Fayetteville building department

Fayetteville’s Building Safety Division is part of Development Services. It reviews plans, issues permits, and inspects work inside Fayetteville city limits. The office is in the Development Services Building at 125 West Mountain Street.

• Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Inspection hours: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Electrical code change. Electrical permits applied for after November 1, 2026 must comply with the 2026 National Electrical Code.

When you need a permit

You need a permit before you build, enlarge, alter, repair, move, or demolish a structure, or change its occupancy. The same goes for installing or changing regulated electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing systems. Any property owner or the owner’s authorized agent can apply.

The city lists painting, playground equipment, and flooring as exempt. It does not publish a fixed size threshold for decks or prefabricated structures; whether those need a permit depends on size and location, so call (479) 575-8238 to ask an inspector.

On the commercial side, a commercial permit is also required to change the occupancy of all or part of a building, or to build a retaining wall over 4 feet.

Applying through Civic Access

Apply and pay for permits through the city’s Civic Access portal, which runs on Tyler EnerGov. The same portal handles Planning, Engineering, and Business Licensing applications.

For single-family work, the city publishes requirement sheets for:

• floor plans
• wall sections and crawl spaces
• site plans
• erosion control

Grading and erosion-control standards apply to all single-family construction, including additions. There are separate residential grading-plan and site-plan requirements. Before applying for a residential demolition, read ADEQ’s clarification, which the city links.

Same Day Permit program

Qualifying projects filed online before 2 p.m., with the Same Day Permit checklist attached, are reviewed the same day. Applications filed after 2 p.m. are processed the next business day.

Qualifies	Sent to regular review instead
Fences over 7 ft	Property in the H.H.O.D. overlay
Sheds and storage buildings	Floodplain
Window and door replacement	More than 1,200 sq. ft. proposed
Porch and patio covers	A new driveway
Above- or in-ground pools	P.Z.D. (Planned Zoning District) zoning
Decks, detached garages, carports	Attached garages
Solar panels; single-family/ADU (call first)

Before you file, the city asks that you:

• confirm the 911 address is assigned and appears in the city’s GIS
• upload your contractor’s Arkansas license
• understand your zoning

When all inspections pass, a Certificate of Completion is posted to the portal.

Commercial review

Commercial permits are reviewed by several offices:

Reviewer	What they check	Phone
Building Safety	Building codes	(479) 575-8238
Engineering	Drainage, flood damage prevention, grading, streets	(479) 575-8206
Fire Marshal	All nonresidential permits, plus sprinkler drawings	(479) 444-3448
Planning	Zoning and the Unified Development Code	(479) 575-8267
Sidewalk administrator	Sidewalks, and parking lots of 5 or more spaces	(479) 575-8206
Recycling and Trash	Service and access	(479) 575-8398
Urban Forester	Tree preservation and landscaping	(479) 444-3486

Building Safety fees

Permit fees are based on valuation, using the higher of the declared value or the current Building Valuation Data. The figures below are from the city’s fee tables.

Permit	Fee	Minimum
Residential building	$4.59 per $1,000 of valuation	$55
Commercial building	$6.32 per $1,000	$55
Miscellaneous	$10.94 per $1,000	$55
Electrical / gas	$2.03 per $1,000	$55
Mechanical	$3.31 per $1,000	$55
Plumbing	$3.04 per $1,000	$55

• Plan review. Building, residential, and miscellaneous permits carry a plan review fee of 50% of the permit fee, paid before review starts.
• Resubmittals and revisions. Resubmittals cost $100 (residential, after the 2nd submittal) or $200 (commercial, after the 3rd). Revisions after the permit is issued cost $250 (residential) or $450 (commercial).
• Demolition. $150 residential, $183 commercial.
• Temporary CO. A 30-day temporary CO is $175 residential or $342 commercial.
• Penalties. A re-inspection is $125. Working without a permit costs triple the permit fee, with a $250 minimum.
• Expired permits. Renewing an expired permit costs 90% of a new permit if work passed slab inspection, and 50% if it passed framing.

Water and sewer. Water/wastewater impact fees for an average single-family home total $5,670. Inside city limits, a 5/8-inch water tap is $425 and a 4-inch sewer tap is $425.

Adopted codes

Discipline	Code
Building and residential	2021 Arkansas Fire Prevention Code (2021 IBC and IRC with amendments)
Electrical	2026 National Electrical Code
Mechanical	2021 Arkansas Mechanical Code
Plumbing / fuel gas	2018 Arkansas Plumbing Code; 2018 Arkansas Fuel Gas Code
Energy	2014 Arkansas Energy Code (2009 IECC)
Accessibility	2017 ANSI A117.1
Other	2021 Property Maintenance Code; 2021 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code

Local building regulations are in Unified Development Code Chapter 173.

Inspections

Request inspections at least one day ahead; scheduling depends on availability. You can call Building Safety at (479) 575-8238 to:

• book an inspection
• check an application’s status
• set up a pre-application meeting, which costs $200 for a preliminary plan review

Outside city limits. Fayetteville charges a $20 outside-city-limits fee on top of permit fees. Water and sewer taps and impact fees are also priced separately for outside-city customers. For building permits in unincorporated Washington County, check with the county; it does not enforce building codes on single-family homes.