Permitting Authorities / Cameron County - Department of Transportation, Building & Inspections Division
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Unincorporated Cameron County, TX?
Adopted code
Cameron County - Department of Transportation, Building & Inspections Division
Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Unincorporated Cameron County, TX, issued by Cameron County - Department of Transportation, Building & Inspections Division. Cameron County prices and issues roof permits by name. The county's residential building permit fee table lists "Roof Replacement" in the "Structural Additions & Renovations" column and "Roof Repairs" in the "Remodel, Repairs & Minor Additions" column (Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations, Order No. 2022-006030, adopted July 5, 2022 and amended through April 8, 2025, Article 4, Table J.1 and Appendix B), and the county's online portal issues "Building (Residential) - Roof Replacement" and "Building (Residential) - Roof Repair" permits. The regulations "apply to all unincorporated areas of Cameron County" (Article 3, Section A) and provide: "No person shall erect, construct, reconstruct, alter, repair or convert any building structure, mobile home coach, land, install any plumbing, electrical, HVAC system, install solar panel, or solar roof, until such person has obtained all necessary permits in compliance with Section C of this article" (Article 4, Section K). The regulations contain no exemption for roof work. Apply through the county's online portal or at the Department of Transportation, 1390 W. Expressway 83, San Benito (956-247-3500, [email protected]). The county's "Requirements for Residential Construction Permit" checklist (revised 5/5/2022) is written for residential construction generally, does not say which items a re-roof needs, and states "*OTHER ITEMS MAY APPLY UPON REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION"; its items include "Windstorm Information provided by Windstorm State Certified Engineer." Cost of starting without a permit: "the discovery fee shall be $250.00 and this will not alleviate the requirement to obtain a permit or prevent legal action for work done without a permit" (Article 4, Section F.3); "the fines shall be up to $100.00 per day of violation, but not to exceed $5,000.00 total fine," and the Floodplain Administrator or Building Official is "authorized to double the permit fee when necessary" (Section J.5). Separate from the county permit, Cameron County is a first tier coastal county under the Texas Insurance Code (Sec. 2210.003(4)). The Texas Department of Insurance tells homeowners to "Contact your insurance agent to find out if your repairs need to meet the International Building Code (IBC) or the International Residential Code (IRC). These rules apply if your home is in the first row of Texas counties bordering the Gulf of Mexico," and "If the repairs are inspected and comply with the IBC or IRC, TDI issues a Certificate of Compliance, Form WPI-8, to Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA)." That certificate is a condition of windstorm insurance, not a county permit.
Roof code checklist: Unincorporated Cameron County, TX
Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.
Jurisdiction
Cameron County, Texas (unincorporated)
Address
1390 W. Expressway 83, San Benito, TX 78586
Contact
- url: https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/department-of-transportation/
- phone: 956-247-3500
- email: [email protected]
Roofing permit required
Required
Registration details
- state_level: Texas issues no state roofing contractor licence; the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's program list has no roofing program. Plumbing, electrical and air conditioning work are state-licensed trades.
- county_level: The Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations (Article 4, Section D, added November 19, 2024) require that "All licensed trade professionals whose work will be performed under a building permit must be registered with the Cameron County Department of Transportation, Planning and Inspections Division prior to the issuance of said permit," and that "A building permit application must include a complete list of all professional trade contractors and professionals assigned to the project." The section's licensing paragraph names "plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work" and state licensing bodies; it does not name roofing, and this record does not decide whether the county registration reaches a roofing contractor, who holds no state licence. Ask the Building & Inspections Division (956-247-3500) before applying. The county's residential permit checklist requires a master electrician, a responsible master plumber and a master mechanical/AC installer "to come in to office to apply" where that work is part of the job.
Permit process note
Cameron County prices and issues roof permits by name. The county's residential building permit fee table lists "Roof Replacement" in the "Structural Additions & Renovations" column and "Roof Repairs" in the "Remodel, Repairs & Minor Additions" column (Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations, Order No. 2022-006030, adopted July 5, 2022 and amended through April 8, 2025, Article 4, Table J.1 and Appendix B), and the county's online portal issues "Building (Residential) - Roof Replacement" and "Building (Residential) - Roof Repair" permits. The regulations "apply to all unincorporated areas of Cameron County" (Article 3, Section A) and provide: "No person shall erect, construct, reconstruct, alter, repair or convert any building structure, mobile home coach, land, install any plumbing, electrical, HVAC system, install solar panel, or solar roof, until such person has obtained all necessary permits in compliance with Section C of this article" (Article 4, Section K). The regulations contain no exemption for roof work. Apply through the county's online portal or at the Department of Transportation, 1390 W. Expressway 83, San Benito (956-247-3500,
[email protected]). The county's "Requirements for Residential Construction Permit" checklist (revised 5/5/2022) is written for residential construction generally, does not say which items a re-roof needs, and states "*OTHER ITEMS MAY APPLY UPON REVIEW OF THE APPLICATION"; its items include "Windstorm Information provided by Windstorm State Certified Engineer." Cost of starting without a permit: "the discovery fee shall be $250.00 and this will not alleviate the requirement to obtain a permit or prevent legal action for work done without a permit" (Article 4, Section F.3); "the fines shall be up to $100.00 per day of violation, but not to exceed $5,000.00 total fine," and the Floodplain Administrator or Building Official is "authorized to double the permit fee when necessary" (Section J.5). Separate from the county permit, Cameron County is a first tier coastal county under the Texas Insurance Code (Sec. 2210.003(4)). The Texas Department of Insurance tells homeowners to "Contact your insurance agent to find out if your repairs need to meet the International Building Code (IBC) or the International Residential Code (IRC). These rules apply if your home is in the first row of Texas counties bordering the Gulf of Mexico," and "If the repairs are inspected and comply with the IBC or IRC, TDI issues a Certificate of Compliance, Form WPI-8, to Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA)." That certificate is a condition of windstorm insurance, not a county permit.
Adopted code
Cameron County's building rules for the unincorporated area are its Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations, adopted by the Commissioners Court on July 5, 2022 (Order No. 2022-006030) and amended through April 8, 2025. The regulations name no edition of the International Residential Code. They state: "To assure the citizens of Cameron County the reduction of loss due to flooding, high winds, and hurricanes, this order requires the structures to be in compliance with minimum requirements of the ICC Family of Codes and the National Electrical Code" (Article 5, Section I); they adopt "the International Fuel Gas Code, 2015 edition" (Article 4, Section G.2); and Article 6 provides that "All building construction shall comply with the codes set forth by the Cameron County Fire Marshal." The regulations' permit procedure cites Texas Local Government Code Chapter 233, Subchapter F, under which "New residential construction of a single-family house or duplex in the unincorporated area of a county to which this subchapter applies shall conform to the version of the International Residential Code published as of May 1, 2008, or the version of the International Residential Code that is applicable in the county seat of that county" (Sec. 233.153(a)); "new residential construction" there means a new house or duplex or an addition of more than 50 percent (Sec. 233.151(a)), which does not describe a re-roof. The county's Department of Transportation page describes the Building & Inspections Division's work as "enforcement of current building codes." Separately, for windstorm insurance only, the Texas Department of Insurance states that "Effective April 1, 2026, TDI adopted the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2024 International Residential Code (IRC) as the minimum construction standards for wind and hail hazard insurance policies through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association"; that is not a county adoption.
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — The Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations (Order No. 2022-006030, as amended through April 8, 2025), read in full, contain no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-resistance requirement for roof coverings, and Texas has no statewide one. The regulations' uses of "impact" concern sign lighting and a groundwater district. The Texas Department of Insurance's windstorm requirements for this coastal county are wind and underlayment rules, not a hail impact rating. An insurer's premium discount for a Class 4 roof is not a code requirement.
Repair permit threshold
No size or dollar threshold. The Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations (Order No. 2022-006030, as amended through April 8, 2025) set no exemption for roof work of any size, and the residential fee table prices roof repairs as permit work: "Remodel, Repairs & Minor Additions (Remodels, Roof Repairs, Carport, Patio, Porches)," $25.00 for less than 500 square feet, $0.075 per square foot from 500 to 1,000 square feet, and $25.00 plus $0.05 per square foot from 1,000 to 5,000 square feet. A roof replacement falls in the "Structural Additions & Renovations (Garage, Renovation, Roof Replacement)" column: $50.00 for less than 500 square feet, $0.15 per square foot from 500 to 1,000 square feet, and $50.00 plus $0.10 per square foot from 1,000 to 5,000 square feet. Other fees in the same order include a $25.00 application fee and a $75.00 residential reinspection fee for a failed inspection. The regulations define "Reroofing" as "the process of recovering or replacing an existing roof covering" (Article 2, Section B, item 60).
Wind design criteria
Cameron County's building regulations set no design wind speed for a re-roof. They require compliance with "minimum requirements of the ICC Family of Codes" to reduce loss from "flooding, high winds, and hurricanes" without naming an edition or a wind speed, and in coastal high hazard (V) zones they provide that "Wind loading value shall be those required by applicable State or local building standards" (Article 5, Sections I and F). The county's residential construction permit checklist asks for "Windstorm Information provided by Windstorm State Certified Engineer." Windstorm insurance overlay, separate from the county permit: Cameron County is a first tier coastal county (Texas Insurance Code Sec. 2210.003(4)). The Texas Department of Insurance states that effective April 1, 2026 it adopted the 2024 IBC and 2024 IRC "as the minimum construction standards for wind and hail hazard insurance policies through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association," that "All sections of the catastrophe area are considered “high wind areas”" and that asphalt shingle and modified bitumen roof covers there require underlayment by one of the methods in IRC Table R905.1.1(2), including "Two layers of mechanically fastened underlayment (No. 30 Asphalt-Felt or a synthetic underlayment conforming to ASTM D8257)" or "A single layer of self-adhering polymer modified bitumen underlayment conforming to ASTM D1970." For a WPI-8 certificate, confirm the wind zone and requirements with TDI's Windstorm Inspections Program (800-248-6032, option 3).
Sales & use tax
6.25% Texas state rate in unincorporated Cameron County. Cameron County levies no county sales tax (its county-tax column is zero on every Cameron County row of the Comptroller's local rate file, July 2026 quarter, sheet "Jul26"), and that file lists no unincorporated Cameron County place or special district rate; a job inside a city's limits takes that city's rate instead (for example Brownsville, Harlingen, San Benito and Los Fresnos, 8.25%). Confirm the job address with the Comptroller's rate locator. Under Comptroller guidance for real property repair and remodeling, "Labor to repair, remodel, or restore residential real property is not taxable"; on the lump-sum contract typical of residential re-roofing, "you pay tax on all your supplies, materials, equipment, and taxable services when you buy them. You don't charge your customer tax" (Comptroller Pub. 94-116, comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/94-116.php), so the rate is the roofer's cost basis on materials purchased, not a rate charged to the homeowner.
More roof permit pages in Texas
Related guides
The building permit office for the unincorporated area of Cameron County, Texas. The Building & Inspections Division of the county's Department of Transportation issues residential and commercial building permits, including roof replacement and roof repair permits, and inspects work under the Cameron County Flood Damage Prevention and Building Regulations, which apply to all unincorporated areas of the county.
Hail reports near the center of Cameron County, TX
- Reports, last 24 months
- 1
- Largest, last 24 months
- 1.00 in Nov 1, 2025
- Most recent
- Nov 1, 2025 1.00 in
- Reports, last 5 years
- 7
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database and daily storm reports (reports since the start of the current year are preliminary), within 10 miles of the center of Cameron County, TX. Data through Sep 30, 2026. A report is an observation, not a damage record.
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