Deck permit application checklist

What’s inside the PDF

• Document inventory — plat, survey, deed restrictions, HOA approval (if applicable)
• Drawings — site plan, elevation, framing plan, pier-and-footing detail
• Dimensions to confirm — setbacks, lot coverage, height to underside
• IRC and city-amendment references that typically come up at review
• Pre-submission self-review (the 12 things plan examiners flag most)
• Application companion — who signs, what fees to expect

How to use it

• Print, attach to your project folder, and check items off as you assemble them
• Take a photo of the checked-off copy to email along with your application
• Use the IRC reference column to pre-empt the examiner's likely questions
• Re-run the pre-submission review the morning of the appointment

Why this template exists

Permit applications for residential decks get rejected for boring reasons — a missing dimension on the elevation, an unsigned site plan, no setback confirmation against the rear property line, an HOA approval that hasn't come through yet. The checklist is structured around what DFW plan examiners actually flag in 2026: setback compliance against the recorded plat, lot-coverage math, pier-and-footing detail for the local expansive-clay soil profile, guardrail height when the deck is over 30 inches above grade, and stair geometry. None of these are difficult to satisfy; almost all of them get missed once when the package is rushed. Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco, Arlington, and the smaller suburb cities all run separate permit processes with their own amendments to the IRC base code — the references column flags the ones that diverge most. The pre-submission review at the bottom of the sheet is the same one I'd run before any city appointment — twelve fast checks that cover roughly 90% of the resubmission requests homeowners receive across the metroplex.