Pierce building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Pierce, Colorado.
Last verified 2026-07-23 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 144 Main Street, Pierce, CO 80650 (PO Box 57)
- Phone
- 970-834-2851
- info@piercecolo.gov
- Office hours
- Town Hall main line (970) 834-2851, fax (970) 834-2755, per the Town's Building Permit Application form. The Town's general Contact Us page lists the same address/phone but no posted office hours; the Planning and Zoning department directs all building-permit, addition, new-construction, annexation, and remodel questions to the Town Hall main line. Inspections (not permit intake) are scheduled directly with SAFEbuilt Inc. at 970-674-1036 or 1-866-671-1036, calls before 7:30 a.m. receive same-day inspection, after 7:30 a.m. scheduled for the next working day. Note: the Contact Us page renders the street address as '144 Main Avenue' while the Town Hall page and the Building Permit Application PDF both render it as '144 Main St./144 Main Street' — treated as the same address, minor inconsistency in the Town's own CMS.
- Website
- Official site
- Permit portal
- Apply online at Pierce's portal
Inspection guide
See how inspections work in Pierce — sequence, scheduling & re-inspection fees.
Codes adopted
Colorado has no statewide-mandated building code edition. Under the Colorado Constitution's home-rule provisions (art. XX, home rule for municipalities since 1902; home rule for counties since 1970), building codes and zoning are an enumerated home-rule charter power, so cities and counties adopt and amend their own construction codes independently — predominantly the I-Codes, with editions and local amendments varying by jurisdiction. The one statewide floor is for energy: HB22-1362 (2022) created the Energy Code Board (jointly appointed by the Colorado Energy Office and the Department of Local Affairs) and requires that, on or after July 1, 2023 and before July 1, 2026, any municipality or county that adopts or updates a building code must adopt and enforce an energy code achieving performance equivalent to or better than the 2021 IECC together with the board's Model Electric Ready and Solar Ready Code (which includes electric-ready, EV-ready, and solar-ready provisions); from July 1, 2026 onward the floor shifts to the board's Model Low Energy and Carbon Code or an equivalent. Electrical and plumbing permitting defaults to the Colorado State Electrical Board and State Plumbing Board (within DORA's Division of Professions and Occupations) — the state issues permits and inspects statewide except in counties/jurisdictions that operate their own certified Electrical or Plumbing Inspection Program, in which case the local program has authority instead. Always confirm the currently adopted code edition, local amendments, and inspection authority (state board vs. local program) with the specific jurisdiction before submitting plans.
- 2024 International Residential Code (IRC) — Town of Pierce Design Criteria page (Residential Construction Codes)
- 2024 Energy Conservation Code (residential) — Design Criteria page
- 2024 International Building Code (IBC) — Design Criteria page (Commercial Construction Codes)
- 2024 International Plumbing Code (IPC)
- 2024 International Mechanical Code (IMC)
- 2024 International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC)
- 2024 International Energy Code (IECC)
- 2024 Pool and Spa Code
- 2024 International Property Maintenance Code
- 2024 International Existing Building Code
- 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC) — listed for both Residential and Commercial Construction Codes on the Design Criteria page
- Note on document currency: the Town's downloadable project guides in the Building Permits 'Supporting Documents' list are titled for the prior code cycle ('2018 IRC Accessory Structures Guide', '2018 IRC Decks Guide', '2018 IRC Home Additions Guide', '2018 Pole Barns Guide', '2018 Swimming Pools Guide', '2018 IRC Basement Finish Guide', '2018 IRC Patio Covers - Carports Guide', '2018 IRC Window Replacement', '2018 IRC Re-Roof Guide', '2020 NEC - Significant Changes Residential') even though the Town's live Design Criteria page lists 2024 IRC/IBC/IPC/IMC/IFGC/IECC/Pool-Spa/Property-Maintenance/Existing-Building codes plus 2023 NEC as currently adopted. As in this corpus's established pattern (e.g. Vail), the actively maintained Design Criteria webpage is treated as the current, governing adopted-code list; the 2018/2020-titled PDFs are legacy guidance documents whose filenames were not renamed when the Town's adopted-code edition was updated.
- State-level requirement: Electric Ready, Solar Ready, and EV Ready provisions apply per the Town's Design Criteria page, consistent with Colorado's HB22-1362 statewide energy-code floor (2021 IECC baseline plus electric/solar/EV-ready provisions, in effect July 2023-July 2026) — Pierce's own 2024 IECC adoption already meets or exceeds this floor, and the Town's page lists the electric/solar/EV-ready provisions as an explicit, separate 'State Code Requirements' item rather than folding them silently into the IECC line.
Permit types & fees
Residential Building Permit (New Construction)
Required for new single-family, duplex, multi-family, and agricultural building construction within Pierce town limits. Reviewed under the 2024 IRC and 2024 Energy Conservation Code as adopted, plus the Town's published Design Criteria (30 PSF ground snow load, 115 MPH ultimate wind speed, 30-inch frost depth, Seismic Design Category B). Plan review and inspections are performed by SAFEbuilt Inc. under contract to the Town.
Residential Addition / Remodel Permit
Required for additions, basement finishes, kitchen remodels, and other renovations involving structural, electrical, or plumbing modifications to existing residential structures in Pierce. Reviewed under the 2024 IRC as locally adopted.
Electrical Permit
Required for electrical modifications, new installations, and service work in Pierce. Governed by the 2023 NEC as adopted per the Town's Design Criteria page. Electrical permitting authority is the Town of Pierce, administered through its contracted building official SAFEbuilt Inc. — confirmed 2026-07-23 via the live Weld County Code Sec. 29-1-10(C) (Municode, current through Ordinance 2026-05), which expressly limits Weld County's own Building Code, including 'plumbing, mechanical and electrical installations,' to 'the unincorporated areas of the County,' resolving the ambiguity created by DORA's jurisdiction list naming 'Weld' without an incorporated-town exclusion — see localAmendments for the full chase trail.
Plumbing Permit
Required for plumbing modifications and new installations in Pierce, issued as part of the Town's combined Building Permit Application. Governed by the 2024 IPC as adopted per the Design Criteria page. Plumbing permitting authority is the Town of Pierce, administered through its contracted building official SAFEbuilt Inc. — confirmed 2026-07-23 via the live Weld County Code Sec. 29-1-10(C) (Municode, current through Ordinance 2026-05), which expressly limits Weld County's own Building Code, including plumbing installations, to 'the unincorporated areas of the County' — see localAmendments for the full chase trail (same resolution as the electrical permit).
Mechanical / HVAC Permit
Required for furnace, air conditioner, boiler, and gas piping installation or replacement in Pierce, issued as part of the combined Building Permit Application. Governed by the 2024 IMC and 2024 IFGC as adopted.
Re-Roof Permit
Required for re-roofing work in Pierce. Governed by the 2024 IRC/IBC as adopted; the Town publishes a dedicated Re-Roof Guide (filename retains 2018 IRC-cycle naming).
Rooftop Solar / Photovoltaic Permit
Required for solar panel installations in Pierce. Solar panels are explicitly named on the Building Permits page as requiring a permit. Governed by the 2023 NEC as adopted for the electrical portion; the Town's Design Criteria page separately lists a state-level 'Solar Ready' requirement applicable to new construction, distinct from a retrofit solar installation permit.
Demolition Permit
Required for demolition of structures within Pierce town limits. Explicitly listed on the Building Permits page as requiring a permit.
Commercial Tenant Finish / Improvement Permit
Required for tenant finish, shell-only, and remodel/addition work on commercial and industrial structures in Pierce. The Building Permit Application form has a dedicated Commercial/Industrial Structures section distinguishing New Building, Shell Only, Remodel/Addition, and Tenant Finish scopes, and a separate 'Pierce Commercial Submittal Checklist' governs commercial submittals.
Deck / Patio Cover / Carport Permit
Required for decks, patio covers, and carports in Pierce. Governed by the 2024 IRC as adopted; the Town publishes dedicated Decks and Patio Covers/Carports guides (filenames retain 2018 IRC-cycle naming).
EV Charger / EVSE Permit
Pierce has no EV-charger-specific permit type or fee line. An EV charger (EVSE) circuit is electrical work and is permitted the same way as any other electrical modification in Pierce: on the Town's combined Building Permit Application (Electrical Contractor fields), governed by the 2023 NEC as adopted per the Town's Design Criteria page, and billed under the same 'UBC fee schedule + $30 or 30% (greater)' combined Building Permit fee structure — the Town's Fee Schedule does not publish a standalone electrical (or EV-specific) fee table. Separately, Pierce's Design Criteria page lists 'Electric Ready, Solar Ready, and EV Ready' as a State Code Requirement consistent with Colorado's HB22-1362 statewide energy-code floor, which requires new construction to be wired EV-ready (a distinct code-compliance requirement, not a separate charger-installation permit or fee).
New residential construction activity
New privately-owned residential construction onlyHousing units authorized by building permits for new privately-owned residential construction — this is not total permit volume (no commercial permits or remodels).
- Latest month (2026-05)
- No data reported
- Trailing 12 months
- No data reported
- Year to date (2026 YTD)
- No data reported
- Full year 2025
- 0units
0 buildings · $0 valuation
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (BPS), 2026-05 vintage. Census survey data — separate from the permit-requirements verification above. All Colorado building activity
Tips & gotchas
- Pierce is a small statutory town in Weld County that contracts plan review and inspections to SAFEbuilt Inc.; permit intake, application questions, and fee payment go through Town Hall (970-834-2851), while inspection SCHEDULING is a separate call to SAFEbuilt directly (970-674-1036 or 1-866-671-1036, before 7:30 a.m. for same-day service).
- The Town's live Design Criteria page lists 2024 IRC/IBC/IPC/IMC/IFGC/IECC/Pool-Spa/Property-Maintenance/Existing-Building codes plus 2023 NEC as currently adopted, while the Building Permits page's downloadable project guides (Decks, Home Additions, Re-Roof, Basement Finish, etc.) still carry 2018 IRC/2020 NEC filenames — treat the Design Criteria page as the governing current adoption, consistent with this corpus's pattern for CMS-lag PDF filenames, but confirm code-specific details for your project directly with Town Hall or SAFEbuilt.
- RESOLVED 2026-07-23: Electrical and plumbing permitting authority in Pierce is the Town of Pierce, administered through its contracted building official SAFEbuilt Inc. Colorado DORA's jurisdiction lists name 'Weld' (the county) as having its own local electrical AND plumbing inspection programs with no incorporated-town exclusion language in the list text, and link directly to Weld County's own Accela portal — but the live Weld County Code, Sec. 29-1-10(C) (Municode, current through Ordinance 2026-05), explicitly states the county's Building Code, including 'plumbing, mechanical and electrical installations,' applies only in 'the unincorporated areas of the County.' Since Weld County's own program excludes incorporated Pierce, and SAFEbuilt's contracted services independently include electrical/plumbing inspections, both the electrical-permit and plumbing-permit entries are now 'verified' confidence.
- Pierce uses a SINGLE combined Building Permit Application for Building, Electrical, Plumbing, and Heating/Mechanical trades — there are no standalone trade-specific application forms. Contractor name, phone, and Colorado license number fields exist for General, Electrical, Plumbing, and Heating contractors all on the same page.
- The Town's Fee Schedule publishes only two building-permit-related fee lines ('Building Permit: UBC fee schedule + $30 or 30% (greater)' and 'One Stop Building Permit: $15 or 15% (greater)') with NO separate published trade-specific (electrical/plumbing/mechanical) fee table and no published UBC valuation base-fee table itself — actual dollar totals are computed and entered directly on the Building Permit Application's 'SAFEbuilt $' / 'Town $' / 'TOTAL FEES $' lines rather than looked up from a public rate table on the website.
- New construction in Pierce triggers substantial utility-connection costs beyond the base building permit fee: Water Plant Investment Fee $12,500 In Town / $25,000 Out of Town, Sewer Plant Investment Fee $4,250 In Town / $8,500 Out of Town, plus Road Impact/Development Fees ($575-$880/house for single-family by size tier), Park Fee ($600 residential), Drainage Impact Fee ($300+ by lot size), and Police Impact Fee ($150 per 1,000 sq ft) — budget for these development fees as a package with the building permit itself.
- Permits become null and void if work is not ready for first inspection within 180 days of issuance, or if more than 180 days elapse between inspections, or if work substantially ceases — track this deadline carefully since Pierce's inspection scheduling runs through a separate contracted provider (SAFEbuilt) rather than Town Hall.
- The Town of Pierce publishes NO numeric plan-review turnaround (days or weeks) for any permit category anywhere on its site — not on the Building Permits page, the Design Criteria page, the Fee Schedule, the Forms & Resources document list, or the Building Permit Application form. Colorado is home-rule with no statewide clock, and every permitType in this file is honestly null/unverified with a documented chase trail rather than an invented figure.
- School Impact Fees for new residential construction are paid DIRECTLY to the Weld RE-9 school district (not the Town), with a receipt required as part of the Town's own development-fee process — don't overlook this as a separate payee from the Town's own fee schedule.
- The Town's own CMS has a minor address inconsistency: the Contact Us page renders '144 Main Avenue' while the Town Hall page and the Building Permit Application PDF both render '144 Main Street' — same physical location (Pierce, CO 80650), just inconsistent street-suffix labeling across the site.