Fontana building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Fontana, California.
Last verified 2026-09-19 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- Development Services Building, 8353 Sierra Ave., 1st Floor, Fontana, CA 92335
- Phone
- (909) 350-7640
- Building@fontana.org
- Office hours
- THE CITY'S OWN PAGES DISAGREE AND BOTH ARE RECORDED. The Building & Safety department page states "Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Closed Every Friday". The department's FAQ states "The Building & Safety counter is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m." Both agree the office is closed every Friday and that the week is Monday to Thursday; they differ by an hour on when it shuts. The likeliest reading is that 5:00 p.m. is the department's own hours and 6:00 p.m. the public counter's, but neither page says that, and this record does not assert it.
- Website
- Official site
Codes adopted
California publishes its building standards as Title 24, adopted by state agencies and republished on a three-year cycle. A city or county may change those standards only after its governing body makes an express finding that the change is reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions, and no change becomes operative until the finding and the change have been filed with the California Building Standards Commission.
2025 California Building Standards Code (Cal. Code Regs., Title 24) - published July 1, 2025 by the California Building Standards Commission, effective January 1, 2026. Show full textShow less
2025 California Building Standards Code (Cal. Code Regs., Title 24) - published July 1, 2025 by the California Building Standards Commission, effective January 1, 2026. This is the statewide edition in force; it is not a Fontana-specific adoption. Health & Safety Code 18938(b): building standards adopted into the California Building Standards Code "shall apply to all occupancies throughout the state and shall become effective 180 days after publication."
- THE CITY'S OWN ADOPTING ORDINANCE WAS NOT READ FOR THIS RECORD, so no Fontana ordinance number or local effective date is asserted here.
Permit types & fees
Fontana's permit history isn't searchable here yet
This page covers what the permit requires. What we don't have for Fontana yet is the record of permits actually issued — the history you'd search by street address. That is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about any particular property.
Your email, and the place — never an address. We only use it to tell you when Fontana lands. Privacy.
Tips & gotchas
- CLOSED EVERY FRIDAY, EVERY WEEK. Fontana runs a four-day counter: "Monday - Thursday ... Closed Every Friday". This is not the alternating-Friday arrangement that Stockton and Santa Ana publish - the word "alternate" does not appear on the page at all. A Friday visit is never the right plan in Fontana.
- THE CITY'S TWO PAGES DISAGREE ABOUT CLOSING TIME AND THIS RECORD CARRIES BOTH. The department page says "Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m."; the department's own FAQ says "The Building & Safety counter is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m." They differ by an hour. Plan around the earlier one and you will never be caught out.
- THE CASHIER CLOSES BEFORE THE COUNTER DOES: "Typically, you need to get in by 5:00 p.m. in order to get to the cashier by 6:00 p.m." That is the city's own advice, and it is the reason the hour of disagreement above matters less than it looks - either way, 5:00 p.m. is the practical cut-off.
- THE EMAIL ADDRESS IS ON A DIFFERENT DOMAIN FROM THE WEBSITE. The division publishes Building@fontana.org, while www.fontana.org now redirects to www.fontanaca.gov. The web presence moved to the .gov domain and the contact address did not, so a .org email address here is current rather than stale.
- CONSTRUCTION IS ALLOWED ON THE DAY THE COUNTER IS SHUT. Permitted construction hours are "7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday" - so work may proceed on Friday and Saturday even though Building & Safety is closed every Friday. If something goes wrong on site on a Friday, there is no counter to go to.
- THE BUILDING FEE IS NOT THE WHOLE BILL. The city warns that "in addition to the fees you pay to the Building & Safety Division, you may be required to pay fees to the Fire Department, Planning Department, Engineering Department." No amounts are published for any of them.
- STATUS CHECKS NEED A PIN IF YOU WANT THEM ONLINE. The city offers three routes - phone, the counter, or "accessing the E-TRAKIT system using your PIN number" - and the online one is only available to applicants who were issued a PIN.
- THE ADDRESS HAS A FLOOR AND THE SHORT VERSION OMITS IT. The department page gives "8353 Sierra Avenue"; the FAQ gives the submission point as "Development Services Building, 8353 Sierra Ave., 1st Floor". Same building, but the counter is specifically on the 1st floor.
- NO PLAN-REVIEW TURNAROUND IS PUBLISHED. The city says only that it "depends on the scope and complexity of the work". Simple permits are issued over the counter; complex ones route through several divisions. No day count is recorded on this record because none was printed.