How to look up a building permit in Archuleta County, Colorado

EnerGov's public search covers permits, plans, inspections and code cases from one box. It matches on partial address, parcel number and permit number. The review status column is the useful part: it names the specific department that currently holds your file, so you know whether you are waiting on building review, zoning, fire or engineering.

Using Tyler EnerGov / Tyler 311 specifically

Archuleta County, Colorado uses Tyler EnerGov, usually branded as a self-service or citizen portal. EnerGov puts applications, inspections and fee payment behind a single account, and the dashboard shows every case you have open with its current review step.

EnerGov will not let you schedule an inspection until every fee on the case is paid and the permit is in Issued status. If the inspection button is greyed out, an outstanding balance is almost always the reason.

Search by parcel number where you can

Street addresses are renumbered, re-suffixed and reassigned as areas develop, and a house standing for sixty years may have had three of them. Parcel numbers usually survive all of it, so a parcel search returns the complete history where an address search returns a partial one. Where address search is the only option, enter the house number and street name without the suffix — most systems match the string literally and fail on "Rd" against "Road".

Reading what comes back

• Issued — work is authorised and inspections are outstanding.
• Finaled or closed — passed final inspection. This is what you want to see on a property you are buying.
• Open — issued but never signed off. It transfers with the property.
• Expired — the validity window lapsed without inspection activity.
• Void or withdrawn — the application never became a permit.

If nothing comes back

Before concluding that work was unpermitted, rule out the likelier explanations. Records predating Tyler EnerGov / Tyler 311 at this office are frequently not loaded. The work may sit with another agency — septic with the health department, driveways with public works, floodplain with the state. Or the property may be inside a city, in which case the municipality holds the record and Archuleta County will show nothing at all. Ask the office to check the paper file before you draw a conclusion.

Our guide to looking up permits covers the records-request route where no online search exists.