Plumbing Permit Rules: Repairs vs Alterations by City

Quick Facts

From our city pages and each city's open permit data (refreshed October 30, 2026).

Repairs That Do Not Need a Plumbing Permit

The exempt lists of Austin and Philadelphia read almost the same. Austin's local amendment to the Uniform Plumbing Code, section 104.2, exempts:

• Stopping leaks in drains, soil, waste or vent pipes, unless a defective trap or pipe has to be removed and replaced with new material.
• Clearing stoppages, including removing and reinstalling a toilet, and repairing leaks in pipes, valves or fixtures, if no valves, pipes or fixtures are replaced or rearranged.
• Repairing or replacing fixtures and replacing exposed traps, continuous waste piping, fixture supply valves or faucets, if no other city department or trade inspection is involved.

Philadelphia exempts minor repairs with the same material, such as replacing faucets, valves and parts; removing and reinstalling toilets when no pipes or fixtures are replaced or moved; and stopping leaks and clearing stoppages. New York City treats the repair or replacement of fixtures, piping or faucets from an exposed stop valve to the inlet side of a trap as an ordinary repair that needs no permit.

Step-by-Step: What to Do

1. Describe the job in one line: repair in place, replacement of the same item, or a change to pipes or fixtures.
2. Check it against your city's exempt plumbing list.
3. If it needs a permit, find out who may pull it in your city; in most large cities that is a licensed master plumber.
4. Confirm the permit is issued before walls or floors are opened, and schedule the rough-in inspection before anything is covered.
5. Keep the permit and final inspection with your home records.

Alterations That Do Need a Permit

Once you replace or move piping, the job becomes permitted work. Philadelphia requires a plumbing permit for installation, alteration, renewal, replacement and repair beyond the exempt list. New York City excludes from ordinary repairs any change to the water distribution system, house sewer, drainage system, soil, waste or vent pipes, or gas piping. Austin adds a specific rule: installing or replacing a shower, tub or tub and shower combination is never exempt.

Water heaters are handled differently in many cities, often through a fast change-out permit; that is covered in Do You Need a Permit to Replace a Water Heater? City Rules and Permit Data. Remodels that move fixtures usually need building and plumbing permits together, as explained in Do You Need a Permit for a Bathroom or Kitchen Remodel?.

Who Can Pull the Permit

Seattle's arrangement is unusual: plumbing and gas piping permits there come from the county health department, not the city building department. For how licensing affects permits more generally, see Hiring a Licensed Contractor: Permit Rules That Depend on Licensing.

New York City's Ordinary Plumbing Work

New York City has a middle category. Under Administrative Code section 28-105.4.4, a licensed plumber may do certain ordinary plumbing work without a permit, provided they file a monthly report of the jobs, pay the fees and certify the work meets code. The list includes relocating up to two fixtures within the same room by no more than 10 feet, replacing or repairing a sump pump, repairing or replacing up to 25 feet of non-gas piping inside a building, and replacing a gas range, oven or dryer where the existing shutoff valve stays.

What Austin's Plumbing Permit Data Shows

Austin's open data lists 15,088 plumbing permits issued from October 30, 2025 to October 29, 2026. The median time from application to issue was 23 days.

Counts are by the work class recorded in the City of Austin's Issued Construction Permits dataset. Irrigation appears because Austin requires a plumbing permit before installing a landscape irrigation system.

Repairs were the largest class. Exempt repairs never appear in permit data, so these are repairs that went beyond the exempt list, such as replacing a defective trap or drain pipe. For more on Austin's permit times, see Austin Building Permits for Home Projects.

Building Departments in the Cities We Cover

Rules in this guide vary by jurisdiction. These are the official departments that issue residential permits in the 15 cities we track, with the city's open-data source for permit records. Each city page shows the rules for roofing, HVAC, solar, fence and deck work.

Before relying on any rule, read the department's current page or call its permit desk. Model-code sections cited here (such as IRC R105) are adopted locally, often with amendments.