An independent local metal building contractor who works your county prices it, and the number turns on the span, the eave height, how many sides get closed in and what the drive has to carry. Five of the six counties here list a permit for a structure outside their cities, the size where it starts differs in each, and the drive that gets a trailer off the road is usually its own permit from a different office.
Inside Giddings
City permit with fees listed for commercial and storage buildings
Giddings' Code Compliance office lists its adopted codes as the 2018 International codes, the 2017 National Electrical Code and the 2018 NFPA Life Safety Code, and its June 2024 fee schedule sets a $20 permit fee, a $25 inspection fee and a $40 re-inspection fee, with building permit fees listed for new commercial construction, carports and garages, and storage buildings.
Source City of Giddings Code Compliance, 118 East Richmond, read 2026-09-20.
Unincorporated Lee County
County development permit for any structure over 100 square feet
Lee County Development Services requires a Development Permit application for all development in unincorporated Lee County, including commercial projects, for any individual structure larger than 100 square feet; a building of 100 square feet or less needs no permit, and the application is valid for one year.
Source Lee County Development Services Department, read 2026-09-20.
Lee County, read at the county's and the city's own pages. Every county answers this on its own sheet. The whole record is on that county's sheet.
Open-sided, enclosed, or one of each under one roof
How often the machine moves decides the walls. Posts and a roof with a wall or two turned into the weather suit equipment that comes and goes daily, with air moving through so condensation dries off the steel. An enclosed building suits what gets locked and kept out of the sun: a coach, a boat, a sprayer, trucks with tools in them.
The common answer is both under one frame: an enclosed bay at one end, an open lean-to down the long side for the tractor.
Height is the measurement people get wrong: the constraint is the tallest thing that has to drive in, measured with whatever sits on its roof, plus the clearance the door needs. Put that number on the tape before anyone draws a frame.
Does a storage building on a ranch need engineered plans?
Often not, and the engineering statute says so twice. Occupations Code 1001.056(a)(2)(F) exempts the plans for a one-story building of no more than 5,000 square feet with no clear span between supports greater than 24 feet on the narrow side, provided no engineering services are offered to the public. Where the span does exceed 24 feet, 1001.056(b) narrows the requirement to the trusses, beams or other roof supporting members. The same section separately exempts a private building used exclusively for farm, ranch or agricultural purposes.
The exemption is about the plans, not the permit desk: Travis County still wants a site plan sealed by a Texas-licensed engineer with a non-residential development permit, and Caldwell County wants engineer-certified drawings. The statute also says exclusively, so a building housing a contractor's fleet is not a farm building because it stands on farmland.
SourcesTexas Legislature Online, Occupations Code Chapter 1001, engineers, read 2026-09-20; Travis County TNR Development Services, Commercial Site Plan, read 2026-09-20; Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, and the subdivision and development fee schedule, read 2026-09-20.
Do equipment and RV storage buildings in Central Texas need a county permit outside the cities?
Five of the six list one, and the size where it starts is different in each. The table is what each county publishes for its unincorporated area. Inside a city limit the city runs the permit.
Each county's own answer for its unincorporated area, read on the county sites 2026-09-20.
On a phone this table scrolls sideways.
| County | What the county lists outside its cities | Office and phone |
|---|---|---|
| Lee | Development Permit for any individual structure larger than 100 square feet, valid one year; 100 square feet or less needs no permit. | Development Services, Giddings, (979) 542-3178 |
| Bastrop | Development permit for any external development; an accessory building of 25 square feet or less, on no foundation and outside the floodplain, needs none. Larger ones: $50 under 200 square feet, $100 from 200 to 1,000, $500 above. | Development Services, Bastrop, (512) 581-7176 |
| Caldwell | Construction permit with engineer-certified drawings before land clearing or construction; agricultural structures not intended for common public use are excluded. | Sanitation and Development Services, Lockhart, (512) 398-1803 |
| Burnet | Building permit in two classes: Class A outside any flood hazard area, $25, no inspection of the structure; Class B inside one, $400, with an elevation certificate. | Development Services, Burnet, (512) 756-5445 |
| Travis | Development Permit: Development (Residential) for a non-habitable accessory building on a residential lot, Development (Non-Residential) with an engineer-sealed site plan for a commercial project. | TNR Development Services, (512) 854-4215 |
| Williamson | Read, not listed: no county building permits and no authority to issue a certificate of occupancy. A Certificate of Compliance checks the floodplain. | County Engineer, Road and Bridge, (512) 943-3330 |
SourcesLee County Development Services Department, read 2026-09-20; Bastrop County Development Services, and the Development Services application fees, read 2026-09-20; Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, and the subdivision and development fee schedule, read 2026-09-20; Burnet County, on-site sewage facilities and development permits, read 2026-09-20; Travis County TNR Development Services, Commercial Site Plan, read 2026-09-20; The source was read and does not list this.Williamson County, frequently asked questions, infrastructure and developers, read 2026-09-20.
Which of those lines actually catches a storage building?
Lee County's, almost every time: the line is 100 square feet, which one tractor bay clears, and the county wants a 9-1-1 address for a new business before any county permit application. The rest of that record is on the Lee County page.
Caldwell County is worth a call early: its ordinance excludes agricultural structures not intended for common public use and says nothing more about that edge. Williamson County publishes an absence rather than a clearance: its site lists no county building permit, which describes that office and not your tract.
SourcesLee County Development Services Department, read 2026-09-20; Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, and the subdivision and development fee schedule, read 2026-09-20; The source was read and does not list this.Williamson County, frequently asked questions, infrastructure and developers, read 2026-09-20.
Who permits the drive the trailer comes in on?
Whoever maintains the road it meets, and here it earns early attention: what is stored has to get in and turn around. On a state highway it is TxDOT: the property owner, or an authorized representative of the owner, submits Form 1058 to the local district office, and the state right of way stays closed to work until the permit is executed and the district has had 24 hours of notice. All six counties sit in the Austin District, (512) 832-7000.
On a county-maintained road it is the county, at its own price: $25 for a private drive in Lee County and $150 for a commercial one, plus $15 for every foot of culvert; $50 in Bastrop County; a Work in the Public Right-of-Way Permit in Caldwell County. Burnet County lists no driveway or culvert permit for a county road, which is what that county publishes, not a finding that none exists, so that call goes to Development Services at (512) 756-5420.
SourcesTexas Department of Transportation, Access Management Manual, chapter 2 section 4, permits, and the Use of Right of Way by Others Manual, access driveways, read 2026-09-20; Texas Department of Transportation, Austin District, and Austin District contacts and offices, read 2026-09-20; Lee County requirements for permits to construct access driveways on county right of way, read 2026-09-20; Bastrop County Development Services, application fees and residential driveway requirements, read 2026-09-20; Caldwell County Development Ordinance, revised February 14, 2023, section 4.6 and Appendix C, read 2026-09-20; The source was read and does not list this.Burnet County, Development Services, read 2026-09-20.
How much ground can the pad and the yard disturb before stormwater coverage applies?
One acre. TCEQ regulates construction under general permit TXR150000 by acreage: construction disturbing less than one acre, and not part of a larger common plan of development or sale disturbing one or more acres, is not regulated by the permit. One acre to under five is a small construction activity; five acres or more is a large one.
A storage building reaches that line on the yard, not the roof, because the measure is disturbed ground: the pad, the turnaround a trailer needs, the new drive and the drainage work all count. What each tier asks for is on pad grading and site prep.
SourceTexas Commission on Environmental Quality, stormwater general permit for construction activities (TXR150000), read 2026-09-20.
Power at the back of the property
The co-op whose lines reach the tract serves it, and the line out to the building is usually billed to you. Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative starts new construction with a line design appointment at (800) 842-7708; a load over 200 amps needs an electric load analysis, and a non-residential general service applicant pays all estimated extension costs above $350 per service.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative's tariff lists Burnet, Caldwell, Travis and Williamson among the counties it may serve, and not Bastrop or Lee; a new location is staked first and applied for at (877) 372-0391, with $50 membership, $50 establishment and $200 system impact fees. Oncor is the wires company in parts of Williamson County, and Bartlett Electric Cooperative serves areas of Williamson and Lee counties. Which utility holds your address is on septic, water and electric for a shop or warehouse.
SourcesBluebonnet Electric Cooperative, line extensions, line design appointment, and the commercial developers package (revised June 4, 2024), read 2026-09-20; Pedernales Electric Cooperative, service for individual residential or commercial locations, and the tariff and business rules, read 2026-09-20; Oncor Electric Delivery, new construction (commercial), read 2026-09-20; Bartlett Electric Cooperative, about us, application for service, and service fees, read 2026-09-20.
The farm loan program that names farm buildings
One program in the record names this work outright. The USDA Farm Service Agency says its Farm Ownership Loans cover the purchase of farmland, the construction of farm buildings, and improvements to existing structures and infrastructure, and applications go to the local FSA office. Amounts, terms and eligibility are the agency's to publish and change.
SourceUSDA Farm Service Agency, Farm Ownership Loans, and the Farm Loans Overview fact sheet (October 2025), read 2026-09-20.
Who builds it, and who puts a price on it?
An independent local metal building contractor who works your county. Texas issues no state license to anyone who builds a house or works as a general contractor: the Department of Licensing and Regulation's list of 41 regulated industries has no program for either, and the Texas Residential Construction Commission was not continued by the Legislature in 2009. That is why no contractor is called licensed on this site. The trades that do hold a state license, like the electrician, hold it separately.
Have four things measured first: the tallest machine that drives in, how many sides get closed, the door sizes, and where the drive meets the road. Where this building sits in the whole order is on building a metal building in the Austin area. Only the contractor who walks the tract can put a number on it.
SourcesTexas Department of Licensing and Regulation, regulated industries, and the Sunset Advisory Commission on the Texas Residential Construction Commission, read 2026-09-20; Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors and Electricians program pages, read 2026-09-20.
Asked before pricing
Who builds equipment and RV storage buildings in Central Texas?
An independent local metal building contractor who works your county, with a Texas professional engineer on any sheets that need a seal. Texas licenses no home builder and no general contractor, so no contractor is called licensed here, and no builder whose own site names Austin or these six counties publishes a price.
Does an open-sided equipment shed need a permit in Lee County?
Lee County Development Services requires a Development Permit for any individual structure larger than 100 square feet in the unincorporated county, commercial projects included; 100 square feet or less needs no permit. The permit is valid one year, and a 9-1-1 address is required for a new business before any county permit application.
Is a storage building on a ranch exempt from engineered plans?
The engineering statute exempts a private building used exclusively for farm, ranch or agricultural purposes, and separately exempts a one-story building up to 5,000 square feet with no clear span over 24 feet on the narrow side where no engineering services are offered to the public. Above that span, only the roof supporting members have to be engineered.
Do I need a driveway permit to get an RV into a storage building?
It depends on the road. A new or modified driveway on a state highway takes a TxDOT permit on Form 1058 from the Austin District, (512) 832-7000; the district has to execute the permit and take 24 hours of notice before anything touches the right of way. On a county road it is the county's: Lee County charges $25 private and $150 commercial. Burnet County lists none.
Free estimate, six questions
Price equipment and rv storage buildings in Central Texas
The county tells a contractor which permit office your lot answers to. The building and the timing tell them what to look at first. Pricing it is free, and you owe nothing either way.
Ready to put a price on the building?
Your request goes to an independent local metal building contractor serving Central Texas, not a national lead list. Pricing it is free, and you owe nothing either way.
Last reviewed 2026-09-20.