El Paso
City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department
In short
City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department issues 6 permits we publish for El Paso, last verified 2026-08-25. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Plan Review | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | 30% of the building permit fee, plus applicable technology fee | per review | 2026-08-25 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | $160.49 up to $15,000 valuation; $161.12 plus $8.48 per $1,000 to $100,000; $837.40 plus $6.36 per $1,000 to $500,000; $3,112.72 plus $3.28 per $1,000 to $1m; $4,758.34 plus $2.12 per $1,000 above $1m — plus plan review and technology fee | not stated in the published schedule | 2026-08-25 |
| Commercial Swimming Pool and Spa Permit | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | $185–$238 spa or pool | not stated in the published schedule | 2026-08-25 |
| Certificate of Occupancy | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | $110 per certificate | not stated in the published schedule | 2026-08-25 |
| Demolition Permitonly if it applies to you | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | $115 per permit | not stated in the published schedule | 2026-08-25 |
| Rezoning Applicationonly if it applies to you | City of El Paso Planning and Inspections Department | $765–$1,530 per application, by type | per application | 2026-08-25 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Commercial Plan Review
Thirty per cent of the building permit fee. Because it is a percentage rather than a flat charge or a separate valuation formula, plan review scales with the job in lockstep — on a $2m fit-out it is roughly $2,060 on top of the permit. Expedited review of a project valued under $300,000 is $256 plus $94 for each hour or part hour of review time, which is one of the few open-ended lines on the schedule. An appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment or the Construction Board of Appeals is $555.
Commercial Building Permit
Five valuation tiers, each a base plus a marginal rate, so the effective rate falls as the project grows: structural repair over $500 and work valued under $15,000 requiring plans is $160.49; from $15,000 to $100,000 it is $161.12 for the first $15,000 plus $8.48 for each further $1,000; from $100,000 to $500,000, $837.40 plus $6.36 per $1,000; from $500,000 to $1m, $3,112.72 plus $3.28 per $1,000; and above $1m, $4,758.34 plus $2.12 per $1,000. A $2m fit-out therefore costs about $6,878 in permit fee — close to Amarillo's $7,600 on the same valuation, reached by a very different route. Plan review is charged on top at 30 per cent of the permit fee, as is the technology fee, and a $400 commercial submittal deposit is payable up front and credited against the permit. Three variants are priced as fractions of the full fee and are worth knowing: a shell permit is 80 per cent, a tenant improvement permit 20 per cent, and a foundation-only permit 10 per cent. Starting work without a permit triples the fee for a contractor.
Commercial Swimming Pool and Spa Permit
$238 for a commercial swimming pool and $185 for a commercial spa, plus technology fee — roughly half what Amarillo charges at $437. A residential pool or spa permit is $160. This is a construction permit rather than an annual operating permit, so a hotel or gym building a pool pays it once.
Certificate of Occupancy
$110 for a certificate of occupancy on an existing building, plus the technology fee — the usual case for a tenant taking on premises with no construction work. The same $110 covers a pre-inspection and any permit requiring only one inspection; a permit requiring two inspections is $160. Cheap by comparison with Amarillo's $151, and it is the single most commonly missed step when a business changes hands.
Demolition Permit
$115 plus technology fee. The same $115 covers moving a building and retaining walls; fences, siding, windows, weatherization, placement and right-of-way permits are $110 each, and an electrical fence is $152. El Paso prices these as a long list of flat permits rather than by valuation, so a small job here is predictable in a way the commercial tiers are not.
Rezoning Application
Rezoning is $1,430 and a special permit $1,530 — the two largest routine planning fees here, and both are payable whether or not the application succeeds. A comprehensive plan amendment is $1,015, amending or releasing a special contract or zoning condition $1,430, and asking the City Plan Commission to reconsider a case $765. Unusually, the technology fee is stated to be included in these amounts rather than added, which makes the zoning schedule easier to budget than Schedule C. Check the change-of-use position before signing a lease: at these prices, discovering afterwards that your use is not permitted is an expensive way to find out.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- El Paso
- Phone
- (915) 212-0104
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- City of El Paso FY 2026 Schedule C, Departmental Fee List (85 pages)City of El Paso · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-25
- City of El Paso Zoning Application Fees, FY2025, effective 1 September 2024City of El Paso Planning and Inspections · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-25
- El Paso Municipal Code section 18.02.106, Permit Fees (Ord. No. 019528, 1 August 2023) — establishes fees, states no amountsCity of El Paso · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-25
Other offices serving El Paso
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
Texas jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.