The Blog

On the City and County of Denver’s official website, the Denver Development Services explains criteria that categorize construction projects by size/scope. While it might be a simple question, How big is your residential construction project?” the answer can be slightly tricky to answer. Denver’s Development Services department differentiates between Minor, Intermediate, and Major construction projects. Your follow-up to this might be, “I’m only remodeling some finishes of my house, therefore, it must be a minor residential project.” But you might be surprised if you go over a certain amount of square footage, the ‘minor’ designation increases to intermediate.

In an article published by the Denver Business Journal, a headline calls out the City of Denver’s building Department by stating “While some may never become a reality, Denver saw a 395% spike in development plans in June as new affordable housing rules loomed.” Throughout this year and last, Denver’s building department has seen an unprecedented number of plan submittals for land development projects, new construction, and residential construction projects. The overall understanding is that lead times for building permits are at an all-time high with some projected timeframes reaching as far as eight months. There have been observations made that the demand for new construction has been higher these last two years following certain economic influences. But for this sudden spike of development plans being submitted, the culprit lies with recent changes to Denver’s Affordable Housing Policy.

In an article published by the Denver Business Journal, a headline calls out the City of Denver’s building Department by stating “While some may never become a reality, Denver saw a 395% spike in development plans in June as new affordable housing rules loomed.” Throughout this year and last, Denver’s building department has seen an unprecedented number of plan submittals for land development projects, new construction, and residential construction projects. The overall understanding is that lead times for building permits are at an all-time high with some projected timeframes reaching as far as eight months. There have been observations made that the demand for new construction has been higher these last two years following certain economic influences. But for this sudden spike of development plans being submitted, the culprit lies with recent changes to Denver’s Affordable Housing Policy.

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