Retaining wall permit checklist — Maricopa County, Arizona
Assembled from Maricopa County’s own published permit rules. Every line below is quoted from a city document and linked to it. Nothing here is generated, estimated, or inferred from another jurisdiction.
Do you need a permit?
Maricopa County requires a permit for a retaining wall.
Maricopa County's amended Section 105.2 list contains no retaining-wall exemption, and the county's blanket fencing rule (permit required over one foot in height) is applied to walls as well, so there is no meaningful height exemption for retaining walls in unincorporated areas. The fee schedule reinforces this by publishing valuation tiers starting at 0 to 2 feet. Retaining walls that hold back a watercourse, sit in a delineated floodplain, or affect drainage also trigger a separate Maricopa County Flood Control District floodplain use permit and drainage review, which carries its own fee schedule (Drainage Regulations Chapter 16).
Loading the full checklist…
Sources
- retaining wall — permit rules ↗verified August 2026
Other permits Maricopa County publishes rules for
Listed because the city publishes a separate rule for each type — not because this project necessarily triggers one. Whether it does depends on your scope of work.
- Deck permit checklist
- Fence permit checklist
- Shed permit checklist
- Water heater permit checklist
- Re-roof permit checklist
- Electrical work permit checklist
- General building work permit checklist
BuildSpec is a reference, not the authority having jurisdiction. Confirm requirements with Maricopa County before you build.