Unpermitted construction can bring citations, a stop-work order, and rework or demolition of finished work. We get it back into compliance before the City escalates it.
Texting is usually fastest — send the details below and we'll come back with a real answer, not a callback request. Multi-tenant, ground-up, and large tenant-improvement projects welcome.
Working without a required permit in Houston is a code violation, not a paperwork oversight. Houston's adopted code makes it unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to repair, alter, extend, add, move, remove, demolish, or change the occupancy of any regulated building or equipment — or cause that to be done — in conflict with or in violation of the code. The code official is authorized to serve a notice of violation directing that the illegal action stop and the violation be abated, and if the notice is not complied with promptly, to refer the matter to the City's legal counsel for proceedings to restrain, correct, or abate the violation — including requiring removal or termination of an unlawful occupancy. Where work is found being performed contrary to the code or in a dangerous or unsafe manner, a stop-work order can be issued, and on issuance the cited work must immediately cease.
Source: Houston-adopted 2021 International Existing Building Code, Chapter 1 §113 (Violations) and §114 (Stop Work Order), as adopted in the Houston construction code. Administered by Houston Permitting Center Building Code Enforcement. Verified August 2026 — this is general information, not legal advice.
The most common version. The owner believed a permit was pulled; it was not. The liability still lands on the property.
A permitted job that quietly expanded into structural, electrical, or occupancy changes the permit never covered.
Discovered during a sale, refinance, or CO application on a space someone else built out. See title company permit services.
A neighbor, tenant, or competitor calls it in, and an inspector arrives on a job with no permit posted.
Work continuing on an inactive permit is functionally unpermitted work. See expired building permits.
If a stop-work notice is posted, the cited work must cease immediately. See red tag resolution.
Assess, permit, inspect, close
What was actually built, what it would have required, and what the City already knows. An open notice of violation, a posted stop-work order, and a quiet problem nobody has cited yet are three very different starting positions.
Bringing existing work into compliance usually means documenting what is there — as-builts, engineer letters where structure is involved — and taking it through plan review as a permit application for work already performed.
This is the part owners dread: concealed work generally has to be made accessible so it can be inspected, because the code requires permitted work to remain accessible and exposed until approved. We scope that honestly up front rather than discovering it at inspection.
Final inspections passed, violation abated, and where occupancy is involved, the certificate issued. An unpermitted-work problem is not resolved until the record shows it resolved.
A text with the details below gets you a real answer instead of a game of phone tag. Send what you have — you do not need all of it to start.
Copy this if it helps
Hi HTX Permit Fix — I have unpermitted work to resolve. Address + suite: ___. What was built and roughly when: ___. Did you receive a notice, citation, or stop-work order (photo helps): ___. Is work ongoing or stopped: ___. Is a CO, sale, or lease waiting on this: ___. Approx. square footage / project size: ___.
sms Open a Text to (832) 977-8173Photos help — a picture of the notice, the inspection report, or the posted tag tells us more than a paragraph. Prefer to talk? Call (832) 977-8173.
If you have an eight-digit City project number, you can also check status yourself through the City's plan review and inspection inquiry.
Houston's code makes it unlawful to repair, alter, extend, add, move, remove, demolish, or change the occupancy of a regulated building in violation of the code. The code official can serve a notice of violation directing that the illegal action be discontinued and the violation abated, and if that notice is not complied with promptly, the matter can be referred to the City's legal counsel for proceedings to restrain, correct, or abate the violation — up to requiring removal or termination of an unlawful occupancy. Where work is being performed contrary to the code or in a dangerous or unsafe manner, a stop-work order can be issued and the cited work must immediately cease.
Often yes. Bringing existing work into compliance generally means documenting what was built and applying for the permit that should have been obtained, with plan review as though it were being proposed now. The complication is inspection: Houston's code requires permitted work to remain accessible and exposed for inspection until approved by the building official, so concealed work may have to be opened up for an inspector to verify. That is usually the largest cost in an after-the-fact permit, and it is worth scoping before you commit.
Penalties are possible and the code provides for them, including for continuing violations, but the amount and whether they are pursued depend on the specific facts, what was cited, and how quickly the violation is abated. What is more predictable than the fine is the cost of delay — an unresolved violation can block a certificate of occupancy, hold up a sale or refinance, and keep a jobsite shut down. For advice on penalty exposure in your specific case, talk to an attorney; we handle the permitting and compliance side.
In practice, the property is where the violation attaches, so the owner carries the consequence regardless of who made the call. Whether you have recourse against the contractor is a separate question for your attorney. The permitting problem still has to be solved, and solving it early — before a complaint, an inspection, or a closing forces the timeline — is materially cheaper than solving it late.
Unpermitted work does not get cheaper with time. Tell us what happened and we will tell you the path.
Text or call (832) 977-8173 · Serving Houston, Harris County & surrounding areas