ADU / Backyard Cottage in Highlands Ranch

A municipally licensed Denver general contractor coordinates licensed specialty trades. Colorado has no statewide general-contractor license; cities and counties license general contractors. DORA licenses electrical and plumbing, not general contractors.

Detached or attached accessory dwelling on a Denver lot: foundation or module, envelope, and utility tie-in.

Anything that changes structure, occupancy, or regulated electrical or plumbing usually needs a local permit. Denver building permits are reviewed by Community Planning and Development. Confirm the exact trigger with CPD for the address.

It depends on your city’s zoning — lot size, setbacks, and parking rules vary across the metro. We run the zoning check as the first step and tell you what your lot supports before you spend money on design.

Yes — ADU permitting is municipal, and we manage zoning review, permit application, and every inspection through certificate of occupancy.

Each has different zoning, cost, and site implications. We design all three and recommend based on your lot, budget, and how you plan to use the unit.

Getting a real answer costs less than most people expect: an ADU feasibility consultation is $350, and the full ADU feasibility package — zoning check, site analysis, and concept direction — is $950, both listed at fixed prices on our booking page. Construction cost depends on the path: garage and basement conversions reuse existing structure, while a detached backyard cottage is new construction from the foundation up. After feasibility we quote the build itself as a fixed-price proposal, so you know the number before work starts.

Three phases run in sequence: design (site measure, concept, construction documents), permitting (zoning and building review, which move on the municipality’s calendar), then construction. Conversions generally move faster than detached new builds because the shell and foundation already exist. We lay out the phase-by-phase schedule in your proposal, and you track progress on our operations platform once work starts.

Smaller than most people assume — many Front Range single-unit lots that owners write off can carry a detached unit, and each city sets its own minimum lot size, setbacks, and building coverage. Whether your district’s standards leave room for a backyard cottage — or point you toward a garage or basement conversion instead — is exactly what the feasibility check answers for your address.

Two municipal reviews run in order: a zoning review confirming the unit fits your district’s standards, then a building permit review of the construction documents, with inspections during the build and a certificate of occupancy at the end. Colorado HB 24-1152 now requires most Front Range municipalities to allow ADUs on single-unit lots, and we confirm how your city implements it as the first step of feasibility.