Stage 1 Fire Restrictions in effect for unincorporated plains areas east of Highway 93 (South Foothills), Broadway, and US 36 (North Foothills)
Thursday February 26, Fire Weather Watch. No Open Burning in Boulder County
Scam emails have been impersonating Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting staff. Learn how to spot a scam email.
CPP Building staff will be attending the Colorado Chapter Educational Institute the week of March 2-6. During this week the building team will be attending all-day classes and the office will not be open to in-person services. View email sent to licensed contractors.
Publication B06 Building Permits for Residential Construction guides Boulder County homeowners and builders through the permitting process for residential projects. It highlights the essential rules, steps, and resources needed to begin construction safely and in compliance with county requirements.
The checkboxes on this page are not interactive. To use this as a checklist, print the publication.
Boulder County Building Safety & Inspection Services does not have jurisdiction over cities within Boulder County with the exception of Jamestown. If your project is within any other city, you need to contact that city’s Building Inspection office instead of Boulder County.
This document serves as a general reference and does not represent a complete set of requirements. If a planning process (LU, SU, SPR, ESPR) was completed for the project, please refer to the planning process final approval documentation for a more specific list of requirements.
A permit is required for any new construction including any work that adds floor area, changes the configuration of the rooms or changes the use of the space. Typical examples of projects that require building permits are:
Commercial buildings, homes (dwellings), garages, detached accessory structures (over 120 square feet), carports, pole barns, pergolas, manufactured housing, mobile homes, etc.
Additions to structures, swimming pools, all decks, retaining walls over 48 inches, and fences over 6 feet in height.
Reconfiguration of rooms, conversion of a garage to a new use, re-roof, drywall, insulation, basement finish, re-siding, structural repairs, etc.
Equipment or appliances, such as wood burning stoves, hot tubs, solar collectors, etc.
Please view the Building Permit Requirements B05 for more information.
If you are uncertain whether a permit is needed, call the Building Safety & Inspection Services office at 303-441-3926 or email building@bouldercounty.gov.
All Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting Department services are available virtually.
Phone inquiries may be made to the following offices:
Although circumstances may vary depending upon the work involved, the following are general submittal requirements:
Your project must be prepared in a graphic form. These construction drawings or plans must be drawn to ¼” scale and show all proposed work and details. If you lack experience in preparing plans, professional assistance is recommended and could save you money in the long run. The plans and specifications must clearly indicate the nature and extent of the proposed work stamped by a Colorado Registered Design Professional, if applicable.
Please note that not all items will apply to every project
Provide a dimensioned floor plan for each floor that includes:
Provide elevation views from each of the 4 sides of the structure labeled as follows:
Include the following for each elevation drawing:
Note: Exterior light fixtures must comply with Article 7-1600 of the Land Use Code for down-lit and shielded fixtures. Learn more about Boulder County’s Outdoor Lighting Requirements.
View the Boulder County BuildSmart page
View the Ignition Resistant Construction page.
Provide third-party listings of applicable components:
If your project went through a Site Plan Review or other planning review process, please provide the following if applicable:
The Zoning Resolution requires all new construction to meet the required setbacks. A setback is a fixed minimum distance from your property line, the centerline of a road, highway, or ditch and other easement holders.
Setbacks vary based on the Zoning District in which you are located.
Please ask the Planning and Zoning Division at 303-441-3930 or planner@bouldercounty.gov for the specific setbacks for your project location.
If your application shows that you are placing your construction at the minimum setback, or is within 20% of the required setback, you will be required to provide a survey to verify that your building is correctly placed at this minimum setback. Only the property lines in question need to be surveyed, not necessarily the entire boundary. It is the property owner’s responsibility to locate the proposed structure in the proper location.
For information on whether your project needs a Site Plan Review, please see: Site Plan Review (SPR) – Boulder County.
Every application is different. Once Building Safety & Inspection Services logs in your application, it is sent to the Zoning Division for the review of compliance with setbacks, use and other requirements regulated by that office. Construction documents are then reviewed in a parallel timeline by several groups, depending on the nature of the project.
Compliance reviews may require the following sections to sign off prior to permit issuance:
You will be notified if your application has any deficiencies. Therefore, it is important that we have the name, address, email, and phone number of the person responsible for the application. Otherwise, the staff will email when the permit is approved and ready to be issued.
Please see the webpage Permit Fees – B33 – Boulder County for the most current fees.
Please see the webpage Contractor Licensing in Unincorporated Boulder County – Boulder County.
Several inspections are required with most projects. Please see Building Inspections in Unincorporated Boulder County – Boulder County
If you need to change your application form, just ask for assistance. If you want to make minor changes to your plans, email revisions with a written description of the change to building@bouldercounty.gov. The revised plans will be reviewed and uploaded onto the online portal for you to re-download and print to have on site for inspection.
For major plan revisions after the building permit has been issued, an entirely new permit may be required. Revisions that include additional square footage added cannot be added to an issued permit. If the issued permit needs to be withdrawn and replaced with a new permit, you may be eligible for a credit. The credit would consist of 80% of the original building permit fee and 100% of county use taxes. All other fees paid are non-refundable or transferrable.
Every permit is valid for 180 days after issuance. The permit would expire if the work authorized under the permit is not commenced within 180 days, or work is stopped at any time after the work is commenced for a period of 180 days. Before such work can begin again, a new permit must be obtained. A notification will be sent to the email address(es) listed on the permit prior to permit expiration.
This Publication is Printable
