Denver metro · Colorado
Metal buildings in Denver, CO.
Most metal buildings in Denver’s orbit go up east and north of the city, on the acreage and farm ground of Elbert, Adams, Arapahoe and Weld counties. For metal buildings in Denver and its suburbs, the county you’re in decides the permit.
Ground snow load, Denver
35 psf
County permit threshold
Over 200 sq ft
Weld County farm building
Ag-exempt certificate
Elbert County frost depth
36 in.
What people build around Denver
Horse property to the southeast, dryland farms and acreage to the east, and irrigated farm ground and oilfield yards to the north.
Southeast: Elbert County
Elizabeth and Kiowa. Horse barns, arenas and acreage shops.
East: Adams & Arapahoe
Bennett, Watkins and Strasburg along I-70. Acreage and dryland farm ground.
North: Weld County
Brighton and Fort Lupton. Farm buildings, service yards and shops.
Across the metro
Shops, garages, barndominium shells and commercial buildings.
Tubular is hard to beat on an unfinished shop or ag building up to sixty feet wide, even with engineering added. Anything getting drywall goes steel truss. See what a steel building costs.
Metal buildings in Denver’s counties: each one runs its own permits
All three counties where we do most of our metro work permit outbuildings on unincorporated ground. What changes is how they treat farm buildings and how big a shop can be.
Weld County
Every building needs a permit except one-story sheds of 200 sq ft or less. On ag-zoned land, a building used only for farming gets an Agricultural-Exempt Certificate of Compliance. It can’t house people or employees, and parking a vehicle inside reclassifies it.
Elbert County
Most construction needs a permit, with plans to the 2018 I-codes. Snow load comes from the ASCE hazard tool for your address, and the county allows no reductions. Footings go to a 36-inch frost depth.
Adams County
Permits for accessory buildings over 200 sq ft, pulled by county-registered contractors. Residential zones cap accessory buildings, at 900 sq ft in R-1-C, and in A-1 a shop can’t go up without a house.
A farm building has to stay a farm building. Weld County’s certificate and Arapahoe County’s exemption both hold the building to agricultural use. Park the pickup inside and Weld treats it as a different building that needs a full permit. Tell us how you’ll really use it, and we’ll permit it that way from the start.
Snow, wind and engineering
Drawings go to a reviewer almost everywhere around Denver, so the design values and the engineering package matter from the first quote.
Snow load
ASCE 7 lists 35 psf for Denver and Brighton and 45 for Castle Rock, and it climbs as you move up toward the Palmer Divide.
Risk category
Anything regularly occupied is Risk Category II. Our generic engineering packages are wet-sealed.
Site-specific cost
About $2 a sq ft on tubular against $0.75 on cold-formed. On a finished building, that can change the answer.
Towns we work around Denver
Permitting isn’t the same across the counties. Pick yours for the local detail.
Also Parker, Kiowa, Watkins, Strasburg, Byers, Hudson, Keenesburg and Platteville. See all of Colorado.
Talk to us about your Denver-area project
Start with the address, the size you have in mind and what the building is for. We’ll check the county rules and snow load before anything is drawn.
Vantage Buildings
417-218-8348
quotes@vantagebuildings.com
Tell us what you’re building.
Dimensions, use, and the address are enough to start.