Schertz, Guadalupe County, Texas
The Plumber Schertz Homeowners Need Knows Where the City Draws Its Lines
Most cities tell you a permit is needed for pipework and leave the rest to judgement. Schertz does not. Its published guidance sets the threshold for an emergency repair of concealed piping at a measured length: a permit is required if the new piping exceeds five feet, or exceeds a combined five feet, and is not required below that. Five feet is a number a plumber can hold a tape against on site.
That habit runs through the whole city. Inspections are requested by a stated hour and performed inside a stated window. Some of them are not performed in person at all, because Schertz will complete a plumbing inspection over a video call, and it publishes exactly which jobs qualify and what equipment you must have in your hand while the camera is running. Knowing the numbers in advance is most of the work.
Measured, Not Judged
The Schertz Plumbing Permit Thresholds, Side by Side
The city publishes a short document titled When do I need a permit for plumbing work, and it is unusually blunt about where the boundaries sit. The table below sets out what it says, and the combined clause is the part people miss: five feet is a total, not a per-repair allowance, so breaking one job into three short ones does not put it back under the line.
| The work | Permit? | The line the city draws |
|---|---|---|
| Water heater replacement, underground piping, altering piping inside a wall, ceiling or beneath a floor, and all new installations | Yes | No length threshold applies. These always need one. |
| Emergency repair of freeze-damaged or leaking concealed piping | Yes, if new piping exceeds 5 feet, or a combined 5 feet | The only permit threshold on this site measured in linear feet |
| The same emergency repair, under 5 feet of new pipe | No | Provided that new piping does not exceed 5 feet in length |
| Remodel or addition to a one or two family dwelling where existing plumbing is relocated | Yes | Includes building sewers, water service and exterior rain drains |
| Ordinary minor repairs by an owner on their own property | No | Repair, replacement or maintenance of existing accessible fixtures, parts and appliances and their related water and drain attachments |
| Any gas repair | Yes, always | The city states all gas repairs require a permit, with no length exemption |
Two further rules sit alongside that table. Where equipment replacements and repairs must be performed in an emergency situation, the city allows the work to be done and the permit application to be submitted and obtained the next business day at the Inspections Division. And it adds a caution that catches ambitious homeowners: do not alter an existing plumbing system without a permit. Repairing a broken faucet or hose bib is a minor repair. Moving the pipe that feeds it is not.
The burst pipe case is the one this threshold was clearly written for, and it is worth knowing the number before a freeze rather than during one. Our general treatment sits on the burst pipe repair page.
When the Inspector Does Not Come
Six of Eleven Virtual Inspection Jobs in Schertz Are Plumbing
The city runs a Virtual Inspection Program, which it describes as an alternative for eligible residential and commercial inspections, including limited re-inspections. It requires the customer to have a phone or tablet with video and internet capability in order to interact with the city inspector. The eligible residential list is published, and plumbing dominates it.
The eligible items are a water heater, electric only; a water softener; a plumbing tunnel; an A/C change out; foundation repair; main water or sewer yard-line repair; an electrical service change or repair; a temporary electrical meter loop; exterior electrical installations; and a reroof at felt and final. Read that list carefully and the plumbing share is obvious, and so is the one exclusion that matters most.
The water heater entry says electric only. A gas water heater does not get the camera treatment, which fits the same instinct that puts all gas repairs on the permit-required side with no length exemption. Whatever else Schertz is relaxed about, it is not relaxed about gas.
Two of the eligible items are distinctly local in flavour. A plumbing tunnel is the excavation run under a slab foundation to reach failed drain piping without breaking the slab, which is a Texas answer to a Texas problem, and foundation repair sits right beside it on the list for the same reason. Our own coverage of the drain side is on the sewer line repair page.
In the Order the City Publishes It
How a Schertz Video Inspection Actually Runs
- Request it through the city web portal before 6:00 am
Include an email address and a phone number and select the virtual option. Virtual inspections must be requested and received no later than 6:00 am for a same day inspection. The same 6:00 am cutoff applies to ordinary inspections, and anything received later is performed the next business day.
- Take the inspector call that morning
An inspector contacts you on the day to confirm the inspection type and schedule a time. Virtual inspections are completed between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm.
- Open the link that arrives by text
A text goes out to the requestor with a link for the inspection. The device must be a smartphone or tablet with good connectivity at the property and must be compatible with the video conferencing solution the city uses.
- Have the tools in your hand before the call starts
The city lists a tape measure, a GFCI tester, a flashlight, a ladder, a two-foot level, a torpedo level, a water pressure gauge and a pitch gauge for roofing among the equipment that should be readily available depending on the inspection type.
- Show what you are asked to show, on the record
The inspector directs the requestor to show specific items throughout, and the city states that the inspection is recorded and that screenshot photos are taken. Results are entered afterwards and a report is emailed to the requestor.
Two conditions round it off. The person performing the video inspection must be at least eighteen years old or accompanied by an adult, and the city advises turning off phone notifications because they can freeze the program being used and cause delays. And if for any reason the inspector cannot complete the inspection virtually, the city schedules a field inspection for the next business day, so the fallback is a delay rather than a failure.
A Deliberate Change of Aquifer
Schertz Left the Edwards on Purpose, and Dates It to March 2003
This is the fact that separates Schertz from almost every neighbour. The city states that since March 2003 it receives its water from the Carrizo Aquifer, and that unlike other cities in the area that rely on the Edwards Aquifer, Schertz customers have high quality water with limited use restrictions. In this part of Texas that is not a small claim, because Edwards dependence is what drives the region drought rules.
The route there was corporate rather than technical. In the late 1990s Schertz supplied water through the operation of a couple of Edwards Aquifer wells. City leadership expected continued growth, wanted a long-term reliable supply for the next fifty years, and believed that ownership of the water would give the city more oversight as to the future of water in the area. In December 1998 Schertz came together with Seguin to form the Schertz/Seguin Local Government Corporation, a non-profit corporation of the State of Texas, for the purpose of providing safe and reliable wholesale potable water to retail municipal customers.
What that corporation runs today is substantial and it is not local. SSLGC provides groundwater from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in northwest Gonzales County, owning and operating twelve groundwater supply wells designed and constructed to municipal drinking water standards plus an associated thirty-five million gallon per day treatment facility in that county. It then transports the water to its customers through a transmission pipeline network traversing over forty miles, with 15.1 million gallons of storage and fifteen high-service pumps throughout the system.
The contrast with the city twenty miles down the road is deliberate and worth making. San Antonio is an Edwards Aquifer city and the whole regional water conversation runs through that aquifer. Schertz decided its answer was to buy land, wells and pipeline in a different county and draw from a different formation entirely.
Three Bodies, One Address
Who Runs What in Schertz
City of Schertz
Runs the distribution system, issues the plumbing permit, sets the five foot threshold, operates the virtual inspection programme and bills for utility service. Public Works sits at 10 Commercial Place.
Schertz/Seguin Local Government Corporation
Formed with Seguin in December 1998. Twelve wells and a 35 million gallon per day treatment plant in Gonzales County, feeding over forty miles of transmission pipeline.
Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority
Created in 1971 for regional wastewater northeast of San Antonio. Serves Schertz, Cibolo, Selma, Randolph Air Force Base and portions of Live Oak, San Antonio and Universal City.
The property owner
Owns the private side, and in Texas may do all the work on their own homestead without a licensed plumbing contractor provided they are personally doing the repair or installation themselves.
The wastewater numbers give a sense of the scale involved. CCMA maintains approximately 20.5 miles of gravity sewer line and 8.5 miles of force main, with the gravity system generally following the natural topography and drainage basins to its Odo J. Riedel Regional Water Reclamation Plant, rated for an annual average flow of ten million gallons per day. Its service area covers approximately 58,261 acres and it states that it has expanded the system over the last decade to meet the projected demands of its wholesale customers.
The Paperwork Is Law, Not Etiquette
What a Texas Plumbing Bid Has to Contain
The same city document that sets the five foot threshold also sets out what you should be handed before work starts, and it frames it as a legal requirement rather than good practice. It states that it is Texas state law that the contractor must provide a written bid or proposal, and it lists what that agreement must contain.
- Signed by the licensee contracting for or otherwise offering to perform the plumbing work.
- The licence number and full name of the Responsible Master Plumber of record for the plumbing company that will be performing the work.
- A description of all plumbing work to be performed under the agreement.
- The price for all the plumbing work to be performed.
- The words regulated by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, together with the board mailing address and telephone number.
- And a point worth knowing: the city states the consumer need not sign the document for it to be considered a contract.
The city goes further and tells residents how to check the other side. It encourages verifying that the plumbing contractor providing an estimate or service is licensed as a Texas Plumbing Contractor or Responsible Master Plumber through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners website, and notes that the same site will let you verify that the contractor has current insurance. That is a genuinely useful two-minute check and we are not going to talk anybody out of running it on us.
The homestead exemption sits beside all of this. The city states that homestead owners can do all the work on their own homes without hiring a Texas Licensed Plumbing Contractor as long as they are personally doing the repair or installation themselves. Personally is doing a lot of work in that sentence: it is an exemption for the owner, not a route to hiring an unlicensed person.
The Code Year, and a Manual Nobody Else Names
Schertz Runs the 2018 Codes, Adopted in April 2021
The city adopted the International Code Council 2018 series with local amendments at the City Council meeting of 6 April 2021, under Ordinance No. 21-C-07. The adopted list covers the 2018 International Building Code, Fire Code, Residential Code, Fuel Gas Code, Mechanical Code, Plumbing Code, Existing Building Code and Property Maintenance Code.
One item on that list has no counterpart anywhere else on this site. Alongside the ICC books, Schertz adopts the Manual of Cross Connection Code, Tenth edition, 2009. Naming a cross connection manual by edition, in the same ordinance as the building codes, tells you the city treats backflow as a code matter with a fixed reference rather than an administrative preference.
The city also publishes the entire public input schedule that led to the adoption, running from a City Council workshop on 8 December 2020, through a Building and Standards Commission workshop, contractor, developer and builder presentations in February 2021, a commission meeting on 1 March and a first reading on 23 March, to the final reading on 6 April. That is a level of procedural transparency worth noting, and it also means the adoption date is not in dispute.
One last local quirk, published on the building permits page and easy to miss: no permit fees will be charged for sites located on Main Street. We are not quoting any other fee figure, because the city routes fees through an estimator tool rather than a published schedule and we did not open it.
Neighbourhoods and Corridors
Where This Applies Across Schertz
The permit thresholds and the inspection rules are city-wide. What varies with the tract is the age of the drain piping under the slab, which is what makes the plumbing tunnel and foundation repair entries on the virtual inspection list relevant in the older parts of the city and largely theoretical in the newest ones.
Two boundary notes. Schertz sits across county lines in a fast growing corridor, and the wastewater authority serving it also serves several neighbouring communities, so a Schertz postal address is a strong indicator of who handles your sewage rather than a guarantee. On the water side, the Carrizo supply is delivered to the city wholesale, so the source is Gonzales County even though the meter is on your wall. Neighbouring builds sit on our New Braunfels page.
Schertz Plumbing Questions, Answered Straight
A permit threshold measured in feet of pipe, an inspection performed down a camera, an aquifer swapped in March 2003, and a bid that has to say who the Responsible Master Plumber is.
It depends how much new pipe goes in. The city states that a permit is required for emergency repair, alteration or replacement of freeze-damaged or leaking concealed piping if new piping exceeds five feet in length or exceeds a combined five feet in length, and that a permit is not required provided that new piping does not exceed five feet. Note the word combined. Five feet is a total across the repair, not an allowance per section.
No, and this is the exception to remember. The city states that all gas repairs require a permit, with no length carve-out, and adds that gas is extremely dangerous and should only be worked on by a Texas Licensed Plumbing Contractor. The same instinct shows up in the virtual inspection list, where the eligible water heater entry is marked electric only.
Yes, for listed jobs. The city Virtual Inspection Program covers, among others, an electric water heater, a water softener, a plumbing tunnel, foundation repair and a main water or sewer yard-line repair. It requires a smartphone or tablet with video and internet capability, the inspection is recorded and screenshot photos are taken, and results are emailed afterwards. If the inspector cannot complete it virtually, a field inspection is scheduled for the next business day.
The tools, because you are holding them rather than the inspector. The city lists a tape measure, a GFCI tester, a flashlight, a ladder, a two-foot level, a torpedo level, a water pressure gauge and a roofing pitch gauge as examples of equipment that should be readily available depending on the inspection type. It also asks that the phone be fully charged, that notifications be switched off because they can freeze the program, and that the person performing the inspection be at least eighteen or accompanied by an adult.
By 6:00 am. The city states that inspection requests must be requested and received by the department no later than 6:00 am, and that any inspection received after 6:00 am will be performed the next business day. Virtual inspections carry the same cutoff for a same day slot and are completed between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. Emergency inspections are given priority at the determination of the Chief Building Official.
The Carrizo Aquifer, since March 2003, and from another county. The Schertz/Seguin Local Government Corporation, formed with Seguin in December 1998, operates twelve groundwater supply wells in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in northwest Gonzales County and a thirty-five million gallon per day treatment facility there, moving water to its customers through a transmission pipeline network traversing over forty miles, with 15.1 million gallons of storage and fifteen high-service pumps.
Because the city says it changes the restrictions. It states that unlike other cities in the area that rely on the Edwards Aquifer, Schertz customers have high quality water with limited use restrictions. That is the city own characterisation. We are not quoting a hardness figure for Schertz water, because the city 2025 drinking water quality report was retrieved and does not report one.
The Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority, created in 1971, which provides regional wastewater services for the area northeast of San Antonio and serves Schertz, Cibolo, Selma, Randolph Air Force Base and portions of Live Oak, San Antonio and Universal City. It maintains approximately 20.5 miles of gravity sewer line and 8.5 miles of force main flowing to its Odo J. Riedel Regional Water Reclamation Plant, rated for an annual average flow of ten million gallons per day.
Within limits. The city states that ordinary minor repairs by a property owner on their own property need no permit, defining those as repair, replacement or maintenance of existing accessible fixtures, parts and appliances and their related water and drain attachments, and warning not to alter an existing plumbing system without a permit. Separately, it states that homestead owners can do all the work on their own homes without hiring a Texas Licensed Plumbing Contractor as long as they are personally doing the repair or installation themselves.
More than most people expect. The city states that Texas state law requires the contractor to provide a written bid or proposal, and that the agreement must be signed by the licensee, carry the licence number and full name of the Responsible Master Plumber of record, describe all the plumbing work, give the price for all of it, and contain the words regulated by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners along with the board mailing address and telephone number. It also notes that the consumer need not sign the document for it to be considered a contract.
Know the Number Before the Freeze
Plumber Schertz Work That Starts With the Published Threshold
Everything on this page is a line somebody already drew and wrote down. Five feet of new pipe decides whether an emergency repair needs a permit, and a combined five feet stops the workaround. Six in the morning decides whether an inspection happens today. Electric or gas decides whether a water heater can be signed off down a camera. None of it is a judgement call, which means none of it should be a surprise on the day.
Related work on this site: burst pipe repair covers the freeze case behind the five foot rule, water heater repair covers the electric and gas distinction, and gas line services covers the side with no exemption. The state picture sits on our Texas plumbing page.
Sources for the five foot and combined five foot permit threshold, the list of work always requiring a permit, the ordinary minor repairs definition, the instruction not to alter an existing plumbing system without a permit, the next business day emergency permit route, the statement that all gas repairs require a permit, and the homestead owner exemption: the City of Schertz flyer When do I need a permit for plumbing work, published by the Planning and Community Development Department.
The same flyer is the source for the written bid requirement and its contents, including the Responsible Master Plumber name and licence number, the regulated by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners wording, and the note that the consumer need not sign for it to be a contract.
The licence and insurance verification route the city recommends is the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners licence lookup.
Sources for the Virtual Inspection Program purpose, the eligible residential project list including the electric only water heater, the water softener, the plumbing tunnel, foundation repair and the main water or sewer yard-line repair, the 6:00 am request cutoff, the 9:00 am to 4:00 pm completion window, the inspector morning call, the text link, the recording and screenshot photos, the emailed report, the tool list including the water pressure gauge, the eighteen year old requirement, the notifications warning and the next business day field inspection fallback: the City of Schertz Virtual Inspection Program page.
The 6:00 am cutoff for ordinary inspections and the Chief Building Official emergency priority come from the City of Schertz Inspections page.
Sources for the late 1990s Edwards Aquifer wells, the fifty year and ownership reasoning, the December 1998 formation of the Schertz/Seguin Local Government Corporation as a non-profit corporation of the State of Texas, the twelve Carrizo-Wilcox wells in northwest Gonzales County, the thirty-five million gallon per day treatment facility, the over forty miles of transmission pipeline, the 15.1 million gallons of storage and the fifteen high-service pumps: the City of Schertz Our Water Supply page.
The statement that since March 2003 the city receives its water from the Carrizo Aquifer, and that unlike other cities in the area relying on the Edwards Aquifer Schertz customers have high quality water with limited use restrictions, comes from the City of Schertz Water and Wastewater Utility page.
Sources for the Cibolo Creek Municipal Authority creation in 1971, the communities served, the approximately 20.5 miles of gravity sewer line and 8.5 miles of force main, the Odo J. Riedel Regional Water Reclamation Plant rated for an annual average flow of ten million gallons per day and the approximately 58,261 acre service area: the City of Schertz Wastewater Treatment page.
Sources for the adoption of the International Code Council 2018 series with local amendments at the 6 April 2021 City Council meeting under Ordinance No. 21-C-07, the public input meeting schedule from December 2020 to April 2021, the full adopted code list including the 2018 International Plumbing Code and Fuel Gas Code and the Manual of Cross Connection Code Tenth edition 2009, and the statement that no permit fees will be charged for sites located on Main Street: the city Building Code Amendment and Public Comment page and the city Building Permits page.
NO HARDNESS FIGURE IS STATED FOR SCHERTZ WATER. The 2025 City of Schertz drinking water quality report was retrieved and its text extracted, and it does not report hardness. No permit, inspection, re-inspection or registration fee is quoted, because the city routes fees through an estimator rather than a published schedule and it was not opened. No SSLGC wholesale rate is quoted. No city distribution pipe mileage, storage volume or well count of its own is stated, because the figures obtained belong to SSLGC and CCMA rather than to the city system. No lead service line count is stated, because the inventory document was not opened.
No response time, crew count, office or address of ours is stated for Schertz, and no coverage claim is made beyond what our Texas page already sets out. Codes, thresholds, programme eligibility and cutoff times change, so confirm current requirements with the City of Schertz Inspections Division before relying on anything above.