Do I need a permit for a metal building in San Antonio or Bexar County?

Yes, for commercial construction. The city runs commercial projects through a plan review at Development Services, on a path of zoning, plan intake, plan review, permit, inspections, utility release and certificate of occupancy. The completeness review of the submittal package typically takes up to three business days, and plan review fees are paid once it is finished.

A permit application and a permit expire within 180 days if no proof of work or progress has been shown, and one or more 180-day extensions may be granted with justifiable reasons. The city pages read here cover commercial construction, so confirm a house-lot building with the city rather than assuming the same path. A commercial metal building inside the city limits is the case these pages are written for.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, business and commercial projects, read 2026-09-13.

It depends on the occupancy group and the square footage. The city commercial project application guide puts a business or mercantile project of 7,999 square feet and under in the minor plan lane: three business days for the completeness review, eight business days for the initial technical review, and four business days for resubmittals. At 8,000 square feet or over, the same project is a complex plan: three business days for completeness, 18 calendar days for the initial technical review, and nine calendar days for resubmittals.

Square footage does not decide it for every building. Assembly, education, factory, high hazard, institution, residential, storage and utility occupancies are complex plans whatever their square footage, so the size lane applies only to a business or mercantile project. Which occupancy group a building lands in is settled at intake, not assumed from the shape of the building. The permit itself is active for 180 days from the date of issuance, and each inspection performed adds another 180 days.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, commercial project application guide, read 2026-09-13.

The city prices a commercial building permit on valuation rather than on square footage. Its fee schedule sets a flat $100.00 at $1,000 or less, $100.00 plus $7.28 per $1,000 above $1,000 up to $25,000, $274.87 plus $5.72 per $1,000 above $25,000 up to $75,000, and $560.00 plus $2.00 per $1,000 above $75,000.

A separate commercial plan review fee runs in five bands: a flat $100.00 at $1,000 or less, $100.00 plus $1.60 per $1,000 above $1,000 up to $200,000, $418.40 plus $1.50 per $1,000 above $200,000 up to $1,000,000, $1,618.40 plus $0.75 per $1,000 above $1,000,000 up to $5,000,000, and $4,618.40 plus $0.50 per $1,000 above $5,000,000.

You do not set the valuation those tables read from. Development Services establishes minimum values for commercial construction from International Code Council costs per square foot with an Army Corps of Engineers modifier for San Antonio, fixed at the time the building plans are submitted. Those are the city fees for the paperwork. They are not the cost of the building, which only the contractor who walks the site can price.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, FY 2026 development fee schedule, read 2026-09-13.

The city requires an engineer on the structure. Its commercial project application guide states that all structural sheets, meaning the foundation and structural framing, are required to be stamped and designed by a Texas professional engineer, and that trade and civil documents might also be required to be engineered depending on the scope of work. On the architect side the city lists construction documents sealed by an architect as a submittal item and points the applicant to its design professional requirements, without stating a size or valuation threshold of its own.

State law draws its own lines. Occupations Code 1051.606 exempts a person who does not hold out as an architect from the architect requirement for plans for a privately owned commercial building that does not exceed a height of two stories or a square footage of 20,000 square feet, or for a warehouse that has limited public access. The buildings that must have an architect under 1051.703 are public ones: a new building with construction costs exceeding $100,000 owned by a state agency, a political subdivision or another public entity and used for education, assembly or office occupancy, plus certain alterations to them.

Occupations Code 1001.056 does the same on the engineering side. Where no representation of offering engineering services to the public is made, it exempts a building of no more than one story with a total floor area of not more than 5,000 square feet and no clear span between supporting structures greater than 24 feet on the narrow side. Where such a building contains unsupported spans greater than 24 feet, only the trusses, beams or other roof supporting members must be engineered or pre-engineered. A private dwelling, a garage or other structure pertinent to one, and a private building used exclusively for farm, ranch or agricultural purposes are exempt as well. A building with a clear span wider than 24 feet falls on the far side of that line, which is the work the pre-engineered frame is doing.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, commercial project application guide, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Legislature Online, Occupations Code Chapter 1051, architects, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Legislature Online, Occupations Code Chapter 1001, engineers and engineering, read 2026-09-13.

A tree application comes before any development of property in San Antonio. Where development removes trees or disturbs vegetation, a tree preservation plan is submitted with the tree application under Unified Development Code section 35-523. Where the site has no protected trees, or the project will not damage protected trees, a tree affidavit is required instead, and a tree permit is required where protected trees will be removed or where there is a previous rights determination. The city tree pages say nothing about whether these rules reach the extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The city publishes what the tree paperwork costs: $100.00 for a residential or commercial tree plan review, and $100.00 each for tree preservation preliminary plan review, tree preservation validation, and tree review for a demolition permit. A commercial tree permit is $175.00 per acre plus a $25.00 per acre canopy enhancement fee. Starting site work without a tree permit carries a penalty fee, which is what makes this the first call on a treed lot rather than a late one.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, tree preservation, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, FY 2026 development fee schedule, read 2026-09-13.

Inside San Antonio a building permit is typically required to build, remodel, repair or demolish a structure on a property. The city exempts one-story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses where the floor area does not exceed 300 square feet and the setbacks in Unified Development Code section 35-370(b) are met. That 300 square feet is the only accessory building size exemption the city states, so a metal shop or workshop of any real working size is permitted work. A separate 400 square foot line on the same pages sorts city contractor categories rather than triggering a permit, and carports are permitted work, grouped with room additions, accessory structures, decks and patio covers.

The city fee schedule sets $160.00 for carports and decks and $160.00 for foundations, while plan review and permit fees for new residential construction are based on the square footage of the project.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, residential permits and no permit required list, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, FY 2026 development fee schedule, read 2026-09-13.

The Bexar County Fire Marshal Office, at 210-335-0300. In the parts of the county outside a city, that office determines when building permits are required for structures or areas that are not for single-family dwelling use, where a single-family dwelling is a single structure of three or fewer residential dwelling units. The permit covers site clearing, constructing, renovating or changing the occupancy of a building, so it reaches the day the brush comes off the pad, not only the day the steel arrives. The county pages state no county building permit requirement for a one-to-three-unit dwelling.

The order of operations is fixed. A Building Permit Authorization from Bexar County Public Works has to be completed, signed and approved first. Applications are then submitted in person by appointment only, the county has 30 days to issue or deny, and the permit is valid 180 days from issuance.

Public Works handles that first step on 210-335-6700, and the Fire Marshal takes appointments at 9810 Southton Rd. in San Antonio on 210-335-0300, option 2. The Permit Verification Form is the first two pages of the Fire Marshal building permit form, and the county charges no fee for reviewing and processing it.

Construction documents in the unincorporated county are measured against adopted codes. Commissioners Court adopted the 2021 editions of the International Fire and Building Codes on December 12, 2023, effective January 1, 2024, together with the county amendments.

Source: Bexar County, building permits and fire marshal code enforcement pages, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bexar County Fire Marshal, code enforcement and inspections, read 2026-09-13.

Yes, and it is filed much earlier. Bexar County Public Works must review all construction activities on property in proximity to the 100-year floodplain, the area with a 1 percent annual chance of flooding. A flood study by a professional engineer may be required. The fee is $50 per activity, and stormwater and floodplain permits are filed at least 45 days before the Permit Verification Form.

The county floodplain application lists clearing and grading, placement of fill, excavation, a driveway, culverts, drainage structures, a parking lot, septic and utilities among the development types that trigger it, which is most of what happens to a lot before a building goes on it.

Source: Bexar County, Floodplain Development Permits, read 2026-09-13.

A city cannot issue a building permit there, and it can still hold the project up. Local Government Code 212.049 states that the development plat subchapter does not authorize a municipality to require municipal building permits or otherwise enforce its building code in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, and 212.003 bars a city from regulating there the use of a building, the bulk, height or number of buildings on a tract, or the size of a building that can be constructed on a tract. Section 212.046 is the other side of it: where a city has adopted the development plat subchapter, no municipality, county or official of another governmental entity may issue a building permit or any other type of development permit on a covered tract until a development plat is filed with and approved by that municipality.

The reach of that area is set by city population, topping out at five miles beyond the boundaries for a municipality with 100,000 or more inhabitants. A plat is required where an owner divides a tract inside the city limits or in that jurisdiction into two or more parts to lay out a subdivision or lots, and it is filed and recorded with the county clerk.

Bexar County adds the practical steps. Public Works states that a property inside the City of San Antonio extraterritorial jurisdiction needs the Permit Verification Form and the site plan stamped by City of San Antonio Storm Water Review staff at the development and business services center on South Alamo Street, and that tree, irrigation and signage permits come from the city whose extraterritorial jurisdiction the property lies in.

Source: Texas Legislature Online, Local Government Code Chapter 212, municipal regulation of subdivisions and property development, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Legislature Online, Local Government Code Chapters 42 and 212, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bexar County, building permits, read 2026-09-13.

Two of the six publish one, Atascosa County and Guadalupe County, each on its own terms. Wilson County is the one to read carefully, because its answer sits in two places at once: the office that publishes its unincorporated-area permits lists a development permit, a septic permit and a driveway permit and no building permit, while the county Fire Marshal prices a commercial building permit under the fire code the county adopted on October 27, 2025. Medina, Karnes and Frio publish a permit list with no building permit on it, which is what those counties list rather than a finding that a building there is unregulated.

The table below prints each county in its own words, with the office to call, the phone number and the date the source was read. The state and county permits further down this page apply at every address in all seven. The floodplain, septic and driveway offices that sit beside those permits, and the cities inside each county whose own permit page was read, are on the San Antonio metal building permit directory.

Only in a narrow lane, which is why the seven answers differ so much. Local Government Code Chapter 233 gives a county no authority to adopt a general commercial building code, or a structural, mechanical, plumbing or electrical code, for buildings in the unincorporated county. The one power in the chapter that reaches a commercial building is the fire code permit.

Section 233.061 opens that power only to the commissioners court of a county with a population of over 250,000, or of a county adjacent to a county with a population of over 250,000. Section 233.062 limits the code to three kinds of building constructed in the unincorporated county, a commercial establishment, a public building, and a multifamily residential dwelling of four or more units, and exempts an industrial facility with a fire brigade that conforms to federal occupational safety requirements. The code must conform to the International Fire Code or the Uniform Fire Code as each existed on May 1, 2005, or establish protective measures exceeding those standards, and the commissioners court may adopt a later edition.

Where a county has adopted one, section 233.063 bars constructing or substantially improving a covered building in the unincorporated county without a county building permit, gives the commissioners court 30 days to issue or deny after the application and the fee arrive, and requires the county to begin a final inspection within five business days of a written request. Substantial improvement there means work costing more than 50 percent of the building value on the county certified tax appraisal roll for the preceding year, or a change in occupancy classification, and no covered building may be occupied until the county issues a final, conditional or partial certificate of compliance. A fire code violation carries a civil penalty of up to $200 for each day it exists.

Statute read in full, no such county authority granted. Source: Texas Legislature Online, Local Government Code Chapter 233, county regulation of housing and other structures, read 2026-09-13.

Yes, and the statute makes it a gate rather than a formality. Government Code 469.101 requires plans and specifications for the construction or substantial renovation of a covered building to go to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for review and approval when the estimated construction cost is at least $50,000. Section 469.102 gives the design professional 20 days from issuing the plans to submit them, bars the owner from applying for a local building permit or starting construction before they are submitted, and bars a local permitting official from accepting a permit application unless the official verifies that the building is registered with TDLR. Plans that are substantially modified after approval go back under 469.103.

TDLR describes the same requirement as registration, plan review and inspection, with a full set of construction documents going to a registered accessibility specialist under Administrative Rule 68.50. A project under $50,000 does not have to be registered but still has to comply with the Texas Accessibility Standards, and it may be registered on the Special Project Registration form for the project filing fee. TDLR also states that a local jurisdiction or building official may require registration below $50,000. What counts toward that estimate, and what the agency charges, is on TDLR registration for projects over $50,000.

The local offices point at the same door. The San Antonio commercial project application guide states that the city does not require accessibility sheets as part of its own review, and that where the valuation is over $50,000 the project must be submitted to TDLR for state review. In Atascosa County the Fire Marshal office may refuse the permit application, and construction may not begin, until the project is registered with TDLR where Government Code Chapter 469 applies, with the registration number and TDLR Form AB042 supplied (Atascosa County Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Office, permit and inspection process overview, read 2026-09-13).

Source: Texas Legislature Online, Government Code Chapter 469, elimination of architectural barriers, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Architectural Barriers frequently asked questions, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of San Antonio Development Services, commercial project application guide, read 2026-09-13.

Stormwater coverage, set by how much soil the work disturbs rather than by the county. Construction that discharges stormwater to surface water in the state and disturbs one acre or more needs coverage under the TCEQ construction general permit, and the operator develops and implements a stormwater pollution prevention plan before construction starts.

• Five acres or more is large construction: the primary operator submits a Notice of Intent through the STEERS system before work begins and files a Notice of Termination within 30 days of final stabilization. The electronic filing fee is $225 and the paper filing fee is $325.

• One acre to under five is small construction: no Notice of Intent, a signed small construction site notice posted at the site, and a copy sent to the storm sewer operator at least two days before construction begins.

• Under one acre, and not part of a larger common plan of development or sale, is not regulated by the permit. The current general permit runs from March 5, 2023 to March 5, 2028.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, construction stormwater general permit TXR150000, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, general permit TXR150000, fees, read 2026-09-13.

The county, everywhere in this footprint. A permit and approved planning materials are required to construct, install, alter, extend or repair an on-site sewage facility, and the permitting authority must approve or deny the planning materials and the permit application within 30 days of receipt. TCEQ states that it is usually not the permitting authority itself and that local programs can be more stringent than the state minimums.

Every county here has its own county authorized agent on the TCEQ record, all of them in the TCEQ San Antonio region, so TCEQ is not the permitting office anywhere in the seven counties. Coverage is not uniform: the Bexar County agent covers the entire county except four incorporated places the TCEQ record names, and the record does not say who permits inside those four; the Guadalupe County agent covers the county except the City of Marion while Seguin, New Braunfels and San Marcos hold their own jurisdiction, and the Wilson and Karnes county agents cover the unincorporated county only.

Who may draw the system is a state rule. A professional engineer or a professional sanitarian must prepare and seal the planning materials for non-standard treatment or disposal and for all new construction in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, and a professional engineer is required where secondary treatment is required. The rules define a commercial or institutional facility as any building not used as a single-family dwelling or duplex, which is where a shop or a warehouse on its own septic system lands.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, getting a permit for an on-site sewage facility, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality publication RG-472, on-site sewage facility rules compilation, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, On-Site Activity Reporting System, authorized agent search by county, records read for Bexar, Medina, Wilson, Atascosa, Guadalupe, Karnes and Frio, read 2026-09-13.

Only on a regulated zone, and only two counties in this footprint are named. TCEQ requires an approved Edwards Aquifer protection plan before construction begins on the recharge zone, the transition zone or the contributing zone, and in the San Antonio region the program pages name Bexar, Medina, Comal, Uvalde and Kinney counties. Only portions of the aquifer are regulated, and TCEQ points to its own map viewer to find out whether a specific site sits over a regulated zone.

The clock is the reason it goes first. The administrative review is scheduled two weeks from the submission date and can take up to 30 days, technical review then has 90 calendar days with two deficiency response periods of 14 days each, and construction or other regulated activity may not begin until the approval is issued. What that does to a pad, a parking lot and a schedule is on the Edwards Aquifer plan in Bexar and Medina.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Edwards Aquifer application and review process, read 2026-09-13.

No office publishes a total, and the clocks on this page do not all run at the same time. The longest of them is the aquifer plan where one applies: up to 30 days of administrative review, then 90 calendar days of technical review, and no regulated activity until the approval is issued. A septic permitting authority has 30 days to approve or deny planning materials, and the floodplain and stormwater filings in Bexar County are asked for 45 days ahead of the Permit Verification Form. Order the work by the longest clock, not by the first form. None of this is a schedule for your project, and this site promises nothing about how fast any office moves; it is the window each office publishes for itself.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Edwards Aquifer application and review process, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, getting a permit for an on-site sewage facility, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bexar County, Floodplain Development Permits, read 2026-09-13.

Six answers, and they are the same six that decide the price: the county, and whether the lot is inside a city or inside a city extraterritorial jurisdiction; what the building will be used for; the footprint and the clear span; whether any of the lot is in the 100-year floodplain; whether the site sits on a regulated Edwards Aquifer zone; and how the driveway reaches the road.

Texas licenses no home builder and no general contractor at the state level, so there is no state builder license to check before a metal building goes up, and this site never calls a contractor licensed. Electricians, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors and plumbers hold their own separate state licenses. The work is done by an independent local metal building contractor who works your county, with a Texas professional engineer on the structural sheets where the city or the span calls for one.

The path from the lot through the slab, the frame and the finish, in order, is on building a metal building in San Antonio.

Source: Sunset Advisory Commission, Texas Residential Construction Commission; TDLR regulated industries list, read 2026-09-13.