Fountain Hills Adopted Building Codes: The 2024 I-Codes That Apply to Your Build

Your home in the Town of Fountain Hills is checked against a stack of national model codes that the Town Council voted to adopt by reference, then edited for local desert and hillside conditions. Fountain Hills moved to the newest 2024 editions in 2025, so the exact rules differ from older sets and from neighboring jurisdictions still on the 2018 cycle. This page lists the codes Fountain Hills actually enforces today, when they took effect, and the ordinance that adopted them.

Which codes Fountain Hills enforces

Fountain Hills adopted the 2024 family of International Codes (often called I-codes) for almost everything, plus the 2023 electrical code. The editions changed for permit applications received on or after September 1, 2025. Here is the current list the Town's Building Safety Division enforces:

• 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), with Appendix G: one- and two-family homes and townhouses. This is the main code for a custom house.
• 2024 International Building Code (IBC): larger and commercial structures.
• 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC): heating, cooling, and ventilation.
• 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC): water supply, drains, and fixtures.
• 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC): gas piping and gas appliances.
• 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC): insulation, windows, and HVAC efficiency.
• 2024 International Fire Code (IFC): fire and life-safety provisions.
• 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC): pools and spas.
• 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC): all wiring and electrical work.
• 1997 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings: unsafe-structure abatement.

The IRC is the code a single-family builder lives in day to day. The Town of Fountain Hills is the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) that adopts, amends, and enforces these codes, so its Building Official, not the county and not the state, has the final word inside town limits.

What the Town says

The codified ordinance states the adoption plainly. Article 7-1 of the Town Code opens its building section by adopting each publication by reference:

The following listed publications, three copies of which are on file in the office of the Town Clerk and which are available for public inspection during normal business hours, are hereby adopted by reference, together with all appendices and supplements thereto.

The list that follows names the 2024 IBC, IMC, IPC, IFGC, IECC, IFC, ISPSC, and the 2024 IRC for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, plus the 2023 National Electrical Code. The Town then adds its own "2024 Fountain Hills Amendments" to the IBC, IRC, IECC, ISPSC, and IFC, so the rule you build to is the published 2024 edition as changed by those amendments. One wrinkle is worth knowing. Fountain Hills keeps a strong residential fire-sprinkler requirement, and the Town's ordinance ties any sprinkler cross-reference back to the 2006 Fire Code as amended, which it adopted in 2008, so the sprinkler rule is older than the rest of the stack.

When this comes into play

The edition controls real decisions from day one of design:

• Your framing, bracing, and foundation details follow the 2024 IRC as amended, with Appendix G in play. A plan copied from an older 2018 or 2021 set may carry details the current code no longer matches, and it can get bounced in review.
• Outlet spacing, arc-fault and ground-fault protection, and panel sizing follow the 2023 NEC. An electrician working from a 2017 or 2020 code book may miss newer required protections.
• Energy compliance (insulation R-values, duct sealing, window U-factors) runs on the 2024 IECC as amended, which is a tighter path than towns still on a 2018 energy code.
• A new home almost always needs a fire-sprinkler system here, because the Town's amendments require sprinklers across new occupancies. That is a real cost line a Fountain Hills build carries that some jurisdictions do not.

For example, suppose you submit a 3,000 square foot custom home plan in Fountain Hills in late 2025. The plan reviewer checks your framing against the 2024 IRC, your wiring against the 2023 NEC, your gas piping against the 2024 IFGC, and your energy sheet against the 2024 IECC. If your designer reused a set drawn to the 2018 codes a neighboring area still uses, several editions will not line up, and the plan comes back with corrections before a permit issues. Because edition is tied to when the application is received, a package filed before September 1, 2025 may still run under the prior code.

What this means for you

Hand your designer, structural engineer, and trades one clear instruction. Build to Fountain Hills' 2024 I-codes and the 2023 NEC, with the Town's amendments applied, and plan for a residential fire-sprinkler system. That single sentence prevents the most common and expensive plan-review correction, which is a sheet drawn to the wrong edition or to a neighboring jurisdiction's code. Fountain Hills sits ahead of areas still on the 2018 cycle, so a set drawn for an older code is not automatically right for a town lot, and the sprinkler requirement alone can change your mechanical and water budget.

This entry is the anchor for the rest of the Fountain Hills building-codes module. From here, see Fountain Hills Residential Building Permit Requirements for how these codes get checked during plan review and what you file to get a permit. If your lot is on septic or a private well, the water and wastewater side follows the county and state, covered in Maricopa County Septic and Well Requirements for a New Home . For the bigger picture, see the steps to building a custom home in Arizona .

Source

The adopted codes, editions, and effective date are published by the Town of Fountain Hills: Adopted Codes on fountainhillsaz.gov . The adopting ordinance text and the per-code amendments live in the codified Town Code Chapter 7, Buildings and Building Regulations , which Ordinance 25-06 repealed and replaced. Arizona's broader adoption picture is tracked by the code authors at ICC Code Adoptions for Arizona .

This page is general information, not a code interpretation. Editions and amendments change, so confirm the current adopted code and any project-specific amendment with the Town of Fountain Hills Building Safety Division before you rely on a specific edition.