Metal building homes and shop houses in Central Texas

Barndominium, metal building home and shop house often name the same building: a house on a steel frame, finished inside the shell, with or without a working bay under the same roof line.

It fits a landowner buying or holding acreage outside a city who will spend on the lot before the building. It fits poorly on a small lot inside city limits, where the city code sets the terms and the shop half has nowhere to go.

Settle one thing at the start. Texas does not require a state license to work as a general contractor, though a city or county may still have its own requirement. The Texas Residential Construction Commission was abolished and its enabling Act expired on September 1, 2009. There is no state builder license to look up, which is why this page says independent builder throughout. The full route from raw land to a finished house is in the guide to building a barndominium in Central Texas.

Source: Office of the Texas Governor, Business Permit Office, Texas Business Licenses and Permits Guide, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, read 2026-09-13.

The frame goes up quickly. Everything around it does not. Before a bolt is set the tract needs a 911 address, a driveway the road authority will accept, whatever permit the county requires, a pad, power, water and an approved septic design. Those price against the site, not the building. The cost guide covers what moves the number.

Where a county has adopted the optional state standards for residential construction in its unincorporated area, a new house on a vacant lot needs at least three inspections: the foundation before concrete is placed, framing and mechanical before drywall, and one at completion. The builder, not the county, contracts them, and the inspector must be one of six listed qualified persons. Those standards are opt-in, reaching only a county that adopted them by resolution or order and that meets the border or population condition in the statute. They give a county no power to require permission before construction starts and no zoning power.

Two trades inside are licensed by the state whatever the frame is made of: plumbers through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, electricians through TDLR, with non-exempt electrical work done through a licensed electrical contractor.

Source: Texas Local Government Code Sec. 233.152, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Local Government Code Sec. 233.154(a)(1), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Local Government Code Sec. 233.154(a)(3), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Local Government Code Sec. 233.153(d), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Electricians program, read 2026-09-13.

Llano and Burnet counties sit on the Llano Uplift, a large granite batholith and the major structural feature of central Texas, where Precambrian granites and metamorphic rocks form the central dome. At Inks Lake State Park in Burnet County, on the east edge of the uplift, pink Valley Spring gneiss juts up through the limestone.

The Edwards Plateau is the central Texas region with shallow soils underlain by limestone, many springs, stony hills and steep canyons. Rock that close to the surface is a trenching question before it is a building question. Ask how the water line, the electrical run and the septic lines get through it, and who carries the cost if the rock is worse than the bid assumed. Faulting along the Balcones Fault Zone followed uplift of the plateau, and streams crossing the zone recharge the aquifer where dissolution has opened the limestone.

Other ground here is clay and sand rather than rock. The Blackland Prairies region is named for its deep, fertile black soils. Houston Black soil formed in clayey residuum weathered from calcareous mudstone, and it cracks 0.5 to 4 inches wide from the surface down 12 inches or more when it dries. That shrink-swell behavior makes the slab an engineering decision, not a thickness decision.

The Post Oak Savannah is oak woodland patches interspersed with grassland, with sands and sandy loams in the uplands, clay or clay loams in the bottomlands, and a dense clay pan almost impervious to water a few feet under all of it. Which of these your tract sits on decides the foundation design, and no county office answers it for you. Ask which engineer designs the foundation, what soil information the design is based on, and what happens to the price if the borings come back different. The frame follows the slab.

Source: Texas Water Development Board, Report 360 Chapter 9, Paleozoic Aquifers of the Llano Uplift, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Water Development Board, Report 360 Chapter 9, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Ecoregions, read 2026-09-13.

Source: USGS, Karst Aquifers: Edwards Balcones Fault Zone Aquifer, read 2026-09-13.

Source: USDA NRCS, Official Series Description, Houston Black Series, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, read 2026-09-13.

The building material does not change the answer. The county line does. All six handle a new home in the unincorporated area their own way, and the words building permit do not mean the same thing in any two of them.

Inside a city the city's adopted code year governs: Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill and the cities of Llano and Burnet on the 2021 International Residential Code, Marble Falls on the 2024 edition, Bastrop and Lockhart on the 2018. The extraterritorial jurisdictions reach less far. Leander requires no city building permit in its ETJ, only sign and water or wastewater connection permits. Marble Falls issues no building, electrical or mechanical permits in its one mile ETJ. Liberty Hill requires none unless a development agreement is in place for the property. Georgetown's building permits do apply in its ETJ when the City is the water, wastewater or electric provider.

• Travis County is the strictest: any development requires a permit, and the county defines development broadly, from structures and driveways to septic systems, dividing land and clearing a site. The application states the International Residential Code year the build follows, and where a professional builder does the work, three third-party inspections are required at foundation, framing and mechanical, and completion. The builder contracts them; the county performs none.

• Williamson County issues no building permits and no certificates of occupancy, and has adopted no residential building code for the unincorporated county. A new home needs a Certificate of Compliance from the County Engineer, the floodplain check, before a septic application is processed. A lot in a recorded subdivision may already carry one in its plat notes.

• Burnet County does issue building permits outside city limits and will not issue the septic permit without one. Class A covers a site outside any flood hazard area: application and payment, no inspection of the structure. Class B, inside a designated flood hazard boundary, needs an elevation certificate from a surveyor or a letter from an engineer, a site plan showing the flood zone, and two inspections, pre-pour and finished. The order is fixed: 911 address, building permit, septic permit.

• Llano County issues no building permits and runs no building department, no building code and no building inspector. A new house needs a county development permit, which is also the 911 address application, a septic permit, and a floodplain development permit where any of the lot is in a mapped special flood hazard area. The county asks for seven to 10 business days on a review outside the floodplain, longer for floodplain and septic work.

• Bastrop County requires a development permit for all development in the unincorporated county, its class set by the parcel's relationship to the mapped 100-year floodplain. Without public sewer, the development and septic permits are applied for together. The county inspects nothing itself, but its Commissioners Court adopted residential building code standards by resolution on September 14, 2009, so the builder contracts three private inspections.

• Caldwell County requires a Residential Construction Permit outside city limits. It is not a building code permit and the county does not inspect framing or electrical work. What gets reviewed is paperwork: the plat or a metes and bounds survey, the deed, tax certificates showing current taxes paid, a sketch of the structure, the approved 911 address and the approved septic permit. The parcel must be an original tract, a legally platted lot, or a tract exempt from platting.

Source: City of Georgetown Development Services, Adopted Building Code, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Georgetown Development Services, When do I need a Permit?, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Leander, Building Codes, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Leander, Permits and Building Inspection, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Liberty Hill, Building Permits and Inspections, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Liberty Hill, Frequently Asked Questions (Planning and Development), read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Llano Code Enforcement Department, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Burnet, Burnet Code Adoption 2021 (PDF, city-hosted), read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Marble Falls Building Division, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Marble Falls FAQ, Do I need a permit outside the city limit?, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Bastrop Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: City of Lockhart Council Packet, Ordinance 2021-39 (PDF, city-hosted), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Williamson County frequently asked questions, County Engineer, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Burnet County On-Site Sewage Facilities and Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Llano County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bastrop County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, read 2026-09-13.

No. A septic system is permitted against the lot and the soil, not against what the house is framed with. An OSSF permit is required to construct, install, alter, extend or repair a system, and a local authorized agent may adopt standards stricter than state law or TCEQ rules, which then control where they give greater public health and safety protection.

The state rule carries an exemption that mostly does not reach here. Rule 30 TAC 285.3 exempts a system from planning materials, permit and inspections when it serves a single family dwelling on a tract of ten acres or larger and every listed condition is met, including keeping all parts at least 100 feet from the property line. Travis, Burnet, Bastrop and Caldwell counties each permit every system whatever the size of the tract, which sets that exemption aside. Travis and Caldwell set a one acre minimum lot size for a home on septic; Bastrop sets half an acre with a public water supply and one acre without.

Near the lakes the permit comes from elsewhere. The Lower Colorado River Authority, a TCEQ authorized agent, regulates on-site sewage facilities within a 2,200-foot zone around the upper Highland Lakes and a 2,000-foot zone around Lake Travis, each built from a Restricted Zone plus a Water Quality Zone extending 2,000 feet horizontally beyond it. Five lakes are named in its rules: Buchanan, Inks, Lyndon B. Johnson, Marble Falls and Travis. Inside that jurisdiction a permit is required before any system is installed, no matter the lot size, and the authority asks for up to 30 days from the date the application is submitted. It is an agent in Travis, Burnet and Llano counties and does not appear in Williamson, Bastrop or Caldwell. One conflict is on the record: the authority's own pages say the Lake Travis zone is 2,000 feet, and Travis County is reported to say 1,000 feet. Check the address on the authority's searchable OSSF and watershed jurisdiction map before you plan a drainfield.

Anyone working in Texas as a septic installer, apprentice, maintenance provider or maintenance technician must be licensed or registered by TCEQ, and Caldwell County adds that only a licensed installer may build the system there. An aerobic unit needs a maintenance contract for the first two years; after that the owner may take it over, but only after taking the class and passing the test. The river authority requires an inspection on every transfer of ownership, which matters the day you sell. The permitting authority has to approve or deny the planning materials and permit application within 30 days of receipt, in writing on a denial, with an appeal to its supervisory body.

Source: TCEQ, Getting a Permit for an On-Site Sewage Facility, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 366.032(b), read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ adopted rule text, 30 TAC Chapter 285, Rule Project No. 2021-030-285-CE, section 285.3, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ OARS county search, identical entry returned for Travis, Burnet and Llano counties, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA On-Site Sewage Facilities Program, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA On-Site Sewage Facilities Rules, Section 6, Area of Jurisdiction, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA On-Site Sewage Facilities Rules, Section 10.05(b), read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA On-site Sewage Rules Frequently Asked Questions, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Water Quality Jurisdictions map, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Occupational Licenses: On-Site Sewage Facilities (Septic Systems), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Burnet County On-Site Sewage Facilities and Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bastrop County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, read 2026-09-13.

The Edwards Aquifer Protection Program covers eight Texas counties, Travis and Williamson among them, handled in the Austin region by the TCEQ Austin Regional Office at (512) 339-2929. The recharge zone is where the aquifer rock units crop out, plus nearby outcrops with caves, sinkholes, faults or fractures that could let surface water in. The contributing zone is the watershed upgradient of it.

On the recharge zone a Water Pollution Abatement Plan is required for any regulated activity, with no acreage floor. On the contributing zone a Contributing Zone Plan is triggered when activities disturb at least five acres or are part of a larger plan of development or sale under 30 TAC 213.21(b); below that, no aquifer plan is needed there. A site partly on each is treated entirely as recharge zone. Administrative review runs up to 30 days, technical review of a complete application runs 90 days, and construction cannot begin until approval issues. A single-family residence may not need its own plan if it sits in a master community with an approved plan, or on a lot larger than five acres with only that one residence, or keeps impervious cover to 20 percent or less of the legal property. Check the parcel on the TCEQ Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer, which prints a map you can submit with an application.

The floodplain is the other overlay. A permit is required before construction or development begins inside any Special Flood Hazard Area, and the floodplain administrator is responsible for ensuring development complies and that permits are applied for. The FEMA Flood Map Service Center is the official public source for flood hazard information, searchable by address. Land surveyors, architects and engineers authorized by law certify the Elevation Certificate, the NFIP tool that sets the flood insurance premium rate and documents elevation for compliance. Heights differ by county. Burnet requires one foot of freeboard above base flood elevation and recommends two in an A zone. Williamson requires a foot above base flood elevation, with a surveyor filing the FEMA certificate after the slab and at completion. Bastrop requires two feet. Caldwell requires two feet above the adjoining base flood elevation for a home inside or within 300 feet of a floodplain. Travis wants a certificate before framing starts and a finished-construction certificate within 30 days. Llano requires a floodplain development permit in a mapped hazard area.

Impervious cover is the last trigger, and a shop house with a drive and a turnaround reaches it faster than a house alone. The Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance covers buildings, roads, paved storage areas and parking lots, plus clearing, excavating, grading, contouring and depositing fill, across the Lake Travis watershed in Travis County, the Colorado River watershed in Burnet County and a portion of Llano County above the Regulated Pool Elevation. A development permit is required if impervious cover will exceed 10,000 square feet and/or land disturbance will exceed one acre. A single-family residence under both files a written notification instead; over 10,000 square feet of impervious cover but still under one acre disturbed, that route holds only if the site meets the downstream buffer guidelines in the authority's technical manual. Eleven local governments administer part or all of the ordinance under interlocal agreements, so the permit that applies may not be the river authority's.

Source: TCEQ GIS metadata, Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone - Chapter 213 Rules (TSMS), quoting 30 TAC 213.3(8), read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ Edwards Aquifer Protection Program home page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ GIS metadata, quoting 30 TAC 213.3(25), read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ GIS metadata, quoting 30 TAC 213.22(2), read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Water Pollution Abatement Plan page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, What Plans You Might Need, recharge zone branch, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Contributing Zone Plan page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Protection Program: What Plans You Might Need, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, What Plans You Might Need, contributing zone branch, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Private Residences page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: FEMA glossary, Permit for Floodplain Development, read 2026-09-13.

Source: FEMA, NFIP Floodplain Management Requirements study guide, Unit 7, read 2026-09-13.

Source: FEMA Flood Map Service Center, read 2026-09-13.

Source: FEMA 467-1, Floodplain Management Bulletin: Elevation Certificate, read 2026-09-13.

Source: FEMA, Elevation Certificate FAQ, October 2023, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance program page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance, Section 1, Title and Scope, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance program page, Required notifications and permits, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance, Section 4.1(b), Written Notification, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Highland Lakes Watershed Ordinance program page, Interlocal agreements, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Burnet County On-Site Sewage Facilities and Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Williamson County frequently asked questions, County Engineer, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bastrop County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Llano County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Nothing in the county rules turns on the framing material: Travis County requires a permit for any development, and a Bastrop County development permit covers a house, a manufactured home, an RV and a tiny home alike. Permit, septic and driveway are the same obligations whichever system you frame with.

What decides it on a tract is how much clear span you need, what the soil does to the foundation design, who is available locally to erect each system, and what the appraiser can work with. An appraiser selects comparable sales that match the subject property's physical and legal characteristics, because sales in the same area are the best indicator of value. Where few truly comparable sales exist, whether the improvements are unusual or the neighborhood has few sales, the appraiser may use properties that are not truly comparable if the analysis is documented and explained.

The second decision is how much of the work you buy. A shell leaves frame, roof and skin standing with the interior unfinished; a turnkey contract runs through to a finished house. The permit and inspection obligations do not change between them, but who files them does, and the contract should say which party carries each one. The post frame homes page covers that system on its own terms.

Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bastrop County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Some lenders finance them and say so in writing. Texas Farm Credit states that it finances barndominiums, and offers Construction and Homesite Loans covering homes under construction and the homesite itself. Capital Farm Credit states it finances barndominiums and metal homes under its construction lending, and offers Homesite Loans for the lot alone.

Fannie Mae's Selling Guide recognizes single-closing construction-to-permanent financing, where the construction loan and the permanent mortgage close together and the construction loan converts automatically when building is finished. USDA Rural Development runs the Section 502 Direct Loan Program for lower-income applicants in eligible rural areas, plus a second Section 502 program that backs approved lenders making loans there. Check the address on the USDA property eligibility map first. The Veterans Land Board publishes exactly two loan programs for Veterans: Land Loans and Home Loans.

The appraisal is where these deals stall. An appraiser may not manufacture a comparable sale by adding a vacant land sale to the contract price of a home, a situation that comes up on construction-to-permanent deals. Ask the lender early which appraiser they use for steel framed homes in your county, and what happens to the loan if the appraisal lands under the contract.

Source: Texas Farm Credit, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Farm Credit, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Capital Farm Credit, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Capital Farm Credit, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, read 2026-09-13.

Source: USDA Rural Development, read 2026-09-13.

Source: USDA Rural Development, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Veterans Land Board, Texas General Land Office, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, read 2026-09-13.

Texas gives you no state builder license to check, so the questions and the contract do that work. Ask these before money moves, and get the answers in writing.

• Which office issues the permit on this tract, and who files it? The answer changes by county, and again inside a city or its extraterritorial jurisdiction.

• Which International Residential Code year does this build follow? A Travis County application states the year, adopting cities have each set their own, and Williamson County has adopted none for the unincorporated county.

• Who contracts the inspections and who is the inspector? Where inspections are required the builder contracts them, not the county, and the inspector must be one of six listed qualified persons.

• Which plumber and which electrician are on the job, and what are their license numbers? Verify a plumber through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners lookup and an electrician through the TDLR license search.

• Which licensed installer designs and builds the septic system? TCEQ's license lookup covers installers and maintenance providers, and its authorized agent county search returns every agent in your county and the area each one serves.

• Is the tract on the aquifer recharge or contributing zone, and who prepares and files the plan? Construction cannot begin until approval issues, and technical review alone runs 90 days.

• What happens to the contract price if the septic design moves the house, or if rock changes the trenching?

Source: Office of the Texas Governor, Business Permit Office, Texas Business Licenses and Permits Guide, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Local Government Code Sec. 233.154(a)(3), read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, On-site Sewage Facilities: Information for Regulators, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ On-Site Activity Reporting System, search by county, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ Edwards Aquifer Protection Program home page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Williamson County frequently asked questions, County Engineer, read 2026-09-13.

Start with the ground, not the building. The lot decides it: where the septic can go, what the slab must be designed for, whether any of it is in a mapped flood hazard area or an aquifer zone, and how the driveway meets the road. The land and lot evaluation page covers what to gather first.

Four public checks do most of the work before a phone call: the FEMA Flood Map Service Center for flood hazard, the TCEQ Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer for the zone question, the river authority's searchable jurisdiction map for lake septic jurisdiction, and TCEQ's authorized agent county search for who permits the septic in your county.

Then call the office by name: Llano County Development Services, Burnet County Development Services, the Williamson County Engineer's Office, Travis County TNR Development Services, Bastrop County Development Services, and for Caldwell County both Development Services and the Sanitation Department. Driveways are separate: your precinct commissioner in Llano and Burnet, Williamson County Road and Bridge, the Bastrop County engineering inspector, the Caldwell County Unit Road Department, Travis County TNR, and TxDOT for a driveway onto a state highway.

The locations page lists every county and town covered here. Have the permit, septic and floodplain answers in hand before you ask an independent builder for a bid.

Source: FEMA Flood Map Service Center, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ, Edwards Aquifer Map Viewer page, read 2026-09-13.

Source: LCRA Water Quality Jurisdictions map, read 2026-09-13.

Source: TCEQ On-Site Activity Reporting System, search by county, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Llano County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Burnet County On-Site Sewage Facilities and Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Williamson County frequently asked questions, County Engineer, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources, Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Bastrop County Development Services, read 2026-09-13.

Source: Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, read 2026-09-13.