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Kolmo Construction
Data quality & transparency

We grade the public web on permit accuracy.

Most homeowner permit answers on the web are written once and never updated. Cities change rules; ranked sources don't follow. We scan the top-ranked Google results for 10 seed queries in Seattle-area cities, compare each to the rule we publish for that city (which quotes and links the city's own source), and — only after a person on the Kolmo team has confirmed it — list what is out of date, with the exact quote, the source URL, and the date we last checked.

Last scan: 2026-10-27. Sources scanned to date: 199. AI-flagged for review: 21. Publicly confirmed stale: 0.

Sources scanned
199
AI-flagged for review
21
Publicly confirmed stale
0
Seed queries tracked
10

Methodology

For each tracked query (e.g., "Seattle deck permit"), we:

  1. Pull the top organic results — via Google's search API (Serper.dev). When the API is unavailable, we fall back to a manually curated list of the top sources currently ranking.
  2. Fetch each result and extract the page text. User-agent identifies as a normal browser; we respect robots.txt and rate-limit our requests to no faster than 4/second per host.
  3. Classify each source against our verified Kolmo answer using Gemini 2.5 Flash with a constrained JSON schema. The classifier is given strict guardrails: be conservative, only flag clear factual conflicts, never flag for stylistic differences.
  4. Human review before public flagging. A flag from the AI classifier is not a public accusation. It enters a queue (the "Pending review" list below) until a Kolmo team member confirms or rejects it. Only confirmed-stale sources are publicly named.

What "stale" means

A source is stale when:

  • It reports a permit threshold, fee, review timeline, or code reference that contradicts the live published rule from the issuing jurisdiction.
  • It quotes a fee from a year that no longer applies and the actual fee changed.
  • It cites a code cycle that has been superseded.

A source is not stale when:

  • It differs from our answer in framing, formatting, or scope of detail.
  • It quotes a different but valid related rule (e.g., commercial vs residential).
  • It has older publication dates but the underlying numbers still match the current rule.

How we handle disputes

If you publish a flagged source and disagree with our verdict, email projects@kolmo.io with the URL and your reasoning. We take down a public flag while we re-review. Our standard turnaround on disputes is 5 business days.

What we don't do

  • We don't flag sources for being a competitor. Conflict of interest matters; we name the source, not the author.
  • We don't run hidden affiliate links. We're a Seattle GC; we'd rather you call us, but we don't gate the data behind a lead form.
  • We don't paywall the dataset. Every classification, including our verified Kolmo answer for each query, is on this page.

Confirmed stale

0 source(s)

Reviewed and confirmed stale by the Kolmo team. Public-facing leaderboard.

No sources have been confirmed stale by the Kolmo team yet. As confirmations come in, they'll be listed here with the date of confirmation.

Pending team review

21 source(s)

Flagged by the classifier and waiting for a person to check them. They are not listed: an AI flag is not a finding, and the classifier is wrong often enough that naming a source before review would be unfair to it.

21 flagged source(s) in the review queue.

Coverage

Where we've scanned, broken down by jurisdiction and project type.

By jurisdiction

  • seattle109 scanned · 12 flagged
  • bellevue52 scanned · 7 flagged
  • king-county-unincorporated19 scanned · 2 flagged
  • tacoma19 scanned · 0 flagged

By project type

  • fence51 scanned · 7 flagged
  • adu43 scanned · 3 flagged
  • deck41 scanned · 4 flagged
  • addition19 scanned · 2 flagged
  • kitchen17 scanned · 0 flagged
  • roofing16 scanned · 4 flagged
  • bathroom12 scanned · 1 flagged

Our own sources

last sweep 2026-10-26

We hold the same standard to ourselves. Every Monday we re-fetch each official city page and public parcel source our permit data uses — 1107 of them — and hash it. The directory below includes every source link the permit service currently uses, grouped by jurisdiction, together with whether our latest sweep could reach it.

We hash what each page says, not what its markup contains — scripts, styles and tag attributes are stripped before hashing. Hashing the raw HTML flagged 66% of successful re-fetches as "changed", and nearly all of it was rotating CDN tokens rather than any change to the rule. A detector that fires on everything catches nothing.

A failure here is not a broken citation. It is hygiene on the pages we monitor. And the reason matters: page gone means the city removed it and the link needs re-pointing, while blocked by host means the city's bot filter refused our fetcher — those pages load normally in a browser, and treating them as dead would send someone to "fix" a URL that was never broken.

Sources monitored
1107
Checked so far
1107
Reachable
1101
Page gone (404)
1
Blocked / unreachable
5

A further 507 pages we used to cite are no longer cited by any rule. We keep their history — the record of what a source said on a date is worth keeping — but they are not counted against any city.

City of Arlingtonarlington18 source links
13/18 checked reachable
Town of South Prairiesouth-prairie9 source links
8/9 checked reachable
Shared / multi-jurisdiction sources23 source links
23/23 checked reachable

Pages cited by several jurisdictions at once (state code, county manuals, shared code platforms). They belong to no single city, so we leave them unattributed rather than picking one.

City of Issaquahissaquah21 source links
21/21 checked reachable
City of Tacomatacoma20 source links
20/20 checked reachable
City of Redmondredmond20 source links
20/20 checked reachable
City of Edmondsedmonds19 source links
19/19 checked reachable
City of Sumnersumner18 source links
18/18 checked reachable
City of Kirklandkirkland18 source links
18/18 checked reachable
City of Fifefife18 source links
18/18 checked reachable
City of Seattleseattle17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
Pierce County (unincorporated)pierce-county-unincorporated17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
Snohomish County (unincorporated)snohomish-county-unincorporated17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Shorelineshoreline17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Monroemonroe17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Mercer Islandmercer-island17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Marysvillemarysville17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Bothellbothell17 source links
17/17 checked reachable
City of Puyalluppuyallup16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Rentonrenton16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Brierbrier16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Federal Wayfederal-way16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Mukilteomukilteo16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Snohomishsnohomish-city16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Edgewoodedgewood16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
Town of Darringtondarrington16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
Town of Woodwaywoodway16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Royroy16 source links
16/16 checked reachable
City of Lynnwoodlynnwood15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Kentkent15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Sammamishsammamish15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Stanwoodstanwood15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Granite Fallsgranite-falls15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Buckleybuckley15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Mill Creekmill-creek15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
Town of Steilacoomsteilacoom15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Sultansultan15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
Town of Rustonruston15 source links
15/15 checked reachable
City of Bonney Lakebonney-lake14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Fircrestfircrest14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Lake Stevenslake-stevens14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Auburnauburn14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Lakewoodlakewood14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of University Placeuniversity-place14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Gig Harborgig-harbor14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
Town of Carbonadocarbonado14 source links
14/14 checked reachable
City of Bellevuebellevue13 source links
13/13 checked reachable
City of Everetteverett13 source links
13/13 checked reachable
Town of Eatonvilleeatonville13 source links
13/13 checked reachable
City of Carnationcarnation12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of Covingtoncovington12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of Snoqualmiesnoqualmie12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of Kenmorekenmore12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of North Bendnorth-bend12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of SeaTacseatac12 source links
12/12 checked reachable
City of Maple Valleymaple-valley11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
City of Burienburien11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
City of Pacificpacific11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
King County (unincorporated)king-county-unincorporated11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
City of DuPontdupont11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
City of Gold Bargold-bar11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
Town of Wilkesonwilkeson11 source links
11/11 checked reachable
City of Clyde Hillclyde-hill10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Des Moinesdes-moines10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Newcastlenewcastle10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Tukwilatukwila10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Enumclawenumclaw10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
Town of Yarrow Pointyarrow-point10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Normandy Parknormandy-park10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Duvallduvall10 source links
10/10 checked reachable
City of Algonaalgona9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
City of Black Diamondblack-diamond9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
City of Medinamedina9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
City of Lake Forest Parklake-forest-park9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
Town of Beaux Arts Villagebeaux-arts-village9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
Town of Skykomishskykomish9 source links
9/9 checked reachable
City of Woodinvillewoodinville8 source links
8/8 checked reachable
Town of Hunts Pointhunts-point8 source links
8/8 checked reachable
Town of Indexindex8 source links
8/8 checked reachable
City of Ortingorting7 source links
7/7 checked reachable
City of Milton (Pierce)milton-pierce5 source links
5/5 checked reachable
City of Mountlake Terracemountlake-terrace4 source links
4/4 checked reachable
Washington State (baseline)wa-state3 source links
3/3 checked reachable

Scan status by query

Sources graded against the rule we currently publish. An AI verdict names no source, either way, until a person on the team has reviewed it.

QuerySources gradedAI-flagged for reviewLast graded
Seattle deck permit2242026-10-27
Seattle ADU permit requirements2502026-10-27
Seattle fence permit1732026-10-27
Bellevue ADU rules1832026-10-27
Tacoma deck permit1902026-10-27
do I need a permit to remodel my kitchen Seattle1702026-10-27
Seattle bathroom remodel permit1212026-10-27
Seattle re-roof permit1642026-10-27
Bellevue fence height limit3442026-10-27
King County unincorporated permit fees1922026-10-27