Guilford County

Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office

In short

Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office issues 8 permits we publish for Guilford County, last verified 2026-09-30. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.

What this agency issues

Permits required, with issuing agency, fee, renewal term and the date each record was last verified against its source
Permit	Issuing agency	Fee	Renews	Last checked
Fire Site Plan Review	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	$50–$500 per review, county-only, by floor area (adopted FY2027 Site Plan Review lines, unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027): 0-999 SF $50.00; 1,000-2,499 SF $100.00; 2,500-9,999 SF $150.00; 10,000-49,999 SF $200.00; 50,000-99,999 SF $300.00; over 100,000 SF $500.00. Site Plan Subdivision Review is priced by lot count instead, at $50.00 for 0-29 lots, $100.00 for 30-100, $200.00 for 101-249, $250.00 for 250-499 and $300.00 for 500 or more	one-off, per review submission on the project	2026-09-30
Fire ABC Inspectiononly if it applies to you	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	$75 per ABC inspection by Emergency Services, county-only (adopted FY2027 fee schedule line 'ABC Inspection', unchanged at $75.00 across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027)	per application, at the point the fire code compliance sign-off is made	2026-09-30
Fire Routine Inspection and Reinspection Fees	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	Adopted FY2027 Routine Inspection Fees, county-only and unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027: 1st visit no charge; Reinspection 2nd visit, if all issues are not corrected by reinspection, $100.00; 3rd visit $200.00; 4th visit (judicial) $300.00. A Fire Systems Compliance Fee with Brycer of $18.00 per system was added in FY2026 and is unchanged in FY2027.	recurring; the Fire Marshal's Office sets the inspection cycle by occupancy type, and the reinspection charges apply within a cycle where issues remain uncorrected	2026-09-30
Fire Building Plan Review	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	$100–$1,000 per review, county-only, by floor area (adopted FY2027 Building Plan Review lines, unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027): 0-999 SF $100.00; 1,000-2,499 SF $150.00; 2,500-9,999 SF $200.00; 10,000-49,999 SF $300.00; 50,000-99,999 SF $500.00; over 100,000 SF $1,000.00	one-off, per review submission on the project	2026-09-30
Fire Protection System Plan Reviewsonly if it applies to you	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	Adopted FY2027 system plan review fees, county-only and unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027: Water based Plan Review $125.00 per riser; Fire Alarm Plan Review $125.00 for 0-11,999 SF, $200.00 for 12,000-99,999 SF and $300.00 above 100,000 SF; Tank Plan Review $100.00 per tank; AES Plan Review $100.00; Hazmat Review $200.00 per system; and $100.00 per system for Industrial Oven Review, Emergency Radio System Review, Spray & Dipping Review, Smoke Control System Review, Solar System Review, Gates & Barricades Review and Pyrotechnic Magazine Review (the last also requiring a blasting permit).	one-off, per system review submission on the project	2026-09-30
Fire New-Construction Acceptance Inspectionsonly if it applies to you	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	Adopted FY2027 New Construction Inspection Fees, per inspection per system, county-only and unchanged across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027: first inspection no charge; then $100.00 each for AES Field Test, Tank Inspection, Hydrant Inspections, Industrial Ovens, Damper Drop Test, Emergency Radio System testing, Hazardous Materials, Smoke Control Systems, Underground Inspections/flush, Fire Access Gates & Barricades, Solar Systems and Spraying & Dipping, plus Water Based System Pressure test $100.00, Sprinkler/Standpipe/Pump Test $150.00 per inspector and Fire Alarm Test $150.00 per inspector. Reinspection is $100.00 for a 2nd visit, $200.00 for a 3rd and $300.00 for a 4th.	per inspection, during commissioning of the new construction	2026-09-30
Tent and Stage Permit and Inspectiononly if it applies to you	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	$100 per tent, county-only (adopted FY2027 fee schedule line 'Tent/Stage Permit and Inspection (per tent)', unchanged at $100.00 across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027)	per event, for the tent or stage installation it covers	2026-09-30
Fire Daycare Inspection	Guilford County Emergency Services, Fire Marshal's Office	$75 per daycare inspection, county-only (adopted FY2027 fee schedule line 'Daycare Inspection', unchanged at $75.00 across FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027); Foster Care Inspection and Group Home Inspection are priced the same at $75.00 each	per inspection, on the cycle the Fire Marshal's Office sets for the occupancy	2026-09-30

Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.

About each permit

Fire Site Plan Review

Guilford County Emergency Services reviews the site as well as the building, and charges for it separately. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, sets Site Plan Review at $50 for 0-999 square feet, $100 for 1,000-2,499, $150 for 2,500-9,999, $200 for 10,000-49,999, $300 for 50,000-99,999 and $500 above 100,000 square feet, each unchanged across the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. The bands mirror the fire building plan review bands at half the amount, so a project can read its two fire review charges off the same floor area. What this review covers is the fire service's access to and around the building — apparatus access, hydrant placement, gates and barricades, water supply — which is why a constrained infill site can generate comments even where the building itself is straightforward. Subdivision work is priced on a different basis entirely, by lot count rather than floor area, at $50 for 0-29 lots rising in steps to $300 for 500 or more lots. Three separate site-related reviews can therefore land on one commercial project in Guilford County: this fire site plan review, Guilford County Planning's minor site plan review at $175 or major site plan review at $325 plus $5 per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area, and, where more than an acre is disturbed, a soil erosion grading permit starting at a $450 base. None of the three substitutes for the others. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department performs and prices the equivalent review.

Fire ABC Inspection

Guilford County Emergency Services charges $75 for the fire inspection that supports a State ABC permit application. The figure is on the 'ABC Inspection' line of the Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, at $75.00 in each of the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. The reason a fire inspection enters an alcohol application at all is statutory: G.S. 18B-901(c) provides that for a location to be a suitable place, 'the local governing body shall return a Zoning and Compliance Form to the Commission on a form provided by the Commission to show the establishment is in compliance with all applicable building and fire codes'. Building and fire are checked by different county offices and each charges its own $75, so a restaurant, coffee shop or retail store applying in the county's jurisdiction should budget $150 in county inspection charges for the sign-off: this fire inspection from Emergency Services, and the $75 ABC Permit line from Guilford County Inspections recorded separately on this page. Both are small relative to the State's charges under G.S. 18B-902(d), which are $400 for each of the six malt beverage and wine permits and $1,000 for a mixed beverages permit, with a further $400 annual registration and inspection fee for each permit held under G.S. 18B-903(b1). They are also separate from the county's own beer and wine retail license, which is a tax fixed by G.S. 105-113.78 rather than an inspection charge. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department performs and prices the equivalent inspection.

Fire Routine Inspection and Reinspection Fees

Routine fire inspection in Guilford County's fire jurisdiction is free on the first visit, and the cost only starts if issues are left uncorrected. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, prices the first routine visit at no charge, then a second visit at $100 where all issues are not corrected by reinspection, a third at $200 and a fourth judicial visit at $300, each unchanged across the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. The schedule also carries a Fire Systems Compliance Fee with Brycer of $18 per system, which the FY2025 column shows as $0.00 and the FY2026 and FY2027 columns at $18.00, so a business with sprinklers, alarms or suppression systems reporting through that platform carries a small recurring per-system charge. The practical reading for an operator is that the ladder is avoidable: correcting everything cited at the first visit costs nothing, while a single item carried forward starts a sequence that reaches $600 across three return visits. The named inspections priced separately on the same schedule are not part of this ladder and are charged whether or not anything is wrong — ABC Inspection $75, Daycare Inspection $75, Foster Care Inspection $75 and Group Home Inspection $75, with the ABC and daycare figures recorded on their own entries on this page. New construction has its own parallel ladder, also free on the first inspection and then $100, $200 and $300. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department inspects and prices its own visits; schools are treated as a further exception in the Division's own description of its territory.

Fire Building Plan Review

This is the largest fire charge a new commercial build in Guilford County faces, and it is priced purely by floor area. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, sets Building Plan Review at $100 for 0-999 square feet, $150 for 1,000-2,499, $200 for 2,500-9,999, $300 for 10,000-49,999, $500 for 50,000-99,999 and $1,000 above 100,000 square feet, each unchanged across the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. Because the bands are area-based rather than value-based, a large but simple building such as a warehouse or a big-box retail unit can attract a higher fire review fee than a small, expensive fit-out. Three points matter for budgeting. First, this review is distinct from the Guilford County Inspections plan review fee of $75, which is new in FY2027, so a commercial project in the county's fire jurisdiction pays both rather than one. Second, Emergency Services charges a separate Site Plan Review on the same floor-area bands, from $50 to $500, which is recorded on its own entry here. Third, the individual fire systems each carry their own review charges — sprinklers, alarms, tanks, hoods, hazardous materials, smoke control, solar, ovens and spray operations — so the total fire review cost on a restaurant or auto-repair build is this area charge plus the site plan review plus the system reviews. Guilford County Planning's site plan review at $175 or $325 plus $5 per 1,000 square feet is a further, separate charge from a different department. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department reviews and prices plans instead.

Fire Protection System Plan Reviews

Each fire protection system on a Guilford County commercial project is reviewed and charged on its own, so the total depends on how many systems the building has rather than on its size alone. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, prices water-based system review at $125 per riser, fire alarm review at $125, $200 or $300 by floor area, tank review at $100 per tank, AES review at $100 and hazardous materials review at $200 per system, with industrial ovens, emergency radio systems, spray and dipping operations, smoke control, solar, gates and barricades and pyrotechnic magazines each at $100 per system; all are unchanged across the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. Which lines apply is industry-specific in a way that is easy to underestimate. A restaurant or coffee shop with a commercial kitchen hood typically picks up a water-based suppression review per riser plus an alarm review. An auto-repair shop doing paint or refinishing work picks up the spray and dipping review and, where it stores fuel or waste oil above or below ground, a tank review per tank and potentially the $200 hazardous materials review. A fitness studio or childcare centre in a larger building picks up the alarm review at the higher floor-area band. The hazardous materials review is the one outlier priced above $100, at $200 per system. These reviews are charged in addition to the fire building plan review of $100 to $1,000 by floor area and the fire site plan review of $50 to $500, and in addition to the Guilford County Inspections plan review fee of $75. Acceptance testing of the installed systems is a further set of charges, recorded separately here. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point.

Fire New-Construction Acceptance Inspections

Once the fire systems are installed on a Guilford County project they have to be tested and accepted, and Emergency Services charges by system. The Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, gives the first new-construction inspection at no charge and then $100 each per inspection per system for AES field test, tank inspection, hydrant inspections, industrial ovens, damper drop test, emergency radio system testing, hazardous materials, smoke control systems, underground inspections and flush, fire access gates and barricades, solar systems and spraying and dipping. Water-based system pressure testing is $100, while sprinkler, standpipe and pump testing and fire alarm testing are $150 each per inspector — the per-inspector basis means a test needing two staff costs $300 rather than $150, which is the single most commonly underestimated line here. Failed tests run their own ladder: $100 for a second visit, $200 for a third and $300 for a fourth, all unchanged across the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. These acceptance charges come on top of the plan review charges for the same systems, which are recorded separately on this page, so a system is paid for twice over its life on a project: once at review and once at test. For a restaurant that usually means hood suppression and alarm; for an auto-repair shop, spray booths, tanks and underground work; for a larger retail or assembly building, sprinklers, standpipes, smoke control and hydrants. Scheduling matters to the cost, because getting systems genuinely ready before the first free inspection is what keeps a project off the reinspection ladder. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point.

Tent and Stage Permit and Inspection

A tent or stage put up for an event in Guilford County's fire jurisdiction needs a permit and inspection from Guilford County Emergency Services at $100 per tent. The figure is on the 'Tent/Stage Permit and Inspection (per tent)' line of the Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, at $100.00 in each of the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns. The charge is per tent rather than per event, so a festival, tasting or seasonal marquee using several structures pays several times over, which is worth checking against a layout before booking. A business running an event in the county will usually be assembling several permits at once and they sit with different offices: this tent permit and, where there are fireworks, a Fireworks Event permit at $125 from Emergency Services; an Event Permit from Guilford County Inspections, which carries no base fee of its own and is charged as trade fee(s) at $75 per trade; and, where food or drink is sold, a temporary food establishment permit from Guilford County Environmental Health at the statutory $75 per permit. Blasting is priced separately again, at $125 for a 30-day permit or $200 for a 90-day permit plus $50 per site visit for the inspection. Each of those is a distinct application rather than a stage of one process, so an organiser should start them together. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department issues and prices tent permits instead.

Fire Daycare Inspection

A childcare centre in Guilford County's fire jurisdiction pays Guilford County Emergency Services $75 for its daycare fire inspection. The figure is on the 'Daycare Inspection' line of the Guilford County FY2027 adopted budget fee schedule, adopted June 25, 2026, at $75.00 in each of the FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns, and the schedule prices Foster Care Inspection and Group Home Inspection identically at $75.00 each. This is a named, specifically priced inspection rather than part of the routine inspection cycle, which is why it is a separate record: the schedule's routine inspection ladder charges nothing for a first visit and then $100, $200 and $300 for second, third and fourth visits, while the daycare inspection carries its own $75 regardless. For a childcare operator this is one of several county charges that sit around a State license. Guilford County Inspections treats 'Daycare in Residence' and 'Family Care Home' as trade-fees-only permits at $75 per trade with no base fee; a purpose-built centre falls in the educational, assembly or institutional band at a $1,000 base plus $0.20 per square foot; a centre kitchen needs Environmental Health food service plan review and the $120 annual State food establishment permit fee; and many childcare uses need a $500 special use permit plus a $26 recording fee from Guilford County Planning. County child care sanitation inspection itself carries no county fee, for the statutory reason recorded on its own entry on this page. The Fire Division's scope excludes the areas inside the city limits of Greensboro and High Point, where the city fire department inspects instead.

Contact

Jurisdiction: Guilford County
Phone: Not verified — use the website
Website: www.guilfordcountync.gov/

Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.

Sources

Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

G.S. 18B-901, Issuance of permits — the local governing body shall return a Zoning and Compliance Form showing compliance with building and fire codes, the Commission weighs the recommendations of the local governing body, and notice goes to the city or, where the establishment is not inside a city, to the countyNorth Carolina General Assembly · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30
Guilford County FY2027 Adopted Budget Ordinance and Fee Schedule — adopted and effective the 25th day of June, 2026; Section 10.A adopts the attached fee schedule in accordance with §153A-102; the schedule is headed 'This fee schedule includes Guilford County fees for the Fiscal Year 2027' and prints FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027 columns for Environmental Health, Inspections, Emergency Services and Planning & DevelopmentGuilford County, North Carolina · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-30

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