Sherman and Grayson County Construction Permit Guide
The question "do I need a permit" has a different answer at every address in this corridor, because the corridor spans a dozen city jurisdictions, four Texas counties, two Oklahoma counties, and two state highway systems. The table below maps the authorities: who reviews what, where the city's power ends and the county's begins, and which rules follow the work everywhere regardless of jurisdiction.
Two patterns explain most of it. Inside city limits, the city's building department reviews and inspects construction under its adopted codes. Outside city limits, Texas and Oklahoma counties generally issue no residential building permit at all, but that never means no rules: highway access, floodplain, septic, and state trade licensing apply on both sides of the river.
| Jurisdiction / topic | Authority | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Sherman (city limits) | City of Sherman Development Services | Building permits, contractor registration, engineering and civil submittals through the online Self Service Portal; commercial work gets plan review and inspections through occupancy. |
| Denison (city limits) | City of Denison | Building permits and inspections through the city; historic-district review applies near downtown. |
| McKinney (city limits) | City of McKinney Development Services | The corridor's largest and most thorough review pipeline; permits, inspections, and contractor registration required. |
| Anna, Melissa, Celina | Each city's building department | Fast-growth cities with active inspection programs; expect plan review queues during the building boom and complete submittals to matter. |
| Gainesville (city limits) | City of Gainesville | Building permits and inspections through the city for Cooke County's seat. |
| Bonham (city limits) | City of Bonham | Permits and inspections through the city; Bois d'Arc Lake growth is pushing volume. |
| Durant, OK (city limits) | City of Durant | Building permits and inspections through the city on the Oklahoma side; Choctaw Nation projects follow their own review. |
| State highway approaches (TX) | TxDOT district office | Any driveway or approach onto US 75, US 82, US 69, US 377, SH 289, or an FM road needs a TxDOT access permit; the manual sets width, angle, radii, surface, and drainage. |
| Unincorporated Grayson, Cooke, Fannin, Collin, Denton counties | County (limited) | No residential building permit. County road departments govern culverts and approaches on county roads; floodplain review applies where mapped; septic runs through county-licensed installers. |
| Unincorporated Bryan and Marshall counties, OK | County (limited) | Same pattern as Texas: no county building permit for most private work, but road access, floodplain, and septic rules still apply. |
| Engineered plans (TX) | TBPELS-licensed engineers | Foundation plans for habitable structures and engineered retaining walls are sealed by Texas-licensed professional engineers; cities require them to permit the work. |
| Trade licensing (both states) | State of Texas / Oklahoma CIB | Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC work requires state-licensed trades everywhere, including unincorporated land where no building permit exists. |
| Utility locates | 811 (both states) | Free, legally required locates before any digging, trenching, or auger work, on every parcel, city or county. |
The practical use of this table: identify which row your project sits in before anyone bids it, because the permit path belongs in the written scope, not in the surprises column. Scopes here name the jurisdiction, the submittals, and who carries each one.
One caution that repeats across the corridor: no permit does not mean no standards. A retaining wall on unincorporated land carries the same soil pressure as one in town, and a slab on county clay needs the same engineering judgment as one the city inspects. The permit line moves; the physics do not.
Data sources
Ready to get started in Sherman?
Concrete driveways and slabs, site preparation, metal buildings, welding, and fencing across the US 75 corridor from McKinney to Durant since 2016, built by insured local contractors. Mon-Sat 8am-7pm CT.