Author: /u/spicy_like_a_pepper

Curious if anyone has insights into the Harris County permitting office and process for issuing a permit on a new home build.

I signed a contract to build a new home back in July in Harris County, not in the City of Houston. We’ve made all of our selections with the builder and everything is good on my end. The builder claims the hold up to our preconstruction meeting and starting is the Harris County permitting office. Here’s an excerpt from a status update email in September:

In the interest of transparency, our biggest challenge in sale to start timeframe is Harris County permitting. The department has experienced a 70% increase in building permit applications with the high market activity and their staff has not been able to keep up with the capacity. Several of their employees are still working remotely which provides additional challenges. There does not seem to be consistency in the order and processing timeframes. For example, we have received a permit back for an August contract but have 2 permits still outstanding from June contracts. Likely, it is a factor of whose desk it’s on and how quickly they are able to process and approve. We have tried to contact them for statuses on specific addresses, however they are not able to give updates as everyone seems to be asking the same questions.

Based on our current projections, we are seeing an average 2-4 month start timeline.

Hoping there’s a redditor that can help me understand why it’s taking so damn long to get a permit.