Arizona has no mandatory statewide building or energy code. Every city adopts its own edition, amends it, and sets its own answer on whether replacing a window needs a permit, so two suburbs twelve miles apart can sit four code cycles and one permit rule from each other. That local answer also decides whether an unlicensed person may legally do the job, which makes the building department the first call rather than the contractor.
Anthem Apache Junction Avondale Carefree Cave Creek Chandler Fountain Hills Gilbert Glendale Laveen Maricopa Mesa Paradise Valley Peoria Phoenix Queen Creek Scottsdale Surprise Tempe
Arizona is a home rule state. Cities and counties pick their own code edition and write their own amendments, so two neighboring suburbs can be four code cycles and one permit rule apart. Gilbert runs the 2018 residential code. Mesa switched to the 2024 family on 8 January 2026. Both are in Maricopa County, twelve miles apart.
Same job, same metro, and no two tests written the same way. This is the exemption each city publishes for a like-for-like residential window replacement.
| City | Exemption test |
|---|---|
| Phoenix | Exempt. Minor repair or replacement in kind of non-structural components |
| Laveen | Inside Phoenix. Phoenix rule applies |
| Scottsdale | Permit required. Only the glass in an existing frame is exempt |
| Mesa | Exempt. Same size opening and equal or better energy rating |
| Gilbert | Exempt. Same style window, same opening, egress maintained |
| Queen Creek | Exempt. Same style window, same opening, per Town Code 7.1.4.2.1 |
| Peoria | Exempt. Replacement in kind, unless part of a rated assembly |
| Surprise | Exempt. Rough frame opening width and height unchanged |
| Carefree | No exemptions. The exempt-work section is deleted in its entirety |
| Cave Creek | No window item in the exempt list |
| Fountain Hills | No window item. Awnings only |
| Apache Junction | No window item. Awnings only |
| Maricopa | No window item |
| Chandler, Glendale, Tempe, Avondale, Anthem, Paradise Valley | Not published. Ask the building department |
A.R.S. § 32-1121(A)(14) exempts work under $1,000 from contractor licensing, but the exemption falls away "in any case in which the performance of the work requires a local building permit." Your city's permit rule therefore decides whether an unlicensed person can legally do the job, not the invoice total.
Egress. Every Arizona jurisdiction we checked that wrote a window exemption attached an emergency escape and rescue opening condition to it, and Peoria's residential amendments allow minor reductions in a replacement window's clear opening except at egress openings. A bedroom window is the one place a like-for-like swap can quietly fail.
Licensing scope is also constant statewide: glazing runs under ROC classifications R-65, C-65 and CR-65.
The first one is for the building department rather than the contractor, and in Arizona its answer changes most of the others.
It depends on the city. Arizona has no mandatory statewide building code, so each municipality sets its own rule. Phoenix exempts a like-for-like replacement in kind. Scottsdale requires a permit and exempts only the glass in an existing frame. Carefree deleted its exempt-work section entirely. The table above gives the test each city publishes.
There is no single statewide answer. Arizona is a home rule state with no mandatory statewide building or energy code, so cities and counties adopt their own code editions and write their own amendments. Two neighboring suburbs can sit several code cycles and one permit rule apart.
In several cities it is the whole test. Mesa exempts a replacement that uses the same size opening and carries an equal or better energy rating. Surprise keys its exemption to the rough frame opening width and height. Gilbert and Queen Creek both require the same style window in the same opening.
A.R.S. 32-1121(A)(14) exempts work of a casual or minor nature under $1,000, including labor and materials, from contractor licensing. The same provision states the exemption does not apply in any case where the work requires a local building permit. The two questions are tied together in the statute.
Egress is the one condition that appears everywhere. Every Arizona jurisdiction checked that wrote a window exemption attached an emergency escape and rescue opening condition to it, and Peoria's residential amendments allow minor reductions in a replacement window's clear opening except at egress openings.