Pasadena
City of Pasadena Permit Department
In short
City of Pasadena Permit Department issues 14 permits we publish for Pasadena, last verified 2026-08-24. 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 Electrical Service Permit | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50–$200 per service, by amperage | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Certificate of Occupancy — Change of Use or Occupancy | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $150 per application, covering the inspections | does not expire; a new certificate is required on a change of use or occupancy | 2026-08-24 |
| Certificate of Occupancy Issued With a Building Permit | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50 added to the permit and plan review fees | does not expire; a new certificate is required on a change of use or occupancy | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Demolition Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $100 per commercial demolition | 30 days, or the duration of the remodel project | 2026-08-24 |
| Electrical Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $40–$75 per circuit, by sign type | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Utility Releaseonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50 per 90-day release | up to 90 days, renewable in further 90-day periods | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Exhaust Hood Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50–$100 per hood, by class | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Plan Review Fee | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $0.10 per square foot under roof — half the building permit rate — with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $2,000 | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or Letter of Completiononly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50 per certificate | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Fence Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $100 per 1,000 linear feet or part thereof, plus the application fee; storage lot fences $100 per 500 linear feet | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Paving and Parking Repair Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $60 minimum, per permit | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $0.20 per square foot under roof, never less than $100 | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Annual Building Contractor Registration | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $75 per year | one year from the registration anniversary, or the insurance period, whichever is shorter | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Roofing Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Pasadena Permit Department | $50 per structure, plus the $10 application fee | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
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 Electrical Service Permit
$50 for a commercial meter loop and service up to 400 amps, $100 from 400 to 800 amps and $200 above 800 amps, plus $10 on the application and a $40 minimum. Individual items are charged on top: outlets and lighting fixtures at $0.50 each, commercial appliances at $7 each, electric heat at $1 per kW, an X-ray machine at $25 and CT or MRI equipment at $50 — the last two being why a veterinary or medical fit-out costs more here than the floor area suggests. A permanent commercial generator is $175 and is only allowed after electrical inspector review.
Certificate of Occupancy — Change of Use or Occupancy
$150, and the ordinance is blunt about the consequence of skipping it: it is unlawful to change the use or occupancy of an existing commercial property before the certificate issues, and utilities — electrical, gas and water — are not released until the Building Official or Permit Department approves. Four departments have to sign it off: building, fire marshal, health and traffic, plus planning. Where the new occupant does not change the use group classification, existing off-street parking is deemed adequate, which is the single most useful sentence in Pasadena's code for anyone taking over a like-for-like space.
Certificate of Occupancy Issued With a Building Permit
$50 on a commercial project, added to the permit and plan review fees rather than charged separately — a third of the $150 charged where the certificate is sought on its own for an existing space. One- and two-family projects are $20.
Commercial Demolition Permit
$100 for a commercial demolition, $50 residential, and the permit is good for 30 days only or for the duration of the remodel it belongs to. Where the demolition is included with a building permit it is charged at half the normal rate and may run concurrently with that permit — which is the cheaper and faster route on a gut fit-out.
Electrical Sign Permit
$40 per circuit for incandescent and fluorescent signs, $75 per circuit for neon, and a $50 shop inspection for each sign fabricated in the jurisdiction. Festoon lighting and streamers are $10 per circuit and decorative structures $50. The code adds a condition rather than a fee: these installations must not strobe, chase, flash or spin, or otherwise interfere with traffic or amount to a public nuisance.
Temporary Utility Release
$50 for utilities released to clean, show or otherwise prepare a commercial space without occupying it, granted only after an inspector has visited and approved. Good for a maximum of 90 days and renewable at the same price for each further 90 days or part of one, on a fresh written request. This is the charge a landlord marketing a vacant unit meets, not the incoming tenant.
Commercial Exhaust Hood Permit
$100 for a Class 1 commercial exhaust hood — the grease-bearing type over a cooking line — and $50 for a Class 2. Commercial ventilation is $40 per fan. Where a full commercial heating or air conditioning system goes in, that is $60 each plus $5 a ton, with commercial condenser and air handler replacements at the same rate; a refrigeration permit is $40 plus $3 a ton and a boiler operating permit $75.
Commercial Plan Review Fee
Non-refundable, capped at $2,000, and it gates the queue: the ordinance states no routing or plan review takes place until the fee is paid. Two sets of plans are required, complete with topography, landscape, boundary survey, drainage, electrical, plumbing, ADA compliance, IECC compliance and heating and air conditioning — an unusually specific list, and worth reading before the first submittal rather than after the first rejection.
Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or Letter of Completion
$50, issued only at the written request of the owner, applicant or general contractor. The letter of completion is the no-occupancy version of the same document. Notably cheap against Waco's $200 and Arlington's $150 for the equivalent.
Commercial Fence Permit
$100 per 1,000 linear feet for a commercial fence, but $100 per 500 feet — double the rate — for a commercial storage lot fence. Repair and replacement in identical materials at the exact same location and elevation is exempt, unless the fence is already in violation of another provision.
Paving and Parking Repair Permit
A $60 minimum covers asphalt patching, potholes, and curb and concrete repair. The trap is the threshold: repairs or improvements at or over 50% of the existing area force the whole lot up to current off-street paving, parking and drainage requirements — landscaping and parking count at existing business locations excepted. Splitting a resurfacing into phases to stay under the line is a decision worth making deliberately rather than discovering.
Commercial Building Permit
Twenty cents a square foot, computed on the accumulative aggregate of every floor's area covered by roof or similar structure, with a $100 floor — the same rate for new construction, additions, alterations and repairs. There is a $10 application fee on every permit regardless of discipline, and no permit is less than $50 including the application. Starting work before the permit issues stops the job: the property goes on hold until double the normal fee plus a $25 administrative fee is paid and a proper permit is issued.
Annual Building Contractor Registration
$75 to register and $75 a year to renew, for every building and remodel contractor. Commercial contractors must show at least $300,000 of liability insurance with the City of Pasadena named as certificate holder; residential contractors must show Texas Residential Construction Commission compliance. The registration runs for a year from the anniversary or for the valid insurance period, whichever is the more stringent — so a short insurance policy shortens the registration. Homeowners with a homestead exemption building or remodelling their own dwelling are exempt.
Commercial Roofing Permit
$50 per structure plus the standard $10 application, for overlay or replacement in like materials with minor decking and structural work. A permit is required once repairs exceed 25% of each roof. Where the roof is being altered or structurally modified the arithmetic changes sharply: engineered drawings are required, plan review is $50 and the building permit itself will not be less than $250. Wood shingle, shake and other combustible roofing is prohibited outright except for minor repairs to existing single-family homes.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Pasadena
- Phone
- (713) 475-5575
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.
- Fee Schedule — building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing permit feesCity of Pasadena Permit Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
Other offices serving Pasadena
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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