Colorado Springs ADU Guide
This is an independent local guide to accessory dwelling units in Colorado Springs: what they really cost to build, what the city's 2025 ADU ordinance actually allows, how permitting through the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department works, and what the state law behind it all changed. Everything here is written for Colorado Springs homeowners deciding whether an ADU makes sense, and every fact is checked against the official source and cited, from the city's fee schedules to the bill text. No hype, no lead forms, no pressure; just the answers we wished existed in one place.
Why this matters now: until 2025, building a backyard cottage or garage apartment in Colorado Springs was somewhere between hard and impossible for most properties. That changed on April 8, 2025, when the city adopted Ordinance #25-45 under Colorado's new ADU law. An ADU is now legal by right on any property with a single-family detached home, approved administratively, with no public hearing and no rezoning. The market is barely a year old, which is exactly why good local information is scarce and why this site exists.
What counts as an ADU in Colorado Springs
An accessory dwelling unit is a second, self-contained home on a single-family property: its own entrance, kitchen, and bathroom. The city recognizes three types, and several rules differ by type. An integrated ADU is built inside the existing house, a basement apartment being the classic case. An attached ADU connects to the house by a wall or other permanent connection. A detached ADU is its own structure: a backyard cottage, a new build over or in place of a garage, or a converted garage. Tiny homes and prefabricated units can serve as detached ADUs if they sit on permanent foundations; RVs and mobile homes cannot. Whatever the type, the unit stays part of the property: it cannot be sold separately, and it cannot be run as a short-term rental.
The headline rules, all covered in depth in the guides below: up to 1,250 square feet or half the size of the main house (with a 750-square-foot floor for smaller homes), 16 feet of height for a new detached unit and 25 for a garage conversion, one off-street parking space, no front-yard placement, and design compatible with the main house. In the wildfire overlay along the city's western edge, only integrated ADUs are allowed.
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Start with the money: what an ADU costs here
Local builders publish detached ADU prices of roughly $185,000 to $420,000, garage conversions around $80,000 to $150,000, and the government side (permits, city fees, and the utility connection question) can swing your budget by more than $15,000 on its own. Our cost guide breaks down builder price ranges by ADU type, every official fee with the real schedules cited, financing routes including the FHA rule that counts expected ADU rent toward qualifying, and the honest long-term rental math.
Read the ADU cost guide -
Know the rules: the ADU ordinance in plain English
Ordinance #25-45 sets the boundaries: one ADU per lot, up to 1,250 square feet or half the size of your house, 16 feet tall for a new detached unit (25 for a garage conversion), one off-street parking space, and design that matches the main home. It also carries the rules that surprise people: no short-term rentals, no separate sale, and a wildfire-overlay restriction. Our explainer covers every standard in one table, plus the nuances the headlines miss.
Read the ordinance guide -
Get it approved: the permit process, step by step
ADU approval runs through two agencies at once: PPRBD reviews the construction plans and issues the permit, while City Planning checks the ADU rules and requires a notarized owner-residency affidavit and a recorded covenant most homeowners have never heard of. Our walkthrough covers the full sequence: feasibility, who may draw plans, the complete submittal package, the 14-day public notice, plan review and its live queue, inspections, and how to verify a contractor's license before you sign anything.
Read the permit walkthrough -
The bigger picture: Colorado's ADU law
HB24-1152 is why all of this exists: the 2024 state law required most urban Colorado cities to allow ADUs by right and banned parking mandates, owner-occupancy mandates, and stricter-than-the-house design standards. It also created grant and loan programs that, for now, Colorado Springs residents cannot use, because they require a state certification the city has not obtained. Our state-law page explains what the law requires, who it covers, and the HOA provision almost everyone reads wrong.
Read about the state law
Quick answers
Shorter questions live in our guides section: whether you can build on your lot, ADU size limits, garage conversion versus detached, how long a project takes, the owner-occupancy question, and why Airbnb is off the table for new ADUs.
- Can I build an ADU on my lot?
- What size ADU can I build?
- Garage conversion vs. detached ADU
- How long does an ADU take?
- Do I have to live on the property?
- Can I Airbnb my ADU?
Where to start
If you are budgeting, start with the cost guide and pay special attention to the utility-connection question, the single biggest wildcard in most budgets. If you are checking whether your property qualifies at all, start with the lot question and its three checks: the wildfire overlay, your HOA, and the city line. If you own the property as a rental rather than living there, read the owner-occupancy answer before anything else, because a permitting-time affidavit most articles never mention may apply to you. And if you are ready to move, the permit walkthrough is the sequence to follow, starting with the city's free pre-application meeting.
About this site
Pikes Peak ADU is an independent information resource. We are not a construction company, we do not build ADUs, and we are not affiliated with the City of Colorado Springs or PPRBD. We keep the guides current against the official sources they cite. More on the about page, and corrections are welcome through the contact page.