Texas Occupations Code 1001.056 – Construction or Repair of and Plans for Certain Buildings
(a) A person, sole proprietorship, firm, partnership, joint stock association, or private corporation is exempt from the licensing requirements of this chapter if:
(1) a representation that engineering services have been or will be offered to the public is not made or implied; and
(2) the person or entity is erecting, constructing, enlarging, altering, or repairing or is drawing plans or specifications for:
(A) a private dwelling;
(B) apartments not exceeding eight units for each building in the case of one-story buildings;
(C) apartments not exceeding four units for each building and having a maximum height of two stories;
(D) a garage or other structure pertinent to a building described by Paragraph (A), (B), or (C);
(E) a private building to be used exclusively for:
(i) farm, ranch, or agricultural purposes; or
(ii) storage of raw agricultural commodities; or
(F) a building having no more than one story that:
(i) is not a building exempt from the licensing requirements of this chapter under § 1001.053 or subject to § 1001.407;
(ii) has a total floor area of not more than 5,000 square feet; and
(iii) does not contain a clear span between supporting structures greater than 24 feet on the narrow side.
(b) If a structure described by Subsections (a)(2)(F)(i) and (ii) contains unsupported spans greater than 24 feet, only the trusses, beams, or other roof supporting members must be engineered or pre-engineered.
Terms Used In Texas Occupations Code 1001.056
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) The exemption provided by this section does not apply to a person or entity that is:
(1) providing engineering design or inspection services necessary to comply with windstorm certification standards for a residential dwelling under Subchapter F, Chapter 2210, Insurance Code; or
(2) providing engineering design relating to constructing, enlarging, altering, or repairing, or drawing plans or specifications for, a residential dwelling slab located on expansive soil that meets the expansive soil classification provisions of the International Residential Code as applied in the jurisdiction in which the residential dwelling is located, unless the construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, or drawing of plans or specifications meets the International Residential Code requirements as applied in the jurisdiction in which the residential dwelling is located.