Sign Permitting Services in Houston, TX
Houston issues sign permits to licensed sign contractors, not to owners. So the fastest route to a permit is hiring the contractor who is also building the sign.
What are we permitting?
A permit is required before most exterior signs are erected, altered or repaired. What the packet has to contain depends on which of these you are putting up.
Survey required
The most scrutinised permit in Houston: setbacks, survey, engineered footing.
What it takes →
Engineering
Height and area limits, sealed engineering, and a foundation the city signs off on.
What it takes →
Most common
Wall-mounted signage: elevation drawings, area calculation, electrical details.
What it takes →
Two inspections
Anything lit adds an electrical permit, a shop inspection and a final inspection.
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Structural
Structural attachment details and, usually, sealed engineering with the packet.
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Different rules
Katy, Sugar Land and unincorporated Harris County each run their own process.
What it takes →What our sign permitting service covers
Four stages, all of them ours. You approve the drawing and sign the contract; we do the rest.
Site & code review
Before anything is designed, we check what the sign code, deed restrictions and your landlord's criteria allow at your address.
Survey, engineering & drawings
Property survey, sealed engineering, and scaled elevations to city standards, drawn by the team that will build the sign.
City filing
We file with Houston Sign Administration and work every plan-review comment until the permit is issued.
Inspections
Lit signs need a shop inspection before install and a final after energizing. We schedule both on our timeline, not yours.
What each kind of sign permit involves
Different signs, different packets. This is what the city actually asks for.
Monument, Pylon & Ground Signs
Ground signs are the hardest permits to get and the most expensive to get wrong, because they are the only signs the city can make you dig up. The packet needs a property survey showing exactly where the sign lands relative to the property line and the right-of-way, plus sealed engineering for the foundation. Landlord and deed-restriction approval usually has to come first, and on multi-tenant sites it is the slowest part. We survey and file before anything is fabricated. See monument signs.
- Property survey with setbacks and right-of-way
- Sealed engineering for the foundation
- Deed restriction and landlord approval up front
Wall, Channel Letter & Roof Signs
Wall signs are permitted on the drawing. The city wants a scaled elevation, the sign area calculated against what your frontage allows, the mounting method, and the structural attachment detail. It is the area calculation that gets most applications kicked back, because owners size the sign to the wall rather than to the code. Roof and projecting signs add sealed engineering on top. We draw the permit set and the fabrication set from the same file, so a plan-review comment gets fixed in both. See channel letter signs.
- Scaled elevations and sign-area calculation
- Mounting and structural attachment detail
- Sealed engineering for roof and projecting signs
Illuminated Signs & Electrical
Anything lit is two jobs in the city’s eyes. Electrical sign work has to be done under a master electrician registered with the city, which is part of why Houston restricts sign permits to licensed contractors in the first place. Lit signs also carry two inspections: a shop inspection before the sign leaves for site, and a final inspection after it is energized. Both are ours to schedule. Houston additionally requires an annual sign operating permit once the sign is up. The permit guide covers how that renews.
- Registered master electrician on the licence
- Shop inspection before install, final after energizing
- Annual sign operating permit once it is up
Outside Houston City Limits
“Houston” on your mail does not mean the City of Houston has jurisdiction. Katy, Sugar Land, Missouri City and the rest each run their own sign ordinance and their own permit office, and unincorporated Harris County plays by different rules again, sometimes looser and sometimes not. Getting this wrong means a finished sign and a permit filed with the wrong office. We confirm which authority actually covers your address before anything is drawn, and we permit across the metro including Cypress, Spring and Richmond.
- Jurisdiction confirmed from the address, not the mailing city
- Katy, Sugar Land, Missouri City, Spring, Richmond
- Unincorporated Harris County handled too
Permitting is not a separate product here
You can hire a permit expeditor, a fabricator and an installer as three companies. It works right up until plan review comes back with a comment, and then the drawing that has to change is held by one company, the sign that has to change is held by another, and your grand opening is held by nobody.
We file as the contractor of record on signs we design, fabricate and install ourselves, so a plan-review comment gets corrected in the permit set and the fabrication file at the same time, and nothing gets built before the city has approved where it can stand. That is the whole argument for buying sign permit services from the sign company rather than around it.
Want the process itself rather than the service? Who can apply, what the city charges, how long review takes, what a sign operating permit is: that is all in the Houston sign permit guide. This page is for when you would rather hand it to somebody.
Licensed, and that is the whole point
With two narrow exceptions, Houston will not issue a sign permit to a business owner, only to a licensed sign contractor. We are one. Ready to start? Browse outdoor signs or read the permit guide first.
Questions we get
Can I pull my own sign permit in Houston?
Almost never. Houston issues sign permits to licensed sign contractors, with two narrow owner exceptions: small non-electrical ground signs, and low non-electrical wall signs, where the owner does the work personally. Everything else needs a licensed contractor. The permit guide has the limits.
Do you permit signs you didn't make?
Yes, when we are also installing them. We become the licensed contractor of record, which means we are signing for the mounting method and the electrical, so we review the shop drawings before accepting the job, not after.
How long does a sign permit take?
City plan review is usually the short part. Surveys, sealed engineering, landlord approval and revision cycles are what stretch the schedule. If your sign is tied to an opening date, start the permit first. It is the least flexible step in the project.
Is the permit included in the sign quote?
Permit work is quoted as its own line so you can see it. City fees are generally the smallest line on a sign project. The survey, engineering, fabrication and installation are where the money is.
What happens if we install without a permit?
The usual outcome is a red tag: modify or remove the sign at your own cost, then permit it properly anyway. Houston also charges to impound an unlawful sign and to store it. A finished sign coming back down is the most expensive outcome in signage.
Do interior signs need a sign permit?
The sign code governs exterior signage, so lobby and office signs generally do not need a City of Houston sign permit, though electrical work feeding a lit interior sign can still need an electrical permit.
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