Do you actually need one?
Probably. The exemption is narrow, and it is written as four conditions that all have to be true at the same time. Here is the rule in its own words:
“Detached decks in conjunction with one- and two-family dwellings not exceeding 200 square feet (18.58 m2) in area that are not more than 30 inches (762 mm) above grade at any point within 36 inches (914 mm) of the deck perimeter and do not serve the required egress door.”
Read it as a checklist. Detached from the house. Not over 200 square feet. No point higher than 30 inches above grade within three feet of the edge. Not the deck your required egress door opens onto. Miss one and you need a permit.
Most decks fail on the first condition, because most decks are attached. A 12 × 16 platform floating in the middle of the back yard at 18 inches off the ground is 192 square feet and clears all four. Bolt the same platform to the house and it needs a permit.
Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, §105.2. Verified 2026-08-04. pprbd.org
Two more that catch people out, because they are permits from a different office rather than from Regional Building:
- An HOA architectural approval is not a building permit, and a building permit is not HOA approval. They are separate reviews with separate timelines, and in most of the newer north-side neighborhoods you need both.
- Hillside Overlay zoning. Parts of the west side and the Flying Horse area sit in the city’s Hillside Overlay, which adds a planning review for slope, grading and limits of disturbance on top of the building permit.
Who issues it
Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, not the City of Colorado Springs. PPRBD is a single regional authority covering Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Monument, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Palmer Lake, Green Mountain Falls, Ramah, Calhan and Woodland Park.
That is worth knowing, because it means the deck rules do not change when you cross from the city into unincorporated county. Zoning does. Wildfire rules do — see below. But the structural code, the fee table, and the inspector are the same.
What the permit costs
The building permit fee is calculated from the project valuation against PPRBD’s Table A, and plan review is charged on top as a percentage of that fee.
| Minimum permit fee | $50.00 |
|---|---|
| Valuation $2,001–$25,000 | $80.00 for the first $2,000, plus $8.00 per additional $1,000 or fraction |
| Valuation $25,001–$50,000 | $264.00 for the first $25,000, plus $8.00 per additional $1,000 or fraction |
| Plan review | 28% of the building permit fee |
Worked through, on an $18,000 deck: $18,000 minus the first $2,000 leaves $16,000, which is sixteen increments at $8 — $128. Add the $80 base and the building permit fee is $208. Plan review at 28% is $58.24. $266.24 in total. That is the whole calculation, so you can check it.
Valuation is not automatically your contract price. PPRBD sets it, working from ICC valuation data. If you want the exact number before you commit, PPRBD publishes a fee calculator and it is free to use.
PPRBD Fee Schedule, Table A; 2025 ICC valuation data effective 30 June 2025. Verified 4 August 2026. Fee calculator
What you have to submit
Deck plans go in electronically. PPRBD wants a plot plan and a structural set, and the structural set is more specific than most homeowners expect.
On the plot plan
- Complete street address and the legal description of the property
- Property lines with dimensions, and the side, front and rear yard setbacks
- All site improvements, existing and proposed
- Window well locations and clearances
- Electric and gas meter locations
On the structural set
- An overview plan drawn to scale — a quarter inch to the foot is preferred — or fully dimensioned
- Framing species and grade, joist sizes and spacing, beam sizes and full bearing
- Ledger detail: size, material, connection type and fastener schedule
- Post and pier locations with material, size, height and footing detail
- Decking material and the direction it runs
- Stair sections and details — stringer material, size and spacing, plus rise and run
- Guard details and cantilever details
PPRBD Residential Deck Plan Review. Verified 4 August 2026.
When an engineer gets involved
Most decks are built straight from the prescriptive tables and never see an engineer. Five things pull a deck out of the tables and require a Colorado licensed design professional:
- A joist cantilever longer than IRC Table 507.6 allows
- A beam bolted to the sides of the posts rather than bearing on top of them
- A beam spliced at midspan
- A ledger attached to a cantilever, to brick veneer, or to a manufactured home
- Any point load over 1,500 pounds
That last one is the hot tub question. A filled spa with people in it concentrates far more than 1,500 pounds onto a small footprint, which is why a tub on a deck is an engineering conversation and not a catalog decision. Decide it before the framing plan is drawn, not after the deck is finished.
The three inspections
Three stops, in order, and each one has to pass before the next stage of work is covered up.
| Inspection | What the inspector is looking at |
|---|---|
| Footing | The width and depth of the post holes, before any concrete is poured. |
| Frame | Joists, beams, posts — every structural component, before the decking material goes on. |
| Final | The completed deck, including all required guards and handrails. |
If the deck is high enough off the ground to walk underneath, frame and final can sometimes be combined into one visit. On a ground-hugging deck they cannot be, because once the boards are down nobody can see the frame.
PPRBD Deck Inspection Guidelines. Verified 4 August 2026.
Footings, frost and soil
The footing inspection is the one that catches people, because the hole has to be right before the concrete goes in and there is no fixing it afterwards.
Two separate things set the depth. The first is frost — a footing has to bear below the frost line so the ground freezing underneath it cannot lift it. The second, and locally the bigger one, is soil. Colorado Geological Survey figures put expansive clay at up to 20% volume expansion when it takes on water, exerting up to 30,000 pounds per square foot. That is more than enough to move a deck.
Which is why the footing detail on a Colorado Springs deck plan is rarely the minimum anything. What actually sets these clays off, and why a deck can sit still for years and then start moving, is covered on the repair page.
Minimum footing depth is set on your approved plan, and PPRBD does not publish a single number that covers every deck — a freestanding deck and an attached one are not treated the same. We confirm the figure for your address with Regional Building rather than quoting you a rule of thumb.
If you are in the wildfire overlay
An address inside the City of Colorado Springs wildfire overlay cannot have a wood decking surface. The city’s wording:
“Wood is not permitted to be used for the decking surface but can be used for all large structural components and railings.”
The overlay covers roughly half the city, and most people in it have no idea. It changes the decking, the stair treads, and often the framing — so it needs settling before plans are drawn, not after.
Common questions
How long does a deck permit take?
Review time moves with PPRBD’s queue, and the queue is seasonal — spring and early summer are the busiest weeks of the year because that is when everyone decides to build. We give you the current turnaround when we scope your project rather than publishing a number here that would be wrong by April.
What happens if I build without one?
The practical consequences usually show up later rather than immediately: an unpermitted structure surfaces during a title or appraisal review when you sell, and resolving it then means opening up finished work so an inspector can see what is underneath. Insurance claims involving an unpermitted structure are also a harder conversation than they need to be.
Can I pull the permit myself?
Homeowners can, and some do. It means you own the plan set, the corrections, the inspection scheduling and the liability. If you are hiring the work out anyway, having the builder pull it is normally the cleaner arrangement — the permit and the workmanship sit with the same party.
Does a pergola or patio cover need a permit?
A solid-roof structure does. The nearest exemption PPRBD publishes covers fabric only: detached or attached shade cloth structures with a fabric area not exceeding 200 square feet. Rafters are not fabric, and a roof carries snow load, so a patio cover is reviewed as a structure. Pergolas and patio covers.
Do I need a permit to replace the boards on an existing deck?
Resurfacing sounds like maintenance and often is not, because it is the moment the frame underneath gets exposed. If the framing, ledger, posts or footings are being altered, that is structural work. We look at the frame before quoting a resurface for exactly this reason — a lot of 1990s decks in Colorado Springs have a ledger detail that would not pass today.
