I'm in Round Rock. Going to tear down and old shed, put up a new one and run electricity to it. Since I'll have to trench anyway, I'm also going to run electric to another part of the yard for some lighting and such. To do this, I'll also have to add a sub panel. I'll have to pull a permit for the shed/electric. A couple questions on this:

1. This is more of a general question, but if I pull a permit for a shed with electric, will that cover adding the sub panel since it include electrical work?
2. This is more the question that I'm interested in near term. Can I go ahead and trench, run my wires/conduit, and temporarily cap the conduit, not connecting with wires. Then pull a permit when I'm ready to connect everything and put up the shed? The reason I ask is because we are planning on doing some landscaping before I'd get to the shed project and the trenching would have to go through that. I've already called 8-1-1 and have everything marked.

guessing there will need to be an inspection that might prevent me from doing this.

If you have to pull a permit, might as well include everything. No benefit to not. They will see it on the inspection.

I don't think there will be an inspection beforehand, but the review process may make changes to your design.

Any work you do prior to the permit being approved may be wrong.

You do run the chance of an inspector seeing the construction or a neighbor turning you in and you get shut down. (fine?) Probably a slim chance, but something to consider.

Also, if you ever sell your house, you can say that all work was permitted.

I am sure you can call the permit office to get answers to your timing questions.

You can mark things as future, i'm sure. I would think adding sub panels can all be lumped into the shed permit.


Just my $.02

That's helpful. Just wasn't sure if I pull a permit now/soon-ish, how long that permit is good for. I couldn't find any info on the website regarding that, but maybe i missed it. I'll call them, but didn't really want to deal with being on hold for who knows how long.

I think it depends on the municipality, but you may need a licensed electrician to pull a permit for something like a sub-panel. You can consult an electrician about what you would need to get the sub-panel permitted.

Depending on the size of the shed, it may not even be required to be permitted. In Houston, I think it has to be over 200sf to need permitting. The fact that you are replacing an existing structure with, presumably, a similar sized one make it more likely that you could go without a permit for that part.

If you want to do it, I would go ahead and run the conduit. Make sure to size it correctly and do your best to document how deep it is buried and figure out what the inspector would want to see for marking. You can always plead ignorance about the sequencing.

The residential page says work must commence within 6 months or it is void. Not sure this is the same for accessory structures, which I assume yours would fall under. Single Family Remodel - City of Round Rock (roundrocktexas.gov)

You probably give an estimate of construction time when you fill out the permit. I am sure you can extend it if things run long. I think your permit will end when you pass the final inspection and start using it.

Looks like one permit can cover all your work. Just depends on how they classify it as to how much the permit costs. If you are doing a shed without electrical ($50) With electrical, it jumps to $300. Not sure how they would handle it if you were running conduit, but not putting in electrical. Looks like the difference between a "storage shed" and a "Studio shed" (my advice - call it a storage shed unless you are building it out like an office.)

One thing I have learned, however, is when it comes to the City, calling and getting clarification beforehand is better than trying to read their minds about what is permissible or not.

i will be building a much larger shed and using about 3/4 of it for an office, so yeah, it'll definitely have to be permitted. But probably won't do that until fall. Was just trying to do some pre-work, as to not have to permit twice or rip up landscaping.

I installed a new service and sub panel for a hot tub along time ago in round rock. As a homeowner, you're legally allowed to do the work yourself on your own home and pull a permit. Of course it Hass to be inspected and up to code.

jt2hunt said:

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I installed a new service and sub panel for a hot tub along time ago in round rock. As a homeowner, you're legally allowed to do the work yourself on your own home and pull a permit. Of course it Hass to be inspected and up to code.

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this is good to hear. Was hoping to do it myself, as the process is pretty simple.

I misunderstood the order of operations the first time I read your post.

You shouldn't need a permit to bury empty conduit. maybe put in a pull string if you are not ready to install the wires. Personally, I don't like to put in wires if I am not going to hook it up right away.

Make sure you put it in per code. size of conduit and depth will probably be checked during an inspection.

Probably should get some verification from someone that where you plan to put the panel and where you are going to place the shed are going to pass the permit process if you can. That way it actually be where you need it.

Otherwise, you may just have to do it and if something goes sideways later, oh well. Do it again.

If you are smart with it, should not be a problem.

AggieOO said:

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i will be building a much larger shed and using about 3/4 of it for an office, so yeah, it'll definitely have to be permitted. But probably won't do that until fall. Was just trying to do some pre-work, as to not have to permit twice or rip up landscaping.

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Being a significantly larger structure and classifying it as an occupied structure rather than storage or a workshop can have its own requirements. Keep that in mind.

TexAg1987 said:

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I misunderstood the order of operations the first time I read your post.

You shouldn't need a permit to bury empty conduit. maybe put in a pull string if you are not ready to install the wires. Personally, I don't like to put in wires if I am not going to hook it up right away.

Make sure you put it in per code. size of conduit and depth will probably be checked during an inspection.

Probably should get some verification from someone that where you plan to put the panel and where you are going to place the shed are going to pass the permit process if you can. That way it actually be where you need it.

Otherwise, you may just have to do it and if something goes sideways later, oh well. Do it again.

If you are smart with it, should not be a problem.

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Where im at (Douglas county, Colorado), they do a conduit inspection to verify conduit size and bury depth, this needs an exposed trench. I added 100 a sub panel to a shed last year and while my shed wasn't big enough for a structural permit (>200 sq ft) it did require an electrical permit with three inspections (trench, rough and final electric).