Ector County Permits Now Go Through an Online Portal

If you're building on acreage in unincorporated Ector County (a shop, a barn, a subdivision, a manufactured-home setup), the county office you'll deal with is Development Services, not a city hall. It's tucked into 1010 East 8th Street, Suite 114 in Odessa, and the director is Eddie Landrum Jr. They've moved everything to an online Permit Request Portal, so don't bother mailing a form or counting on an email to get you in the door; the request goes through the portal, and if the link gives you trouble they'll walk you through it at 432-498-4241.

The same office is where a surprising range of country projects land. There's an Address Request Form for new builds that don't have a 911 address yet, a Groundwater Sufficiency Analysis the county wants before a subdivision relies on well water, a Game Room Application, a No Zoning Letter people pull for lenders, and the Subdivision and MHRC (manufactured housing) regulations. Build near the airport south of town and you may also hit the Odessa Schlemeyer Field hazard-zoning limits on structure height.

None of this erases city permitting if your land sits inside Odessa or another municipality, and it doesn't cover the separate septic, health, and fire approvals. But for anything county-side, start at Development Services first. It's the difference between a clean foundation pour and a stop-work call halfway through.