Waco
City of Waco Inspection Services
In short
City of Waco Inspection Services issues 16 permits we publish for Waco, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Occupancy | City of Waco Inspection Services | $50 per change of record | does not expire; a new certificate is required on a change of occupancy classification, tenancy, ownership, business name or type of business | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary Certificate of Occupancyonly if it applies to you | City of Waco Inspection Services | $200–$400 initial 30 days, then per extension | 30 days initially, extendable twice by 15 days | 2026-08-24 |
| Backflow Prevention Device Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Waco Inspection Services | $40 first device, then $10 each | one-time, per installation | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Plumbing Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $8 for each plumbing fixture, trap, grease and sand trap, water heater or gas-fired appliance; $20 per line per 100 feet of sewer, water and gas service; $10 per sump, grinder pump or lift station; $50 per boiler | renewal is 50% of the original permit fee, minimum $60 | 2026-08-24 |
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Waco Inspection Services | $48–$110 by sign area | off-premise sign registration is annual, due 1 October | 2026-08-24 |
| Sexually Oriented Business License | City of Waco Inspection Services | $350 per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Credit Access Business Registration | City of Waco Inspection Services | $100 per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Plan Review Fee | City of Waco Inspection Services | the greater of $100 or 25% of the total building permit fee | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Kitchen Hood and Refrigeration Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Waco Inspection Services | $50–$75 per hood or unit | renewal is 50% of the original permit fee, minimum $60 | 2026-08-24 |
| Farmers Market Organiser Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $200 per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $0.28 per sq ft for the first 100,000 sq ft, then $0.14 per sq ft | renewal is 50% of the original permit fee, minimum $60 | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Alteration and Repair Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $50 minimum to $2,000 of valuation; $50 for the first $2,000 plus $5.50 per additional $1,000 to $50,000; $265 plus $4.50 per $1,000 to $100,000; $490 plus $3.50 per $1,000 to $500,000; $1,890 plus $2.50 per $1,000 above that | renewal is 50% of the original permit fee, minimum $60 | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Electrical Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $24 per service up to 400 amps, $38.50 to 1,000 amps, $52 above 1,000 amps, plus $6.50 per one-pole circuit, $7.50 per two-pole, $8.50 per three-pole, $12 per motor to 50 HP and $26.50 above | renewal is 50% of the original permit fee, minimum $60 | 2026-08-24 |
| Night Club License | City of Waco Inspection Services | $200 per year | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Open Air Vending Permit | City of Waco Inspection Services | $10–$200 annual, seasonal or non-profit temporary | one year, or three consecutive days for a seasonal permit | 2026-08-24 |
| Indoor Amusement Facility License | City of Waco Inspection Services | $200 per year | one year | 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
Certificate of Occupancy
A building may not be used or occupied until the Building Official issues the certificate, which happens after the building passes final inspection. Waco's trigger list is broader than most and was rewritten in November 2025: a new certificate is required not only on first occupancy and on a change of occupancy classification under IBC Chapter 3, but on a change of tenancy or ownership of the space, a change in the name or ownership of the business, and a change in the type of business — the city's own examples include turning retail into a restaurant or a hair salon, and adding a coffee shop to an existing space. Single and two-family dwellings are excluded. The $50 shown is the certificate of occupancy change of record fee on the permit schedule; the certificate issued at the end of a construction permit is covered by that permit.
Temporary Certificate of Occupancy
$200 for the initial 30 days, $300 for the first 15-day extension and $400 for the second. The price rises deliberately with each extension, so a project that opens on a temporary certificate and drifts pays $900 over 60 days. Clean and Show — utilities released so a space can be prepared or shown, without occupancy — is $75.
Backflow Prevention Device Permit
$40 for the first vacuum breaker or backflow protective device installed after a lawn sprinkler system goes in, and $10 for each additional device. Where the property sits in the extraterritorial jurisdiction a $60 trip fee applies to lawn sprinkler inspections.
Commercial Plumbing Permit
Waco charges a grease or sand trap at the same $8 as an ordinary fixture — among the cheapest interceptor permits in the state, and a useful contrast with cities that price interceptors as a separate permit. The plumbing and irrigation administration fee is $60, technology fee $15, standalone commercial review $60, and irrigation review $60. The city runs a Fats, Oils and Grease programme through Environmental Compliance and publishes no permit or fee for it, so the trap is permitted here rather than there.
Sign Permit
$48 up to 72 sq ft, $83 from 73 to 300 sq ft, and $110 from 301 to 672 sq ft, plus a $60 sign plan review and a $15 technology fee. The part that catches operators is the annual side: off-premise signs must be re-registered every 1 October at $25 to $40 by size, the late fee is per sign, and it doubles after 60 days. A portable sign is $66 and sign demolition $50.
Sexually Oriented Business License
$350 a year, $100 for the license inspection and $100 non-refundable on application. The highest business license fee Waco charges, and the non-compliance fee matches the license fee rather than being a fixed penalty.
Credit Access Business Registration
$100 a year, non-refundable, with a $100 non-compliance fee. A credit access business — payday and title lending — registers with the city on top of its state licensing.
Commercial Plan Review Fee
Non-refundable, and the floor bites on small projects: a fit-out whose permit fee is $200 still pays $100 to have the plans looked at. Re-review after corrections is $60, changing the design or scope after issue is $60 plus 10% of the original permit fee, and an ICC third-party plan review is $200 an hour. Transferring the permit to a different contractor is $60.
Commercial Kitchen Hood and Refrigeration Permit
A commercial vent hood is $75 and a commercial walk-in cooler or freezer $50, against $10 for the residential hood — the gap is the point, because it is the commercial hood that carries the suppression system the fire marshal then inspects. Refrigerated air is charged separately at $20 per unit to five tons and $45 above, with air handlers at $5 to 10,000 CFM and $8 above. Metal duct is $50 and flex duct $25. The mechanical administration fee is $60 and the technology fee $15.
Farmers Market Organiser Permit
$200 a year plus $100 for the license inspection, for an organised recurring operation at a designated location where vendors sell locally produced agricultural products. The city is explicit that a farmers market is not an event and is not a food establishment in its own right — which is why the organiser's license and each vendor's county food permit are separate obligations rather than alternatives.
Commercial Building Permit
Waco prices commercial construction on floor area rather than declared valuation, which is unusual in Texas and much easier to estimate before design is finished: $0.28 a square foot to 100,000 sq ft and $0.14 above it, the same rates whether the occupancy is assembly, business, educational, factory, hazardous, mercantile or multi-family residential, and the same again for storage and shell buildings. A technology fee of $15 is added to building permits. Starting work before the permit issues doubles the fee, and the schedule is explicit that paying the doubled fee does not excuse the underlying non-compliance.
Commercial Alteration and Repair Permit
This is the schedule most new tenants actually meet: repairs and alterations to an existing non-residential building, and completion of shell buildings, are valuation-based even though new construction is area-based. A $150,000 restaurant fit-out lands at roughly $665 in building permit fees. Reinspection escalates rather than repeating — $55 for the first failure, $100 for the second, $150 for the third and beyond — and the schedule notes that the contractor stays liable for failed reinspection fees even where the project itself is exempt from permit fees.
Commercial Electrical Permit
Itemised rather than banded, so the estimate depends on the drawing rather than the budget. A commercial administration fee of $60 and a technology fee of $15 sit on top, a standalone commercial electrical permit review is $60, and an electrical sign circuit is $40. Contractors must create an account, register the company and show proof of state licensing and insurance naming the City of Waco as certificate holder before any trade permit issues — build that into the programme, not the fee estimate.
Night Club License
$200 a year for the license, $100 for the license inspection and a $100 non-refundable application fee — $400 to open, $300 to renew. The application is filed at the Mae Jackson Development Center in the Inspections Office, and the premises are inspected after the application and payment, not before. Operating without it carries a $200 non-compliance fee. This sits on top of the state TABC license, which is a separate application and requires a zoning verification letter from the city.
Open Air Vending Permit
This is the permit a food truck actually needs to trade in Waco, and it is a city vending license rather than a health permit — which matters, because since 1 July 2026 the mobile unit itself is permitted by Texas DSHS. $200 for the annual license, $75 for three consecutive days, $10 for a non-profit temporary, and $100 for the license inspection in each case. Open air vending is defined as selling, bartering or exchanging a good or service entirely outside a permanent structure, so it reaches well beyond food.
Indoor Amusement Facility License
$200 a year, $100 for the license inspection and a $100 non-refundable application fee. Waco licenses indoor amusement as a category of its own, which catches trampoline parks, arcades and family entertainment centres that would be permitted only as assembly occupancies elsewhere in Texas.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Waco
- Phone
- (254) 750-5612
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.
- Certificate of Occupancy — Sec. 6-37 as amended by Ordinance No. 2025-814City of Waco Inspection Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
- Permit Fee SchedulesCity of Waco Inspection Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
- Permits & LicensesCity of Waco · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
Other offices serving Waco
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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