Scottsdale, AZ
Scottsdale plumbing permit cost
Scottsdale publishes no plumbing rate. There is no per-fixture
per-water-heater or per-gas-outlet figure in Exhibit A. The one plumbing item the City prices flat is the most common plumbing job there is: a water heater permit is $63. A solar water heater is $90. For a permit covering a single discipline on its own the City publishes a minimum permit fee of $121, and plumbing work on a building project is paid for by that project's permit, priced by area at $0.94 per square foot with air conditioning and $0.54 covered.
How this fee is calculated
These are the components the schedule defines for this permit, as they applied on 2026-09-28. A component only applies to your project if its conditions match — read that column before assuming a figure. Want a figure for your own project? Estimate this fee with the permit fee calculator.
| Component | Formula | Applies when | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stand-alone permit, one disciplinePermit fee | $121.00 flat fee | schedule item is not provided | — |
| Solar water heater permitPermit fee | $90.00 flat fee | schedule item is solar water heater | — |
| Water heater permitPermit fee | $63.00 flat fee | schedule item is water heater | — |
| Re-inspectionInspection fee | $121.00 flat fee | reinspection is true | — |
A real permit fee is these components added together. The department’s final calculation is the one that applies — this is the schedule it will be based on.
A worked example
Follow the arithmetic by hand. Every line is produced by the engine from the rules above, so the total cannot drift away from the schedule behind it.
Worked example
A water heater permit on its own — the one plumbing item the City prices flat, and the most common plumbing permit there is.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Occupancy class | Residential |
| Schedule item | water_heater |
Example total
$63.00
An estimate, not an official fee. It is calculated from the published fee schedule as it applied on 2026-09-28. The permit office’s own calculation is the one that applies, and your project may fall under rules this schedule does not describe.
Fee schedule as of 2026-09-28Rules applied 1Rules considered 4
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Water heater permitPermit feeMiscellaneous Permit Fees — "Water Heaters (except solar) $63". The City prices this one plumbing item flat, in a schedule that otherwise prices plumbing work by area.Show the working
| $63.00 flat fee | $63.00 |
| Total | $63.00 |
Fees that do not apply here
Listed so you can see what was considered and left out, rather than wondering whether something is missing. A rule can also be left out because it is not published for this permit at all, and that is stated where it matters.
- Stand-alone permit, one discipline — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Solar water heater permit — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Re-inspection — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 1 fee rule in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
$63, published as 'Water Heaters (except solar) $63' in the Miscellaneous permit schedule. The one-discipline minimum is shown as excluded rather than added to it: the two are alternatives, and the schedule does not say the $121 floors the $63.
The practical reading is that a like-for-like water heater replacement in Scottsdale is a $63 permit with no plan review and no area measurement attached to it, and that a solar water heater is a $90 permit instead. Everything else about the job — the labour, the unit, the disposal of the old one — is not a permit fee and is not in this figure.
What is different in Scottsdale
$63 is the headline, and it is a real published fee rather than a minimum: the Miscellaneous permit schedule prints 'Water Heaters (except solar) $63' as its own line. That 'except solar' is the City's carve-out and it matters, because the same schedule prices a solar water heater at $90 — a different permit at a different price, not a discount on this one. Both are flat, and neither is measured against anything.
Everything else about plumbing in Scottsdale runs the other way. The City does not price fixtures, does not price gas outlets, and does not price a plumbing permit separately from the building it serves. On a new home or a remodel, the plumbing is inside the building permit, and that permit is priced by area: $237, plus $0.94 per square foot of air-conditioned area, plus $0.54 per square foot of covered area. A house with one bathroom and a house with five of the same size are charged identically. That is a real difference from Houston, where a plumbing permit is $34.24 for the first three fixtures plus $11.41 for each additional fixture, and from Dallas, where a trade inspection is priced by how many trades the job involves.
The remaining figure to know is the floor: 'Minimum Permit (one discipline) $121', the only thing the City publishes about a permit taken out for a single trade on its own. It is published as a minimum and not as a rate; where the schedule prices an item flat — a water heater, a solar water heater — that figure applies instead. The $121 and the $63 are alternatives here for exactly that reason, and adding them would invent a $184 permit the document does not contain.
What is not published is worth stating plainly, because it is the most common plumbing fee people go looking for. There is no fee for a water heater replacement beyond the $63 permit, no separate gas line charge, no sewer or water connection charge, and no per-fixture rate. The connection charges a project pays to the utilities are not in Exhibit A at all.
What this figure does not include
Impact fees, utility connections and other departments’ permits are the usual omissions, and in some jurisdictions they are larger than the permit fee itself.
Not included in these figures
This estimate is a single fee published by the City of Scottsdale for the item selected, computed by this site's engine. It is not a total project cost, and it does not include:
- The building permit fee that carries plumbing work on a construction or remodelling project: $237 plus the two area rates, on the building permit page rather than this one.
- The $379 minimum for a permit covering all disciplines, published beside the $121 minimum and not computed here.
- Plan review, a second pair of area rates in a schedule of its own at $0.54 and $0.34 per square foot with no base fee, computed on the building permit page.
- Water and sewer connection charges, which are charged by the utility and are not in Exhibit A.
- Every other plumbing-adjacent fee the schedules publish: off-hours inspections $379, on-site grading $121, pools and attached spas at $0.61 per square foot plus the $237 base and a $195 planning inspection fee, stand-alone spas $142, refuse enclosure permits at $305 and $410, and every miscellaneous or revision review at $121 an hour.
- Backflow prevention testing and devices, which Scottsdale does not price by device in this schedule.
- Gas piping and medical gas, which have no separate rate.
- Fees on the City's other schedules — application fees, right-of-way annual fees, expedited plan review, in-lieu parking, records and stormwater management — and anything for property outside the Scottsdale city limits.
- Anything charged by Maricopa County, which is not described here because whether the county issues construction permits for unincorporated areas has not been verified against the county's own site.
What you need before applying
- Plumbing work on a project is paid for by area, not by fixtureRequired
There is no per-fixture, per-water-closet or per-gas-outlet rate in Exhibit A. Plumbing on a construction or remodelling project is inside the building permit, priced by area at $0.94 per square foot of area with A/C plus $0.54 per square foot covered, behind a $237 base, so a house with one bathroom and a house with five of the same size are charged the same. Houston charges a plumbing permit per fixture and Dallas charges a trade inspection by trade count; Scottsdale charges neither.
- Water heater fees are alternatives to the minimum, not additions to itRequired
The Miscellaneous permit schedule prices a water heater at $63, 'except solar', and a solar water heater at $90 — its own carve-out, which is why the two are separate rules rather than one with a condition. It also publishes the $121 minimum for a permit covering one discipline. These are listed as separate fees and the schedule does not say the minimum floors the flat item fees, so this site charges one published figure at a time and never sums them: $184 for a water heater permit is not a fee the City publishes.
Common questions
How much is a plumbing permit in Scottsdale?
Scottsdale prices one plumbing item flat: a water heater permit is $63, or $90 if it is a solar water heater. Everything else is priced through the building permit by area rather than by fixture or by trade, and a permit taken out for a single discipline on its own carries a published minimum of $121.
Does Scottsdale charge per plumbing fixture?
No. There is no per-fixture, per-water-closet or per-gas-outlet rate in Exhibit A. Plumbing on a construction project is inside the building permit, which is priced by area — $0.94 per square foot of air-conditioned space and $0.54 covered — so fixtures do not change the fee. Houston, by contrast, charges $34.24 for the first three fixtures and $11.41 for each additional one.
Do I need a permit to replace a water heater in Scottsdale?
The City publishes a $63 permit fee for a water heater, which is the fee it charges when a permit is taken out. Whether a straight replacement needs one is the department's call rather than a fee schedule's, and nothing on this site decides it. The published fee is $63, and $90 for a solar water heater.
How much is a solar water heater permit?
$90. It is published separately from the $63 an ordinary water heater costs, which is why the water heater row says 'except solar'. That is a permit fee for the plumbing side of a solar thermal system; the electrified side, a residential solar photovoltaic system, is a $168 permit.
Are water and sewer connections included?
No. Connection charges are the utility's and are not part of the City's fee schedules, and there is no sewer or water connection rate in Exhibit A. The permit fee covers the plumbing work in the building; what a project pays to connect is a separate matter.
Is the $121 minimum charged on top of the $63 water heater fee?
No, and this site does not add them. The $121 is published as a minimum for a permit covering one discipline, and the $63 is published as the fee for a water heater permit. The schedule lists them as separate fees and does not say the minimum floors the $63, so charging $184 for a permit the City prices at $63 would be inventing a total.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Permit Fee Schedule — Miscellaneous (Exhibit A)
Two pages, pages 12 and 13 of Exhibit A. Fetched 2026-09-24 (sha256 489d15a21aa3713a4aaca378c771db79398d51fa0d4c45fedef66b688c98da57, 126,332 bytes). Cited for the fees this site names and does not compute: certificate of occupancy $195, demolition $379 ($121 for a pool), water heaters $63, residential solar $168 and commercial solar $331, solar water heaters $90, temporary power pole $121, re-inspection $121, pools and attached spas $0.61 per sq ft plus the $237 base and a $195 planning inspection fee, stand-alone spas $142, signs from $26 to $363 per sign behind a $237 base charged once per application, and the two minimum permit fees. It also publishes the departmental-structure evidence for trade work: 'Minimum Permit (one discipline) $121' and 'Minimum Combination (all disciplines) $379'.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Permit Fee Schedule — Residential (Exhibit A)
Two pages, pages 10 and 11 of the City's 23-page Exhibit A, effective 1 July 2026 under Resolution No. 13661. Fetched from scottsdaleaz.gov on 2026-09-24 (sha256 6f43f6738e12f1258a92cf6c7bc82a4c7c9b27bed94bd612100d9072a8d9cb08, 123,060 bytes) and read locally with pdftotext -table, which is the mode that pairs each fee with its own row; -layout interleaves the label and amount columns on these pages and would misassign them. A later capture can be compared against that hash.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.