User Fees

Electronic payment of all fees may be made using the button above. Fees may also be paid by physical check payable to “Finance - Construction Management”. Include the DCM (BC) Project Number, if assigned, on the check and attach the corresponding fee worksheet; mail payments to: Finance - Construction Management, P.O. Box 301150, Montgomery, AL 36130-1150. Payments using Public School and College Authority (PSCA) funds and state agency inter-fund transfers may be arranged by contacting jennie.jones@rpm.alabama.gov.

Plan Review Fees

Fee Types

• Basic Plan Review Fee*: Covers Schematic, Preliminary, Final, 1st Revised Final and addenda reviews, along with reviews of most changes and ASIs after plans have been approved. Initial Plan Review Fee* (50% of basic Plan Review Fee, up to a maximum of $500.00): Covers Schematic and Preliminary reviews.
• Additional Revised Final Review Fee* (15% of basic Plan Review fee): Each Additional Revised Final submittal (after the 1st Revised Final review) will incur the Additional Revised Final Fee until a submittal is approved.
• Optional 65% Intermediate Review Fee*: Covers one Optional 65% Intermediate Review.
• ADA Review Fee (50% of the basic Plan Review Fee, up to a maximum of $500.00): Covers Final-ADA review and First Revised Final-ADA review.
• Additional Revised Final ADA Review Fee (15% of the fee paid for the Final-ADA review): Each Additional Revised Final ADA submittal (after the 1st Revised Final ADA review) will incur the Additional Revised Final ADA Fee until a submittal is approved.

Review Types

• Schematic Review: The initial Plan Review Fee* must be paid. The remainder of the basic Plan Review Fee must be paid at Final Review.
• Preliminary Review: The initial Plan Review Fee* must be paid. The remainder of the basic Plan Review Fee must be paid at Final Review.
Note: The initial Plan Review Fee* is only required to be paid once for a Schematic and/or Preliminary Review. The total basic Plan Review Fee* may be paid in lieu of an initial Plan Review Fee*.
• Optional 65% Intermediate Review: The Optional 65% Intermediate Review Fee* must be paid.
• Final Review: The total basic Plan Review Fee* must be paid (if an initial Plan Review Fee was paid, the remainder is due).
• 1st Revised Final Review (required if the Final Review is not approved): Included in the paid basic Plan Review Fee*.
• Additional (2nd, 3rd, etc.) Revised Final Review (required if previous Revised Final Reviews are not approved): The Additional Revised Final Review Fee* (15% of the total basic Plan Review Fee) will apply to each full resubmittal until a submittal is approved.
• Addenda, ASI, construction contract change order plans & specs, and Response to an Approved or Conditionally Approved Project Comment Letter (PCL) Reviews: Covered under the basic Plan Review Fee.
• Rebid, revised scope and value-engineered items Review: May require an additional review fee* based on a determination of the extent of changes.
• ADA Review: The ADA Review Fee must be paid. This review is only for projects owned or funded by a municipality or county. The plans and specifications of all such projects must be submitted for review of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards.

*Fee Exception

• Fully locally-funded public and private K-12 and fully locally-funded four-year public University projects with an estimated cost of $750,000.00 or Less for capital improvement or alterations, additions, repair, or maintenance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems or any alterations, additions, repair, or maintenance of a roof, do not owe DCM Plan Review Fees; all such projects are still subject to DCM plan reviews. Determination of whether or not a project is in the $750,000.00 or Less classification is based on the total estimated cost of the entire project including all phases and bid packages.

Permit Fees

Fee Types

• Basic Permit Fee*: Covers required project inspections and is based on the awarded contract sum of the entire project. The Permit Fee is due when a construction contract or self-performance letter is received by DCM and must be paid before a Pre-Construction Conference is scheduled with Division of Construction Management (DCM) Inspectors; see Pre-Construction Conference Checklist.
• Permit Re-Inspection Fee*: Certain benchmarks are required for inspections as listed in the Pre-Construction Conference Checklist. If the minimum requirements are not met and the Inspector is obliged to return to complete the inspection, a Re-Inspection Fee of $1,500.00 per occurrence will be charged and must be paid before the inspection can be re-scheduled.

*Fee Exception

• Fully locally-funded public K-12 and fully locally-funded four-year public University projects with an estimated cost of $750,000.00 or Less for capital improvement or alterations, additions, repair, or maintenance of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems or any alterations, additions, repair, or maintenance of a roof, do not owe DCM Permit Fees; all such projects are still subject to DCM pre-construction conferences and inspections. Determination of whether or not a project is in the $750,000.00 or Less classification is based on the total estimated cost of the entire project including all phases and bid packages. Note: If total of bids received for all phases and bid packages exceeds $750,000.00, then a Permit Fee is owed.

All Inspections (including Pre-Construction Conferences)

• Inspections must be requested by the Contractor in writing/email to the design professional who will then consult the DCM Inspector for an available date. The design professional shall then send a confirmation email, copying the Contractor, the Owner, the Inspector and the DCM main office (inspections@rpm.alabama.gov). Inspections may be canceled with a minimum of 48 hours notice by email given to all parties. If appropriate notice is not given, a Re-Inspection Fee may also be charged.

Contract Document Administration Fee

Basic Contract Document Administration (CDA) Fee: The basic CDA Fee covers review of the original submitted document and one revision. The basic CDA Fee applies to documents administered by DCM and must be paid before the associated document is reviewed. This includes review of all Agreements Between Owner And Architect (O/A Agreements) and Construction Contracts for state agencies, Alabama Community College System (ACCS) institutions, and partial or full Public School and College Authority (PSCA)-funded projects of K-12 public schools and public universities and the related amendments, change orders, service invoices and payment requests. The CDA fee does not apply to fully locally-funded K-12 nor fully locally-funded university projects (because DCM does not review the contracts of such projects).

The CDA Fee-O/A is due before the O/A Agreement is reviewed by DCM (see Open-End exception below) or when a fully locally-funded project O/A Agreement is converted to PSCA. The CDA Fee-CC is due before the construction contract is reviewed by DCM or when a fully locally-funded project construction contract is converted to PSCA.

The Contract Document Administration Fee Calculation Worksheet calculates the basic CDA fee:

• ¼ of 1% (.25%) of the Project Budget for the Owner/Architect Agreement
• ¼ of 1% (.25%) of the Construction Contract Amount for the Construction Contract

Open-End O/A Agreement Exception: Open-End O/A Agreements at inception have no specific project sum in order to determine the fee. Because one of the purposes of this type of contract is to aggregate services for multiple smaller projects, the CDA-O/A fee is billed annually for the fees associated with projects amended to the O/A Agreement during the preceding year ending June 30.

Additional Revised Contract Document Fee: When more than one revision is required, an additional fee of $200.00 will be charged to the design professional for each additional submittal until the document is executed. Contract documents subject to this fee include, but are not limited to, the following: O/A Agreements, Amendments, Statements for Services, Construction Contracts, Change Orders, Payment Applications and Certificates of Substantial Completion.

At the close of construction, the final reconciliation process recalculates each applicable basic fee using the actual final construction cost to determine whether any amount is due from/to the Owner.

As soon as the final construction contract amount or self-performance cost has been determined by final change order or contractor’s final payment request, the Owner or the design professional must report that amount to DCM through the Engage Portal. DCM will then prepare and send the Final Reconciliation of Fees Statement (invoice or refund notice) to the Owner. The Final Reconciliation Worksheets that will be used by DCM to recalculate the fees may be found on DCM's Forms webpage.

User Fees Policy

Pursuant to Administrative Rule 355-16-1 Collection of User Fees effective January 13, 2020, all projects under the jurisdiction of DCM require payment of fees at various points during the project for plan review, permitting/inspections and, if applicable, contract document administration.

User Fees Contacts

Contact Lexy Dunklin at 334-242-4082 or planreview@rpm.alabama.gov concerning Plan Review Fees.
Contact Jennie Jones at 334-242-4808 or jennie.jones@rpm.alabama.gov concerning all other User Fees.