the address sits inside a city's limits - Houston and the smaller cities in the county enforce building codes inside their limits, and a city permit would then be required. A city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) remains unincorporated: the county's development rules apply there, and while cities regulate platting in their ETJ they generally do not require building permits, though it is worth confirming with the city.
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Sources
- building — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Harris County publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Fence permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Retaining wall permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with Harris County before you build.