QD Design is a HUB-certified architecture and MEP engineering firm based in Cypress, Texas that delivers sealed mechanical, electrical, and plumbing permit sets — and full architecture + MEP packages — for commercial projects in Austin, led by a Texas-licensed Professional Engineer. Austin runs one of the most demanding plan reviews in Texas, with its own code amendments and strict energy enforcement. We’ve taken restaurant, retail, and hospitality projects through it, authoring every code response in-house.
Austin Project Experience
- Oumi Sushi Restaurant — full MEP design plus hands-on City of Austin submittal service for a full-service restaurant on North Highway 183. The project worked through five documented review rounds spanning UMC ventilation, NEC electrical, IECC energy, and TDLR accessibility comments, with QD Design writing every response through to permit.
- AutoZone Retail Store — a new 7,381 SF store on Union Park Lane engineered to beat the 2021 IECC baseline by 15% on envelope performance and 31% on interior lighting power (4,305W designed vs. 6,200W allowed). The package included dual single-zone RTUs with economizers and demand-control ventilation, a code-compliant hot-water recirculation loop per IECC C404.5, an R-39 high-albedo roof, and full four-part COMcheck certification through City of Austin review.
- Private Social Club — HVAC for densely occupied gathering spaces, electrical for entertainment, bar, and kitchen equipment, and bar-service plumbing, worked through City of Austin NEC, UPC, and IECC comment cycles to permit drawings.
Why Austin Plan Review Is Different
Austin adopts its own amendment package on top of the model codes — our recent Austin projects were reviewed under IBC 2021, UMC 2015, UPC 2021, IECC 2021, and NEC 2023, plus city amendments. The city’s energy reviewers expect complete COMcheck documentation, not summaries, and its mechanical reviewers apply UMC provisions that engineers who work only in IMC jurisdictions routinely miss. Restaurant projects add TDLR accessibility review on top. Multiple review rounds are normal in Austin; the difference is whether your design team answers them quickly and in writing. We do — comment responses through permit issuance are part of our standard scope, and on Oumi Sushi we also handled the submittal process itself.
What We Design in Austin
Restaurants and commercial kitchens (Type I hoods, makeup air, grease waste), retail and franchise buildouts, hospitality and entertainment venues, medical and wellness tenant improvements, and office TIs. For projects that need architecture as well, we provide it under the same contract — one firm producing coordinated architectural and sealed MEP sheets, which removes the cross-firm coordination errors that generate extra Austin review rounds.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many review rounds should I expect from the City of Austin?
Plan on more than one. Austin’s reviewers examine mechanical, electrical, plumbing, energy, and accessibility in depth, and comment cycles are common even on clean submittals. Our Oumi Sushi project ran five documented review rounds to approval. What matters is response speed and accuracy — we author every code response in-house until the permit is issued.
Does QD Design know Austin’s local code amendments?
Yes, from completed projects rather than a code book alone. Our recent Austin work was reviewed under IBC 2021, UMC 2015, UPC 2021, IECC 2021, and NEC 2023 with City of Austin amendments, and included COMcheck energy certification and TDLR accessibility comments. That review history is the fluency we bring to your submittal.
Can you handle Austin’s energy code requirements?
Yes. On the Union Park Lane AutoZone we engineered lighting at 4,305W against a 6,200W IECC allowance — 31% better than the baseline — plus a 15% envelope improvement, demand-control ventilation, and hot-water recirculation per IECC C404.5, all documented in four-part COMcheck certification accepted by City of Austin review.
Do you work in Austin from Houston, and does that slow things down?
Our office is in Cypress, Texas, and our Texas PE licensure applies statewide. Austin projects are delivered on the same schedule discipline as Houston work — drawings, submittals, and written comment responses move electronically, and we provided direct City of Austin submittal service on the Oumi Sushi project.
Start Your Austin Project
If your project is headed into Austin plan review, bring a team that has already been through it. Send us your floor plan — fee proposal within one business day.