Permits, Licensing and Asbestos Rules for Drywall Work in Arvada
Colorado does not license drywall contractors at state level. The state licenses electricians and plumbers through DORA's Division of Professions and Occupations, and leaves general and specialty contractor licensing to individual cities and counties. So the answer to whether your drywall contractor is licensed depends entirely on which side of a boundary your house sits on.
That is not a comfortable thing for a contractor to publish and it is the single most useful thing on this page. Here is how it actually works in Arvada, with the phone numbers.
Does drywall work need a permit in Arvada?
A basement finish, an interior remodel, a garage conversion, structural modification or repair, and foundation repair all require a permit in Arvada. The city lists those explicitly on its residential interior page.
Drywall repair on its own is not on that list. But we are going to be careful here rather than confident, because Arvada does not publish an explicit exemption for it, and the city's own permit page carries the warning that even if your planned project is not on the list, you may still need a permit.
So the honest answer is: a patch, a texture match or a ceiling repair almost certainly does not need one, and we have never pulled a permit for one. Anything larger, ask. Arvada Building Services will answer it in one call.
Arvada Building Services: 720-898-7620, 8101 Ralston Road. Permits run through arvadapermits.org. Simple permits are typically issued within one business day; new homes and commercial take four to six weeks for first plan review.
One current thing worth knowing: Arvada adopted the 2024 I-Codes effective 1 July 2026, having previously been on the 2018 codes, along with the Colorado Low Energy and Carbon Code and the Arvada Wildfire Resiliency Code. Permits submitted before 1 July 2026 may still use the 2018 codes. Unincorporated Jefferson County made the same 2024 move on the same date. Denver has not; it is on its own 2022 Denver Building Code based on the 2021 I-Codes. Contractors crossing between the two get this wrong regularly.
Who licenses drywall contractors, and how to check
Arvada licenses contractors itself, and publishes the fee schedule. Class A general contractor is $150, Class B is $200, Class C is $100, Class D builder's subcontractor is $75, Class M mechanical is $75, Class R builders roofing is $75. There is no drywall-specific or lath-and-plaster-specific class in the table.
State-licensed plumbing, electrical and radon mitigation professionals pay no registration fee, which is a neat confirmation of the wider point: those are the trades Colorado licenses at state level, and drywall is not one of them.
Unincorporated Jefferson County runs Class A, B and C plus roofing and mechanical categories, and likewise has no drywall category. Adams County runs contractor registration rather than classed licensing, through its E-Permit Center.
We are not going to print a licence number on this page. An invented one is publicly checkable and false, and a real one belongs to the contractor renting this line rather than to a website. What we will do instead is invite you to ask for it. Call us and ask which licence we hold and with which jurisdiction, then call 720-898-7620 and check it. Do that with every contractor who quotes you, not only us. A contractor who is annoyed by the question is telling you something.
The asbestos rule, which is the one that actually bites
This is the regulation most likely to affect an ordinary Arvada drywall job, and almost nobody in this trade explains it.
Colorado Regulation 8 Part B, administered by CDPHE, sets the trigger for a single-family residential dwelling at 50 linear feet on pipes, 32 square feet on other surfaces, or the volume equivalent of a 55-gallon drum. Disturb more than that and the material must be inspected before the work starts.
Who can inspect: a Colorado-certified building inspector working for a registered asbestos consulting firm. Not you, not us, not a kit from a hardware store. Analysis has to be by a laboratory accredited under NVLAP, the NIST National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program.
How many samples: for surfacing material, three for a homogeneous area up to 1,000 square feet, five from 1,000 to 5,000, seven above 5,000. That is the three-five-seven protocol.
The exemption, and it is the only one: a building constructed after 12 October 1988, with documentation confirming no asbestos-containing materials were used in original construction or subsequent renovations. Not 1977, not 1978. 1988, with paperwork.
And the detail that catches people: this is not only about popcorn ceilings. Regulation 8 allows drywall and its associated joint compound to be composited for sampling, but requires that surfacing materials added to drywall be sampled separately. Wall and ceiling texture is a surfacing material. If you are gutting rather than scraping, the walls are in scope too.
For commercial and public buildings the triggers are much higher, 260 linear feet and 160 square feet, and there is a trap in that: common areas of apartments and condominiums, hallways and boiler rooms, are excluded from the residential definition and fall on the commercial side.
Vetting any contractor in a state that does not license this trade
Since the state is not doing it for you, here is what actually works, and none of it is expensive.
Ask which jurisdiction licenses them and for the licence, then verify it with that jurisdiction. Arvada is 720-898-7620.
Ask for a certificate of liability insurance, and ask for it to be sent by the insurer rather than forwarded as a PDF.
Do not pay more than 25 percent up front. That is BBB Colorado's number, not ours. In the Denver7 reporting on metro basement contractors the recurring pattern was money taken up front followed by escalating demands and no-shows: one homeowner was told no more work would happen without a further $8,000, another said the contractor sometimes would not even call or show up.
Get the scope in writing with the finish level named. GA-214-2021 defines six levels and it is a free download. A quote that does not name one has not defined what you are buying.
Check that a permit is being pulled where one is needed. BBB Colorado's own line is to make sure they are licensed, have proof of insurance, and have pulled a permit.
The Colorado Attorney General logged 915 home services complaints in 2024. Most of them were avoidable at the quote stage.
| Licence class | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Class A General Contractor | $150.00 | Any structure permitted by the Building Code |
| Class B General Contractor | $200.00 | |
| Class C General Contractor | $100.00 | |
| Class D Builder's Subcontractor | $75.00 | The class a specialty trade would normally sit in |
| Class H Homeowner's Limited Building | $75.00 | For owner-occupiers doing their own work |
| Class M Mechanical | $75.00 | |
| Class R Builders Roofing | $75.00 | |
| Class L Limited | 50% of regular fee | |
| State-licensed plumbing, electrical, radon | No fee | Colorado licenses these at state level; drywall is not one |
Questions we get asked
Do I need a permit to repair drywall in Arvada?
For a patch, a texture match or a ceiling repair, almost certainly not. For a basement finish, an interior remodel, a garage conversion or anything structural, yes, and Arvada lists all of those explicitly. Arvada does not publish an exemption for drywall repair specifically, so for anything larger than a patch, call Building Services on 720-898-7620.
Are drywall contractors licensed in Colorado?
Not by the state. Colorado licenses electricians and plumbers through DORA and leaves contractor licensing to cities and counties. Arvada licenses contractors itself, with a Class D builder's subcontractor licence costing $75. Ask any contractor which licence they hold and with which jurisdiction, then verify it.
What is the 32 square foot asbestos rule?
Colorado Regulation 8 Part B requires a pre-work asbestos inspection when a single-family residential project disturbs more than 32 square feet of surfacing material, 50 linear feet of pipe insulation, or a 55-gallon drum equivalent. The inspection must be done by a Colorado-certified inspector and analysed by an NVLAP-accredited lab.
My house was built in 1985. Am I exempt?
No. The only age exemption in Regulation 8 is construction after 12 October 1988, and it also requires documentation confirming no asbestos-containing materials were used. A 1985 house is inside the rule.
Which building code does Arvada use?
Arvada adopted the 2024 I-Codes effective 1 July 2026, moving up from the 2018 codes, along with the Colorado Low Energy and Carbon Code and the Arvada Wildfire Resiliency Code. Permits submitted before that date may still use the 2018 codes. Unincorporated Jefferson County moved on the same date; Denver did not, and remains on the 2022 Denver Building Code.
Related
- Ceiling Repair · Sagging, cracked or holed ceilings put back and re-textured to match.
- Texture Matching · Knockdown, orange peel and skip trowel blended into what is already on your wall.
- Popcorn Ceiling Removal · Scraped, skimmed and re-textured, with the asbestos rule explained before we quote.
- Everywhere we work