Every City of Houston permit, approval, and inspection a commercial project needs — the actual Houston agency for each, and the order they go in. Sourced from the City, not from a national template.
Multi-tenant, ground-up, and large tenant-improvement projects welcome.
A Houston commercial project is not one permit — it is a sequence of approvals across several City agencies, some of which run in parallel and any one of which can hold your opening. The Houston Permitting Center at 1002 Washington Ave is the centralized location for the majority of City of Houston permits and licenses, including building, commercial, fire, and food dealer permits. What follows is what a commercial build-out actually has to clear, and in what order.
A note on permit guides you find online. Several national "Houston permit" pages list agencies, fees, and application links that belong to Austin, Dallas, or El Paso. If a page tells you to apply for a Houston restaurant permit through Austin Public Health, it has not been checked. Every agency and link on this page is a City of Houston or Houston Permitting Center source, verified August 2026.
Which of these apply depends on your scope and use. The City's Project Planner and Permits A to Z finder will confirm your specific set.
Houston Public Works — Building Code Enforcement
When: Before you can purchase the building permit
All new construction and most renovation, repair, or addition projects require plan approval before a permit may be purchased. Plans route to separate structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and storm reviewers. Failure to submit plans when required can cause costly delays and may result in municipal court citations.
Commercial Plan Review →Houston Public Works — Building Code Enforcement
When: Before construction begins
Issued after plan review approval. Becomes inactive on the 180th day after issuance unless the work has commenced and been inspected by a city inspector, or if work is suspended or abandoned for 180 days.
Building Code Enforcement →Houston Public Works — Building Code Enforcement
When: Before the corresponding trade work starts
Licensed and registered contractors may apply for certain trade permits online, schedule inspections, view inspection history, check plan status, and search permits sold within the last three years.
iPermits online portal →Houston Public Works — Building Code Enforcement
When: At each stage of construction, before work is concealed
Inspections are organized by discipline — structural, mechanical/HVAC, electrical, plumbing. All permitted work must remain accessible and exposed for inspection until approved by the building official.
Inspections →Owner's engineer or architect of record, or a City-registered agency
When: Where the scope includes items such as concrete or ductile moment-resisting frames
In addition to City inspections, the owner or the engineer/architect of record acting as the owner's agent employs one or more special inspectors to inspect during construction. Reports need to be on site.
Registered special inspectors →Houston Public Works — Occupancy Inspections
When: Before the space is occupied, and on any change of occupancy classification
Required before a commercial building or an individual lease space within one may be occupied, and again when an existing occupancy classification changes. If none is posted, the City may notice the owner or agent to apply and pay fees; failure to comply can bring citations each day until the application is made.
Occupancy Inspections →Houston Fire Department, via the Houston Permitting Center
When: Where the scope involves suppression, alarms, hoods, exiting, or occupant load
The Permitting Center is the centralized location for the majority of City permits and licenses, including building, commercial, fire, and food dealer permits. Fire items commonly gate the Certificate of Occupancy.
Permits A to Z →Houston Health Department, via the Houston Permitting Center
When: Restaurant, bar, grocery, and other food-service operations, before opening
Food dealer permits are issued through the Houston Permitting Center. Health approvals run on their own track alongside building and fire, which is why restaurant projects need the three sequenced deliberately.
Permits A to Z →Houston Public Works — Sign Administration
When: Before installing or altering exterior signage
Signage is administered separately from the building permit. Tenants frequently discover this after the buildout is complete and the sign is already fabricated.
Sign Administration →Where most commercial schedules go wrong
Before drawings, confirm the occupancy classification you need and whether the space currently carries it. A change of classification means new plans, new permits, and a new Certificate of Occupancy — and it is far cheaper to learn that now than after a lease is signed.
The single biggest lever on total permit time is whether the first submittal is complete. Plans route to five separate reviewers, and any one of them can send the package back.
Plan approval comes before you may purchase the building permit. The City offers appointments specifically for discussing plan review comments; the design professional responsible for the plans must attend.
Licensed and registered contractors can pull certain trade permits online. The permit clock starts here — it goes inactive on the 180th day without a city inspection.
Work must remain accessible and exposed for inspection until approved. Closing walls or backfilling ahead of a rough-in inspection is the most expensive routine mistake on a commercial job.
These do not queue behind the building permit — they run parallel and each can independently hold your opening. They need to be started early, not discovered at the end.
The certificate issues after the code official inspects and does not find violations of the building code or the other laws enforced by Building Code Enforcement. Any open failed inspection stops it.
Use these rather than a third-party summary — they are the live City systems.
Send what you have — you do not need all of it to start. A text with these details gets a real answer instead of a callback request.
Copy this if it helps
Hi HTX Permit Fix — commercial permit question. Property address + suite: ___. Approx. square footage / project size: ___. Type of space (office / retail / restaurant / warehouse / medical): ___. Previous use of the space: ___. What stage you're at (planning, plans drawn, submitted, under construction, waiting on CO): ___. Target open or move-in date: ___.
sms Open a Text to (832) 977-8173Photos help — plans, a notice, or an inspection report tells us more than a paragraph. Prefer to talk? Call (832) 977-8173.
Most commercial build-outs need approved plans, a building permit, the trade permits that match the scope (electrical, plumbing, mechanical), inspections at each stage, and a Certificate of Occupancy before the space is occupied. Depending on the use, add fire permits and life-safety review, a food dealer permit for food service, and a separate sign permit for exterior signage. The City's Permits A to Z finder and Project Planner will confirm what your specific scope triggers.
Yes for most work. The City requires plan approval for all new construction projects and most renovation, repair, or addition projects before you may purchase a permit, and warns that failing to submit plans when required could cause costly delays and may result in municipal court citations. Plans are reviewed by separately certified structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and storm reviewers.
It depends on the scope, and any fixed figure goes stale — the City publishes a fee schedule set by the Code of Ordinances and posted a 2026 fee increase notice, so the reliable answer is the City's own Fee Calculator rather than a number quoted on a third-party site. Be wary of permit guides listing Houston fees that are actually another city's; it is a common error on aggregator pages.
Confirm the occupancy classification, produce a complete submittal, clear commercial plan review, purchase the building permit and trade permits, build while calling inspections before work is concealed, run fire, health, and signage on their parallel tracks, then pass final inspections and obtain the Certificate of Occupancy. The parallel tracks are what most schedules get wrong.
Under Houston's adopted construction code, a permit becomes inactive on the 180th day after issuance unless the authorized work has commenced and been inspected by a city inspector within that time, or if the work is suspended or abandoned for 180 days after it started. The building official may grant written extensions in periods of up to 180 days each, on written request with justifiable cause demonstrated.
That is the whole job. We take the sequence above off your plate and deal with the City so your project keeps moving.
Text or call (832) 977-8173 · Serving Houston, Harris County & surrounding areas