Third Party Plan Review & Inspections

Important notice for Fire Permit Application

The City of Arlington is continually working to enhance our development review processes to improve the overall customer experience!

Effective January 01, 2022, the City of Arlington will be accepting Fire Permits for plan review by City Staff, and it does not need to go through an approved Third-party Fire Plan Review Contractor. However, we continue to allow you the option of third-party review, if you choose to.

If reviewed by city staff, a plan review fee will be assessed based on the value of the work to be performed, which will need to be paid at the time of application submittal. This fee will be in addition to the inspection fee currently being assessed for each project. The fees are based on construction valuation of the fire system and were adopted by City Council as part of the FY2022 Budget Adoption process this past September.

Fire Permit - Effective January 1, 2022

*A non-refundable plan review fee shall be assessed when plans have not been reviewed by an approved third party organization (TPO) and must be reviewed by City staff. Fee calculation is based on project valuation.

  • $0 to $10,000 - $150.00
  • more than $10,000 and up to $50,000 - $300.00
  • more than $50,000 and up to $250,000 -  $500.00
  • more than $250,000 and up to $500,000 - $850.00
  • more than $500,000 and up to $1,000,000 - $1,100.00
  • more than $1,000,000 and up to $3,000,000 - $1,600.00
  • more than $3,000,000 and up to $6,000,000 - $2,400.00
  • more than $6,000,000 and up - $2,400.00 plus $0.25 for each additional $1,000, or fraction thereof

If the applicant chooses to use an approved TPO, only the following Fire Department Inspection Fees will apply. Starting from March 26, 2020, we will ONLY accept new Fire Permit applications and associated plans and documents for review through ArlingtonPermits.com and ePlan review. No hard-copy submittals will be accepted. You will also be required to pay online along with your submittal. Instructions for electronic plan submittal is posted below. If you are experiencing difficulties uploading your files OR if you don't receive an email confirmation about the acceptance of your submittal within two business days of your application, please email us at [email protected] and we will call you back.

A completed revision form and revised plans are required to be uploaded to ArlingtonPermits.com. When uploading, the revision form will need to be attached using 'Miscellaneous' attachment type and the revised plans will need to be attached using 'Electronic Plans' attachment type. Once uploaded, please email [email protected]; in the subject line of your email, please add "Revision to Approved", and within the email be sure to include the permit number and job address. We will email you when fees are available to pay online at ArlingtonPermits.com.  

Instructions for uploading plans and documents on ArlingtonPermits.com:

First Step:

Please make sure you comply with the following File Requirements:

  1. One (1) single file for the plans, not multiple. (If document sizes are different, files can be split among document sizes)
  2. Only PDF 1.4 format or greater.
  3. Maximum file size is 100MB (500 pages).
  4. Black and White plot style. No colored pens.
  5. Drawn to scale with scale on plans.
  6. All pages must be oriented upright.
  7. File flattened – flatten when creating PDFs from CAD; or view in Adobe to ensure no ‘editable content appears in ‘Comment panel of PDF tool.
  8. File encryption – no password protected or encrypted (locked).
  9. Scanned files are acceptable but must meet all submittal requirements.
  10. File naming – name each file with the project address or project name. Filenames should not exceed 140 characters in length. No special characters.

Second Step:

Customers must run their construction plans (not supporting documents)  through Scout PDF Analyzer software to ensure the documents will upload successfully to ArlingtonPermits.com. 

Third Step:

There are only two following attachment types on ArlingtonPermits.com that you will be selecting for documents/plans that are to be sent to ePlanReview.

  1. ‘Electronic Plans’  (Files to be uploaded as ‘electronic plans’ include the plan sheets.)
  2. ‘Plan Review Documentation’ (Files to be uploaded as ‘plan review documentation’ include specs, technical literature, calcs, etc.)

For new permit submittals, under the Additional Attachments Detail, you must select: Version 1.  Version 2 is used for Resubmittals ONLY.

Fourth Step:

You should also attach any supplemental documents not related directly to review documentation (such as TPO Forms or letters, etc.) by choosing ‘Miscellaneous’ attachment type.


On July 5, the City Council approved the City's Third Party Organization (TPO) Program that provides for the option of third party plan review and/or inspections effective August 1, 2005.

A PDF file of the program documents and a Word file of the application is attached for use by interested third party organizations.

The City will be accepting registration forms immediately and construction projects reviewed by TPOs may be submitted on August 1 or after.

This web page will be updated periodically with additional information as it becomes available.