Drafting & permit plans · Arizona
Permit-ready drawings for Arizona projects, from any AHJ.
We are a Phoenix-based studio drafting plan sets for Phoenix Planning & Development, Maricopa County, and Arizona’s other building departments. Every set opens with a code-analysis sheet; ADU rules, Phoenix overlay, and climate-zone-2B envelope choices are baked in before we draft.
ARIZONA CODE ADOPTION
Building
Set city by city: IBC 2024 in Phoenix (since Aug. 1, 2025), Mesa and Tucson; IBC 2021 in Scottsdale; IBC 2018 in unincorporated Maricopa County and Flagstaff
Residential
IRC on the same city-by-city cycle (IRC 2024 in Phoenix)
Energy
No statewide energy code: each city adopts its own IECC edition (Phoenix: IECC 2024 with city amendments)
Arizona has no statewide building code; each city and county adopts and amends its own, so we confirm the edition for every project. Phoenix enforces the 2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code (the 2024 I-codes as amended by the city). A 2024 state law (A.R.S. § 9-461.18) sets ADU rules for cities and towns over 75,000 people.
CLIMATE ZONE · 2B (hot-dry) for the Phoenix and Tucson areas; 3B–5B elsewhere, by county (4B Yavapai, 5B Coconino / Flagstaff)
Editions checked October 2026 · Sources: Phoenix building code · Mesa building code · Scottsdale building codes · Tucson building codes · U.S. DOE: Arizona energy code status
WHAT TO KNOW IN ARIZONA
Phoenix offers appointment-based review for some TIs
Phoenix Planning & Development runs a Permit by Appointment program for eligible commercial tenant improvements; restaurants, kitchens and changes of occupancy are excluded. We check eligibility before we draft, and if a reviewer flags an error in our drawings, we fix it free.
A 2024 state law limits ADU rules
A.R.S. § 9-461.18 limits ADU rules in cities and towns over 75,000 people: side and rear setbacks capped at 5 feet, no extra parking, and height and lot rules no stricter than for the main house. Each city still sets its own ADU standards on top.
Climate zone 2B drives envelope choices
Under the IECC edition your city has adopted, zone 2B is cooling-dominated: roof reflectance, glazing SHGC and insulation continuity are the envelope items to settle early, and we lock those before drafting.
Wildland-urban interface in northern Arizona
Some northern Arizona jurisdictions — Flagstaff and the Sedona Fire District among them — enforce wildland-urban interface codes (ignition-resistant construction, defensible space). We flag WUI requirements at kickoff so structural and material choices are settled early.
HOW WE WORK IN ARIZONA
Arizona is our home market. Phoenix Planning & Development (the former Development Services Department, still often called DSD), Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, and Glendale each run their own review with their own submittal checklists. We keep a running checklist for each city, built from the correction comments reviewers have actually sent us.
For residential projects across Arizona — custom homes, additions, and ADUs — the playbook is the same: pre-clear zoning (in Phoenix, R1-6 to R1-10 districts are common; other cities use their own district names), confirm height and FAR before drafting, run the energy path against the IECC edition the city has adopted, and set out the code path on the first sheet. We build the permit set around what the plan reviewer expects to see, so it goes through review with as few corrections as possible.
For projects outside the Phoenix metro — Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, Yuma — we start by confirming which code edition the building department has adopted: Arizona has no statewide building code, and cities and counties enforce 2018, 2021 or 2024 editions with their own amendments. Wildland-urban interface and altitude-driven envelope changes get flagged on the kickoff call.
MAJOR BUILDING DEPARTMENTS
- · City of Phoenix Planning & Development
- · City of Mesa
- · City of Tempe
- · City of Scottsdale
- · City of Chandler
- · City of Glendale
- · City of Gilbert
- · City of Surprise
- · Maricopa County
- · Pima County
- · City of Tucson
- · City of Flagstaff
PLAN-REVIEW TIMES
Each Arizona building department sets and posts its own review time frames, as state law requires (A.R.S. § 9-835). Phoenix publishes its plan-review goals and monthly averages by project size. Check the current figures for your city before you set a schedule.
Published by the departments: Phoenix plan-review turnaround report (monthly) · A.R.S. § 9-835 (time frames cities must post)
WHAT WE QUOTE IN AZ
Commercial tenant improvements
Offices, retail and medical, up to 3,000 sf with no structural change; restaurants, gyms, churches, event spaces and larger or structural spaces we refer to a registered architect. Phoenix overlay + change-of-use review baked in.
Custom homes + ADUs
Single-family new builds, additions, detached / attached / garage-conversion ADUs.
Apartment & condo units
Renovation inside one apartment or condo unit, with no wall changed. Apartment buildings, and work on more than one unit, we refer to a registered architect.
Send the lot, the GC, and the date you want to break ground. We reply within one business day.