Permitting Authorities / Pitkin County Building Department
Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Unincorporated Pitkin County, CO?
Adopted code
Pitkin County Building Department
Yes — a permit is required to replace a roof in Unincorporated Pitkin County, CO, issued by Pitkin County Building Department. Roofing permit fees have a flat rate of 200 dollars each, plus an hourly plan check fee and use tax, with a separate permit required for each separate building. Every new roof or re-roof must be a minimum Class A covering or Class A assembly; wood shakes and shingles are prohibited in unincorporated Pitkin County and all roof coverings must be non-reflective. Roof work involving structural framing, replacement of damaged roof deck, or the addition of rigid insulation requires a building permit. Homeowners may re-roof their own home if it is their primary single-family residence.
Jurisdiction
Pitkin County, Colorado (unincorporated)
Contact
- url: https://pitkincounty.com/192/Building
- phone: 970-920-5200
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
- license: All contractor companies must have a contractor license to do work in the City of Aspen or Pitkin County; licensing is administered jointly with the City of Aspen. Roofing is a specialty contractor category with a 142 dollar license fee on a three-year term, and at least one on-site contractor must hold a trade-specific B.E.S.T. (Board of Examiners for Standardized Testing) certification covering ICC codes.
Permit process note
Roofing permit fees have a flat rate of 200 dollars each, plus an hourly plan check fee and use tax, with a separate permit required for each separate building. Every new roof or re-roof must be a minimum Class A covering or Class A assembly; wood shakes and shingles are prohibited in unincorporated Pitkin County and all roof coverings must be non-reflective. Roof work involving structural framing, replacement of damaged roof deck, or the addition of rigid insulation requires a building permit. Homeowners may re-roof their own home if it is their primary single-family residence.
Inspection requirements
All roofs require a final inspection. All metal roofs additionally require an underlayment inspection, and re-roofing of a historic building or a building in a historic district carries additional inspection review.
Adopted code
Pitkin County has adopted the 2021 International Building Code Series (effective January 30, 2023) and the 2023 National Electric Code (effective August 1, 2023), plus Title 11 Buildings and Construction amendments including the Wildfire Resiliency Code Section 11.35, which applies to all building permit applications submitted on or after May 2, 2026.
Drip edge
Required — Not separately amended by Pitkin County. Section 11.20.040, the county's full itemized amendment list to the 2021 International Residential Code, was read in full and does not delete or modify R905.2.8.5, so the base IRC drip-edge requirement stands as adopted code.
About drip edgeIce & water shield
Required — Pitkin County Code Section 11.20.040's amended Table R301.2 lists "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required = YES 905.1.2" as the county-wide determination. The same section separately amends R905.1.2 Ice Barrier as operative text: "An ice dam barrier that consists of at least two layers of underlayment cemented together or of a self-adhering polymer modified bitumen sheet shall be used in lieu of normal underlayment and shall extend from the roof eave edge at least four and one-half feet inside the exterior wall line as measured along the roof surface, twenty-four inches from the centerline of the valley and up twenty-four inches on the vertical wall at a roof and wall juncture."
About ice & water barrierImpact-resistant roofing
Not required — Pitkin County's full Title 11 "Buildings and Construction" (93 pages, including Chapter 11.20's 2021 IRC amendments and Chapter 11.35's Wildfire Resiliency Code) was read in full and contains no provision addressing impact-resistant roofing, UL 2218, Class 4 shingles, or hail anywhere in the document.
Wind design criteria
Pitkin County Code Section 11.20.040, amending Table R301.2 of the 2021 International Residential Code, prints the wind-design cells as: "Ground Snow Load = Varies*; Wind Speed = Varies**; Topographic effects = NO; Special wind region = NO; Windborne debris zone = NO; Seismic Design Category = Varies***." The table's footnotes state: "*The value of roof (or other structural member) snow load shall be equal to the recommended basic snow load as defined in the 2016 Snow load Design Data for Colorado, prepared and published by the Structural Engineers Association of Colorado[;] **Engineered per ASCE 7-10 Standard[;] ***As Verified on map(s) located in the 2021 International Residential Code" -- i.e. ground snow load, wind speed, and seismic design category are all determined by site-specific elevation/map lookup rather than a single county-wide figure.
Sales & use tax
6.5% combined in unincorporated Pitkin County (state 2.9% + county 3.6%, the latter itself composed of a 3.1% standard county sales tax plus a 0.5% transportation sales tax under Resolution 93-149). Always state-collected (Colorado counties do not self-collect). The County separately imposes a Construction Use Tax collected via a "deposit method" at building-permit issuance: deposit amount = total permit valuation x 10% x 0.5% (reduced from a 50%-of-valuation base to 10% in June 2019 by a change in Colorado sales-tax collection law); the general contractor files a final reconciliation return after project completion. For projects inside the City of Aspen, the City's Building Department collects the County's use-tax deposit alongside the City's own use-tax deposit as a convenience, but two separate final returns are still filed.
The building permit authority for unincorporated Pitkin County, Colorado. Roofing permits are required with a flat fee structure, every new roof or re-roof must be a minimum Class A covering or Class A assembly, and wood shakes and shingles are prohibited in unincorporated Pitkin County. Contractor licensing is administered jointly with the City of Aspen.
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