Arizona building code plan review: city and county codes, the State Fire Code and State Fire Marshal review, public buildings, factory-built buildings, and the AzDA rules

Which Arizona codes apply to a set of drawings?

We found no statute or rule adopting a statewide building code for private buildings in Arizona; codes are adopted locally. Under A.R.S. 11-861, a county that has adopted zoning may adopt and enforce a building code and related codes for its zoned unincorporated areas and may exempt areas zoned rural or unclassified, limited to codes adopted by a national code organization or by the largest city in the county (a county that adopts a city’s code must follow the city’s changes within ninety days or drop it); it may adopt a fire code where no fire district has adopted one, which must be as stringent as the state fire code, and a wildland-urban interface code. Cities and towns adopt codes by reference under A.R.S. 9-802. Neither may require fire sprinklers in a single-family detached residence or a residential building of not more than two dwelling units, unless the requirement was adopted before December 31, 2009 (A.R.S. 9-807 and 11-861(E)), and a county may not use fire apparatus access road rules to require sprinklers in a one- or two-family residence or an accessory building. The statewide code is the fire code. A.R.S. 37-1381 places the Office of the State Fire Marshal in the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, and A.R.S. 37-1383 has it adopt by rule a state fire code and enforce it throughout the state, except in a city of 100,000 or more people that has a nationally recognized fire code and has assumed that jurisdiction by ordinance; even those cities do not supersede the state fire code in state or county owned buildings. The office runs a fire safety inspection program for state and county public buildings and for public and private school buildings, except private schools in cities of 100,000 or more. Under 37-1383(B), plans for new construction, remodeling, alterations, and additions for state, county, and public school buildings and grounds must be submitted for State Fire Marshal review and approval before construction, as a one-phase or two-phase permit; the statute sets 60 days for a one-phase decision and 30 days for a two-phase initial determination with 60 days for the final, and construction may start if the office has not acted on a valid application within 60 days. Under 37-1383(G), a city or town may take plan review of municipal and private buildings itself, by a person it designates as knowledgeable of the state fire code, with a 60-day decision.

The State Fire Code is Article 2 of 4 A.A.C. 36. In the latest copy of the chapter we could read, Supplement 21-4, R4-36-201 incorporates the International Fire Code, 2018 edition, including Sections D102.1 and D107.1 of Appendix D and Appendices B, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, and N, as amended by Article 3 and effective January 7, 2022. Exhibit A to R4-36-302 lets D102.1 yield to the minimum of the local fire response agency and D107.1 to the minimum of the local building or subdivision authority; R4-36-301 makes the State Fire Marshal the fire code official, fire chief, and fire department in the code; and R4-36-303 gives the office five business days to decide whether an application and plans are administratively complete, 60 calendar days after that to grant or deny the permit, and the permittee 180 days to start work. Two details do not line up: the statute counts 60 days from a valid application while the rule counts from administrative completeness, and the fee rule, R4-36-202, still cites A.R.S. 41-2146(D) and the State Fire Safety Committee. The Department of Forestry and Fire Management’s website and the Secretary of State’s rules site refused automated reading on November 7, 2026, and the copy we read is the one codified through December 31, 2021, so confirm with the State Fire Marshal whether a later rule adopts a newer IFC before relying on the 2018 edition. A city fire code can be newer: Phoenix publishes the 2024 IFC with Phoenix amendments.

The other state rules are in the same position. The Board of Manufactured Housing’s 4 A.A.C. 34, in the latest copy we could read (Supplement 21-3), incorporates in R4-34-102 the 2018 IBC, IRC, IMC, IPC, IFGC, and IECC and the 2017 NEC for factory-built buildings, last amended effective January 31, 2021, and R4-34-103 excludes IRC Section R313, the automatic sprinkler requirement; confirm the current editions with the Department of Housing’s Office of Manufactured Housing. The Attorney General’s rules in 10 A.A.C. 3, Article 4, amended effective February 7, 2012, define the 2010 Standards as appendices B and D to 36 CFR 1191 (2009) with 28 CFR 35.151 for public entities or 28 CFR 36.401 to 36.406 for public accommodations and commercial facilities, and R10-3-403 and R10-3-404 require those entities to comply with them. Under A.R.S. 41-1492.06, compliance with Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act is compliance with the Arizona act, the rules may not exceed the federal standards, and a political subdivision may adopt codes that exceed them. We found no statewide energy code in the statutes or rules read; energy codes come from the local ordinance, and Phoenix adopts the 2024 IECC. All checked November 7, 2026.

Public money changes the route. A.R.S. 34-461 defines a public building as one built in whole or in part with public monies and requires it to comply with the state fire code and with the building, plumbing, electrical, fire, and mechanical codes of the city, town, county, or fire district where it stands; where no local codes are adopted, it follows the state fire code and the codes of the largest city in the county, and the codes in effect when it is designed or constructed. At a school district’s or charter school’s request, the State Fire Marshal may agree with the local government or fire district to impose the local fire code, and the school can then choose who does plan review, permitting, and inspections. State-owned buildings are exempt from those local code requirements except the fire code in effect where they stand, buildings of the Arizona Board of Regents and its universities are exempt from local fire codes without an intergovernmental agreement, A.R.S. 34-462 exempts community college buildings from local building codes, and in a county of more than 750,000 and fewer than two million people a public school district’s buildings are exempt from the local permitting process and fees except for the fire code, unless the district chooses to submit. School buildings funded through the state must also meet the adequacy rules: under A.R.S. 41-5711, school buildings must comply with the federal, state, and local building and fire codes that apply, and a school with an aggregate area under 5,000 square feet is permitted and inspected by the local fire marshal, with the State Fire Marshal involved only where the county, city, or town employs none; the School Facilities Oversight Board adopts minimum school facility adequacy guidelines by rule and, under A.R.S. 41-5702, certifies that plans for new school facilities meet the building adequacy standards.

Factory-built buildings are approved by the state. The Department of Housing’s Office of Manufactured Housing enforces standards for manufactured homes, factory-built buildings, and their installation under A.R.S. 41-4002. Under A.R.S. 41-4005, a manufacturer must have detailed plans of each new model approved before construction, reconstruction plans must be certified by an Arizona-registered engineer, installation plans must be approved before a factory-built building or accessory structure is installed, and the office or an authorized third-party inspector inspects the building. A.R.S. 41-4006 bars local agencies from inspecting certified units for anything the state inspects, but local zoning, fire zones, setbacks, maximum area and fire separation, site development, property line, and on-site utility terminal requirements still apply. The office’s plan review page, as last captured in June 2025 because the live site refused automated reading, describes the installation submittal as a site plan, utility information, and a foundation system, and asks for the local flood district’s approval before a flood-prone foundation is submitted. Licensed health care institutions have their own architectural plan review at the Department of Health Services; its licensing site did not render that section for automated reading, so confirm the codes and submittal with the department.

Local review has statutory limits on correction rounds. Under A.R.S. 9-835(G), a municipality may make one comprehensive written request for corrections during substantive review, may amend it once to add legal requirements it missed, and each department may issue its own; A.R.S. 11-1605(G) says the same for counties. For licenses needed for residential building construction or land development, 9-835(K) requires a refund of review fees if the municipality makes more than one comprehensive and one supplemental request for corrections. Phoenix is one example of a local code. Its building code page says the City Council adopted the 2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code on June 18, 2025, effective August 1, 2025, with amendments in Ordinance G-7397: the 2024 IBC, IRC, IMC, IFGC, IECC, IEBC, ISPSC, IPC, and Uniform Plumbing Code, the 2023 NEC, and the 2024 IFC with Phoenix amendments, with ICC A117.1-2017 as scoped in the amended IBC and the 2010 ADA Standards for accessibility. Its implementation notice applies the 2024 code to plans submitted for initial review from August 1, 2025, let the 2018 code continue for complete plans submitted through December 31, 2025 in listed cases, and kept standard plans approved under the 2018 code valid until July 31, 2026. The city has also deferred enforcement of the 2023 NEC 210.8(F) Exception 2 GFCI requirement for HVAC equipment until March 1, 2027. Other Arizona cities and counties adopt different editions, so get the ordinance for the site. Permit routing is on the Arizona page and the Phoenix page, and the model codes have their own guides: IFC, IBC, IRC, IECC, IPC, UPC, and NFPA 70.

Gather the local code, the ownership and funding, and the state references

Collect the cover sheet and code analysis with every code and edition cited, the occupancy, construction type, area, height, and occupant loads; the site plan with fire apparatus access, hydrants, and fire flow; the life safety plan with exits, rated assemblies, and sprinkler and alarm coverage; floor plans, elevations, and sections; the structural, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical drawings; the sprinkler, fire alarm, kitchen hood, fire pump, standpipe, and underground fire line drawings; the energy compliance documents; accessible route, parking, toilet room, and elevator details; for a factory-built building, the approved plans, the installation plan with site, utility, and foundation information, and any accessory structure plans; and the specifications.

Add the parcel’s city, town, or county and whether it is incorporated, its zoning if unincorporated, the local building and fire codes and their adoption dates, the fire district if any, whether the building is owned by the state, a county, a public school district, a charter school, a university, or a community college or is otherwise built with public money, whether state school facility funding is involved, whether the building is factory-built, and the permit application date. Read the statutes on the Arizona Legislature’s site, get the rules from the Secretary of State or the agencies, and get the local code from the city or county.

Trace the Arizona codes and reviewers through the set

Fire code sheets continue in the IFC guide; sprinkler and alarm documents in the NFPA 13, NFPA 13D, and NFPA 72 guides, the fire sprinkler checklist, and the fire alarm drawing checklist; kitchen hoods in the NFPA 96 guide; egress and fire protection in the means of egress and IBC Chapter 9 guides; wildland-urban interface sites in the IWUIC guide; pools in the ISPSC guide; energy in the IECC guide; and accessible details in the 2010 ADA Standards and ICC A117.1 guides and the accessibility checklist. Neighboring state codes are in the California Building Code guide, the Utah guide, and the New Mexico guide.

Example: a school district gymnasium drawn from a Phoenix project

Hypothetical example. A public school district in a rural county plans a new gymnasium of about 9,000 square feet in an unincorporated area where the county has adopted a building code. The architect reused the code analysis from a Phoenix project, which cites the 2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code and the 2024 IFC with Phoenix amendments; the fire sprinkler and alarm drawings are set up for the county building department; the accessibility notes cite only ICC A117.1-2017; and the district plans to start site work once the county issues its permit.

A.R.S. 37-1383(B) requires plans for public school buildings to be submitted for State Fire Marshal review and approval before construction, unless an agreement under A.R.S. 34-461 lets the local fire authority impose its code and the district chooses it for plan review. A.R.S. 34-461(A) applies the county’s adopted building codes to a building built with public money, not Phoenix’s ordinance, and the State Fire Code in the latest rule copy we could read is the 2018 IFC with Arizona appendices, not the 2024 IFC with Phoenix amendments. The Attorney General’s AzDA rules require public entities to comply with the 2010 ADA Standards. Confirm the reviewing offices, the State Fire Code edition, and the accessibility basis with the State Fire Marshal and the county.

The architect rewrites the code analysis on the county’s adopted codes and the State Fire Code, asks the State Fire Marshal to confirm the current fire code edition, submits the plans to the State Fire Marshal as a one-phase or two-phase permit, adds the 2010 ADA Standards to the accessibility basis, and the district waits for approval before construction. The finding is a citation and routing conflict; the State Fire Marshal and the county building official decide compliance.

Review an Arizona set with Groundbook

Upload the current drawings and specifications to Groundbook, and state the edition, amendments, and review scope in your instructions. Arizona’s statutes are free on the Legislature’s site, the Secretary of State publishes the Arizona Administrative Code, and cities such as Phoenix post their adopted codes and amendments. Upload the A.R.S. sections that apply, 4 A.A.C. 36 and, where they apply, 4 A.A.C. 34 and 10 A.A.C. 3, and the city or county ordinance as code files, with the IFC edition the State Fire Marshal confirms, the I-codes and NEC edition the local code adopts, and the NFPA standards and ICC A117.1 the project relies on from copies you are licensed to use where the license permits uploading them. See how Groundbook works with local and licensed codes.

Compare the cover sheet, code analysis, life safety plan, and every discipline’s general notes with the architectural, structural, fire protection, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, energy, and accessibility documents. Flag building code editions other than the ones the local ordinance in my instructions adopts, fire code citations that match neither the State Fire Code edition nor the local fire code in my instructions, fire protection drawings routed to an office that does not fit the ownership and funding in my instructions, a sprinkler requirement for a one- or two-unit residence that the local code cannot impose, factory-built units without state plan approval, and accessibility notes that do not name the 2010 ADA Standards. Use the supplied statutes, rules, ordinance, and model codes and cite both sources.

Groundbook compares the set with reference documents you upload, including licensed codes and standards you hold, and links each potential finding to the note or sheet and to the Arizona statute, rule, ordinance, or model code. It has no built-in library of licensed codes, runs no calculations, and does not design anything. It does not decide whether the State Fire Marshal or a local authority reviews a public building, which fire code edition is in force, or whether a building counts as a public building; each finding is a question for the responsible design professional.

Document review does not certify compliance, issue a permit or certificate of occupancy, or replace the design professional, the city or county building official and fire marshal, the State Fire Marshal, the Office of Manufactured Housing, the School Facilities Oversight Board, or the Department of Health Services.