Building Permits in La Vernia & Wilson County

Which office issues your permit?

Go by the parcel, not the town on your mail. Mail addressed to La Vernia can still reach a lot outside city limits, since ZIP codes ignore city boundaries.

For land inside a city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), the county judge’s permitting letter recommends checking that city’s development rules as well.

City of La Vernia: work that needs a permit

The city’s permit packets name these residential triggers:

• Additions: anything that adds square footage to the home’s footprint, including attached carports, covered patios, sunrooms and bedrooms.
• Remodels: moving walls, swapping windows, or major electrical, plumbing or mechanical changes to the house itself.
• Concrete patios and decks: concrete patios need a permit and a site plan; decks need one at 30 inches off the ground. Neither may sit in an existing easement.
• Electrical: service upgrades, service repairs and circuit replacements.
• Plumbing and gas: adding, replacing or repairing a gas line; installing gas logs; replacing a gas or electric water heater; or adding a water softener. Installing or repairing a lawn sprinkler system takes its own irrigation permit, with a backflow device and a backflow test report.
• Mechanical: replacing an air conditioner or furnace.

Trade permits skip plan review, but the fee is due at issuance and an inspection is still required. A home addition or attached patio cover goes in with floor plans, a site plan with setbacks to the property lines, and foundation and roofing plans. Lots in a floodplain also need the city’s FEMA floodplain packet, which includes an elevation certificate.

Registration, plan review and inspections in La Vernia

Contractor registration. Every trade working in city limits registers with the city for one year at a time. Holders of a Texas state contractor license, such as electricians and plumbers, skip the fee but still file the form, a copy of their license and original proof of general liability insurance naming the city as certificate holder.

Plan review. Documents and fees go to City Hall, which sends residential and commercial plans to Bureau Veritas. The firm contacts the applicant if revisions are needed.

Inspections. Bureau Veritas performs field inspections, and the contractor schedules each one at least a day ahead. Framing, insulation and trade rough-ins are inspected before anything covers them, and before concrete, brick or sheetrock goes in. Every permit closes with a final inspection, and a new building needs a certificate of occupancy before anyone moves in. A permit lapses if work doesn’t start within 180 days or stops for 180 days.

Unincorporated Wilson County: what the county permits

The county’s forms page says permits are required for any development, driveway or septic work. The county judge’s 2024 zoning and permitting letter adds that unincorporated areas have no zoning and there’s no county certificate of occupancy.

Development permit

Apply with a recorded deed, a scaled site plan with measurements, and a recorded plat copy or an area map. Two items depend on the site:

• Drainage study: needed once the development footprint reaches three acres.
• Elevation certificate: needed for any structure inside a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). In Zone A, a surveyor or engineer holding a Texas license must set the base flood elevation.

Sites outside a mapped floodplain get an exemption certificate, which still suggests setting the floor two feet or more above natural grade where there’s no defined channel.

Septic and driveway permits

Homes without city sewer need an on-site sewage facility (OSSF) permit, common on acreage and barndominium sites. The authorization to construct lasts twelve months; without a final inspection in that time, a new application and fee are required. County-road driveways need a county permit and must match the county’s driveway specification, while access off a state highway falls under TxDOT. Dividing a tract into two or more pieces triggers the county’s platting rules unless an exemption applies.

Building outside the city limits of Floresville, Stockdale or another Wilson County town? Start with these county permits.

Permit fees we confirmed

Many permit fees scale with the job, so this list covers only flat amounts printed in current official fee documents.

City of La Vernia (October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027)

• Contractor registration: $100 per year; no charge for state license holders.
• Residential certificate of occupancy: $50, doubled if not obtained.
• Residential roof replacement: $25.
• Residential fence: $30 new, $15 replacing.
• Residential demolition: $100.
• Proceeding without a required inspection: $150 plus the failure fee.

Plan review and inspections are built into the building permit fee. Fees for remodels, additions and trade permits are set by formula or by project valuation on the city’s schedule, so ask City Hall for your figure.

Wilson County (effective May 11, 2026)

• Floodplain development permit: $100 determination fee.
• Drainage review, if required: $750. Elevation certificate review, if required: $200.
• Septic (OSSF), single-family home: $350 conventional, $400 aerobic or alternative.
• Residential or agricultural driveway: $250. Temporary construction driveway: $100.

Seguin, Schertz, Cibolo and your Spade project

Seguin handles permits through its Planning & Codes department, and Schertz and Cibolo each run their own building permits and inspections office with their own adopted codes.

On a Spade project, your project’s permit is applied for before work starts; inside city limits, the permit is issued to the contractor of record. Plumbing and electrical scope is planned into the estimate. Whether it’s a bathroom remodel or a concrete patio, bring the property address so the right office is identified from the start.