STATE LICENSE
NoneSee what applies
No Texas agency licenses painting contractors. The state's licensed trades sit under TDLR, the plumbing board, the agriculture department and TCEQ; painting is not one of them, and there is no state registry to join.
What replaces it is federal. Texas is not an RRP-authorized state — the Texas Department of State Health Services says plainly that 'the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is administering the federal Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Program Rule in Texas.' Renovation, repair or painting that disturbs more than 6 square feet of interior surface or 20 square feet of exterior surface in pre-1978 target housing or a child-occupied facility must be done by an EPA-certified firm using a certified renovator, with the Renovate Right pamphlet delivered beforehand.
DSHS keeps the other half: under the Texas Environmental Lead Reduction Rules it licenses lead inspections, lead risk assessments and lead abatements — a different activity from RRP, with different testing standards. Both rules stop at pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities; neither applies to commercial or industrial structures regardless of age.
The third layer is the tax code. Repainting nonresidential real property is a taxable real property repair service in Texas, so the total charge — labor and materials — carries state and local sales tax unless the repainting qualifies as scheduled, periodic maintenance. Residential repainting labor is not taxable.
The state sets the license floor; the county or city permit office controls filing, inspections, and local rules wherever the job site sits.
Texas cities carry the whole regulatory load for painting. There is no state license to preempt local rules, so a city may run its own contractor registration and condition permits on it. Building permits themselves are usually reserved for structural work — the IRC and IBC are adopted statewide as municipal codes under Loc. Gov't Code §§ 214.212 and 214.216, administered and amended city by city. Check the permit office in each jurisdiction you work; the answer genuinely differs between neighboring cities.
The local offices section below names the exact permit desk for every Texas county on file.
Each row names the issuing authority, cost, timeline, citation, and status behind the requirement — verified against the official source.
Published fees from the issuing authorities, as of September 2026. Local permit fees vary by project and jurisdiction — the basis is stated where a flat number does not exist.
RRP applies when a renovation, repair or painting job disturbs more than 6 square feet of interior surface in a room or more than 20 square feet of exterior surface in pre-1978 target housing or a child-occupied facility.
Under either the federal RRP rule or the Texas rules, in the absence of test or inspection documentation showing a component is lead-free, the paint must be assumed to contain lead.
Repair and remodeling of nonresidential real property is taxable and the Comptroller states that it includes repainting — unless the repainting is scheduled, periodic maintenance, which is not taxable.
A practical sequence for a new painting contractor in Texas. Actual agency processing times are noted in the ledger above.
Each item names the issuing authority, cycle, and citation.
Statutory consequences with their citations — not estimates, not “commonly cited” guesses.
There is no Texas state painting license, so there is no state unlicensed-practice offense. The enforceable exposure is federal lead rules, local ordinance violations, and the general construction statutes.
Payments received under a construction contract are trust funds; using them before paying subs and suppliers is criminal.
Residential work is governed by the Residential Construction Liability Act, which requires a 60-day pre-suit notice and a specific 10-point boldface disclosure in the contract.
Inside city limits, the city office listed here issues the permit; the county office serves unincorporated areas. Every office links to its official page.
Every fact in this file was checked against these official sources on September 2026.
Pending verification: EPA firm certification and renovator course fee amounts — set federally, not published on a Texas state source · DSHS Environmental Lead Program license fee amounts by license type
General information, not legal advice. Always confirm requirements, deadlines, and forms with the issuing authority before filing or contracting.
Store licenses, permits, policies, and renewal dates in one place.