Austin exempts small detached decks entirely, reviews uncovered deck permits in a published 5 business days, and accepts unsealed plans for typical residential decks. The local traps are the plot plan and the trees: every 19-inch tree on or next to the lot belongs on the drawing.
This page carries the sourced permit facts for Austin and what Evalation does with them: design the deck in live 3D on the first visit, price it from the design, and generate the sheet set the application needs. The playbook for every city is at the permit-ready blueprints guide, and the trade page is at /for/deck-builders.
Austin deck permits run through the city's Development Services Department, and the first question is whether you need one at all. Under the city's 2024 IRC amendments, a deck is exempt when it hits all five marks: 200 square feet or less, no more than 30 inches above grade at any point, not attached to the dwelling, not providing egress, and not in a flood hazard area. Attach it to the house or cross any of those lines and it is a permit, applied for through the city's online system.
The application is the Residential Pool and Uncovered Deck permit, and an attached wood deck is treated as an addition rather than a small project. The submittal is a completed application, a plot plan drawn to a standard scale, and an Austin Energy Building Service Plan Application. Austin's plot plan is famously thorough: property lines, setbacks, easements, utility lines, water meter and cleanout locations, and every tree of 19 inches diameter or more on or adjacent to the property, because tree review is real here. Once the deck is attached, taller than 30 inches, over 200 square feet, or serving a door, structural drawings join the package: floor plans, elevations, framing plans and details, and foundation plans and details.
Two timeline facts worth planning around. Since July 1, 2026, the department publishes a 5-business-day review for uncovered decks and 10 for additions, and the clock starts when you pay the review invoice, not when you upload. And Texas-registered design professionals are not mandatory for a typical deck: the city accepts unsealed exhibits and simply runs its own limited technical review on them. Engineering comes back into the picture for load-bearing changes, damaged structure replacement, or when the city determines a project needs it.
The design numbers are gentle: 5 psf ground snow, 105 mph wind, seismic category A, and a 12-inch frost line, all from the city's adopted Table R301.2. Austin enforces the 2024 International Residential Code with local amendments, effective July 10, 2025. Sources: austintexas.gov Residential Plan Review page, the Residential Pool and Uncovered Deck application, Ordinance No. 20250410-040, all accessed November 4, 2026.
Evalation Lab designs the deck in live 3D with the homeowner watching, on the first visit. The price comes off the design while you are still standing in the yard, and when the design is settled, the Lab generates the standard four-sheet permit set from it: S-1 for the structure, A-1, A-2, and A-3 for the plans, elevations, and details.
Once an Austin deck is attached or crosses the exemption lines, the city wants floor plans, elevations, framing plans and details, and foundation details, categories the Lab’s set covers from the design itself; pair them with the city’s plot plan requirements, trees included. Check the generated set against the city's published checklist before you submit, and the first submission goes in clean.
Evalation Lab generates the standard sheet set most jurisdictions require, S-1, A-1, A-2, and A-3, from the finished deck design in under an hour.
Not if the deck is 200 square feet or less, under 30 inches above grade, detached from the house, not serving a door, and outside a flood hazard area, all five at once. Anything attached or bigger needs a permit from the Development Services Department. Source: Ordinance No. 20250410-040, austintexas.gov, accessed November 4, 2026.
The published number is 5 business days for an uncovered deck and 10 for additions, effective July 1, 2026, and the clock starts when the review invoice is paid. An expedited review track also exists.
Not categorically. Unsealed plans are accepted and receive the city’s limited technical review. The city reserves the right to require a registered design professional, and structural work like removing load-bearing walls puts one on the job regardless.
Trees and the plot plan. Every tree 19 inches or larger on or adjacent to the property goes on the drawing, and incomplete plot plans, missing easements, utilities, or setbacks, are the classic correction letter. Impervious cover math counts an uncovered wood deck over a pervious surface at 50%.
Evalation is built for residential contractors doing $700K to $3.5M a year who have outgrown entry-level tools but refuse enterprise pricing and enterprise implementation.
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Live 3D design on the first visit, the price from the design, and the sheet set generated for a clean Development Services submission. Compare it against your current tool at /compare/jobtread.
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