Foundation Repair Permits Around Round Rock

A permit can feel like red tape. In this area it does real work for you. In Round Rock and Georgetown, it means an engineer has stamped the repair plan before work starts, and someone checks the result before the job is closed. That's a second set of eyes on a repair you can't see once it's done.

It also matters later. When you sell, a buyer may ask what was done to the foundation and whether it was permitted. A permit record and an engineer's report answer that question in writing.

Round Rock spells out its rules clearly.

• A permit for foundation repair. The city requires a building permit to repair a building, and foundation repair has its own permit type. The same rule covers the Chandler Creek and Vista Oaks municipal utility districts.
• An engineer, start and finish. The application needs an "Assumption of the Engineer of Record" letter and an engineered foundation plan with the engineer's seal and signature. A final engineered report has to be uploaded to the permit before the final inspection.
• A $125 fee.
• Registered contractors, one permit. Every contractor and subcontractor on the job registers with the city, at no charge. Round Rock issues one permit that lists all of them.
• Online. Applications go through the city's permit portal. The city's development technicians are at 512-218-5550.

The city's monthly reports show how common this is. Homeowners applied for 195 residential foundation repair permits from January through November 2025. The fewest came in July (9) and August (10). January and March 2026 had 28 each.

Georgetown's foundation repair page sets out a clear process:

1. Apply online through My Government Online. 2. Upload foundation plans stamped by an engineer. 3. Pay the fee once the city approves the application. The city's published fee schedule lists $50 plus a $10 technology fee. 4. Do the repair. 5. Request the inspection online. Before 3 p.m. usually gets you the next business day. 6. Have the engineer's inspection report on site when the city inspects.

We couldn't open Taylor's own page, so this comes from its foundation repair checklist as indexed online. Confirm it with the city before you rely on it.

The checklist asks for a stamped and signed engineer's plan of the whole foundation, marking the area to be repaired. For a slab, it wants a section drawing of the foundation. For a pier and beam house, it wants a layout of each pier with its spacing, which piers need shims, and an engineer-sealed section showing the clearance between pad and beam. It also wants a written scope of work. Staff approve the application through My Government Online, and the fee is set once the application is accepted.

These three permit or inspect foundation repair, but we couldn't confirm the details.

• Pflugerville lists "Foundation Repair" among the inspections it does in the afternoon, from noon to 4 p.m. Its current fee schedule has no line for foundation repair, and we couldn't confirm whether it wants an engineer's plan. The city's main line is 512-990-6100.
• Manor has issued residential foundation repair permits, going by its archived permit reports. Its requirements and fee aren't on what we could read.
• Elgin's permit FAQ, as indexed online, lists foundation repair as work that needs a permit. We couldn't confirm the fee or whether an engineer is required.

For these four, we found only each city's general rule that repairs and alterations need a permit. None of the pages we could read named foundation repair. Call the city's permit office before work starts.

• Cedar Park's code, as indexed online, sets the penalty for starting work without a permit equal to the permit fee. Contractors must register.
• Leander's licensing page quotes in full the state law on engineering for house slabs on expansive soil. Contractor registration there is free.
• Hutto's code, as indexed online, requires an engineer's design for new slab foundations; it doesn't say how repairs are handled. Starting work before approval can bring a stop-work order and double fees.
• Liberty Hill's rules, as indexed online, require a permit inside city limits, in its extra-territorial area under a development agreement, or where the property is on city water or wastewater.

Neither is a city, so neither has a city permit.

Brushy Creek is in unincorporated Williamson County. The county has not adopted a residential building code, so it has no residential building permit. It does run a floodplain Certification of Compliance, and the county says to check with a city if the property is inside a city or its extra-territorial area. Check with the MUD and any homeowners' association too.

Wells Branch is in Travis County. The county's pages, as indexed online, show a "Development and/or Repair Permit" application that covers repairs outside city limits. Some Wells Branch addresses may sit inside Austin, so check which applies to yours. The MUD's committee reviews exterior changes under the neighborhood covenants.

Texas doesn't license foundation repair companies. A 2013 bill to create a state license failed in the House. That puts more weight on the local checks: Round Rock's contractor registration, and the engineer's plan the cities ask for.

State engineering law adds a layer. The Texas Engineering Practice Act often lets people repair a private home without an engineer's license. That freedom doesn't cover design for repairing a house slab on expansive soil, unless the work meets the residential code as the local city or county applies it. The cities above that ask for an engineer's stamp are the practical answer to that law.

If your house sits over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has its own rules. They cover construction and excavation on the zone and leave out routine maintenance of existing buildings that doesn't disturb more of the site. We haven't found a TCEQ answer on where repair piers fall. Ask TCEQ's Austin office at 512-339-2929 before digging starts. Our Edwards Aquifer guide covers which towns sit over the zone.

A permit comes after someone has measured the house and drawn a plan. Tell us what you've noticed and the town or ZIP code of the house, and a local foundation repair professional can come out to take that first look.