Service area Douglas County
Highlands Ranch home remodeling, planned around HRCA review
Highlands Ranch is one master plan under one set of covenants. The outside of your project answers to the Community Association, and the permit comes from the county.
Highlands Ranch within the Front Range service area
Illustration
Overview
Remodeling Highlands Ranch homes
Remodeling For Less plans Highlands Ranch home remodeling for owners of houses built across four decades of the master plan, covering kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, basement finishing, open floor plans and whole-home refreshes. It's for people who want to know what the house needs, and whose sign-off, before anything is torn out.
Highlands Ranch isn't a city. It's an unincorporated community governed by Douglas County, and every privately owned property belongs to the Highlands Ranch Community Association (HRCA). So a remodel has two gates: a county building permit for the work, and HRCA review for anything that shows outside.
Areas and neighborhoods in Highlands Ranch
- Kentley Hills
- Highlands Ranch Golf Club
- Eastridge Pointe
- Backcountry
- Central Park
The housing
What four decades of building left in Highlands Ranch
The Mission Viejo Company bought the ranch in 1978, and the first homes were finished in the fall of 1981. It was still only about half built out in the late 1990s, and the last neighborhoods filled in under Shea Homes.
The first neighborhoods near Broadway
The oldest houses cluster where building began, near Broadway and Northridge Parkway. Early sales were slow, held back by very high interest rates. These houses are now more than 40 years old, the age when original kitchens, hall baths, windows and flooring wear out together. A refresh covers a lot. When the kitchen is walled off from the family room, reconfiguring it or opening that wall usually changes the house more, once the wall has been checked for load.
The decade the population took off
Highlands Ranch had just over 10,000 residents at the 1990 census and more than 105,000 by 2020, the most of any unincorporated community in Colorado. A great many houses went up in a short window, and houses built together tend to age together. If yours still has its original tub surround, shower pan or builder vanity, the bathroom is often the first room to go. If the kitchen layout still works, new counters, cabinet fronts and lighting can keep it a refresh.
Neighborhoods finished after 1997
Shea Homes bought the Mission Viejo Company in 1997, and the neighborhoods that followed include Kentley Hills, the Highlands Ranch Golf Club area and Eastridge Pointe. Backcountry and Central Park were among the last to fill in. In houses this young, aging systems are less likely to drive the project, so the work leans toward finishes and layout: a whole-home refresh, a primary bath brought up to date, or a lower level left unfinished for later.
Local factors
Who signs off on a Highlands Ranch remodel
Permits come from Douglas County, not a city hall
Because Highlands Ranch is unincorporated, building permits come from the Douglas County Building Division, whose office is at 100 Third Street in Castle Rock. The county lists basements, remodels, electrical, mechanical and plumbing work, additions and roofing among its permit types, and it strongly encourages electronic submittals as PDFs. Before you decide a job is too small for a permit, call the Building Division and describe exactly what's changing and where.
HRCA review covers the outside of the house
The HRCA's Community Declaration requires Architectural Committee approval before an improvement to a residential lot, and its Residential Improvement Guidelines (the RIGs) give specifics. Replacement windows are weighed on size, color and style, and color and style should match the windows that stay. An addition needs HRCA approval and a Douglas County permit before work begins. In Backcountry, a second committee reviews after the HRCA, so exterior work there takes two approvals in a row.
Garages, dumpsters and the smaller rules
A few HRCA rules catch remodelers off guard. The RIGs don't allow a garage door to be swapped for a fixed exterior wall, which rules out the usual way of closing in a garage, and any change to a garage's use also goes to Douglas County. Dumpsters and storage pods belong in your driveway rather than the street, and the HRCA asks you to contact its Community Improvement Services Department about them. New storm doors and replacement garage doors can need approval too.
If this, then that
Matching your Highlands Ranch house to a starting point
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| If your house dates from the 1980s and the kitchen still has its original cabinets and layout | Then compare a reconfiguration with a refresh. With everything coming out, moving the sink or opening the wall is a small added step. |
| If the plan includes new windows, an egress window or an exterior door | Then start the HRCA application first and ask the county which permit applies, so neither approval stalls the other. |
| If the layout works and the finishes are just tired | Then a whole-home refresh. Interior-only work rarely involves the HRCA, though electrical changes may need a permit. |
Services in Highlands Ranch
How each service plays out in Highlands Ranch houses
Neighborhoods from one long-running master plan tend to raise the same questions room by room.
Kitchen remodeling
In the earliest neighborhoods, kitchen remodeling often hinges on the wall between the kitchen and family room. If it stays, new cabinets and counters on the existing plumbing keep the job modest. If it goes, the project picks up an engineered beam, floor and ceiling patching and a new lighting plan. Gas ranges may need a high-altitude adjustment, so confirm that when you choose appliances.
Basement finishing
If you finish the basement in a house where it was left raw, a bedroom down there needs an emergency escape window. In Highlands Ranch that window well is an exterior change the HRCA may review, on top of the county permit for the finish itself. Check the walls and slab for dampness before framing starts. Non-bearing walls built to allow some slab movement are a sensible precaution.
Bathroom remodeling
A bathroom remodel in a 1990s house often starts with a worn tub surround, a dated builder vanity or a cramped shower. Keeping the fixtures where they are makes it a refresh. Converting a tub to a walk-in shower or moving the toilet means new drain work, which makes it a reconfiguration and usually a permit question for the county.
Planning checklist
Before you remodel in Highlands Ranch
Tick them off as you go. Your list stays saved in this browser only.
Questions
Remodeling questions from Highlands Ranch homeowners
-
Douglas County does. Highlands Ranch is unincorporated, so there's no city building department. The Douglas County Building Division handles permits for remodels, basements, additions and trade work from its office in Castle Rock, and it prefers electronic submittals. The Highlands Ranch Metro District provides parks and services, but your remodel permit goes through the county.
-
The HRCA's review is written around exterior changes, so a kitchen or bath that changes nothing outside generally isn't its concern. The catch is that many interior projects have an exterior piece, such as an egress well, a new vent or a replaced window. Any of those can bring the project under review, so check the RIGs first.
-
The HRCA's guidelines don't allow a garage door to be replaced with a fixed exterior wall, and any change that might alter a garage's intended use has to be approved by Douglas County. That makes finishing the basement or reworking existing rooms the simpler way to gain space.
-
Under the RIGs, replacement windows are reviewed on size, color, style and the style of the home, and color and style are expected to match the windows that remain. Grids should be consistent on each side of the house. Get approval before ordering so you don't end up with units you can't install.
-
The first homes were completed in 1981, and the community was only about half built out in the late 1990s. Population grew from roughly 10,000 in 1990 to more than 105,000 by 2020. The oldest houses are ready for full kitchen and bath work; the 2000s houses mostly need new finishes.
No questions match that search. Try a shorter word.
The bottom line
The bottom line
A Highlands Ranch remodel is ordinary building work that runs through two approvals: Douglas County for the permit and the HRCA for anything visible outside, with Backcountry adding a third. Decide which rooms change, list every exterior touch, and start the HRCA application before ordering anything. Call [Phone] to talk through your Highlands Ranch house and which level of work fits it.
Talk through your Highlands Ranch project
Start with the room and what isn't working. The scope follows from there.
Illustration