Fort Worth
City of Fort Worth Development Services
In short
City of Fort Worth Development Services issues 15 permits we publish for Fort Worth, last verified 2026-08-24. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan Review Depositonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $24.75–$276.75 by review route | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Zoning Change Applicationonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $1,350 under 1 acre; $2,025 to 2 acres; $3,037.50 for 5.01-10 acres; $3,712.50 for 10.01-25 acres; above 25 acres $3,712.50 plus $84.37 per acre, capped at $10,125 | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Sign Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | Application fee $37.12 plus display area fee (the greater of $26.88 or $0.24 per sq ft of each display surface) plus a height-above-grade fee of $26.88 to $188.32 plus an electrical amperage fee of $37.67 to $161.42 | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Planned Development Site Plan Reviewonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $900 base; $1,350 for 0-5 acres, $3,037.50 for 5.01-10 acres, $3,712.50 at 10 acres or more plus $84.37 per acre, capped at $10,125 | one-time, per application | 2026-08-24 |
| Vendor Certificate of Occupancy for Temporary Vendorsonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $104.67 per certificate | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Demolition and Moving Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $84.37–$1,717.87 by floor area | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Annual Contractor Registration | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $168.75–$562.50 per year, by contractor class | one year | 2026-08-24 |
| Grease Trap or Interceptor Permitonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $9.85 per trap or interceptor | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Specialized Certificate of Occupancy — Sexually Oriented Business | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $1,125 per application | renewal, amendment and transfer are each charged again at the full rate | 2026-08-24 |
| Temporary or Limited Certificate of Occupancyonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $378 per certificate | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Zoning Verification Letteronly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $56.25–$112.50 10-day or 3-day turnaround | one-time, per request | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Building Permit | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $96.84 up to 30 sq ft; $96.84 plus $1.19 per additional sq ft to 400; $542.44 for the first 400 sq ft plus $0.89 per additional sq ft to 790, continuing on Table 1-C-1 | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
| Change of Occupancy Permit | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $90 per permit | does not expire; a new certificate is required when the occupancy classification changes | 2026-08-24 |
| Reinspection Feeonly if it applies to you | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $63 per reinspection | per inspection | 2026-08-24 |
| Commercial Kitchen Hood Permit | City of Fort Worth Development Services | $11.65–$31.37 by hood type and component | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-08-24 |
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
Plan Review Deposit
$276.75 where the plans require circulation between departments and $106.87 where they do not; on the third-party review route the same two figures drop to $49.50 and $24.75. Choosing third-party review therefore cuts the deposit by roughly four fifths. No deposit is required for additions and remodels to existing Group R-3 occupancies or their accessory structures.
Zoning Change Application
Banded by acreage and capped at $10,125. Two things are worth knowing before filing. The fee DOUBLES where double noticing and special City Council consideration are required or requested outside the normal processing schedule — and the ordinance is explicit that the doubled charge is not waived by any incentive programme the project qualifies for. And there is a genuine discount in the other direction: an application under one acre that down-zones to a one- or two-family district consistent with the adopted Comprehensive Plan is $506.25 rather than $1,350.
Sign Permit
Fort Worth is alone in this dataset in building the sign fee from four separate components rather than banding by size. Height above grade is charged at $26.88 for 1-20 feet, $53.78 for 21-30, $80.71 for 31-40, $107.60 for 41-50, $134.52 for 51-60 and $188.32 above 60 feet. Electrical amperage runs $37.67 for 1-40 amps up to $161.42 above 100 amps. Banners and temporary signs use a shorter formula — application fee plus $26.88 display area plus $26.88 height — so roughly $90. Where a permit is required only for allowable repairs or for removing a sign, the non-refundable application fee covers the permit.
Planned Development Site Plan Review
A planned development or conditional use permit carrying requested development standard waivers adds a waiver fee of $843.75. For a multi-family planned development the waiver charge is $675 for the first and $337.50 for each additional one. An administrative site plan amendment is $281.25. Conservation District and Historic and Cultural Landmarks District overlay rezonings carry no fee at all.
Vendor Certificate of Occupancy for Temporary Vendors
$104.67 for a temporary vendor's certificate of occupancy. A separate holiday or 10-day vendor permit is $56.25 under the zoning schedule — two different documents for adjacent situations, so confirm which one your operation needs before paying for the wrong one.
Demolition and Moving Permit
Banded by size: $84.37 up to 1,000 sq ft, $171.00 to 2,000, $319.50 to 3,000, $479.25 to 5,000, $642.37 to 10,000, $858.37 to 20,000, and $1,717.87 above 20,000 sq ft. Demolishing a structure 45 years or older carries an additional $56.25 — a heritage review trigger dressed as a fee, and worth checking the build date before programming a teardown.
Annual Contractor Registration
$168.75 a year for a building or sign contractor and $562.50 for a parkway and utility contractor — over three times as much, reflecting the work in the public right of way. Sec. 118.2.1 requires every individual or business registering under the Code to pay the prescribed fee.
Grease Trap or Interceptor Permit
$9.85 — the cheapest grease interceptor permit in this dataset, against $60 in Arlington and $75 in Abilene. A sand trap is $18.81, a backflow preventer $9.85, a floor drain $4.02 and each roof drain $9.38. The first fixture or appliance is $9.85 and each additional one $4.02, so a full restaurant plumbing package still lands in the low hundreds. The outlier is irrigation: each lawn sprinkler system is $113.40.
Specialized Certificate of Occupancy — Sexually Oriented Business
$1,125 for a new specialized certificate, and $1,125 again to amend, modify, renew or transfer it — no reduced renewal rate at all, which is unusual and makes this the most expensive recurring license Fort Worth issues. Compare Frisco at $750 to apply and $350 to renew, and Waco at $350 a year.
Temporary or Limited Certificate of Occupancy
$378 — more than four times the $90 charged for a full change of occupancy, which is an unusual inversion. In most Texas cities the temporary certificate is the cheaper document; in Fort Worth it is decisively the expensive one, so opening on a temporary certificate is a deliberate cost rather than a convenience.
Zoning Verification Letter
$56.25 for a 10-day letter or $112.50 for a 3-day one — Fort Worth is the only city in this dataset that sells the turnaround rather than just the letter. Exactly double for a week saved, which is worth paying when a lease or a state alcohol application is waiting on it.
Commercial Building Permit
Fort Worth bands new commercial construction by square footage on Table 1-C-1, covering assembly, business, educational, high-hazard, institutional and mercantile use groups. Three fixed charges sit on every application regardless of size: a $31.50 permit application fee, a $16.87 technology fee, and $31.50 more if you file on paper rather than online. There is a real discount worth engineering for — where plan review is done by City staff but field inspections are carried out by an approved third party, the permit fee is multiplied by 0.55, a 45% reduction calculated to the penny.
Change of Occupancy Permit
$90. The Administrative Building Code states that no building or structure may be used or occupied, and no change made in an existing occupancy classification, until the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy — so this is the permit that gates opening, not a formality afterwards. Where the incoming business is a different type from the one currently operating in the space, a new certificate is required and can be applied for with or without associated construction work. One- and two-family dwellings and townhouses are regulated under the residential code instead, and community homes as defined by the zoning ordinance are exempt and receive no certificate.
Reinspection Fee
$63 a reinspection, and $63 an hour for any inspection with no fee otherwise specified, at a half-hour minimum. Inspections outside normal business hours are $112.50 and outside the city limits $94.50 an hour at a four-hour minimum. Plan revisions escalate steeply: the first is $63, the second $112.50, the third and fourth $225 each and the fifth and beyond $337.50 — against a flat $39.37 on the third-party route, which is the cheapest way through a project that is going to change more than twice.
Commercial Kitchen Hood Permit
A Type I grease hood over a commercial cooking line is $15.68 and a Type II heat or moisture hood $11.65. The associated components are charged individually: the exhaust fan is $9.85 for grease and $8.08 for heat or moisture, and the exhaust duct the same $9.85 and $8.08. An automatic electronic smoke extractor is $31.37. Fire or smoke dampers are $1.96 each. A full Type I installation therefore permits at well under $50 in Fort Worth, against $75 in Grand Prairie and $100 for a Class 1 hood in Pasadena.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Fort Worth
- Phone
- Not verified — use the website
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.
- Certificate of Occupancy (CO)City of Fort Worth Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
- Development fees schedule — Ordinance No. 27191-09-2024 amending the Code of the City of Fort WorthCity of Fort Worth Development Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-24
Other offices serving Fort Worth
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
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Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.