Fort Smith Building Safety Division
- Phone
- (479) 784-1000
- Hours
- Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT
Arkansas
Fort Smith, AR permit fees and requirements
Fort Smith's Building Safety Division issues permits under Chapter 6 of the Code of Ordinances.
Building permit fees read the cost of construction: residential (single-family and duplex) pays $15.00–$37.50 by bracket plus $1.50 per additional $1,000 or fraction thereof above $2,000, while nonresidential work climbs a banded ladder from $15.00 to $2,536.50 plus $1.50 per $1,000 above $1,000,000. Multifamily and commercial projects add a plan review of 20% of the permit fee capped at $1,500. Electrical permits price each active circuit ($5.50 down to $3.50 by band, $30.00 minimum), and plumbing inspection fees run $5.50 per fixture outlet with a $24.00 permit minimum.
Permit costs we have worked out
Each page shows the fee components, the formula the jurisdiction uses, and a worked example you can follow by hand.
Estimate your potential Fort Smith permit fee with our Building Permit Fee Calculator.
| Permit | Category | Last reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Smith Building Permit Cost | structural | 2026-09-26 |
| Fort Smith Electrical Permit Cost | electrical | 2026-09-26 |
| Fort Smith Plumbing Permit Cost | plumbing | 2026-09-26 |
Local context
What is specific to Fort Smith
Fort Smith sits on the Oklahoma line in Sebastian County and permits everything inside city limits through its Building Safety Division on Garrison Avenue, with applications through the CityView portal. The City's plumbing inspection program uniquely reaches beyond the city: Ordinance 96-05 requires all plumbing in the 'transfer area' south of Fort Smith — wherever the City is the water supplier — to be inspected by a Fort Smith plumbing inspector.
The building section also publishes a minimum-valuation chart for new homes, from $80 per square foot under 1,800 sq ft to $180 per square foot at 3,501 and larger, which floors the valuation a permit is priced from unless the builder documents a lower figure with a Marshall & Swift report.
Valuation
How valuation is determined here
Valuation is the 'cost of construction' — all labor, material, subcontracts, overhead, profit and other costs, including all site work such as parking lots. New residential construction uses the minimum-valuation chart unless a Marshall & Swift Valuation Service report establishes a lesser figure.
Who to contact
The office that issues the permit, with the details we have verified. Confirm current hours before travelling.
What these fees do not include
The list is not a disclaimer: on a new house the fees left out can outweigh the permit fee several times over. Every entry here is stated on the permit page as well.
Not included in our estimates
These figures cover the City of Fort Smith building, electrical and plumbing permit fees only. They exclude:
- Mechanical (HVAC) permits, priced on a separate schedule (Sec. 6-355).
- Sidewalk assessments, charged by construction year in the same section but not a permit fee.
- Sebastian County and state permits — septic systems, floodplain and state rights-of-way.
- Fort Smith Utility Department water, sewer and gas tap and connection charges.
- Fire Department reviews for suppression systems and special events.
Official sources for this jurisdiction
The documents these figures are transcribed from. Where a source contradicts itself we keep both readings and say so on the permit page.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Building Permit Fee Schedule Information — Fort Smith Building & Development
The City's fee-schedule hub page. Its four fee links point at the Municode sections for Secs. 6-30, 6-75, 6-242 and the mechanical schedule — the routing that identifies the operative code texts. The page itself 403s scripted requests (Akamai) and was read in a browser session.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Fort Smith Code of Ordinances Ch. 6 Art. II, Sec. 6-30 — Fee schedule
Sec. 6-30 (Ord. 23-99; Ord. 108-09, altered in the 2019 recodification) carries the residential and nonresidential cost-of-construction ladders, the residential minimum-valuation chart, demolition and plan review at 20% capped at $1,500. Read from the Municode Library consolidation, which is where the City's own fee-schedule page links.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Fort Smith Code of Ordinances Ch. 6 Art. III, Sec. 6-75 — Permit fees
Sec. 6-75 (Ord. 23-99) prices electrical permits by active circuits ($5.50/$5.00/$4.50/$4.00/$3.50 per circuit by band) with a $30.00 minimum inspection fee, plus flat rows for panel replacement, temporary service, mobile-home service, signs, generators and transformers.
- Municipal codeCityPrimary source
Fort Smith Code of Ordinances Ch. 6 Art. VI, Sec. 6-242(b) — Inspection fees
Sec. 6-242(b) (Ord. 23-99; Ord. 55-02) prices plumbing inspections per fixture outlet ($5.50), water/sewer service ($5.50), appliance ($4.00), gas service ($5.50 for up to five outlets, $1.50 each additional), final inspection ($12.00) with a $24.00 minimum fee.