What a failed plumbing inspection costs in Texas: re-inspection fees in 26 cities

A failed inspection costs you twice. Once for the fix, and once for the inspector to come back.

We read the re-inspection line in 26 Texas cities’ own fee documents on 16 October 2026. Every figure below came off the city’s document on that date. Where a city prints two figures, you get both.

What the permit itself costs is a separate question, answered on what a plumbing permit costs in Texas.

Plumbing re-inspection fees in 26 Texas cities

Where a city prices the first re-inspection, it runs from $30.00 in Midland to $200.00 in Arlington, of the 26 cities we read. Midland’s $30.00 is its plumbing red-tag line; the same Midland schedule also prints $100.00 for all permits.

City	First re-inspection	Later ones	Line as the document prints it	Instrument and its date	Read
Amarillo	$70.00 code; $68.00 web page	same	“Re-inspection” (section 4-1-50); “Re-Inspection Fee” (web page)	Code through Dec 2025; web page undated	16 Oct 2026
Arlington	$200.00	same	“Reinspection fee”	Resolution 26-288, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Austin	$83.85	same; standalone permits $28.01 per inspection after two	“Reinspection Fee”	Updated 14 Oct 2026, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Brownsville	$50.00 plumbing code; $75.00 building code	same	“Reinspection” (section 18-659)	Code amended 1992 and 1997	16 Oct 2026
Corpus Christi	none printed	$117.13 per inspection after the 2nd inspection	“Re-inspection fee after 2nd inspection* (Per inspection)”	FY 2026; period ended 30 Sep 2026	16 Oct 2026
Dallas	$75	same	“Reinspection Fee”	July 2025 schedule	16 Oct 2026
Denton	$75	same	Table 6 re-inspection line	Ordinance 26-1576, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
El Paso	$100 + tech fee	same	“Re-Inspection Fee for all building permits and trades”	FY 2024; FY 2027 could not be read	16 Oct 2026
Fort Worth	$66.15	same	“Reinspection fee”	Ordinance 26-28781, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Frisco	$50.00	same	“Reinspection Fee (Residential)”	Effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Garland	not published	$150.00 on the third request	“Reinspection Fee (3rd Request)”	Ordinance 7695, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Houston	$94.00	same	“Reinspection Fee”	2026 schedule	16 Oct 2026
Irving	$75	same	“Re-Inspections”	FY26 and FY27 schedules, both $75	16 Oct 2026
Killeen	$60.00	same	“Failed Inspection Penalty of Any Kind”	FY 2027, effective 1 Oct 2026	16 Oct 2026
Laredo	$50.00	same	“Re-inspection fee assessed under provisions of section 107.3.3”	Code section 25-8; restated by Ord. 2026-O-188	16 Oct 2026
Lubbock	$50	$100, $150, then $200	“First Reinspection”	FY 2025-26; period ended 30 Sep 2026	16 Oct 2026
McAllen	$48.00	same	“All Re-inspections Fee”	Effective 1 Oct 2016, updated Nov 2019	16 Oct 2026
McKinney	$50.00	$75.00, then $100.00	“Reinspection fees per hour*”	Undated; file created 2009	16 Oct 2026
Mesquite	$100.00	same	“Re-Inspection”	Residential schedule 2026-2027, rev. 09/26	16 Oct 2026
Midland	$30.00 plumbing; $100.00 all permits; $50 on a web page last updated Feb 2025	same	“Re-Inspection (Red Tag)”; “Re-Inspection (all permits)”	Ordinance 10710, effective 1 Feb 2026	16 Oct 2026
Odessa	$50.00	$50.00 for the second; $75.00 for the third and fourth; $100.00 for the fifth and above	Reinspection Fee, tiered	Code §3-1-1, last amended Oct 2019; PDF schedule of 16 Jan 2018	16 Oct 2026
Pasadena	$50.00	same	“Re-inspection fee”	Code §9-60, Ord. 25-198 of 21 Oct 2025	16 Oct 2026
Plano	$75.00	$100.00, $125.00, then $150.00	“First Re-inspection Fee”	Ordinance 2025-11-4, effective 2 Jan 2026	16 Oct 2026
Round Rock	$75 on city pages; code prices none until the third	code: $100.00, then $250.00	“Third re-inspection - $100.00”	Code through June 2026; pages undated	16 Oct 2026
San Antonio	$51.50	same	“Re-inspection Fee” under “Special Services for Plumbing”	Chapter 10, effective 1 May 2025	16 Oct 2026
Waco	$55	$100, then $150	“1st Failed Reinspection”	Undated	16 Oct 2026

Read these notes before you rely on a row.

• Corpus Christi and Lubbock price off schedules whose own stated periods ended on 30 September 2026. Both are still what the cities publish.
• El Paso is from its FY 2024 schedule. The FY 2027 schedule is a scan with no readable text, so we could not check whether $100 still stands.
• Killeen’s FY 2027 schedule says “PROPOSED FEE SCHEDULE” on its cover, beside its effective dates.
• McKinney’s document carries no date. Its asterisk says the hourly line means the stated fee “Or the total hourly cost to the jurisdiction, whichever is the greatest.”
• Corpus Christi’s asterisk adds a 4.5% surcharge, by the schedule’s own note on asterisked fees.
• El Paso adds a technology fee whose amount we did not price.

Measured against the permit, the fee can be the bigger number. Mesquite prints “Plumbing (includes water heater replacement)” at 75.00 and “Re-Inspection” at 100.00. Arlington’s plumbing base permit fee is $100.00 and its re-inspection fee is $200.00.

What triggers a plumbing re-inspection fee

Work that is not ready, corrections that were not made, or an inspector who cannot get in. Those three show up in city after city. A plain fail on a code item is treated differently by some.

Dallas’s Chapter 52 lists all three. A fee is charged “when the portion for which inspection is called is not complete, when corrections called for are not made, or when access to perform the inspection is not provided.” The same section then says: “No fee is required for reinspection of work that is rejected the first time for failure to comply with the codes.” That booklet is current only through January 2011, and the 2025 fee schedule just says “Reinspection Fee” $75, so ask Dallas whether the first-failure exception still holds.

Austin prints the same three triggers on its fee schedule: work not complete or marked partial, corrections not completed, or “the site is not accessible.” It also says “Permit fees include one inspection per required inspection type.”

Midland’s Inspections page defines its fee as “A fee assessed by the inspector due to an inspection or reinspection that is scheduled and/or corrections not being made or work not being completed.”

Lubbock ties it to access and paperwork: “The job site is to remain open, and plans are required to be onsite to perform a required inspection. Failure to do so could result in failure of the inspection and a re-inspection fee.”

Waco charges a separate, larger fee when the inspector arrives to find nothing to inspect. Its plumbing tab prices “Occupied & Down Reinspection / Not Ready” at $125, more than the $55 first failed re-inspection.

Amarillo builds one trigger into its plumbing code. Replacing several service lines at once costs one fee, but “If the lines are not ready for inspection at the same time, re-inspection fees for additional inspections will be required.”

Houston frames it as a pattern rather than a single event: “Inspections that repeatedly fail may be charged a re-inspection fee in addition to an admin fee.”

Killeen’s label is the broadest. Its $60.00 line is a “Failed Inspection Penalty of Any Kind”.

When Texas cities start charging for a plumbing re-inspection, and when it climbs

Six cities charge more as the repeats add up, and in four cities a city document prices nothing before a later visit. Read both columns of the table before you assume the first fail costs nothing, or that the price stays flat.

The ladders:

• Plano: $75.00, $100.00, $125.00, then $150.00 for each additional re-inspection.
• Lubbock: $50, $100, $150, then $200 for “Fourth And Subsequent Inspections”.
• McKinney: $50.00, $75.00, then $100.00 for the third or more.
• Waco: $55, $100, then $150 for “3rd+ Failed Reinspection”.
• Odessa: $50.00 for the first and second, $75.00 for the third and fourth, $100.00 for the fifth and above.
• Round Rock, in its code: “Third re-inspection - $100.00”, then $250.00 for the fourth and each one after.

The cities whose documents put the first visits inside the permit:

• Corpus Christi charges $117.13 per inspection “after 2nd inspection”.
• Round Rock’s web pages say “Two inspections of the same type are included in the permit fee.” After two fails of the same type, “a $75 re-inspection fee will be charged for each additional inspection.” Its code prices nothing until the third re-inspection, at $100.00. The two do not count the same way and do not match.
• Waco’s procedures page says “A reinspection fee applies if a third inspection (second reinspection) is required.” Its fee page prices a “1st Failed Reinspection” at $55. Those two city pages disagree about when you start paying.
• Garland prints a “Reinspection Fee (3rd Request)” at $150.00, and no building re-inspection figure for a first or second request.

Austin is a special case. Its general re-inspection fee is $83.85. For standalone projects it charges $73.81 for inspections, then “Inspections for Standalone Projects - Per inspection after two inspections” at $28.01, and its re-inspection line points to that one for work marked partial.

Where a city’s re-inspection fee may not reach a plumbing permit

Every one of the 26 cities prints some re-inspection figure, but not every document says it reaches a plumbing permit. Treat those as open and ask.

Frisco prints “Reinspection Fee (Residential)” at $50.00 inside its residential building permit section. Its plumbing permit section has no re-inspection line of its own.

Garland publishes no figure for a first or second re-inspection. That is not the same as saying they are free.

Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Mesquite and Houston print one re-inspection line in a general part of the schedule, without naming trades. Fort Worth’s sits under fees “Applicable to All Permit Types”, which is as close as any of them comes. Dallas’s older division schedule, revised in 2020, prints its $75 re-inspection with the words “Fee per trade.”

Brownsville has two lines in two articles of its code: “Reinspection” at 50.00 in the plumbing fee section, and “A re-inspection fee of $75.00 shall be charged to each applicant for each re-inspection conducted by the city building division.” Which one a plumbing re-inspection draws is not said.

Midland and Amarillo print different amounts in different places for what reads like the same charge.

Before you schedule, ask the department which re-inspection line applies to your permit and how many visits the permit already covers. Get the answer in writing if the job is likely to need more than one trip.

How to avoid a plumbing re-inspection fee

Be ready, be there, and fix everything on the report before you call again. That is what the documents ask for.

• Finish the work being inspected. Dallas and Austin both charge when the work called for is not complete. Amarillo charges again when service lines replaced together are not ready together.
• Make every correction first. Waco’s procedures page: “It is important to address all the inspector’s comments before scheduling a reinspection.” Dallas, Austin and Midland all list uncorrected work as a trigger.
• Give the inspector access. McAllen: “Yes, someone needs to be onsite during the building inspection.” Waco: “For occupied residential dwellings, contractor or property owner is required to be present during inspections.” Lubbock wants the site open and the plans on it.
• Pay before you rebook. McAllen says “A Reinspection fee is $48.00 and is due prior to the next scheduled Inspection.” Plano’s fees “Must be paid before scheduling any final inspections”. San Antonio’s code says “In instances where re-inspection fees have been assessed, all fees shall be paid before release of utilities.”
• Know who owes it. Waco says “*Contractors remain responsible for any failed reinspection fees, even if the project is exempt from permit fees.” If your plumber pulled the permit, ask before you sign whether a re-inspection fee is in the quote or billed back to you.

If you are still deciding whether the job needs a permit at all, start with Texas plumbing permits. If it was done without one, read skipping a plumbing permit in Texas before the next inspection is booked.

Sources, and when we read them

Every figure on this page comes from one of the documents below, each published by the body that sets, measures or administers the thing it describes. We record the document’s own date and the date we read it, because published pages change without notice.

Source	Document date	We read it
City of Dallas – Permit Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2025	‘Permit Fee Schedule / Effective July 1, 2025’; PDF created 27 June 2025, modified 12 June 2026	2026-10-16 (curl from Ross’s computer; all 11 pages read as raw PDF text with pdftotext -layout)
City of Dallas – Building Inspection Division Fee Schedule for Permits and Services	footer ‘REV 10-01-2020’; PDF created 29 June 2016	2026-10-16 (curl; read as raw PDF text)
City of Dallas – Chapter 52, Administrative Procedures for the Construction Codes (booklet), section 303.5.7	‘Current through January 12, 2011’; section 303.5.7 cites Ord. Nos. 26029 and 28096; the booklet says it is for informational purposes only	2026-10-16 (curl; read as raw PDF text)
City of San Antonio – Chapter 10, Building-Related Codes (sections 10-10, 10-11 and 10-83)	cover ‘EFFECTIVE DATE: MAY 1, 2025’; Ord. No 2025-01-30-0075, adopted January 30, 2025; PDF created 5 March 2025	2026-10-16 (curl; all 147 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of Houston – 2026 Building Code Enforcement Permit Fee Schedule	headed ‘2026 BUILDING CODE ENFORCEMENT PERMIT FEE SCHEDULE’; PDF created 16 December 2025	2026-10-16 (curl; all eight pages read as raw PDF text, layout and raw modes)
City of Houston – Water Heater (HPWCODE1101)	undated web page	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
City of Austin – Residential Building Plan Review & Inspection Permit Fees	page footers ‘Updated: 10/14/2026 - Effective 10/01/2026’; PDF created 14 October 2026	2026-10-16 (curl of the Widen viewer, then the PDF it serves; all six pages read as raw PDF text)
City of Fort Worth – Ordinance No. 26-28781, development fees schedule, Table No. 1-B	Ordinance No. 26-28781, effective October 1, 2026	2026-10-16 (host returns 403 to curl from both networks; read in the browser pane by fetching the PDF same-origin and extracting the text layer with pdf.js; the reinspection label and its amount were paired by their positions on page 15)
City of Plano – Building Inspections Fee Schedule, Exhibit A to Ordinance No. 2025-11-4	PDF titled ‘Building Inspections Fee Schedule - Effective Jan. 2, 2026’; PDF created 11 November 2025	2026-10-16 (curl; read as raw PDF text)
City of Lubbock – Building Safety Fee Schedule	‘Fiscal Year Effective Dates: October 1, 2025 - September 30, 2026’; PDF created 23 April 2026; still the fee schedule linked from the city’s Forms & Fee Schedule page on 2026-10-16	2026-10-16 (Cloudflare blocks curl; read in the browser pane, same-origin fetch, pdf.js text layer)
City of Lubbock – Permitting / Inspections	undated web page	2026-10-16 (browser pane, raw HTML fetched same-origin)
City of Frisco – Permit, Inspection and Miscellaneous Consolidated Fee Schedule	‘Effective Date: 10/1/2026.’; PDF created 2 October 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; all 15 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of El Paso – FY 2024 Schedule C, Departmental Fee List (adopted), line 856	headed ‘FY 2024 Schedule C’; PDF named ‘FY2024 Schedule C Adopted.xlsx’, created 8 August 2023	2026-10-16 (curl; all 48 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of El Paso – FY 2027 Schedule C	PDF named ’27. Budget Reso Fy26-27.pdf’, created 27 August 2026; 88 pages	2026-10-16 (curl; could not be read: the file has no usable text layer, and pdftotext returns 4,747 bytes, page headers only)
City of Arlington – Planning and Development Services Fee Schedule, Resolution No. 26-288	‘Fee Schedule / Effective October 1, 2026 / Resolution No. 26-288’	2026-10-16 (host returns 403 to curl and blocks the pdf.js script; read in the browser pane by fetching the PDF same-origin, inflating its streams and reading the literal text operators. Label and amount pairing follows drawing order, not page position)
City of Corpus Christi – FY 2026 Development Fee Schedule	‘effective fees from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026’; footers ‘Rev. October 1, 2025’; PDF created 21 January 2026; still the newest schedule on the city’s Fee Schedules page on 2026-10-16	2026-10-16 (curl; all 14 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of McKinney – Plumbing, Mechanical, Electrical Permit Fees (Permit Fee Schedule)	no date, revision or ordinance number printed; PDF created 10 December 2009, modified 31 October 2025	2026-10-16 (CivicPlus host returns 403 to curl; read in the browser pane, same-origin fetch, pdf.js text layer; all five pages)
City of Denton – Building and Health Permit Fee Schedule, Table 6	‘(Effective October 1, 2026, Ordinance 26-1576)’; PDF created 30 September 2026	2026-10-16 (CivicPlus host returns 403 to curl; read in the browser pane, same-origin fetch, pdf.js text layer; all 16 pages)
City of Garland – Ordinance No. 7695, Master Fee and Rate Schedule section 10.85	effective October 1, 2026; passed and approved 17 August 2026; PDF created 18 August 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; all 33 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of Irving – Schedule of Fees, FY26-27 Amendments	cover ‘Effective Oct. 1, 2026’; its Inspections section is headed ‘EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1, 2026’; PDF created 25 September 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; all 29 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of Irving – Schedule of Fees, February 2026 Amendments	Inspections section headed ‘EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 13, 2026’; PDF created 12 February 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; read as raw PDF text)
City of Mesquite – Residential Fee Schedule 2026-2027	footer ‘HANDOUTS/2026FeeScheduleResidential - Revised 09/26’; PDF created 30 September 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; one page read as raw PDF text)
City of Waco – Permit Fee Schedules	undated web page; no effective date, fiscal year or ordinance number printed	2026-10-16 (Akamai returns 403 to curl from both networks; read in the browser pane from the page’s own text, all tabs)
City of Waco – Inspection Procedures	undated web page	2026-10-16 (browser pane, page text)
City of McAllen – Permit Fee Schedule	‘(Effective October 1, 2016)’; footers ‘Updated: 11/21/2019’ and ‘Updated: 11/29/2019’; PDF created 25 July 2017	2026-10-16 (curl; three pages read as raw PDF text)
City of McAllen – Inspections	undated web page	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
City of Killeen – FY 2027 Fee Schedule	‘FY 2027 FEE SCHEDULE / Effective October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027’; the cover also reads ‘PROPOSED FEE SCHEDULE’; PDF created 8 July 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; all 48 pages read as raw PDF text)
Brownsville Code of Ordinances ch. 18 art. VIII, section 18-659 (plumbing permit fees)	section history Code 1971 section 27-21, Ord. No. 92-853-A (1992), Ord. No. 97-853-D (1997); code codified through Ord. No. 2026-1797, January 20, 2026 (Supp. No. 26)	2026-10-16 (raw section text from api.municode.com CodesContent, job 488710, product 10297)
Brownsville Code of Ordinances ch. 18 art. III, section 18-123 (building permit fees)	code codified through Ord. No. 2026-1797, January 20, 2026 (Supp. No. 26)	2026-10-16 (api.municode.com CodesContent, job 488710)
City of Midland – Fee Schedule 2026	headed ‘CITY OF MIDLAND / FEE SCHEDULE / 2026’; PDF created 30 September 2025, modified 23 June 2026	2026-10-16 (curl; all 39 pages read as raw PDF text)
City of Midland – Ordinance No. 10710, adopting a fee schedule	Section Six: ‘That this ordinance shall become effective on February 1, 2026.’	2026-10-16 (curl; read as raw PDF text; its plumbing and standalone re-inspection lines match the Fee Schedule 2026)
City of Midland – Inspections	page footer ‘Last Updated: 02/12/2025’	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
Laredo Code of Ordinances ch. 25, section 25-8 (permit fees)	section history Ord. No. 2012-O-150, 9-17-12; code codified through Ord. No. 2026-O-92, May 4, 2026	2026-10-16 (api.municode.com CodesContent, job 495510, product 12258)
City of Laredo – Ordinance 2026-O-188, Schedule of Permit Fees	scanned ordinance amending section 25-8 among others; council agenda final action 21 September 2026; signature date left blank in the posted copy; PDF created 30 September 2026	2026-10-16 (host returns 403 to curl; read in the browser pane, same-origin fetch, pdf.js text layer of an OCR scan; word order is scrambled, so nothing is quoted from it)
City of Round Rock – Homeowner Projects	undated web page	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
City of Round Rock – Standalone Building Permits	undated web page	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
Round Rock Code of Ordinances, Appendix A, Fees, Rates and Charges (entries under section 8-106)	code codified through Ord. No. O-2026-161, June 11, 2026 (Supp. No. 26)	2026-10-16 (api.municode.com CodesContent, job 496248, product 14610)
Amarillo Code of Ordinances, section 4-1-50, Plumbing permit fees	last cited to Ord. No. 8218, section 13, 9-16-2025; code codified through Ord. No. 8226, December 9, 2025 (Supp. No. 81)	2026-10-16 (api.municode.com CodesContent, job 487766, product 11818)
City of Amarillo – Building Safety Fees	no date printed; page metadata dateModified 2026-10-05	2026-10-16 (curl; raw HTML)
City of Odessa – Master Permit Fee Schedule, January 16, 2018	headed ‘MASTER PERMIT FEE SCHEDULE JANUARY 16, 2018’; PDF created 28 December 2017. Its plumbing and re-inspection lines match Code of Ordinances §3-1-1, whose history ends at Ordinance 2019-52, adopted 22 October 2019	2026-10-16 (pdftotext -layout; re-inspection tiers transcribed; the source prints en dashes in its tier labels, so the page describes them rather than quoting)
City of Pasadena, Texas – Code of Ordinances Sec. 9-60 (3), Building permit department fees	Municode Supplement 33, Update 1, codified through Ordinance No. 2025-235; Sec. 9-60 cited to Ord. No. 25-198, 10-21-25; the city’s Fee Schedule web page prints the same line	2026-10-16 (section text pulled raw from api.municode.com; the reinspection clause and the ‘Re-inspection fee’ line read)