Surprise measures its window exemption at the rough frame opening. Not the glass, not the style, not the energy rating. Replacement windows and doors that do not alter the rough frame opening width or height are exempt, which is a single checkable test rather than a judgment call. A retrofit set inside the existing opening passes it, and anything that widens or shortens that opening does not.
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Surprise added the same item to both its commercial and residential exempt lists: "replacement windows and doors that do not alter the rough frame opening width or height." That's a single, checkable test. A retrofit that sets a new frame inside the existing rough opening passes it. Anything that widens or shortens the rough opening doesn't, however modest the change.
The neighboring exemptions are worth knowing if the window job is part of a bigger exterior project. Surprise exempts a nonstructural weatherproof covering installed over an existing one, so long as it doesn't affect the fire-resistive classification, but specifically excludes an Exterior Insulation and Finish System. Skylights and tubular daylighting devices are exempt where the roof rafters or trusses aren't structurally altered.
Surprise adopted the 2024 I-Codes and the 2023 NEC by Ordinance 2025-14, effective 1 January 2026.
One dimension decides the permit question in Surprise, so most of these are about the rest of the exterior work.
Not if the rough opening stays as it is. Surprise added the same item to both its commercial and residential exempt lists: replacement windows and doors that do not alter the rough frame opening width or height. It is one checkable dimension rather than a judgment call.
Then the exemption does not apply, however modest the change. The test names width and height at the rough frame opening, with no tolerance written into it.
Partly. Surprise exempts a nonstructural weatherproof covering installed over an existing one, so long as it does not affect the fire-resistive classification, but specifically excludes an Exterior Insulation and Finish System.
Skylights and tubular daylighting devices are exempt where the roof rafters or trusses are not structurally altered.
The 2024 I-Codes and the 2023 NEC, adopted by Ordinance 2025-14, effective 1 January 2026.