Do commercial plumbing repairs need a Phoenix permit?

The 2024 Phoenix Building Construction Code (Ordinance G-7397, effective August 1, 2025) lists the exempt work in Section 105.2. It says a plumbing permit isn't required for these:

1. 1Stopping leaks in drain, water, soil, waste or vent pipe. If a concealed pipe or trap has to be cut out and replaced with new material, the code calls that new work and requires a permit and inspection.
2. 2Clearing stoppages, or repairing leaks in pipes, valves or fixtures, and pulling and reinstalling water closets, as long as the repair doesn't require replacing or rearranging valves, pipes or fixtures.
3. 3Replacing water closets, valves or fixtures with new ones that meet the code's water conservation rules. Relocating any valve, pipe or fixture needs a permit.
4. 4Repairing or replacing portable or built-in appliances that aren't regulated as building service equipment and connect to the water, drain or gas piping by approved means.
5. 5Replacing a water heater in kind, but only in one- and two-family dwellings and only by a licensed contractor. That does not cover a commercial water heater.
6. 6Repairing or replacing existing secondary backflow assemblies 2 inches and smaller, with a certified tester's report submitted to the city.

The section opens with the rule that matters most: an exemption doesn't authorize work that violates the code. No permit means no city inspector, not no standards.

That last row has a shortcut: the FOG manual says like-for-like replacement of a hydromechanical grease interceptor can go through over-the-counter review, while a new interceptor needs electronic plan review.

### What do these rules look like on a real job?

Four Valley examples show where the line falls.

• A restaurant floor drain clogs. The plumber snakes it, and no permit is needed (exemption 2). Then the camera shows a cracked pipe under the slab. Now the answer flips. Cutting out and replacing that section is new work, so it needs a permit and an underground inspection before the slab is patched.
• A dental office moves a sink three feet. The sink is still in the same room, but relocating a fixture is outside exemption 3. It needs a permit.
• A retail store's water heater fails on a Saturday. A commercial water heater is not covered by exemption 5, so a permit is required. The 72-hour rule described below lets the store keep running it while the inspection request is filed.
• An office swaps a leaking toilet for a new one in the same spot. The new toilet has to meet the code's water conservation rules. If it does, this is exempt (exemption 3).

### What do people get wrong about commercial repair permits?

• Myth: A commercial water heater swap is exempt like a house. Not so. Item 5 covers one- and two-family dwellings only.
• Myth: Any backflow replacement is exempt. Not so. Item 6 covers existing secondary assemblies of 2 inches or smaller, with a tester's report. A new installation needs a permit, and the city's TRT 00634 says installation, alteration or replacement requires one.
• Myth: No permit means no code. Not so. Section 105.2 opens by saying an exemption does not authorize work that violates the code.

The process is the same every time.

1. 1Match the job to the six items in Section 105.2. If it doesn't fit one of them, it needs a permit.
2. 2Apply through SHAPE PHX, the city's online permit portal. A business with more than one employee asks the SHAPE PHX team to set up one business account.
3. 3Name the licensed contractor who will do the work.
4. 4Book the inspections before anything is closed up.

### How do the quick permits work?

For a few small commercial scopes, Phoenix sells permits online with no plan review: replacing a water heater, a minor plumbing repipe and repairing gas pipe. They're for applicants working with a licensed contractor, who has to verify in advance that the building's electrical and plumbing systems can handle the change. Properties in designated historic districts and properties with unresolved non-permitted construction cases aren't eligible.

Anything bigger, like new restrooms, moved fixtures or a kitchen build-out, goes through plan review with drawings. The city says a commercial building permit is required for remodels, additions, tenant improvements and changes of use.

Two options exist for owners who do a lot of work. The code lets the building official issue an annual permit in place of an individual permit for each alteration to an already approved installation, for someone who regularly employs qualified tradespeople on the premises. And a building maintenance registration exempts registrants from the normal permit requirement for Level 1 alterations and for repair and maintenance of plumbing equipment in buildings they own and control. The registration requires a licensed supervisor, and in both cases the work still has to meet code and get city inspection before anything is covered up.

An annual permit comes with paperwork. Section 105.1.2 says the holder must keep a detailed record of the alterations made under it, and the building official has access to those records. If your company uses an annual permit, the maintenance log is part of the deal, so keep it current.

### How do Chandler and Scottsdale handle commercial repair permits?

Do not carry Phoenix's list into another city. Each city amends the permit chapter on its own.

• Chandler replaced the plumbing code's Chapter 1 with the administration chapter of the 2024 International Building Code, the same starting point Phoenix uses. But Chandler amends that chapter itself, including its own annual permit for repeat alterations at a previously approved building, so read its exemption list before you assume Phoenix's applies.
• Scottsdale publishes a list of small plumbing jobs that need a Minimum Plumbing Permit. It includes repairing or replacing a fixture in the same location, repairing broken water lines and repairing a sewer line. That list is written for homes, but it shows Scottsdale asks for a permit on small jobs that Phoenix exempts. The city also says work done without a permit is fined double the permit fee. Ask Scottsdale which list applies to a commercial suite.

If the fix touches concealed pipe, a fixture location, a water heater, gas or backflow, expect a permit and build the inspection into the schedule. A good contractor can tell you in one sentence which line of the exemption list a job falls under. HQ is licensed and insured, gives free estimates, and prices the job up front before work begins.

### What inspections will the city require?

A permit means inspections at set points. Phoenix's amended Section 110.3.10.1 says a rough-in or underground inspection is required for all sewer, drainage and vent piping, and for all water and gas distribution systems, before they are buried or concealed. A final inspection is required once the fixtures are set and operating, or ready to operate pending final utility connection. Building service equipment regulated by the technical codes is not to be connected to the water, fuel, power or sewer system until the building official authorizes it. Pressure tests and similar tests follow the plumbing code. The practical rule is simple: do not close a wall, pour a slab or cover a trench until the inspector has signed off.

### What if the replacement cannot wait?

Some failures, like a commercial water heater that dies in an occupied building, cannot wait days for a slot. The same section makes room for that. It does not prohibit operating replacement building service equipment that serves an occupied part of the building, as long as the request for inspection is filed with the building official no more than 72 hours after the replacement work is finished, and before any part of the equipment is concealed by a permanent part of the building. That is a limit on when you may start using new equipment. It is not an exemption from the permit, and the work still has to meet code. Tell your plumber the building is occupied, and have them file the permit and the inspection request the same day.

### What records should you keep?

For every permitted job, keep the permit number, the inspection sign-offs and the contractor's invoice in one file for the building. A buyer's lender, an insurance adjuster and the next tenant's contractor will all ask for them. For jobs that did not need a permit, keep a short note of what was done, where and by whom, since it shows that the work stayed inside the exemption.

### Who has to do the work?

A license question sits right next to the permit question. Permit-required plumbing in Phoenix has to be done by a licensed journeyman, an apprentice or a state-licensed contractor. An apprentice must work "under the supervision of a Licensed Journeyman or Arizona State Licensed Contractor at all times work is being performed," and the supervisor is responsible for the apprentice's work. The application itself can come from an owner or the owner's authorized agent, but it has to name the licensed contractor doing the job. Our page on who can pull a commercial plumbing permit explains the license classes. For the residential version of this list, see what plumbing work needs a permit in Phoenix.

### Where can you read the rule yourself?

Full text and source: Section 105.2 (work exempt from permit), Section 105.1.2 (annual permits), Section 110.3.10.1 (inspections) and Section 118 (building maintenance registration) are in the Phoenix amendments to the 2024 IBC Chapter 1, in the file 2024-ibc-ch1.pdf linked in the sources above. The backflow guidance is TRT 00634, and the online-permit scopes are in TRT 00933. Read them before you skip a permit, since the city can update its amendments.