Which cities is the Kolmo permit lookup verified for?

Ten cities: Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Federal Way, and Mercer Island. For these, every fee, threshold, and timeline is sourced from the city directly with the exact quote and URL, and re-verified weekly. Outside these ten cities address lookup still works and we render the parcel and Washington-state baseline code, but per-city specifics are flagged as unverified.

Does the lookup cover unincorporated King, Pierce, or Snohomish County?

Address lookup works and parcels resolve to the county building department, but unincorporated coverage is currently baseline-only — Washington-state IRC, IBC, and WSEC plus state critical-area rules. Per-county fee and code deviations have not been verified to the same standard as the ten verified cities.

Will this replace calling the permit center?

For most homeowner projects — decks, kitchens, bathrooms, ADUs, fences, siding, windows, flooring, roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing — the published answer matches what the permit center will say, and the homeowner can submit with a pre-filled application packet. For variances, conditional uses, or unusual scope, calling the city planner is still recommended.

Where does the address go after submission?

The address is geocoded via Google Maps to identify the correct county, then queried against public county GIS endpoints. Parcel data is cached for 30 days. The address is not contacted, sold, or shared with third parties.

Who built this — and why?

Built by Kolmo Construction, a licensed Seattle-area general contractor. The team works with permit code daily and built this to fix the public web's poor coverage of homeowner permit questions. The lookup is free; if a homeowner wants a contractor for the project, Kolmo is one option.

land-use / zoning permit requirements across 10 verified Seattle-area cities

Side-by-side: which of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Federal Way, and Mercer Island require a permit for a land-use / zoning, what triggers one, what it costs, and how long review takes. Verified against each city's own page; sources cited per row.

8 of 10 cities have authoritative rules on file · 8 typically require a permit · 0 often do not.

King County

Jurisdiction	Permit?	Threshold	Fee	Review days	Source
City of Bellevue city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://mybuildingpermit.com.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Federal Way city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://mybuildingpermit.com. Apply via MyBuildingPermit.com.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Issaquah city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://mybuildingpermit.com. Apply via MyBuildingPermit.com.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Kent city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://kentwa.gov/permits. Kent uses MyKent permits portal.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Kirkland city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://mybuildingpermit.com. Apply via MyBuildingPermit.com.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Mercer Island city	Pending verification	—	—	—	Portal
City of Redmond city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://eplans.redmond.gov. Redmond uses ePlans portal.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Renton city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://permits.rentonwa.gov. Renton uses TRAKiT permits portal.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Sammamish city	Yes	Triggered when a project does not conform to the strict letter of the zoning code. Variances require a hardship finding under most city codes. Design review thresholds vary (Seattle: most multifamily + non-residential >4,000 sqft; many cities: design review only in designated districts).	Land-use fees vary widely; variance commonly $1,000-$3,000 + actual cost recovery for hearing examiner. Apply via https://mybuildingpermit.com. Apply via MyBuildingPermit.com.	—	Cite verified 2026-04-26
City of Seattle city	Pending verification	—	—	—	Portal

How this table is built

Each row reflects the most-recently-verified authoritative rule on file for that jurisdiction and project type. “Pending verification” means we have the jurisdiction in our database but haven't yet personally checked the city page for land-use / zoning rules — those rows fall back to county or WA-state baselines until verified. Sources link directly to the city or county page we read on the verified-on date. See our data-quality leaderboard for how we keep these current.