Houston City Council approved a five-year, $20.4 million contract with SAFEbuilt Texas LLC to provide on-demand plan reviews, residential and commercial building inspections, mechanical, electrical and plumbing inspections, code enforcement and administrative support, ABC13 reported this week. The contract is meant to clear backlogs in a permitting department that the report says has been outpaced by the city’s development volume.
ABC13 reports the arrangement lets the city scale contractor staffing up or down with demand rather than adding permanent positions, with about $1.31 million budgeted in fiscal year 2027 and roughly $19.09 million across the remaining years, drawn from the city’s Building Inspection Fund.
Permitting and inspection timelines apply to construction inside Houston city limits, which includes Kingwood.
