Denver Water's second fee increase landed July 1 — and ADUs pay it too
The biggest cost change in the metro this month isn't a material price or a labor rate. It's a connection fee. Denver Water's System Development Charge — the one-time tap fee you pay for new or expanded water service — stepped up again on July 1, 2026, the second half of a two-part increase the Board of Water Commissioners approved after leaving the fee schedule alone since 2013.
Straight from Denver Water's 2026 SDC schedule, here's what changed for residential work inside Denver:
- Single-family residential: base charge went from $3,205 to $3,380, and the square-footage component from $0.86 to $1.01 per square foot on the first 22,000 sq ft of lot area.
- Accessory dwelling units: $2,055 to $2,170 inside Denver; $2,870 to $3,030 outside Denver.
- Water efficiency credit: a 20% credit on the SDC is available for projects that hit Denver Water's conservation requirements. That is real money on an ADU and worth asking about before your plumbing plans are locked.
Two practical notes. First, this fee is keyed to your application and payment date, not to when the work happens — so a project that has been sitting in "we'll decide next spring" mode has already gotten more expensive. Second, most interior remodels don't trigger an SDC at all. It's new units, new service, and increases in service size that do. If you're finishing a basement without adding a second kitchen or a separate dwelling, this line item usually isn't yours.
Denver's 90-day permit lane is real — for a narrow list of projects
Denver Community Planning and Development has rolled out an Affordable Housing Review Team that promises plan review and permits in 90 calendar days, counting both city time and applicant time. It was piloted starting in fall 2025 and rolled out in June 2026. The city describes it as cutting the wait roughly in half against its standard 180-day commitment for other development projects.
Who qualifies is specific:
- Projects where half or more of the units are affordable — rented at 60% of area median income or below, or sold at 120% AMI or below
- Deed-restricted accessory dwelling units
- Projects funded by Denver's Department of Housing Stability for residential care, congregate living, shelters or tiny-home communities at 60% AMI or below
- Denver Housing Authority developments with deed-restricted units
- Projects using a Middle-Income Housing Tax Credit
The line that matters to a regular homeowner is the second one. If you were already considering an ADU and you're open to a deed restriction on the rent, you may be looking at a materially shorter permit timeline than a market-rate build. That is a real trade — a deed restriction limits what you can charge for years — but it's a trade worth pricing out rather than dismissing. We walk through the whole permit picture city by city in our Denver metro permit guide, and the ADU-specific requirements on our Denver ADU builder page.
If your project isn't in one of those buckets, plan on the standard queue. Denver publishes current numbers on its Average Plan Review Times dashboard, updated daily. Check it before you believe anyone's promise about how fast a permit will move.
State money lands on five Denver housing projects
The state announced funding for five affordable housing developments in Denver totaling more than 400 units, as reported by Denverite on July 21. Among them: Montbello Townhomes Phase I, which draws $1.45 million toward 39 rental townhomes aimed at larger households at 30–60% AMI; a 58-unit rental community on the former Johnson & Wales campus, now called the Mosaic Community; and Townview Apartments, a $3.5 million award toward a 160-unit mix of apartments and townhomes serving 40–80% AMI.
None of this is a remodeling story on its face. But subsidized multifamily work absorbs framing crews, drywall crews, and electricians across the metro, and it does it on schedules that don't flex. When several hundred units break ground in the same window, residential trade availability tightens in the months that follow. That's the practical read: if you want a fall or winter slot, the calendar is the constraint, not the money.
Roadwork: retaining walls on four highways, downtown rail through Q1 2027
CDOT started a bridge retaining wall repair project on July 20 spanning Arapahoe, Denver and Boulder counties. Four locations are in scope: US 36 at Baseline Road in Boulder, I-70 and Washington Street in Denver, CO 83 at I-225 in Aurora, and US 85 at the C-470 flyover in Littleton, where work started first. Ames Construction is the contractor, hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the work runs to late November 2026. Expect lane-width restrictions and shoulder closures rather than full shutdowns.
Downtown, RTD's Downtown Rail Reconstruction keeps chewing through streets. As of late July: Ninth Street is closed between Champa and Colfax from July 27 into mid-August, southbound Seventh Street has right-lane and turn-lane closures on the same stretch, Stout Street stays down to one lane between 14th and 19th through mid-October, and westbound Colfax has a single-lane closure between Kalamath and Seventh through late September. The whole project is scheduled to wrap by the end of the first quarter of 2027, and the D, H and L lines are affected in the meantime.
If your house is inside that downtown ring, this is a material-delivery problem more than a driving problem. Dumpster placement, lumber drops and concrete trucks all need a legal spot to stop, and the streets that used to work may not this month.
What this means for your project
- Interior remodels dodge the fee increase. Kitchens, baths and basements that don't add a dwelling unit or upsize the water service generally don't touch the SDC. If a bid line calls out a tap fee on a straight interior job, ask why.
- Adding a unit? Price the fee now, not later. The SDC is keyed to application and payment date. Waiting has a number attached to it, and that number went up July 1.
- Ask about the 20% water efficiency credit before plans are final. Fixture and irrigation decisions drive eligibility, and those decisions get expensive to change once drawings are stamped.
- If an ADU is on your list, look hard at the deed-restricted path. The 90-day review lane is a genuine advantage. Whether the rent restriction is worth it depends on how long you plan to hold the property — run the math instead of guessing.
- Book fall work now. Several hundred subsidized units moving at once tightens trade calendars later in the year.
- Budget from real numbers. Our Denver remodeling price ranges and the basement finishing calculator will get you to a defensible ballpark before you talk to anyone, including us.
Nothing this week changes the fundamentals. Denver is still a market where fixing and adding to what you already own beats buying up, and the fee and permit rules reward people who decide early. Questions about how any of this lands on your specific house? Call BH Builders at (720) 980-3913 and we'll walk it through.
Keep reading from the BH Builders blog
Fees and permit lanes move on the calendar, not on your schedule. If adding a unit is anywhere in your plans, price it now — waiting is a decision with a number attached.DT · Owner, BH Builders
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