Colorado · Remodeling licensing · official-source guide
Colorado does not license remodeling contractors. The Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations, lists no general, residential or home improvement contractor credential, so authority sits with cities and regional building departments. Denver, Aurora and Pikes Peak Regional Building Department each license separately, and none of them reciprocate another jurisdiction's license.
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Verify a licenseVerified against agency sources on 2026-10-05. Rules and fees change; confirm with the named authority before relying on this guide.
Colorado does not license remodeling or home improvement contractors at the state level. The Department of Regulatory Agencies runs licensing through its Division of Professions and Occupations, which regulates more than 60 credential types. The division's own occupational professions list names barbers and cosmetologists, combative sports, electrical, tissue banks, outfitters, passenger tramways, plumbing and radon professionals. It also lists accountancy firms, architects, engineers and land surveyors. There is no general contractor, residential contractor, home builder or home improvement entry on that list. So no state board grades your remodeling experience, no state exam covers remodeling, and no state license number exists for the work. Licensing happens one city or building department at a time. That is the single most expensive fact for a Colorado remodeler to learn late. A company that advertises across the Front Range is selling into Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Colorado Springs and a dozen other permit jurisdictions, and each one decides for itself who may contract for a permitted remodel inside its boundary. Your marketing reach and your licensed reach are two different maps. Before you buy leads in a city, confirm you can legally pull the permit there. The practical sequence is to pick the jurisdictions you actually want jobs in, license in those, and say so plainly in your advertising. Homeowners in Colorado have learned to ask which city a contractor is licensed in, because they have learned that the answer is not statewide.
The two state credentials that reach into almost every remodel are electrical and plumbing. The Division of Professions and Occupations licenses electrical apprentices, residential wiremen, journeyman electricians, master electricians, electrical contractors and photovoltaic installers, and separately licenses apprentice plumbers, residential plumbers, journeyworker plumbers, master plumbers and plumbing contractors. The Colorado State Electrical Board sits inside that division and sets the rules those licensees work under, including which edition of the National Electrical Code applies. For a remodeler this means the rewire, the new circuits for a kitchen island, the relocated bath fixtures and the repiped laundry all have to be performed under a state license held by you or by your subcontractor. Cities layer their own registration on top rather than replacing it. Denver tells electrical and plumbing contractors to upload a current State of Colorado contractor card plus the master's identification with their city application. Aurora states outright that it does not issue a separate plumbing or electrical contractor license and instead requires the state master's and contractor's licenses to be on file with its Building Division. Pikes Peak Regional Building Department requires state licensees in electrical, plumbing, elevators and manufactured building installation to register with the department immediately. Plan your subcontractor list around that. A remodeling license in one city plus a state-licensed electrician and plumber is the normal lawful structure for a Colorado remodel, and it is worth naming your trade partners' credentials when you quote.
Sourcesdpo.colorado.gov 1dpo.colorado.gov 2denvergov.org 3auroragov.org 4pprbd.org 5
In Denver, Community Planning and Development issues contractor licenses and certificates to the individuals and companies doing construction and trade work in the city. The order of operations catches people out. Denver says obtaining a supervisor certificate, or employing someone who holds one, is the first step toward a contractor's license, and that license applications are not accepted until supervisor certificates have been approved. A Colorado electrical or plumbing license will substitute for a supervisor certificate. So the certificate is personal and the license is corporate. The supervisor certificate holder must file a Supervisor Statement of Responsibility, and if that person is not an owner, officer, partner, member or sole proprietor, the company must also send a letter on its letterhead naming them Supervisor of Record, signed by an owner or officer. Denver also checks you against the Secretary of State. Any officer, member, partner or sole proprietor signing the license paperwork has to appear on current Secretary of State filings, or you supply notarized meeting minutes or a notarized owner list instead. Denver tells applicants to read Chapter 1 of the Denver Building and Fire Code, which sets out what a license holder is responsible for. Review takes roughly 14 to 20 business days whether you apply online through e-permits, by mail, or in person. Build that into your start dates. A remodeler who promises a homeowner a February start while the supervisor certificate is still in review is promising something Denver has not approved yet.
Denver's Residential Contractor Class C is the certificate written for the remodeling side of residential work. Its scope covers erecting, adding to, altering or repairing one and two family dwellings, U Occupancy buildings and attached single unit dwellings, which Denver describes as IRC townhouses, plus demolition of those buildings. The minimum to apply is two years of building construction field work as a journeyman carpenter or construction foreman, with hands on experience on single family or two family dwellings in all three of foundation, framing and roofing. Up to one of those two years can be building construction design work, documented on notarized letters. The experience letters have to show what, when and where you gained ground up experience on one or two family dwellings, list exact duties and equipment operated, give start and end dates by month and year, and list the address of every project. Projects should fall within the last ten years. Letters come from owners or officers of current or former employers, or from clients who hired you. If you own the company, you cannot be your own reference. The exam is ICC F13, National Standard Residential Building Contractor C. Once the application is approved you have 90 days to produce the certificate by submitting the official ICC pass letter. A rejected application can be refiled once with more documentation. A second rejection triggers a six month wait before reapplying for the same certificate type, which makes the first submission worth over-documenting.
Sourcesdenvergov.org
Denver publishes its contractor licensing fees as flat amounts rather than revenue based tiers. Construction licenses renew every three years and cost $250.00 each for General Contractor Class A, Building Contractor Class B, Residential Contractor Class C, Specialty Class D and all mechanical license types. A Plumbing A License is $160.00 and renews every two years. The Electrical License carries a $0.00 fee and renews every three years. Right of way licenses renew annually and run $200.00 for general contractor, $125.00 for paving, $100.00 for structural, and $50.00 for cement sidewalk, excavator, sewer and special contractor. A dumpster license is $50.00 on a three year cycle. Certificates renew every three years: a supervisor certificate is $60.00 and journeyman, engineer and operator certificates are $40.00 each. Duplicate licenses and certificates and a personal name change on either cost $25.00. Denver confirms separately that licenses and certificates must be renewed every one to three years depending on type. Most fees can be paid online through e-permits by card or electronic check once your application is approved, or by check payable to Manager of Finance, or in person at the contractor licensing counter. Plumbing contractors get an extra step. Denver requires you to renew your state contractor card and master plumber card with the Department of Regulatory Agencies before Denver will renew the city plumbing contractor license. Put both expiration dates on the same calendar, because the state card gates the city renewal and not the other way round.
Pikes Peak Regional Building Department licenses contractors for Colorado Springs and the surrounding El Paso County jurisdictions, and its class definitions are unusually specific about remodeling. Building Contractor C, the home builder class, covers construction, alteration and repair of one and two family dwellings up to three stories and their accessory structures, plus Group R-2 occupancies of no more than eight units and two stories. Where the building official judges the work minor and not affecting structure or safety, a C holder may also contract for nonstructural repair and remodeling of all buildings except Group A, E, I and H occupancies and buildings requiring Type I construction. Building Contractor E, named Maintenance and Remodeling, covers structures accessory to one and two family dwellings that are not enclosed habitable space, such as decks, fences, sheds, patio covers, detached garages and workshops, plus interior nonstructural repair or remodeling of one or two family dwellings. Building Contractor B-2 covers nonstructural remodeling in all occupancies except Group A, E, I or H and Type I construction, and also picks up the C scope. Building Contractor D is the single trade specialty class, listing foundation repair, masonry, retaining walls, roofing, siding, stucco, glazing and swimming pools. The department answers the handyman question directly: someone wanting to work beyond the permit-exempt allowances may request the Contractor E license. Pick your class against the work you actually sell, because the class definition, not your website copy, decides what permits you can pull.
Sourcespprbd.org 1pprbd.org 2
Pikes Peak Regional Building Department will not issue a license until you file an insurance certificate signed by a licensed agent, naming the Building Department as certificate holder and listing policy numbers, insured name, effective and expiration dates and limits. Its Table RBC201.7 sets general liability at 1,000,000 each occurrence and 2,000,000 general aggregate for Building Contractor A, B, C, D single trade, E and F, and for wrecking, moving, sign, fire suppression, electrical, fire alarm, mechanical, plumbing and water conditioning contractors. Every policy needs an endorsement giving the department at least ten calendar days notice before any reduction or cancellation, and a lapse, cancellation or reduction automatically suspends the license until coverage is reinstated. For re-roofing permits the certificate has to state specifically that re-roofing is included or not excluded. Workers compensation follows state law. The Division of Workers' Compensation says any employer with one or more employees in Colorado must carry coverage and keep it at all times, part time, full time or family members included, and that construction businesses face additional requirements. If you hire contractors for construction work you either provide coverage to them or collect proof of insurance or proof of rejection of coverage from everyone you contract with directly. An uninsured employer can be fined up to $500 for every day without coverage and the business can be shut down. Pikes Peak also requires your insured name to match Colorado Secretary of State records exactly, tradenames included. Fix the name mismatch before it stalls your license.
Budget six to eight weeks for a Pikes Peak license from submittal, and longer if the name based judicial records check runs slow. Everything has to be complete three weeks before the Licensing Committee date, and that committee meets the second Thursday of each month. There is no expedite. The department explains that its code requires license requests to be published in a legal publications paper at least two weeks before the Board of Review considers them. Some requests land on the consent calendar with no appearance needed, others require you to appear, and a consent item can be pulled off the consent agenda on the day, so plan to be available. Exams transfer only on the department's terms: it accepts ICC National Standardized or ICC Colorado Standard exams passed on or after January 1, 2017, and no out of state exams. Renewals can only be filed by the examinee, online through the contractor web account or on a renewal form that must be notarized unless signed in front of department staff. Outstanding administratively closed permits or administrative fines block renewal until cleared. If work dries up you can request a voluntary suspension, which drops the insurance obligation but not the fee obligation, and which cannot run past twelve months without an annual notarized certification that you are active in building construction. Let a license expire more than six months, or let insurance lapse more than twelve, and the license is administratively revoked.
Sourcespprbd.org
Aurora is the Colorado jurisdiction that names the trade outright. The Building Division's fee and requirement schedule lists a Remodeling Contractor license, which requires registration with the Building Division plus three years of documented experience, at a $131.00 supervisor license fee and a $164.00 license fee. A Residential Building Contractor license sits above it and requires ICC Residential Building Contractor C certification, at $131.00 and $235.00. Commercial Building Contractor requires ICC General Building Contractor A or B certification at $131.00 and $392.00. Roofing Contractor requires ICC Roofing Contractor or Subcontractor certification at $131.00 and $164.00. Demolition, Limited Building Commercial, Sign, Swimming Pool and Residential Elevator contractors each take registration plus three years of documented experience at the same $131.00 and $164.00. Beyond the license itself, Aurora requires registration and three job references. Right of way contractors carry their own set: general liability of $1,000,000 each occurrence, property damage of $1,000,000 each occurrence, and an irrevocable license and permit bond of $20,000 with a minimum of two years. Electricians and plumbers must have state master's and contractor's licenses issued by Colorado, because Aurora issues no separate trade license. Aurora states plainly that working as a contractor in the city requires the appropriate license to build, construct, alter, repair, add to, demolish or move any building or structure. Renewals run through the city's online services. If your remodeling work is mostly interior and nonstructural, the Remodeling Contractor class is the one to read first.
Colorado's city by city system has no transfer rule, and both of the largest licensing bodies say so in writing. Denver states that it does not accept or reciprocate contractor licenses or certificates from other counties or states. Pikes Peak Regional Building Department says it does not reciprocate any licenses from other building departments, because each outside jurisdiction sets its own requirements which may not be comparable. Pikes Peak will, however, accept a qualifying ICC exam you already passed, which is the one piece of portable work in the system: an ICC National Standardized or ICC Colorado Standard exam passed on or after January 1, 2017 counts, while out of state exams do not. Denver likewise builds its certificates on ICC exams, using F11 for Class A, F12 for Class B and B-2, and F13 for Residential Class C. So the exam is the asset you carry between Front Range jurisdictions, and the experience letters, insurance certificates, references and fees are the work you repeat in each one. Price that repetition into your service area decision rather than discovering it per job. A remodeler licensed in Denver and Aurora has a different legal footprint than one licensed only in Denver, and that difference belongs in your advertising instead of a vague claim about serving the metro. Say which cities you hold licenses in. It converts, and it keeps you clear of representing an approval you do not hold.
Permit triggers decide when a license matters, and Denver spells them out for interior remodels. Construction permits are required when a project alters the existing floor plan, makes structural changes affecting load bearing walls, adds, resizes or removes interior or exterior doorways, windows, skylights or egress windows, adds new or rerouted ductwork, or adds new or relocated electrical or plumbing fixtures. Changing the size of a doorway opening or creating a new opening, inside or out, requires a permit, and new window, egress window and skylight installations do too. Replacing doors, glass or window frames does not, unless the property is a designated landmark or sits in a historic district. Trade permits for electrical, plumbing, mechanical, boiler and air conditioning or roofing may be needed on top, and many issue online as quick permits. Any exterior work in a Denver historic district or on a designated landmark needs a certificate of appropriateness from Landmark Preservation, which is worth getting before you apply for building and zoning permits. Denver also applies its construction and demolition recycling rules to interior remodels with modified gross floor area over 2,500 square feet and to new construction or additions over 500 square feet, and will not issue the building permit until a waste diversion plan is approved and a refundable performance security deposit is paid. Pikes Peak makes the same point from the other side: a license or registration is required to perform any work requiring a permit. Scope the permit first, then the license.
Sourcesdenvergov.org 1pprbd.org 2
Colorado's cancellation right for in-home selling sits in the Uniform Consumer Credit Code at section 5-3-401 and following. A home solicitation sale is a consumer credit sale of goods or services where the seller personally solicits the sale and the buyer's agreement or offer to purchase is given to the seller at a residence. It excludes sales made under a preexisting revolving credit account, sales following prior negotiations at a business establishment at a fixed location, transactions conducted and consummated entirely by mail or telephone, and transactions subject to the federal Truth in Lending Act rescission rules. For a sale that qualifies, the buyer may cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing an agreement or offer that complies with the statute. Cancellation happens when the buyer gives written notice at the address stated in the agreement, and notice by mail counts when deposited, properly addressed and postage prepaid. The notice needs no particular form. The statute requires you to present a written agreement or offer that dates the transaction as of the day the buyer actually signs, to include a statement of the buyer's rights matching the applicable Federal Trade Commission trade regulation rule, and to hand the buyer a copy at signing. Until you comply, the buyer can cancel by notifying you in any manner, and that open-ended right expires only three years after the sale. Within ten days of cancellation you must return payments, notes and trade-ins. If the sale is canceled you are not entitled to compensation for services already performed.
Sourcescontent.leg.colorado.gov
If your remodeling scope touches a roof, Colorado article 22 of title 6 applies. Roofing work means construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance or repair of a roof on residential property, and the article does not reach work paying one thousand dollars or less per contract. Residential property means a detached one or two family dwelling, or multiple single family dwellings no more than three stories above grade plane with separate means of egress, and excludes new construction. Before any roofing work you must give the property owner a written contract signed by both sides stating the scope of services and materials, the approximate dates of service, the approximate costs based on damages known when the contract is entered, your contact information including physical address, email and telephone, identification of your surety and liability insurer with their contact details where applicable, and your cancellation and deposit refund policy. That policy has to include a rescission clause letting the owner cancel and recover a full deposit refund within seventy-two hours of entering the contract, plus a written statement that the owner may also rescind under section 6-22-104. The contract face must carry a bold-faced statement that you will hold any payment in trust until materials are delivered to the site or a majority of the work is performed. Where insurance pays, the owner may rescind within seventy-two hours of written notice that the claim was denied in whole or in part, and you must return payments within ten days, keeping only the value of work actually performed.
Sourcescontent.leg.colorado.gov
Colorado has no statewide license number to display, because it issues no remodeling license, but it does have advertising prohibitions with teeth. Section 6-22-105 bars a roofing contractor working from property and casualty insurance proceeds from advertising or promising to pay, waive or rebate all or part of the insurance deductible. Break that and the insurer is not obliged to consider your cost estimate, and either the property owner or the insurer may sue you for damages. The same section bars a roofing contractor soliciting in Colorado from claiming to be or acting as a public insurance adjuster, while still allowing you to discuss repair scope with the insurer on the owner's behalf once you hold a valid contract. The Colorado Consumer Protection Act adds the general rules. It is a deceptive trade practice to knowingly or recklessly make a false representation as to the source, sponsorship, approval or certification of services, or as to affiliation, connection, association with or certification by another, which is the provision that catches a contractor implying a license or approval he does not hold. Advertising services with intent not to sell them as advertised, bait and switch tactics, and guarantee claims made without clearly disclosing the nature, extent, conditions and guarantor are all listed practices. Door to door selling is a deceptive trade practice unless the seller identifies himself, who he represents, and the purpose of the call within thirty seconds of starting the conversation. Write your city license numbers into your ads anyway. It is the clearest trust signal available in a state with no statewide license.
Sourcescontent.leg.colorado.gov
Colorado offers homeowners no state contractor recovery or guaranty fund for remodeling work. That follows from the licensing gap: the Division of Professions and Occupations list of occupational professions contains no contractor credential, so there is no state program and no state fund attached to one. The remedies a Colorado homeowner actually has are your insurance, your city license, and the courts. The Colorado Consumer Protection Act is the statute with the largest numbers. The attorney general or a district attorney may seek a civil penalty of up to twenty thousand dollars for each violation of article 1, counted as a separate violation for each consumer or transaction involved, up to fifty thousand dollars per violation where the victim is an elderly person, and up to ten thousand dollars for each violation of a court order or injunction issued under the article. Injured consumers can also bring a private civil action. On the city side, your license is what carries the weight. Pikes Peak suspends a license automatically when insurance lapses, is cancelled or is reduced, and administratively revokes it after insurance has lapsed more than twelve months. Since there is no fund to point at, point at what you do carry. Name your general liability limits, say your workers compensation is in force, name the cities that licensed you, and offer the lookup links. In a state with no state license, verifiable specifics are the whole pitch.
Sourcesdpo.colorado.gov 1content.leg.colorado.gov 2pprbd.org 3
Colorado homeowners verify remodelers in more than one place, so make all of them easy. For the state licensed trades, the Division of Professions and Occupations runs an online verification site titled Verify a Colorado Professional or Business License, where you pick a license type and search by name. The division warns that the site is built for individual searches rather than bulk scraping, and points anyone needing mass data to the Colorado Information Marketplace. For city licenses you go to the city. Denver publishes a Verify a Contractor's License page under Community Planning and Development's contractor licensing area. Pikes Peak Regional Building Department offers a Search Contractors option alongside its permit and plan searches. Aurora puts a contractor lookup tool on the same page as its licensing information, describing it as the way to find out which contractors are licensed to work in Aurora. Treat those four links as sales assets. Put them on your estimate and invite the homeowner to check, because the contractor who sends the lookup link first is the one who looks like he has nothing to hide. Keep the details that make the search work: Pikes Peak requires your business name on the insurance certificate and the license application to match Colorado Secretary of State records exactly, tradenames included, and the Secretary of State's business pages host the searchable business database, name availability search and trade name renewal that keep that record current.
Sourcesapps2.colorado.gov 1denvergov.org 2pprbd.org 3auroragov.org 4pprbd.org 5sos.state.co.us 6
These are common details other guides publish about Colorado, but we could not verify them from the agency source. Confirm them directly before relying on them.
No. The Division of Professions and Occupations lists the occupations Colorado regulates, and no general, residential, home builder or home improvement contractor credential appears on it. Licensing is handled by individual cities and regional building departments, so you license per jurisdiction rather than once for the whole state.
Residential Contractor Class C is the Denver class written for one and two family dwellings, U Occupancy buildings and attached single unit dwellings, covering erecting, adding to, altering and repairing them. The license costs $250.00 and renews every three years under Denver's published contractor licensing fee schedule.
Yes. Denver says a supervisor certificate, or employing someone who holds one, is the first step toward a contractor's license, and it does not accept license applications until supervisor certificates are approved. A Colorado electrical or plumbing license substitutes for the supervisor certificate requirement.
Two years of building construction field work as a journeyman carpenter or construction foreman, with hands-on experience on single or two family dwellings in foundation, framing and roofing. Up to one year may be design work. Notarized letters must come from employers or clients, with addresses and month-and-year dates.
ICC exam F13, National Standard Residential Building Contractor C. Denver uses F11 for Class A and F12 for Class B and B-2. After your certificate application is approved you have 90 days to produce the certificate by submitting the official ICC pass letter to contractor licensing.
No. Denver states it does not accept or reciprocate licenses from other counties or states, and Pikes Peak Regional Building Department says it reciprocates no licenses from other building departments. Pikes Peak will accept qualifying ICC exams passed on or after January 1, 2017, but not out of state exams.
Its Table RBC201.7 sets general liability at 1,000,000 each occurrence and 2,000,000 general aggregate across building contractor classes A, B, C, D, E and F. The policy needs an endorsement giving ten calendar days notice of reduction or cancellation, and a lapse suspends your license automatically.
Aurora does. Its Building Division fee and requirement schedule lists a Remodeling Contractor license requiring registration with the division plus three years of documented experience, at a $131.00 supervisor license fee and a $164.00 license fee. Aurora also requires registration and three job references.
Often yes. Colorado section 5-3-402 gives the buyer of a qualifying home solicitation sale until midnight of the third business day after signing to cancel in writing. Until you deliver the compliant written agreement and rights statement, the cancellation right stays open for three years after the sale.
Section 6-22-103 requires a signed written contract stating scope, approximate dates, approximate cost, your contact details, surety and insurer identification, and a rescission clause allowing a full deposit refund within seventy-two hours. The face must carry a bold statement that payments are held in trust until materials arrive or most work is done.
No. Section 6-22-105 bars a roofing contractor paid from property and casualty insurance proceeds from advertising or promising to pay, waive or rebate any part of the deductible. The insurer may then disregard your estimate, and the owner or insurer can sue you for resulting damages.
No state contractor recovery fund exists, because the state licenses no contractor credential. Remedies run through your insurance, your city license and the courts. Under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, the attorney general or a district attorney may seek up to twenty thousand dollars per violation.
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