Fairfax County is committed to fostering a business-friendly environment by offering an expedited building plan review program. This initiative, established over two decades ago, aims to accelerate the permit issuance process for developers and builders.
A recent episode of the “County Conversation” podcast with Ali Heidari Goodarzi, an engineer with Land Development Services (LDS) and program manager of the Expedited Building Plan Review Program, provided insightful details about this program.
Goodarzi explained that the standard building plan review process involves staff reviewing the construction plans submitted by architects and designers. The expedited program allows developers to pay an additional fee and have their plans reviewed by certified third-party “peer reviewers.” These peer reviewers are design professionals and architects who are approved and trained by LDS.
Certified Peer Reviewers
The expedited building plan review program allows developers and builders to pay an additional fee to have their building plans reviewed on a prioritized schedule.
“So, the first option, you’re going to pay the third-party reviewer, not Fairfax County. The second option is you just submit your plans and you’re going to pay for the permit. In both cases, you’re going to pay the permit fees, that’s the same. But with expedited, you pay a little extra because you want to get your plan reviewed faster.”
To participate in the program, developers and builders can select from a list of 16 certified peer reviewers published on the county’s website.
The peer reviewers must meet specific criteria, including a minimum of 5 years of experience in construction and code review, as well as hold relevant ICC or DHCD certifications. LDS provides additional training for the peer reviewers and monitors their performance, reserving the right to revoke certifications if plans they review receive an excessive number of comments from county reviewers.
!["Overall, our goal is to cut that review time in half of standard plans. That's our goal. In some some cases, we have way less than half [of the] time of the standard plans." - Ali Heidari Goodarzi, Expedited Building Plan Review Program](/news/sites/news/files/Assets/images/Podcast%20Pull%20Quote%20expedited%20building%20plans%20review.png)
Expedited Plan Review Improvements
Goodarzi noted that the goal of the expedited program is to reduce the turnaround time for plan reviews by half compared to the standard process.
Recently, LDS has implemented additional changes to the expedited program, including a “scoring” system for peer reviewers based on the quality of their reviews.
Plans from the highest-scoring peer reviewers may now be “administratively processed,” meaning they bypass the county’s building, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing reviews and go directly to the permit issuance stage after the fire review.
"Our goal is this coming July [2025], our goal is to have all of these 16 peer reviewers to be part of this administratively processed plans," Goodarzi said.
Benefits and Feedback
The expedited building plan review program offers several advantages for developers and builders operating on tight schedules.
By paying an additional fee to certified peer reviewers, they can potentially save significant time and costs associated with delays in obtaining permits.
Find more information about the expedited building plan review program. If you have additional questions, contact Building Plan Review at 703-222-0801.
Learn more about Land Development Services at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/landdevelopment.
The County Conversation Podcast
The “County Conversation” is a podcast featuring employees and subject matter experts from the Fairfax County Government discussing programs, services and items of interest to residents of Fairfax County. Click here to listen to past episodes of “County Conversation.” To find other county podcasts, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/podcasts.
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