General Contracting Services in Denver

What a general contractor is responsible for

General contracting means one company takes responsibility for turning a set of approved drawings into a finished, inspected building. That company holds the prime contract with the owner. Every excavator, framer, electrician, roofer and finish carpenter on site works under it.

The role is part logistics, part risk management. On a typical Denver project the general contractor is accountable for:

Pricing the work from the drawings and specifications, then holding that price within the contract terms.
Hiring, scheduling and coordinating the trade contractors in the right sequence.
Applying for the building permit and scheduling every required inspection.
Site safety, temporary utilities, protection of finished work and daily cleanup.
Reviewing submittals and shop drawings against what the architect and engineers specified.
Tracking cost, processing change orders and reporting progress to the owner.
Closeout: punch list, final inspections, warranties, manuals and as-built information.

When something goes wrong between trades, it is the general contractor's problem to solve, not the owner's. That single point of responsibility is the actual product being purchased.

General contractor or owner-managed trades

Some owners consider hiring trades directly to save the contractor's fee. It can work on small, simple scopes. On anything structural, permitted or multi-trade, the hidden costs tend to show up in sequencing errors, rework and schedule gaps.

Owner-managed trades compared with a general contractor
Criterion	Owner hires trades directly	General contractor
Who holds the permit	The owner, often as an owner-builder	The licensed contractor
Scheduling between trades	Owner coordinates each handoff	Contractor sequences and supervises
When trades disagree	Owner mediates and absorbs delays	Contractor resolves under one contract
Defects found later	Owner pursues each trade separately	One contract and one warranty path
Cost visibility	Many invoices, harder to track	One schedule of values and draw process

The fee buys coordination and accountability. Whether that is worth it depends on scope. For a single-trade job like replacing a water heater, it usually is not. For a new home, an addition or a commercial build-out, it almost always is.

Permits and inspections in Denver

Inside city limits, building permits are reviewed and issued by Denver Community Planning and Development. Denver adopts the International Building Code and International Residential Code with local amendments, and plan review time belongs in the schedule from the first meeting, not after the drawings are finished.

Projects outside Denver city limits go through that jurisdiction's own building department, with its own amendments and review times. Confirming the jurisdiction from the parcel address is one of the first things checked during pre-construction.

Choosing a contract structure

How the price is set matters as much as the price itself. Owners usually choose between the following structures.

Fixed price

Also called lump sum. The contractor commits to a total for a defined scope. It works best when drawings are complete, because gaps in the drawings turn into change orders.

Cost plus fee

The owner pays actual costs plus an agreed fee. Transparency and flexibility are high; certainty about the final number is lower.

Guaranteed maximum price

Cost plus fee with a ceiling, and savings below the ceiling are often shared. Owners see it most when a contractor joins during design.

Which structure fits your project

If your drawings are complete and the scope is unlikely to change
Then a fixed price gives the most certainty.
If you are still making design decisions or renovating an older building with unknowns
Then cost plus fee avoids pricing guesses into the contract.
If you need a budget ceiling but want the contractor involved before design is final
Then a guaranteed maximum price, set after pre-construction, balances both.

Draws, retainage and lien waivers

Payment usually follows a schedule of values: the contract price broken into line items, billed as each portion is completed. Many contracts hold back a percentage of each payment as retainage, released at substantial completion or after closeout. The percentage is negotiated in the contract.

What a normal week looks like

A healthy project has a rhythm owners can see. Expect a standing weekly meeting, an updated look-ahead schedule, a running log of open questions and decisions, and a current change-order log with costs attached. When the rhythm breaks, it usually signals a problem upstream, such as a late submittal or an unanswered design question.

Our project management page covers the reporting side in detail, and the construction process page walks through each phase from consultation to final walkthrough.

The bottom line

A general contractor sells one thing: single-point responsibility for building what was drawn.
In Denver, permit review and inspection timing shape the schedule as much as construction does.
Match the contract structure to how complete your drawings are.
Lien waivers with every payment protect your title under Colorado law.

Who reviews the permit changes along the Front Range. See building in Denver, the regional permit office in Colorado Springs and Broomfield's combined city and county, or every city we build in.

General Contracting: common questions

What does a general contractor do on a construction project?

A general contractor holds the construction contract with the owner, hires and schedules the trade contractors, buys or coordinates materials, pulls permits, manages inspections, tracks cost and schedule, and delivers a finished building with its closeout documents.

Do I need a general contractor if I already have an architect?

Usually, yes. An architect designs the building and documents it; a general contractor builds it. On most projects the architect reviews the contractor's work against the drawings, but does not run the job site, hire trades or carry construction risk.

Does Colorado license general contractors?

Colorado does not issue a statewide general contractor license. Licensing is handled locally, and Denver issues its own contractor licenses by class. Electricians and plumbers are licensed at the state level.

Who is responsible for building permits in Denver?

On a general contractor project, the contractor normally applies for and holds the building permit with Denver Community Planning and Development, schedules required inspections and keeps the approved plans on site.

How is a general contractor paid?

Most contracts pay in progress draws tied to completed work, often with a percentage held back as retainage until the end of the project. The contract structure (fixed price, cost plus fee or guaranteed maximum price) determines how the price itself is set.