Unincorporated Karnes County

Verified county permit categories are 911 address applications, Determination Development Permit applications, OSSF or septic permitting, and Road & Bridge applications including road crossing, temporary waterline, and entry permits. No blanket unincorporated county building permit requirement for ordinary residential vertical construction was verified.

Note: No public exempt-work list found for unincorporated Karnes County. The public county record supports specific county permit categories for 911 addressing, development determination, OSSF or septic, and Road & Bridge matters.

Building code

No countywide adopted building code program for ordinary unincorporated construction was verified.

Contractor requirements

Road Crossing applications require a matching contractor; contractors with expired licenses are not eligible to submit.

1. 01
   Determine whether the project needs a 911 address application, a Determination Development Permit Application, an OSSF application, or a Road & Bridge application.
2. 02
   For septic work, submit a Determination Development Permit Application before the OSSF application; the county permits page states the development application is required first.
3. 03
   Use the iWorQ portal to submit a 911 address application, development permit application, road crossing application, temporary waterline application, or entry application.
4. 04
   Fill out all required fields and upload related plans or documents.
5. 05
   For Road Crossing applications, select the matching property and contractor, complete the permit information fields, and upload the required cross section survey PDF.
6. 06
   For OSSF or septic matters, use the posted OSSF application and coordinate with Special Projects.
7. 07
   Monitor the application through the portal. The portal also publishes a search-existing-permits function and notes that a contractor access code should be ready before proceeding.

Source: Permitting Department; Special Projects/Septic Permits; Road & Bridge Permits ↗

• Permitting Department / Road & Bridge (phone)

Inspection hours

8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday, closed for lunch 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Typical sequence: Application submission through the county portal, upload of required supporting files, county review, and project coordination. For road utility work, advance notice to Road & Bridge is required.