Irving, TX Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

Section 8B-21 adopts the 2023 edition of the National Electrical Code, including Informative Annex H, as Irving's electrical code, most recently reaffirmed by Ordinance 2024-10884 on March 21, 2024. Section 8B-22 sets out the city's local amendments, additions, and deletions to that 2023 NEC, and specifies that the local provision controls whenever it conflicts with the published national code. Anyone performing electrical work in the city, other than a homeowner with a homestead exemption working on their own residence, must register as an electrical contractor with the building official before obtaining an electrical permit, and that registration must be renewed annually under Section 8B-27(c).

A general contractor doing new construction that also requires building, plumbing, and mechanical inspections can obtain a single combination permit that covers the electrical trade, but each subcontractor, including the electrical subcontractor, must still notify the inspections department and submit required information before every inspection. Fees for electrical permits, like all Chapter 8B fees, are set by city council resolution as part of the inspections department's schedule, and a person who starts electrical work before pulling the required permit owes an investigation fee equal to the regular permit fee on top of that fee.

Disputes over how the building official applies the National Electrical Code can be appealed to the construction board of appeals under Section 8B-29, which by design includes a master electrician or electrical contractor as one of its seven members.