How ADU Permits Work in Colorado Springs (PPRBD, Step by Step)

Permitting an ADU in Colorado Springs runs through two doors at once: the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (PPRBD), which reviews the construction plans and issues the building permit, and City Planning's Development Review Enterprise, which checks the ADU rules and requires two special documents most homeowners have never heard of. This guide walks the whole sequence in order, from pre-application to certificate of occupancy, using the departments' own published requirements (checked August 2026). Colorado has no state general-contractor license, so for ADU construction in this region, PPRBD is the licensing and permitting authority that matters.

Who does what

• PPRBD reviews plans, licenses building contractors, issues the permit, and inspects the build. It serves Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Fountain, Monument, Manitou Springs, and several other area towns, so its process is the same even if your project is just outside city limits (the zoning rules are not; see our ordinance guide).
• City Planning (Development Review Enterprise, DRE) reviews zoning compliance for ADUs under Ordinance #25-45, issues the public-notice poster, and collects the ADU documents described below. Questions go to 719-385-5982 or [email protected].
• Colorado Springs Utilities issues the "Ability to Serve" determination during permit review, deciding whether your ADU can share the main house's utility service or needs its own connection. That decision is one of the biggest cost swings in the whole project; our cost guide has the fee schedules.

Step 1: Check feasibility before you spend money

Confirm your zoning on the city's SpringsView map, check whether you are in the Wildland Urban Interface overlay (only integrated ADUs are allowed there), and review the size, height, and setback rules. The city encourages a free pre-application meeting for ADU projects, which is the right place to surface lot-specific problems while changing course still costs nothing. Raising the utility question with Colorado Springs Utilities early is equally worth it.

Step 2: The plans, and who may draw them

PPRBD accepts residential plans from three sources: the homeowner who will hold the permit, a Colorado-licensed design professional, or a contractor with a Building Contractor C (Home Builder) license or higher. For conventional wood-framed construction, the plans themselves do not need a design professional's seal, but three items always require engineering: the soils report, the foundation design, and any pre-engineered trusses. PPRBD requires the soils report and engineered foundation design by the time of first inspection. Unconventional construction (steel framing, ICF, SIPs, log, earth-sheltered, and similar) needs sealed plans throughout.

Step 3: Assemble the submittal package

PPRBD's residential plan-review guide asks for one complete plan set:

• Plot plan: to scale, with the address, legal description, property lines, setbacks, all existing and proposed structures, and the county tax schedule number
• Floor plans: every level, with room uses, dimensions, window and door schedules, mechanical equipment locations, and smoke and CO detector locations
• Exterior elevations: all sides, with heights, roof pitch, and finishes
• Structural plans: foundation, floor framing, and roof framing (truss details stamped by a Colorado-licensed professional if engineered trusses are used)
• Energy documentation: the IECC certificate, heat-loss calculations, and duct design for forced-air systems
• Electrical and plumbing plans: including the solar-ready roof zones and an EV-ready circuit required by Colorado's Electric Ready and Solar Ready Code

And the city's ADU-specific documents ride along with the permit application:

• Owner Residency Determination Affidavit: a notarized affidavit in which the owner affirms they currently live in the principal residence at the time of permitting. This is required for every ADU citywide, and City Planning can withhold the permit or the certificate of occupancy without it.
• Subdivision and Separate Sale Covenant: a notarized restrictive covenant, recorded with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, in which the owner agrees the ADU will not be owned or sold separately from the main house. It runs with the land, binds future buyers, and can only be released in writing by the city.
• CSU Ability to Serve determination, provided through the permit review process, and in Historic Preservation Overlay districts only, a Report of Acceptability.

The affidavit is worth pausing on, because it quietly answers a question the headlines get wrong. Colorado's ADU law prohibits ongoing owner-occupancy mandates, and the city imposes none. But at the moment of permitting, the owner must attest under notary that they reside on the property. An investor who owns a rental house and wants to add an ADU should call DRE and ask how the affidavit applies before designing anything.

Step 4: The 14-day public notice

During plan review, City Planning issues a public-notice poster, which must be posted visibly along the street frontage and maintained for 14 days before the building permit can issue. Neighbors are informed, but there is no hearing and no vote: if the project meets code, approval is administrative.

Step 5: Plan review, and how long it takes

Your submittal is reviewed by several departments in sequence: zoning (DRE for city projects), PPRBD's floodplain and addressing reviews, and its construction and mechanical teams, with fire-code review by the fire authority. Plumbing and electrical are checked in the field during inspections rather than in plan review. You can track your plan's progress by plan number under Plan Check on pprbd.org, and the homepage publishes a live queue showing which submittal date each department is currently processing. That live queue is the honest answer to "how long does it take": turnaround varies with volume, so look at today's queue rather than trusting a fixed number from any article, this one included.

Two cost rules reward getting the submittal right the first time: plans cannot be amended mid-review (incomplete information means a resubmittal and another trip through the queue), and from the third review onward PPRBD charges $100 per hour, with a $100 fee from the third submittal. Changes after the permit issues (a "splice") run $50 per hour.

Step 6: Permit, build, inspections, certificate of occupancy

Before the permit issues on a new dwelling, PPRBD requires proof the utility side is settled (a tap-fee receipt, or a septic permit where applicable), and remember Colorado Springs Utilities' 120-day rule: once development charges are paid, the building permit must be pulled within 120 days. During construction, the approved plans must stay on site and accessible to inspectors. Inspections proceed by phase (foundation with the soils report in hand, framing, rough plumbing, electrical, and mechanical, then finals), and the project legally becomes a dwelling when the certificate of occupancy issues. Only then can the ADU be rented.

Verify whoever you hire

Building a habitable ADU in this region requires a PPRBD Building Contractor C (Home Builder) license or higher, and verification takes two minutes: PPRBD's public contractor search shows license class and status. Before hiring a licensed ADU contractor, run their name through it and confirm the license is current and the class covers dwellings. Any bid conversation with an ADU builder in Colorado Springs should also make explicit who pulls the permit and who schedules inspections, because the permit holder carries the responsibility.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• PPRBD Residential Plan Review guide (dated 07/01/26) and the live plan-review queue
• City of Colorado Springs ADU page and the ADU application packet (affidavit + covenant, 7.7.2025)
• PPRBD fee schedule and contractor license search
• Colorado Springs Utilities development charges