How much does a building permit cost in Arizona?

There is no single statewide permit fee in Arizona. Each city sets its own schedule, so the exact number depends on three things: which city or county issues the permit, how big the home is, and the valuation (the dollar value of the labor and materials). Run those variables together and a building permit for a new custom home usually costs between $2,000 and $10,000 or more. Some cities, like Scottsdale, base the building permit fee on square footage. Others base it on the construction value of the project. On top of the building permit, you almost always pay a separate plan review fee and, for new construction, development (impact) fees. Because these schedules change, confirm the current cost with your city before you budget.

What goes into an Arizona building permit cost

Your permit cost is rarely one fee. It is a stack of fees, and knowing each one keeps the final invoice from surprising you. For a new home, the main pieces are the building permit fee, the plan review fee, the trade permits, and development fees.

The building permit fee is the core charge for the city to issue your permit and inspect the work. The plan review fee pays for staff to check your plans against the building code before they approve them. In many Arizona cities the plan review fee is a percentage of the building permit fee, so the two move together. Then come the trade permits, often bundled or priced for plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work. Finally, new construction triggers development fees, also called impact fees, which fund roads, water, sewer, and parks tied to growth. In Scottsdale, the city states plainly that "development fees will be in addition to permit fees for all new construction." On a custom home, development fees can run into the thousands and sometimes dwarf the permit fee itself.

Add it all up and a full-house permit package in the Phoenix metro commonly lands in the low thousands to over ten thousand dollars. A small remodel or a detached garage costs far less. A large custom home on its own lot costs more.

A few smaller fees ride along too. Most cities charge a certificate of occupancy fee, the document you need before you can legally move in. Some add a GIS or addressing fee, a fee to set the lowest floor elevation in a floodplain, and a planning inspection charge. Each one is modest on its own, often under a few hundred dollars, but they add up, which is why the line on your budget should say "permit and fees," not just "permit." If your plans need a correction and you resubmit, some cities charge a resubmittal or extra plan review fee, so a clean first submittal saves money as well as time.

How cities calculate the fee: square footage vs. valuation

Arizona cities use one of two methods to size your building permit fee, and the method changes how you estimate it. Scottsdale uses square footage. Phoenix and many others use valuation.

Scottsdale's online Building Permit Fee Calculator asks for your air-conditioned square footage, other square footage (like a garage or covered patio), and any fence or retaining wall footage, then prices the building, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical trades from those numbers. A base fee plus per-square-foot charges produces the estimate. This method is predictable: if you know your square footage, you can run the calculator and get close.

The valuation method, used in Phoenix and elsewhere, ties the fee to the total value of the work being built. The city applies a base fee plus a charge per $1,000 of valuation. A higher-value home means a higher permit fee. Cities often set a minimum valuation per square foot so an owner cannot lowball the number. Under this method, a $600,000 custom home carries a larger permit fee than a $350,000 one of the same footprint, because the value is higher.

Either way, the takeaway is the same: bigger and more expensive homes cost more to permit. Use your city's calculator or fee schedule for a real number rather than a rule of thumb.

What a permit costs in Arizona cities and counties

Permit costs vary by jurisdiction, so where you build matters as much as what you build. Here is how the picture looks across the areas Jematell Homes serves.

• Scottsdale prices the building permit on square footage through its public calculator, then adds plan review, a certificate of occupancy fee, GIS, and development fees. For a full custom home, expect the building permit plus reviews to reach several thousand dollars before development fees.
• Phoenix uses valuation. The building permit fee is a base amount plus a charge scaled to the construction value, and the plan review fee is set as a share of that permit fee.
• Maricopa County issues permits for unincorporated areas like Rio Verde Foothills. The county warns that "the value, safety, and code compliance of your structure is heavily dependent on obtaining a building permit," and prices its own schedule for rural builds, which often add well and septic permits.
• Pinal County and its cities (covering Casa Grande and Apache Junction) set their own fees, which generally run lower than Scottsdale's.

Smaller towns like Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, and Carefree each publish their own schedules, and a rural Rio Verde build answers to the county rather than a city. The smart move is to pull the fee schedule for your exact jurisdiction, since a permit that costs $4,000 in one city can cost noticeably more or less a few miles away. Two homes of the same size, one in Scottsdale and one in Casa Grande, can carry very different permit and development fees simply because the cities price them differently.

Why permit fees are hard to pin down (and how to get a real number)

Permit fees in Arizona are volatile, which is the honest reason you should never lock a number from a blog into your budget. Cities update fee schedules on their own cycles, often each fiscal year. Scottsdale, for example, publishes separate fee schedules for FY 25/26 and FY 26/27, so the rate you find today may change in July. Development and impact fees also get revised as cities adjust for growth and infrastructure costs.

To get a real number, do two things. First, use your city's fee calculator or download its current fee schedule. Scottsdale offers an online calculator and a residential fee schedule PDF, plus an email request for a detailed estimate covering plan review, development, and permit fees. Second, ask whether development fees apply to your project, since those are often the biggest line and are easy to miss. As of 2026, plan on the building permit plus reviews being in the low-to-mid thousands for a custom home, with development fees stacked on top.

When Jematell Homes builds for you, the permit and plan review costs are a known line in your budget. We pull the permits for your specific city, so the fees are priced from your actual plans and footprint, not a guess. If you are pricing a build yourself, call your city's permit center and ask for a written fee estimate before you finalize numbers, because the schedules move and the only reliable figure is the current one for your address.

Building with Jematell Homes

Permitting and code compliance are part of our full-service project management. We would rather answer your questions before you build than after, so get in touch any time.

Sources

• City of Scottsdale: Fees (Planning & Development)
• City of Scottsdale: Building Permit Fee Calculator
• Maricopa County: Residential Construction (permits)
• City of Scottsdale: Plan Review Services