Texas has no statewide contractor license and no single contractor bond. Every city sets its own rule. We file the municipal registration and permit bonds for 13 bond types across 10 Texas cities — and the statewide contract bonds that stack on top when you bid public work.
Thirteen municipal bonds across seven cities. Each one links to the ordinance cite, the obligee, and the counter it gets filed at — because a bond on the wrong form gets handed back at that counter.
Required by Houston Public Works for sidewalk, driveway, curb, and gutter work in the public right-of-way.
Required by the City of Houston to install, alter, or remove permanent signs (Houston Code Ch. 8).
Required of licensed tow operators by Houston Administration & Regulatory Affairs.
Required under Dallas Code Ch. 43 §43-43 for sidewalk, curb, gutter, and driveway work.
Dallas Building Inspection requirement for paving, driveway, and right-of-way concrete work.
Required under SA Code Ch. 29 Art. III, filed at the Cliff Morton Development Center.
San Antonio Public Works — $10,000 per permit, or a $100,000 annual blanket bond.
Required by San Antonio Development Services for sign installation, alteration, and maintenance.
Required by Austin Transportation & Public Works for driveway, sidewalk, and excavation work in the right-of-way.
Required by Fort Worth Development Services for public street and storm drainage work.
Fort Worth Development Services — $10,000 residential or $25,000 commercial for driveway, sidewalk, and parkway concrete.
City of El Paso blanket bond covering electrical, plumbing, gas, fire, and mechanical construction work.
Required by Lubbock Building Inspection for registered contractors; filed in person in Lubbock.
Working a city that is not listed? Most Texas cities that require a contractor bond require between $2,000 and $25,000, and we file statewide. Call (281) 484-8320 with the city and the permit and we will confirm the current amount with that department before you pay anything.
Each city page carries the local department, the registration path, and the county tax office that handles title and filing work in that jurisdiction.
Public Works right-of-way, sign, and wrecker bonds.
Three separate municipal bonds — sidewalk, ROW, and sign.
Sidewalk and paving bonds under Dallas Code Ch. 43.
Right-of-way bond through Transportation & Public Works.
Street, storm drain, and parkway bonds via Development Services.
One blanket bond covers most trades.
Compliance bond filed in person at Building Inspection.
Registration through Community Development & Planning.
Registration through Plano Building Inspections.
Registration through Development Services.
Texas contractors get tripped up here constantly, because both are called a "contractor bond" and they are not the same instrument.
Most working Texas contractors carry both: a city bond in each jurisdiction they pull permits in, and a contract bond on each public job they win.
Contract bonds in Texas are triggered by statute, by local ordinance, or by contract. Here are the thresholds every Houston-area contractor should know.
| Project type | Authority | Bonds required |
|---|---|---|
| Public works over $25K ($50K for cities) | Texas Government Code Ch. 2253 (Little Miller Act) | Payment bond, 100% of contract |
| Public works over $100K | Texas Government Code Ch. 2253 (Little Miller Act) | Performance + Payment bonds, each 100% of contract |
| Federal projects over $150K | Miller Act (40 USC §3131) | Miller Act bond (performance + payment, 100% each) |
| Houston public works | City of Houston Purchasing | Performance + Payment bonds + separate city compliance bonds |
| Harris County projects | Harris County Purchasing & Engineering | Performance + Payment + Maintenance bonds |
| Houston right-of-way work | City of Houston Public Works | Right-of-way bond + sidewalk/driveway/curb bond ($2,000) |
| Subdivision development | City of Houston Planning / Harris County | Subdivision bond (100–125% of improvements) |
Private commercial projects are not statutorily required to be bonded in Texas — but most major Texas developers and general contractors require subs to post performance and payment bonds as a contract term, especially on projects over $250,000.
These are not city bonds. They attach to a contract rather than a jurisdiction, and they apply the same way in every Texas city. Each page carries its own statutory threshold, premium tiers, and underwriting requirements.
Required by Texas cities and counties (Houston, Dallas, Harris County) as a condition of holding a contractor license.
Guarantees that if you win the bid, you will enter the contract and post the performance/payment bonds. No premium on most bid bonds.
Guarantees the project is completed per contract terms. Required on every public project over $100K in Texas (Gov Code Ch. 2253).
Guarantees subcontractors, laborers, and suppliers are paid. Paired with performance bond on public work under the Texas Little Miller Act.
Guarantees workmanship for a warranty period (1–2 years typical) after project completion.
Guarantees delivery of materials per the purchase agreement for public-works suppliers.
Required by Harris County and City of Houston to guarantee completion of streets, drainage, utilities on new subdivisions.
Guarantees completion of sidewalks, drainage, landscaping, or other site improvements required by a permit.
Required by City of Houston, TxDOT, and local cities to work in the public right-of-way.
Required on federal construction contracts over $150,000. Combines performance and payment bond under 40 USC §3131.
Required when construction temporarily encroaches on public property or right-of-way.
Municipal bonds are the fast ones. The delay is almost never underwriting — it is having the wrong form or the wrong amount when you reach the counter.
Those three facts determine the bond. A sign permit in San Antonio is a $45,000 bond; a sidewalk permit in the same city is $2,000. We confirm the current amount and form with that department rather than quoting a number off a page that may be a year stale.
Cities reject generic bond forms. We execute on the obligee-approved form with the surety seal and power of attorney attached, so it is accepted the first time. Most municipal bonds issue the same day on standard credit.
Some cities take a PDF; Lubbock wants the original filed in person. We email the bond and overnight originals to the department or county office as required, then set the renewal reminder before it lapses.
Bidding public work instead? Contract bonds run a heavier underwriting file — financials, work-in-progress, and experience. Start with performance bonds or call (281) 484-8320 with the bid documents in hand.
We work with contractors bidding Harris County public works, City of Houston right-of-way projects, TxDOT, and private commercial developers across the Houston metro. We know the obligees and what they want to see on a bond form.
For newer contractors or those with credit challenges, we access the SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program — which can bond qualifying contractors up to $9 million per contract when the standard market would decline.
We don't just sell a single bond. We build a long-term bonding relationship that grows with your business — increasing your single-job and aggregate capacity as your financials strengthen.
Texas issues no statewide general contractor license, and there is no single statewide contractor bond. Bonding is decided one jurisdiction at a time: each city sets its own registration and permit-bond rules, and separately, state and federal statute require contract bonds on public-works projects above certain dollar thresholds. That is why a contractor working Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio deals with three different bond requirements for the same trade. Certain trades do carry state-level licensing through TDLR, which is separate from any city bond.
We currently write municipal contractor bonds in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, El Paso, and Lubbock, and we handle registration in Arlington, Plano, and Corpus Christi. The requirement usually attaches to the type of work rather than to contracting generally — sidewalk, curb and gutter, paving, right-of-way, sign installation, and similar work in the public right-of-way. A remodeler who never touches the right-of-way may need no city bond at all in the same city where a concrete contractor needs one.
Across the Texas cities we file in, municipal contractor bonds run from $2,000 to $45,000. Sidewalk, curb, and gutter bonds sit at the bottom — $2,000 in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio alike. Right-of-way bonds are commonly $10,000, though San Antonio offers a $100,000 annual blanket in place of per-permit bonds. Sign contractor bonds are the most expensive: $25,000 in Houston and $45,000 in San Antonio. Because these are small bonds, the premium is typically a flat annual charge rather than a percentage of a contract.
For city registration bonds, yes. Each city is its own obligee, and a Houston sidewalk bond does not satisfy Dallas. If you pull permits in four cities, you carry four bonds. For project contract bonds the logic is different but the answer is still yes — a performance bond covers one specific contract, not a city, so every new project gets a new bond. What you do not need is a separate agent for each: we hold one file for you and issue against whichever obligee comes up.
A city registration or permit bond is tied to your ongoing right to work in that jurisdiction. It is small, usually $2,000 to $45,000, renews annually, and guarantees you will follow the city ordinance and repair what you damage in the right-of-way. A project contract bond — bid, performance, payment, maintenance — is tied to one construction contract, is sized as a percentage of that contract, and expires when the project and its warranty period do. Most working Texas contractors carry both.
No. State-level trade licensing through TDLR and a city contractor bond answer to different authorities and do not substitute for one another. A licensed trade contractor still registers with the city and posts the city bond before pulling a permit there. The two stack: state licensing establishes that you are qualified to do the work, and the city bond guarantees your work within that city's right-of-way and under its ordinance.
The Texas Little Miller Act (Government Code Chapter 2253) requires a performance bond on every state or local public-works contract over $100,000, and a payment bond on public-works contracts over $25,000 ($50,000 when the owner is a city). On federal projects, the Miller Act (40 USC §3131) requires performance and payment bonds on every contract over $150,000. Private projects are not statutorily required to be bonded, but many Texas private owners require bonds contractually.
Yes. City registration bonds are small and are underwritten mostly on credit — we place these across the credit spectrum, usually same-day. Project contract bonds are underwritten more heavily, on business financials, work-in-progress, and experience as well as credit. If your credit is weak there, we have access to specialty programs including SBA-backed surety bond guarantees that can underwrite applicants the standard market declines. Expect a higher premium and a lower single-bond capacity, but approval is usually achievable.
Free quote, no obligation. Most bid bonds same-day. Build a bonding program that grows with your business.
