Texas building code plan review: city adoptions of the IBC and IRC, county fire codes, the state energy and electrical codes, and TDI windstorm rules

Which Texas codes apply to a set of drawings?

Texas sets its building code through cities. Local Government Code § 214.212 adopts the International Residential Code as it existed on May 1, 2012 as the municipal residential building code and applies it to all construction, alteration, remodeling, enlargement, and repair of residential structures in a city, and § 214.216 adopts the International Building Code as it existed on May 1, 2012 as the municipal commercial building code for all commercial buildings in a city. Section 214.211 decides which one a building falls under: residential means a detached one- or two-family dwelling, or a multiple single-family dwelling of not more than three stories with separate means of egress, and not a facility for transient guests or one providing medical, rehabilitative, or assisted living services; commercial means a building used for a public purpose or economic gain, or a multifamily residence that is not residential. A city may amend either code, but only by ordinance after a public hearing, may review later ICC editions, and need not repeal a more stringent commercial code it already has. The IRC and IBC do not govern electrical wiring under § 214.213; § 214.214 instead adopts the National Electrical Code as it existed on May 1, 2001 as the municipal electrical construction code, applies it to commercial buildings whose construction began on or after January 1, 2006, lets cities amend it, and since September 1, 2025 bars a city amendment that regulates installing or inspecting a residential energy backup system (one providing no more than 50 kilowatts or storing no more than 100 kilowatt hours), except for a municipally owned utility in its service area. Other sections fill in: a city that adopts a building code other than the IRC must also adopt prescriptive rehabilitation provisions or the rehabilitation code that accompanies its building code (§ 214.215); the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code as it existed on May 1, 2019 is the municipal pool and spa code where a city regulates pools (§ 214.103); a city may not apply its building code to a solar pergola (§ 214.221); a home-rule city may require energy conservation standards in its building code (§ 214.901); and since September 1, 2025 § 214.301 lets a city allow a single-stair apartment building only if it has no more than six stories above grade plane and is not a high-rise, no more than four dwelling units per floor, NFPA 13 sprinklers in each interior exit stairway, two-hour stair enclosures with no elevator opening, one-hour corridors, no more than 20 feet from a unit door to the stair and 125 feet of exit access travel, emergency escape and rescue openings on each floor, no electrical receptacle in the stair, and smoke detection with occupant notification in common spaces, service rooms, corridors, and stair landings. Counties have no general building code. Under Local Government Code § 233.061, the commissioners court of a county with more than 250,000 people, or of a county adjacent to one, may adopt a fire code, which § 233.062 applies only to commercial establishments, public buildings, and multifamily dwellings of four or more units built in the unincorporated area (not to an industrial facility with a fire brigade that meets OSHA requirements), and which must conform to the International Fire Code or the NFPA’s Uniform Fire Code as they existed on May 1, 2005 or exceed them, with later editions allowed. And Government Code § 3000.002 limits every local adoption: a governmental entity may not prohibit or limit a building product or material that a national model code published within the last three code cycles approves, or set a more stringent standard for a product, material, or aesthetic method, with exceptions that include windstorm requirements under Insurance Code Chapter 2210, the SECO energy code and state building design standards, certain designated historic buildings and districts, certain dark-sky lighting ordinances, and water conservation standards for plumbing products, and a conflicting rule is void.

Most Texas sets are drawn to a city’s edition, not the 2012 floor, so take the edition from the city’s adoption on the permit date. Cities with more than 100,000 people must post notice on their website at least 21 days before acting on a model code adoption or amendment, hold a hearing if five or more people ask in writing (unless they use an advisory board for public comment), and, under § 214.218, wait at least 30 days after final adoption before enforcing it unless delay would cause imminent harm. The three largest sets of local codes read for this guide show the spread. Austin’s Building Technical Codes (City Code Chapter 25-12) list the 2024 IBC, IRC, IECC, IEBC, IFC, IPMC, ISPSC, and International Wildland-Urban Interface Code and the 2024 Uniform Mechanical and Plumbing Codes, with local amendments effective July 10, 2025. Houston’s 2021 Houston Construction Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 2023-907 and in effect since January 1, 2024, amends the 2021 IBC, IRC, IECC, IEBC, IFC, ISPSC, and the 2021 Uniform Mechanical and Plumbing Codes and adds an ASCE 7 supplement to the building and residential codes. Dallas enforces the 2021 ICC codes with Dallas amendments from May 12, 2023, including the International Plumbing, Mechanical, and Fuel Gas Codes rather than the Uniform codes, the 2021 IFC with a Dallas amendment effective February 10, 2023, and the 2015 International Green Construction Code with Dallas amendments. So the plumbing and mechanical family changes from city to city as well as the edition.

The electrical edition is the least settled. Section 214.214 still names the NEC as it existed on May 1, 2001 as the municipal electrical code and lets cities amend it, while Occupations Code § 1305.101 has TDLR adopt each new NEC as the state electrical code, and the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation adopted the 2026 NEC at 16 TAC § 73.100, effective September 1, 2026, with a limited exception to the ground-fault circuit interrupter requirements for certain outdoor outlets. Section 1305.201 requires electrical work inside a city to follow the city’s ordinances and work in an unincorporated area to meet standards at least as stringent as the state electrical code. The cities read them differently: Houston says the 2026 NEC became the state minimum on September 1, 2026 and reviews electrical plans to it for applications submitted from that date, Dallas’s code page still lists the 2020 NEC with Dallas amendments effective June 13, 2022, and Austin’s lists the 2023 NEC with a note reading “2026 Effective September 1, 2026.” Confirm the NEC edition with the building official before you correct an electrical note.

The energy code comes from Health and Safety Code § 388.003. For single-family residential construction (the same one- and two-family and three-story multiple single-family definition) it is the energy efficiency chapter of the IRC as it existed on May 1, 2015, in force since September 1, 2016; SECO may adopt a later edition no more often than once every six years, after an analysis of housing attainability, incremental cost, and payback, with an effective date at least nine months after adoption. For all other residential, commercial, and industrial construction the statute adopts the IECC as it existed on May 1, 2001 and lets SECO substitute the latest edition on the written findings of the Texas A&M Energy Systems Laboratory; SECO’s commercial page says it adopted the 2015 IECC effective November 1, 2016 for commercial and industrial buildings and residential buildings taller than three stories, and has elected to continue it, and its single-family page names Chapter 11 of the 2015 IRC from September 1, 2016. Cities enforce the code with code-certified inspectors and may amend it; its local ordinances page and the statute say amendments in nonattainment areas and affected counties may not be less stringent, and the laboratory rules on stringency on request and publishes the IC3 residential compliance tool. Cities routinely go further: Austin enforces the 2024 IECC and Houston and Dallas the 2021 IECC, each with amendments. The statute also accepts an Energy Rating Index path for single-family homes using ANSI/RESNET/ICC 301 as it existed on January 1, 2021, provided the home meets the mandatory requirements of Section R406.2 of the 2018 IECC and the envelope tables it names; § 388.003(j) as published sets targets of 57 or lower in climate zones 2 and 3 and 61 or lower in zone 4 on or after September 1, 2025, stepping to 55 and 59 on September 1, 2028, while SECO’s single-family page still lists 59 and 63 from September 1, 2022 as the latest targets, so use the statute and confirm with the building official. Outside a city, § 388.004 treats a building as compliant when an accredited energy efficiency program certifies it or private code-certified inspectors inspect it, and otherwise the builder certifies compliance on the laboratory’s form and keeps the records for three years.

Plumbing follows the State Board of Plumbing Examiners, which Occupations Code § 1301.003 continues until September 1, 2033 under the Sunset Act. Under § 1301.255 the board adopts the Uniform Plumbing Code and the International Plumbing Code and later editions, and its rules (§ 367.2, rules updated March 2026) adopt the 2018 UPC and the 2018 IPC with the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code and IRC it references, let a political subdivision adopt a plumbing code with amendments that do not substantially vary from state rules, require a licensee working where no plumbing code is adopted to install to a board-adopted code, and require LP-gas piping to meet Railroad Commission rules. A city of more than 5,000 people must regulate plumbing by ordinance and require permits under § 1301.551, which also bars any city from requiring a fire sprinkler system in a new or existing one- or two-family dwelling. All checked November 9, 2026.

Inside a city, the building department reviews the set under the city’s adopted codes, and § 214.904 requires the city, for a building permit in the city or its extraterritorial jurisdiction, to grant or deny the permit, explain in writing why it cannot, or agree on a deadline within 45 days of the application, and then decide within 30 days of a written notice, or give up the permit fees. Cities post their own submittal rules: Houston’s plan review page, for example, takes applications through iPermits with plans uploaded in ProjectDox, asks commercial applicants to complete a development plat review first, and has required a COMcheck report on every commercial plan review since 2016, and since May 1, 2026 Houston’s Fire Marshal’s Office receives emergency responder communication coverage (ERCC) documentation. Plumbing drawings go in the form the city specifies under § 1301.551, and electrical permits follow the city ordinance.

In an unincorporated area, a building covered by a county fire code needs a county building permit on a plan containing what the commissioners court requires; under § 233.063 the county must issue or deny it within 30 days or the work is treated as approved for that subchapter, it inspects on the owner’s written request, and the building may not be occupied until the county issues a final, conditional, or partial certificate of compliance. Separately, Subchapter F of Chapter 233 lets a county that adopts an order require new single-family houses and duplexes in its unincorporated area, and additions that grow one by more than 50 percent, to follow the IRC as published on May 1, 2008 or the IRC edition in force in the county seat, with at least three inspections (foundation before concrete, framing and mechanical before wall cover, and completion) by a licensed engineer, a registered architect, a TREC-licensed inspector, a licensed municipal plumbing inspector, a public building inspector, or an ICC residential combination inspector the builder hires; it does not require county approval before construction, and where a city has adopted a building code for its extraterritorial jurisdiction, the city’s code controls there. Counties of 3.3 million people or more must act on building permits within 45 days under § 233.901. Ask the county whether it has adopted either order before you assume there is no review.

State-owned buildings have a different fire reviewer. Government Code § 417.0082(c) makes the State Fire Marshal the authority having jurisdiction over a state-owned building for fire safety, and § 417.0081 has the office inspect public buildings under a state agency’s control and buildings leased for state agencies. The office’s codes and standards notice says it inspects to the 2021 editions of NFPA 101 and NFPA 1, effective September 1, 2023, that the Life Safety Code prevails where other codes are used for building design elements, and that any deviation needs the State Fire Marshal’s approval as the AHJ. Section 417.008(e) keeps standards the insurance commissioner adopts from applying where a local government has adopted fire protection ordinances, and § 419.909 requires a fire safety inspection required by law to follow the most recent local fire code or the most recent fire code the State Fire Marshal adopted, conducted by a fire inspector certified by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection, with limited exceptions, so a state building inside a city can face two fire codes; ask both offices which governs. The Texas Facilities Commission administers state building construction projects under Government Code Chapter 2166, which excludes among others projects built by and for TxDOT, state institutions of higher education, the Parks and Wildlife Department, the Veterans’ Land Board, and the Texas Historical Commission; for a new state building, § 2166.403 requires a written evaluation of energy-efficient design and alternative energy at an open meeting. State agencies and state-funded universities also follow SECO’s design standards under Government Code § 447.004: ASHRAE 90.1-2016 or the 2018 IECC for new construction and major renovations since January 1, 2021, the residential chapter of the 2018 IECC for low-rise residential buildings, the April 2020 water conservation design standards, certification under a high-performance building system SECO approves, and a design architect’s or engineer’s compliance certification, with a copy to SECO, before construction begins. Which office checks the building code itself on a state building was not found in the sources read, and the commission’s site could not be read; confirm it with the owning agency, the Texas Facilities Commission, and the State Fire Marshal.

On the coast, an insurance requirement adds its own code basis. Under Insurance Code § 2210.258, construction, alteration, repair, or additions to a structure in the catastrophe area must follow the building code standards in the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association’s plan of operation, and TWIA may not insure the structure until TDI issues a certificate of compliance under § 2210.2515: the owner or builder gives TDI written notice before work begins, an ongoing improvement is certified on inspections by a qualified inspector TDI appoints or employs, and a completed improvement on a licensed professional engineer’s sealed design and affirmation or a sealed post-construction evaluation report. TDI’s rule at 28 TAC § 5.4013 (Commissioner’s Order No. 2026-9774, issued January 29, 2026) requires structures constructed, repaired, or added to on and after April 1, 2026 to comply with the 2024 IRC and IBC, after the 2018 editions that applied from September 1, 2020, and lets work needed to preserve a qualifying historic structure proceed without them. TDI’s adopted codes page says the designated catastrophe areas did not change: every county on its map (Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, and Willacy) is in the program in full, and in Harris County only sites east of State Highway 146 inside the city limits of Morgan’s Point, La Porte, Shoreacres, Pasadena, and Seabrook; the wind speed must be determined for each structure’s location, and most of the area is in the windborne debris region. The city’s building code edition can differ from TDI’s, so one set may carry two code bases on the same structural sheets; TDI’s windstorm page lists appointed inspectors and product evaluations.

Three more state tracks touch the set. Accessibility: under Government Code Chapter 469, plans for a building covered by the chapter with an estimated construction cost of at least $50,000 go to TDLR, the owner may not apply for a local building permit before that submission, and the permitting official must verify the registration; the chapter also covers buildings the State builds or leases for more than $12,000 a year. The drawing checks are in the Texas Accessibility Standards guide. Industrialized housing and buildings: under Occupations Code Chapter 1202, TDLR or an approved design review agency reviews modular designs against the mandatory building codes and places the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council’s stamp of approval on them, and a city may require the stamped plans for each installation and inspect the foundation and on-site work. And the building products limit in Government Code Chapter 3000 applies to every local amendment. Permit routing is on the Texas page and the Austin plan check guide, and the model codes have their own guides: IBC, IRC, IECC, NFPA 70, IFC, UPC, and IPC.

Gather the code analysis, the reviewing offices, and each discipline’s Texas references

Collect the cover sheet and code analysis with every code and edition cited and the occupancy, construction type, height, stories, area, and number of dwelling units; the site plan with the city limits, extraterritorial jurisdiction, or county location; floor plans, sections, elevations, and door schedules; the life safety plan with exits, travel distances, and any single-stair layout; the structural general notes with the design wind speed, exposure, and windborne debris region; the window and door schedules with impact protection and product evaluation references; the plumbing drawings with the code family the city uses; the electrical drawings with the NEC edition and any battery or generator backup; the energy notes and COMcheck, REScheck, or Energy Rating Index report; the sprinkler and fire alarm drawings; the accessibility plans; and the specifications.

Add the address and whether it is inside a city, in an extraterritorial jurisdiction, or unincorporated; the county and whether it has a fire code or an IRC order; who owns and funds the building (a state agency, a state university, another public body, or a private owner); the permit application date; the estimated construction cost and TDLR registration number; whether the site is in a TDI designated catastrophe area and whether the owner wants TWIA coverage; and any transient, care, or modular use. Read the statutes on the Texas Constitution and Statutes site, the energy code on SECO’s energy code pages, the windstorm rules on TDI’s windstorm pages, the State Fire Marshal’s inspection standards, the electrical code notice on TDLR’s site, the plumbing rules on the State Board of Plumbing Examiners’ site, and the adoption ordinance and amendments on the city’s site.

Trace the Texas codes and reviewers through the set

Building code sheets continue in the IBC guide, the IRC guide, the IEBC guide for rehabilitation work, the means of egress guide for single-stair layouts, and the IBC Chapter 9 guide; fire codes in the IFC, NFPA 1, and NFPA 101 guides; sprinklers in the NFPA 13 guide and the fire sprinkler checklist; electrical work in the NFPA 70 guide; plumbing and mechanical work in the UPC, IPC, UMC, IMC, and IFGC guides; energy in the IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 guides; pools in the ISPSC guide; wind loads in the ASCE 7 guide and impact-rated openings in the window schedule checklist; and accessible details in the Texas Accessibility Standards, ADA Standards, and ICC A117.1 guides and the accessibility checklist. The local building codes guide explains how a city ordinance and its amendments go into a review. Neighboring state codes are in the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code guide, the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code guide, the New Mexico Commercial Building Code guide, and the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code guide.

Example: a medical office building in a coastal city

Hypothetical example. A developer plans a two-story medical office building of about 12,000 square feet inside a city in Nueces County, with the building permit application submitted in October 2026 and construction starting in early 2027, and the owner wants it insurable through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. The architect reused a cover sheet from a 2023 coastal project: it cites the 2018 IBC and the 2020 NEC, the structural notes carry the design wind speed from that project, the window schedule lists no windborne debris protection, the energy notes say “2015 IECC, Texas state energy code” without the city’s adoption, and the project schedule has no TDI windstorm step.

TDI’s rule at 28 TAC § 5.4013 requires structures in the designated catastrophe areas that are constructed on or after April 1, 2026 to comply with the 2024 IRC and IBC to be eligible for TWIA coverage, and TDI says every county on its map other than Harris, including Nueces, is in the program in full; the 2018 IBC applied only to construction from September 1, 2020 to before April 1, 2026. Insurance Code § 2210.2515(b) requires written notice to TDI before construction begins, and TDI says the wind speed must be determined for each structure’s location and that most of the designated area is in the windborne debris region; the set shows neither. Separately, the city’s building code edition is the one its ordinance adopts above the 2012 floor in Local Government Code § 214.216, TDLR adopted the 2026 NEC as the state electrical code effective September 1, 2026, and the 2015 IECC is a state floor the city may exceed. Confirm the building, electrical, and energy editions with the city building official and the windstorm basis with TDI.

The structural engineer determines the wind speed for the site and moves the windstorm basis to the 2024 IBC, the architect adds windborne debris protection and product evaluation references to the window schedule, the owner files the notice with TDI and arranges an appointed qualified inspector before construction, and the architect asks the city which IBC, NEC, and IECC editions govern the October application and corrects the cover sheet. The finding is a code-basis and citation conflict; the city building official and TDI decide compliance.

Review a Texas set with Groundbook

Upload the current drawings and specifications to Groundbook, and state the edition, amendments, and review scope in your instructions. Texas statutes are free on the Legislature’s Texas Constitution and Statutes site, SECO posts the state energy code and the state building design standards, TDI posts the windstorm rule and the State Fire Marshal’s inspection standards, TDLR posts its electrical code adoption and the Texas Accessibility Standards, the State Board of Plumbing Examiners posts its rules, and cities such as Austin, Houston, and Dallas post their adopted codes and amendments. Upload Local Government Code Chapters 214 and 233, Health and Safety Code Chapter 388, Insurance Code Chapter 2210 and the TDI adoption order where the coast applies, the city’s adoption ordinance and amendments, and the county fire code where one applies as code files, with the IBC or IRC edition the city adopted, the NEC, the IECC or ASHRAE 90.1, the plumbing and mechanical codes, the IFC, and NFPA 101 from copies you are licensed to use where the license permits uploading them. See how Groundbook works with local and licensed codes.

Compare the cover sheet, code analysis, life safety plan, and every discipline’s general notes with the architectural, structural, fire protection, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, energy, and accessibility documents. Flag a reviewer or permit path that does not fit the city, extraterritorial jurisdiction, county, owner, and coastal location in my instructions, building, fire, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, and energy editions other than the ones my instructions give for that reviewer, IRC references on a building that is not a one- or two-family dwelling or a multiple single-family dwelling of three stories or less with separate means of egress, a missing TDLR registration number on a project of $50,000 or more, energy compliance on an edition or Energy Rating Index target that does not match the supplied rules for the permit date, and, in a designated catastrophe area where the owner wants TWIA coverage, structural notes, wind speeds, and windborne debris protection that do not match the supplied 2024 IRC or IBC and TDI rule. Use the supplied statutes, rules, ordinances, and model codes and cite both sources.

Groundbook compares the set with reference documents you upload, including licensed codes and standards you hold, and links each potential finding to the note or sheet and to the Texas statute, agency rule or notice, city or county ordinance, or model code. It has no built-in library of licensed codes, runs no calculations, and does not design anything. It does not decide whether a city, a county, the State Fire Marshal, TDLR, or TDI has jurisdiction, which edition governs where a statute, a state agency adoption, and a city’s code page differ, or whether a local amendment is void under the building products law; each finding is a question for the responsible design professional.

Document review does not certify compliance, issue a permit, certificate of occupancy, county certificate of compliance, or windstorm certificate of compliance, register a project with TDLR, or replace the design professional, the city building official, the fire marshal, the county, the State Fire Marshal, a Registered Accessibility Specialist, TDI’s windstorm inspectors, or SECO.