Clear Creek County is mountain construction, and mountain construction runs on a different set of rules than the metro. Wildfire mitigation is written into the building code. Snow load is assigned per parcel rather than published as one number. The frost line is deeper. And the answer to “who issues my permit” depends on which side of a town line the property sits on.
Who Permits Your Project
Clear Creek County is not one permitting authority. It is several, and picking the wrong one costs weeks.
- Unincorporated Clear Creek County — and that is most of the county — permits through the county Building Department at 1111 Rose Street in Georgetown, the building known as the Annex. Phone 303-679-2446, inspection line 303-670-7534. Walk-ins Monday through Thursday, 7:30am to 5:30pm; the Annex is closed Fridays.
- Idaho Springs runs its own permitting. The county states plainly that property inside Idaho Springs town limits is not permitted by Clear Creek County.
- Georgetown has its own process and its own Design Review Commission.
- Empire issues permits through its own Town Hall office.
- Silver Plume has a town permits page still marked as coming soon, with general guidance pointing applicants to the county Building Department.
The county has gone fully paperless through the GovBuilt portal. No paper plans, no paper forms, no paper photos, and fees are paid online at the time of application by credit card or e-check. The county does not publish a standard plan-review turnaround, so we build schedule contingency rather than promising a date the county has never committed to.
Codes and Design Criteria
Clear Creek County has adopted the 2024 International Residential Code by Resolution R-26-19, with the 2024 IBC, International Plumbing Code and International Mechanical Code referenced alongside it. The county is IECC Climate Zone 7 — the same energy-code band as the coldest parts of the state, and a long way from the metro’s requirements.
The published design criteria are what actually shape a project here:
- Frost depth: 42 inches minimum for general construction; deck piers a minimum of 36 inches below grade.
- Seismic Design Category: B.
- Snow load: assigned per parcel through the county’s ClearMap tool, not published as a single county figure — and no snow load reductions are allowed.
- Wind exposure: also location-specific through ClearMap, with no single county-wide value.
- Design temperatures: below 7,400 feet, -7°F winter heating and 95°F summer cooling; at or above 7,400 feet, -11°F and 90°F. Air freezing index 2,500, mean annual temperature 40°F, and ice-shield underlayment required under the severe weathering classification.
That last item is the one homeowners underestimate. A roof detail that performs in Lakewood is not automatically a roof detail that performs at 9,000 feet with ice damming and a snow load pulled off a parcel-specific map.
Wildfire Is Part of the Building Code Here
Clear Creek adopted a Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Plan as an amendment to its building code in 1995, aimed at development in heavily forested and less accessible terrain. It is not advisory. It carries requirements:
- Defensible space is required around structures for all new development and any addition greater than 400 square feet, with the plan developed by the county’s Site Development Inspector.
- Class A rated roof assemblies are required for all new development and all re-roofing. Wood shakes and shingles are not Class A rated, so a specially rated assembly is needed if that look is the goal.
- Automatic fire suppression, monitored and approved, is required for structures of 4,400 square feet or more.
- Access roads that cannot meet minimum standards trigger additional wildfire and structure-fire mitigation on the project.
For a remodel this means an addition can pull defensible-space obligations onto a property that had none, and a reroof is not a like-for-like replacement if the existing roof is not Class A.
Wells, Septic and the Rest of Rural Infrastructure
Most property outside the towns is on a well and a septic system, and both are project constraints rather than background details.
Onsite wastewater is regulated under the Clear Creek County OWTS Regulations, which apply countywide including inside the incorporated towns. A soils evaluation with at least two open test pits is required before a permit application. A Use Permit — required before a property transfer where a system has been in use more than five years, and for limited-occupancy or limited-bedroom dwellings — runs five to ten business days. Environmental Health is at 303-679-2428.
This is the part that catches bathroom and bedroom additions. A septic system is sized for a bedroom count. Adding a bedroom can mean the system no longer matches the house on paper, and that becomes a permit issue and eventually a sale issue. It is checked at design, not discovered at closing.
Well permitting is handled by the state through the Colorado Division of Water Resources, not by the county.
An Old Housing Stock, Lightly Occupied
Clear Creek’s housing is older than the metro average and includes genuine mining-era structures in Idaho Springs, Georgetown and Silver Plume, where historic district and design review rules apply on top of the building code. A county housing baseline summary using 2014 ACS data found that roughly 71% of vacant housing units in the county were vacant for seasonal, recreational or occasional use — a second-home county as much as a full-time-resident one.
Practically that means two things. Older stock puts a large share of these houses on the pre-1978 side, so the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies to work disturbing painted surfaces, and asbestos testing before demolition is standard rather than optional under CDPHE Regulation 8. And second-home projects have to be planned around access, winter conditions, and an owner who is not on site to make daily decisions — which changes how a project is sequenced and documented.
Services We Provide in Clear Creek County
Every service below is available throughout Clear Creek County, permitted through the authority with jurisdiction over your address.
- Kitchen Remodeling in Clear Creek CountyLayouts, cabinets, counters, full gut rebuilds
- Bathroom Remodeling in Clear Creek CountyPrimary baths, guest baths, wet-area rebuilds
- Basement Finishing in Clear Creek CountyEgress, ceiling height, permits, finished space
- Home Additions in Clear Creek CountyBump-outs, second stories, whole-room additions
- Roofing in Clear Creek CountyReplacement, storm damage, Class 4 options
- Deck Building in Clear Creek CountyComposite and wood decks, rails, structural repair
- Fencing in Clear Creek CountyWood, composite and metal fence installation
- Framing in Clear Creek CountyStructural framing, walls, load-bearing changes
- Drywall in Clear Creek CountyHang, tape, texture, repair and patching
- Tile Work in Clear Creek CountyFloors, showers, backsplashes, waterproofing
- Painting in Clear Creek CountyInterior and exterior, prep and finish work
- Demolition in Clear Creek CountySelective interior demo and full teardowns
Cities and Communities We Serve in Clear Creek County
Local permitting, soil, wildfire and code details differ by community. Pick yours for the specifics that apply to your address.
Common Questions
Does the county issue permits inside the towns?
Not everywhere. Idaho Springs, Georgetown and Empire run their own permitting, and the county states directly that property inside Idaho Springs town limits is not permitted by Clear Creek County. Unincorporated areas, and generally the Silver Plume area, go through the county Building Department at 1111 Rose Street in Georgetown.
What snow load do you design to?
Whatever the county assigns to your parcel. Clear Creek delivers snow load per property through its ClearMap tool rather than publishing one county number, and no snow load reductions are permitted. Wind exposure works the same way. We pull the parcel values before designing an addition, deck or roof structure.
Do wildfire rules apply to a remodel or only to new construction?
They apply to remodels. Defensible space is required for any addition larger than 400 square feet, and Class A rated roof assemblies are required for re-roofing, not just new builds. An access road that cannot meet minimum standards triggers further mitigation requirements on the project.
Can I add a bedroom if I am on septic?
Only if the system supports it. Onsite systems are sized by bedroom count, and Clear Creek’s OWTS regulations apply countywide including inside the towns, with a soils evaluation and at least two open test pits required before a permit application. This is settled during design.
How long does plan review take?
The county does not publish a standard turnaround, so nobody honestly can quote you one. We plan the schedule with contingency for review and coordinate through the county’s GovBuilt portal, which is now the only way to submit — the county no longer accepts paper.
Talk to Us About Your Project
Mountain projects reward planning and punish improvisation. If you are considering work in Clear Creek County, we will confirm which authority permits your property, pull the parcel design values, check what the wildfire standards add to your scope, and give you a range with the reasoning attached. We work throughout the Denver metro and the Front Range, including neighboring Jefferson County.