Baytown, TX Building Safety: Building Inspections (2026)

Chapter 18, Article II, Division 1 of the Baytown Code sets the inspection sequence for windstorm-resistant construction. Section 18-27 requires the building official to review a separate windstorm plan before issuing a construction permit, showing the framing components that resist 150 mph ultimate design wind speed (V ULT); any structure over one story or larger than 350 square feet must be designed by a state-licensed engineer. Section 18-28 requires that engineer to affix an official seal to the drawings and specifications submitted for windstorm review.

Section 18-29 then ties the sequence together: when engineered documents are used, the certifying engineer or the engineer's representative must complete the windstorm framing inspection before the city inspector performs the city's own final rough frame inspection, so the two cannot happen out of order. Section 18-30 adds a separate hurricane-season duty: whenever NOAA designates a hurricane warning or alert, the chief building official inspects residences, commercial and industrial sites, and active construction sites to confirm that furniture, display racks, construction supplies and other loose objects in exposed outdoor areas are secured or stored indoors, and that portable storage buildings and manufactured homes on lots or for sale are anchored and reinforced.

Orders under this section may be oral or written, may go to whoever has custody of the premises or their employee, and must be carried out before hurricane-velocity winds are expected. Accessory buildings of 200 square feet or less used as storage sheds or playhouses are exempt from the building permit, and therefore this inspection sequence, under section 18-26(c).