Edmonds, Washington Building Permit Guide

In Edmonds, the Building Division of the Planning and Development Department issues building, mechanical, plumbing and fire permits and inspects the work, while electrical permits come from the state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). Every application, from a fence to a new house, is filed on MyBuildingPermit.com, because the City no longer takes paper. Under the fee schedule the City Council approved on October 28, 2025, plan review costs 85% of the building permit fee and each application carries a $50.50 technology fee.

The Permit Center is on the second floor of City Hall at 121 5th Avenue North. Its walk-in counter is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., closes for lunch from noon to 1 p.m., and is shut all day on Wednesdays; staff answer 425-771-0220 and email from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The city had 42,748 residents in the Census estimate for 2025.

Edmonds permits cover work inside the city limits; Snohomish County permits its unincorporated land.

What requires a building permit in Edmonds?

Edmonds replaced the model code’s exemption list with its own, in section 19.00.025 of the Edmonds Community Development Code (ECDC), last amended in 2026. Anything not on that list needs a permit. Two limits apply to every exemption: none of them applies to work outside a building in a flood hazard area or in the designated wildland urban interface, and work can still need a permit where the critical areas code (ECDC Title 23) or the North Edmonds landslide hazard rules (chapter 19.10) require one.

What the city decides and what the state holds

The construction codes are the state’s: Edmonds adopts the 2021 International Building Code as amended by the State Building Code Council, and the residential, mechanical, plumbing and energy codes alongside it. The City sets the shorter exemption list, a 2-year permit life, its fees, the critical areas, aquifer and shoreline rules, and the North Edmonds geologic review.

Washington has a mandatory statewide building code under chapter 19.27 RCW that every city and county enforces and may make stricter; electrical permits come from the Department of Labor and Industries unless the city runs its own program or Tacoma Power serves the site. Building codes in Washington

Edmonds building department: who handles permitting

The Building Division administers the building, mechanical, plumbing, fire and energy codes for residential and commercial projects. Planning reviews zoning, critical areas, shoreline and design review, and the City’s engineering development staff review drainage, right-of-way and utility work; all three sign off on the same MyBuildingPermit record.

Permit types

Residential permits

Residential work is filed on MyBuildingPermit, where Edmonds lists building, mechanical, plumbing, fire, land use, engineering and right-of-way applications. The City’s handout for a new single-family house (form B73, June 2025) asks for a critical areas determination already on file, a surveyed site plan at 1 inch to 20 feet with setbacks, lot coverage, trees and two-foot contours, a height calculation from average grade, a soils report when the site slopes more than 15%, energy code details and a utility plan. Additions are valued by square footage and interior remodels by the licensed contractor’s bid (form B61, March 2026).

Other common house permits have flat 2026 fees: a fence over the exempt height is $143, a residential re-roof including sheathing $143, a hot tub that needs a permit $429, a retaining wall $1,072.50 per wall, an EV charger $929.50 and rooftop solar $150 plus one fire inspection. An accessory dwelling unit compliance review is $1,287, and the City runs a pre-approved detached ADU plan program.

Building or remodeling a home here? Alliance handles residential permit expediting, so the crew isn't waiting on the counter.

Commercial permits

Commercial, multifamily and mixed-use projects use the commercial requirements handout (B18) and pay the commercial column of the valuation table, with fire review at 25% of the building permit fee on top of the 85% plan review. A pre-application meeting costs $2,288, half of it credited to that project’s plan check fee. A change of use is $1,287, a commercial demolition $1,501.50 and a 14-day temporary certificate of occupancy for a commercial building $408.

For tenant improvements and new commercial builds, Alliance handles commercial permit applications through issuance. More on this: commercial building permits explained.

What comes before the building permit

Planning issues a critical areas determination from a $143 checklist before a new house or addition is reviewed, and the critical areas code (ECDC 23.10) was rewritten in January 2026. Waterfront projects can trigger a shoreline contingent review ($3,432) under the Shoreline Master Program in ECDC Title 24. Lots in the Earth Subsidence and Landslide Hazard Area of North Edmonds pay a $3,087 administrative fee and the full cost of a consultant’s peer review, with deposits starting at $750. Sites in the 228th Street critical aquifer recharge area must agree a stormwater approach with Engineering before designing it.

A demolition needs a performance bond or frozen fund and, where a septic tank remains, the tank must be pumped and then removed or filled. Work in a public street or alley needs a right-of-way construction permit ($429 plus inspections).

Edmonds permit costs and fees

Building fees come from the 2026 Planning and Development fee schedule, adopted by resolution on the consent agenda of October 28, 2025 after a cost study, and in force since January 1, 2026. The resolution raises every fee automatically each January 1 after 2026 by the October-to-October change in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue consumer price index, so the figures below will rise on January 1, 2027. Valuation uses the August 2025 ICC table (for example $170.80 per sq ft for a Type VB, wood-frame, house), and the residential and commercial columns of the fee table differ.

The valuation bands do not follow on from one another (the $50,001 band starts again from $1,716), so each project is priced inside its own band. Worked example. A house remodel with a contractor’s bid of $60,000 falls in the $50,001 to $100,000 band: $109 plus $1,716 plus 10 × $7.60 ($76) gives a building permit fee of $1,901. Plan review at 85% adds $1,615.85, and the $50.50 technology fee and $6.50 state fee bring the total to $3,573.85 for 2026, before any separate plumbing, mechanical or L&I electrical permit.

New homes pay more at issuance. The City’s fee page lists a transportation impact fee of $8,613.66 per single-family house ($4,306.83 for an ADU), a park impact fee of $1.35 per sq ft, and general facility charges of $6,358 for a three-quarter-inch water meter, $6,598 per sewer unit and $3,122 per stormwater unit.

The City Council’s October 27, 2026 agenda carried the second reading of a park impact fee rate study and code revision; until the Council adopts a change, the posted rate of $1.35 per sq ft for residential development applies.

Trade permits and who may pull them

Edmonds issues mechanical, plumbing, gas piping and fire sprinkler and alarm permits through MyBuildingPermit, priced from the same fee schedule. It does not run an electrical program: L&I does not list Edmonds among the cities that issue their own electrical permits, so wiring, panels, solar and EV charger circuits get an L&I electrical permit and inspection, alongside any City building permit.

How to apply for an Edmonds building permit

Review, corrections and what causes delay

An application expires if no permit is issued within 12 months; the Building Official may grant one 6-month extension, so 18 months is the normal ceiling, with longer extensions only while SEPA review, other City review or litigation is still running.

Inspections in Edmonds

Inspections are requested through the MyBuildingPermit inspection scheduler, which also shows each day’s scheduled inspections. Where a height survey is required, the surveyor’s first-floor elevation is due before the under-floor inspection and the height letter before framing. For pools and hot tubs, the City’s cross connection specialist must approve the backflow device before final approval.

A permit expires two years after it is issued. Before that date the holder can ask in writing for a third and final year, which costs one quarter of the original building permit fee; after three years a new permit with full fees is needed.

Edmonds permit search and official resources

Permit status for current applications is on MyBuildingPermit. Older building permit plans and records are scanned into the City’s Laserfiche WebLink archive: open the “Development Services” folder and browse by street, then address; anything not there can be asked for with the City’s public records request form. On flooding, Edmonds is a participating community in the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA’s status book gives June 19, 2020 as its current map date, and a house in a mapped flood plain needs surveyed elevations for the basement, first floor and lowest footing.

• Edmonds Permit Assistance: how to apply, counter hours
• Edmonds Building Division
• Development fees page: 2026 fee schedule and impact fees
• 2026 Planning and Development fee schedule (PDF)
• Informational handouts (B-series building, E-series engineering)
• Applications and forms
• ECDC 19.00.025: Edmonds permit exemptions and expiry rules
• Rooftop solar permits
• Permit record search
• MyBuildingPermit.com
• L&I list of cities with their own electrical permits

Edmonds building permit FAQ

Who issues building permits in Edmonds?

The Building Division of the City’s Planning and Development Department, on the second floor of City Hall, 121 5th Avenue North. Electrical permits come from L&I.

How much is a building permit in Edmonds?

For a $60,000 house remodel in 2026, the permit fee is $1,901 and plan review $1,615.85, plus the $50.50 technology fee and $6.50 state fee. Fees rise with inflation each January.

Do I need a permit for a fence?

Not for a fence of 6 feet or less, unless the fence chapter of the code requires one. A taller fence needs a permit, which costs $143 in 2026.

Do I need a permit for a shed?

At a single-family house, not for a one-story shed of 200 sq ft or less with eaves of 12 inches or less and a height of 15 feet or less. Garages always need one, and so do carports larger than the 200 sq ft canopy exemption.

Is the permit counter open on Wednesdays?

No. The counter is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; phone and email help runs Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

How long does a permit last?

Two years from issuance, with one paid extension to a third year if you ask in writing before it expires.

Simplify Edmonds permitting with Alliance Permitting

Alliance Permitting is a permit documentation and submission company in Washington. We prepare your paperwork, file it correctly and coordinate with the permitting authority through issuance. We are not a contractor and we do not perform licensed plan review or inspections; that work stays with your licensed team and the jurisdiction.

This guide is provided by Alliance Permitting for general information about Edmonds permitting. Requirements, fees, and procedures change; confirm details with the permitting authority before relying on them.