Permits are the least glamorous part of remodeling and one of the most consequential. They protect resale value, insurance coverage, and, above all, the people living in the house.
The short answer for our region: cosmetic work generally doesn't need a permit; anything touching structure, electrical, plumbing, or the building envelope generally does. The longer answer depends on your city, because nearly every jurisdiction in the Seattle area runs its own permitting.
Which projects need a permit?
Rules vary by city, but the pattern across Seattle and the Eastside is consistent.
- Usually NO permit: paint, flooring, cabinet fronts, counters, fixture swaps in the same location
- Usually YES: moving or removing walls, new or relocated electrical and plumbing, water heaters and furnaces, additions, ADUs and DADUs, decks above a certain height, new windows in new openings
- Always YES: structural changes, new square footage, converting garages or basements to living space
Who handles permits in each city?
In Seattle proper, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) reviews and inspects residential work. Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, and the other Eastside and north-end cities each run their own development-services counters with their own timelines and quirks. Unincorporated areas fall to King or Snohomish County.
Timelines differ meaningfully between jurisdictions and by project complexity: simple over-the-counter trade permits can issue quickly, while additions and ADUs go through plan review that is commonly measured in weeks to a few months. This is exactly the kind of local knowledge a design-build partner should carry for you.
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What happens if you skip permits?
Unpermitted work surfaces at the worst possible times: when you sell, when you file an insurance claim, or when a later project exposes it. Buyers' inspectors flag it, lenders balk at it, and cities can require you to open walls or remove work to prove compliance.
The cost of doing it right is almost always smaller than the cost of unwinding it later.
How a design-build team handles this for you
A good design-build firm prepares the drawings, submits the application, tracks review comments, schedules the inspections, and meets the inspector on site. Homeowners should never have to learn a permitting portal. At DreamPeak, permits and inspections are part of the base scope on every project that needs them.
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