Definitions and explanations

Convenience Inspection: A convenience inspection fee is assessed when a business or contractor requests an inspection outside the normal business hours of the Division of Fire & Life Safety to accommodate their convenience.

Expedited Plan Review: Allows plans to be moved to the front of the plan review queue.  Expedited plan reviews are available for all plans reviewed by the Division of Fire & Life Safety, including extraterritorial reviews.  Expedited plan reviews are available on a first-come first-served basis, and the fee shall be paid at the time of the request.  The availability of expedited plan reviews is at the discretion of the Division Chief of Fire & Life Safety based on staffing and/or resource availability.  Expedited plan reviews do not supersede rapid response reviews.

High-Rise Building Surcharge: A one-time fee to cover the additional time for review, inspection and building commissioning that accompanies the complex nature of all high-rise structures.

Performance Based Design Surcharge: A one-time fee to establish fire safety and engineering goals and objectives, fire model construction and evaluation, plan review, inspection, acceptance testing, and reevaluation of all performance-based designs, alternative materials and methods or other design alternatives when requested or at the plan reviewer’s discretion based on project scope.  In all cases the minimum fee shall be $2,000.

Pre-Plan Submittal Consult: Time associated with a project during the design and planning stages.  The assessed amount is cost recovery for staff’s time during the consultation, like time spent during a plan review.  A fee will not be assessed for meetings requiring thirty minutes or less.

Re-Inspection: A fee assessed if an inspection is scheduled and any portion of the work is incomplete, and/or hazards are not abated in an allotted timeframe.  Failure to provide access for a requested inspection, failure to maintain work in an exposed condition until the inspection is completed, deviation from approved plans, lack of sufficient documentation or required equipment or personnel to conduct the inspection, or a system that has not been pre-tested shall require a re-inspection.

Trip Fee: Accounts for time associated with two inspections for a given permit.  Sprinkler contractors shall be allowed three inspections per permit issued.  A trip fee will be assessed when additional inspections are required due to the phasing or scheduling of a project.

Implementation: Fees shall be assessed upon the plan approval date.

Important: Unless otherwise noted in this fee schedule, a plan review fee includes two plan reviews, an initial inspection, and a final inspection.  Additional fees may be assessed for subsequent reviews, trips, and re-inspections.

Building Occupancy Classification – Occupancy Types Explanations

Properly classifying the use and occupancy of a building is an important task that sets the tone for how a structure is designed as associated with its risk level.

When selecting the correct occupancy classification, the building components and features are designed as such to ensure a reasonable level of protection is provided to the building and its occupants.

These components and features can include, but are not limited to, the building height, area, type of construction, fire resistance, fire protection, means of egress system, and interior finishes.  How these features apply to a building is based on its occupancy classification, therefore properly classifying a building is important.

Chapter 3 of the International Building Code (IBC) sets the requirements of how to identify a building’s occupancy characteristics based on how a space or spaces are used within a building.

In addition to the various types of occupancy classifications, several of these classifications have specific group classifications which have many things in common with the main occupancy but some differences in the level of risk they can pose.

The below table gives the overall occupancy classifications and the number of groups in each one:

Occupancy Classification