Do you need a permit for that? A Snohomish County remodel guide

Here’s the scenario that keeps remodelers honest: you finish the basement without a permit, nobody notices for three years, and then it all comes out at once — during the sale, when the buyer’s agent pulls the permit history and the deal starts wobbling. Or worse, after a fire, when the insurance adjuster starts asking how that wiring got there.

Permits feel like a tax on momentum. They’re really a paper trail saying the work was checked by someone who isn’t being paid by the person doing it. And in Snohomish County, figuring out what needs one is easier than the rumor mill suggests. Here’s the plain-English version, with the county’s own documents linked so you can check anything yourself.

Do I need a permit to remodel in Snohomish County?

Usually yes if the work touches structure, wiring, plumbing, or adds space: additions, interior remodels that move walls, deck builds above 30 inches, garage conversions, water heaters, and re-roofs all need permits. Usually no for finish work: painting, flooring, cabinets, countertops, and like-for-like fixture swaps. Each city sets its own exact list.

The county’s own lists are clearer than you’d expect. Snohomish County’s residential building permit page names the work that needs a permit, and its Common Building Permit Exemptions bulletin (No. 74) lists what doesn’t. One catch: both documents apply to unincorporated Snohomish County. If your house sits inside Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville, or any other city, that city’s building department has its own list — usually similar, never identical.

Usually needs a permit

• Additions — anything that adds square footage, including bump-outs and sunrooms.
• Interior remodels that alter the structure — moving or removing walls, changing window or door openings, finishing a daylight basement.
• Garage conversions — turning a garage or carport into living space.
• Decks — covered decks of any height, and uncovered decks more than 30 inches above grade.
• Plumbing and mechanical work — including water heater replacement. These are the county’s simplest permits; in unincorporated Snohomish County, residential mechanical and plumbing permits can be issued online almost immediately after you pay.
• Electrical work — a separate track that runs through L&I, not the building department. Per L&I’s electrical guidance, most new, remodel, and maintenance electrical work requires a permit.
• Re-roof tear-offs — stripping and replacing the roof. A same-material overlay, up to two total layers, is exempt.
• Bigger outbuildings — sheds and shops over 200 square feet in urban areas, over 400 square feet in rural zones.

Usually doesn’t

• Finish work: painting, wallpaper, tile, carpet and flooring, cabinets and countertops.
• Like-for-like swaps: a new faucet or toilet where the old one sat, windows replaced with no structural changes, new exterior siding.
• Small stuff: fences eight feet and under, retaining walls four feet and under, sheds under the 200/400-square-foot thresholds. “No building permit” doesn’t mean “no rules” — setbacks from property lines still apply.

When a project sits on the line — say, a “cosmetic” kitchen refresh that also moves the sink — assume it needs a permit until the county or your city tells you otherwise in writing.

How do I know if I’m in the city or the county?

Don’t trust the mailing address — the USPS city name doesn’t set your jurisdiction. Plenty of “Everett” and “Lynnwood” addresses sit in unincorporated Snohomish County, like Silver Firs, Eastmont, and Martha Lake. City properties go to the city building department; unincorporated properties go to Snohomish County PDS.

This trips up a lot of people in south Snohomish County especially. The postal city on your mail is about mail routes, not government — Silver Firs, Eastmont, and Martha Lake all feel like Everett or Lynnwood, and they’re in neither. Their permits go through the county.

Two quick ways to check. Call Snohomish County Planning and Development Services at 425-388-3311 with your address and they’ll tell you in one conversation. Or look at your property tax statement — it names the jurisdiction you’re actually in.

If you’re in a city, you file with that city: Everett’s Permit Services and Lynnwood’s Permit Center both take applications online. We work with homeowners in both cities — here’s what we cover in Everett and Lynnwood. If you’re unincorporated, everything runs through the county’s PDS Permit Portal: homeowners create a free individual account, then apply, upload plans, pay fees, schedule inspections, and track status online — no drive to Rockefeller Avenue required.

How long does a permit take, and what does it cost?

It depends on the permit type. Simple mechanical and plumbing permits — like a water heater swap — can be issued almost immediately through the county’s online portal once fees are paid. Anything needing plan review, like an addition, goes through a completeness check first and takes longer. Fees follow the county’s posted schedule.

For a permit with plans to review — an addition, a conversion, a deck — the county checks your application for completeness first, may email you for missing pieces, and calculates fees after that review. The county posts its rates publicly in a residential permit fee bulletin, and fees scale with the size and type of project. Cities publish their own schedules.

Two practical notes. First, build permit time into the project calendar: the permit has to be issued before work starts, and inspections happen at stages along the way, so “we start demo Monday” only works if the permit’s already in hand. Second, when a contractor pulls the permit — and for most remodels, they should — the county verifies their contractor registration before issuing anything (RCW 18.27.110). If your contractor asks you to pull the permit yourself as the homeowner, ask why. It shifts the responsibility — and the liability — onto you.

What happens if I skip the permit?

Nothing good, eventually. Unpermitted work can mean after-the-fact permits that cost more and take longer, opening finished walls so an inspector can see the wiring, or removing the work entirely. It also surfaces at the worst time — during a sale, a refinance, or an insurance claim.

The expensive version goes like this: the county finds out — a neighbor calls, an appraiser notices, the next owner’s inspector asks questions — and now you’re getting the permit after the fact. That usually means opening finished work so an inspector can actually see it: cutting drywall to expose wiring and plumbing, sometimes undoing and redoing whole sections. The fees don’t get smaller with time, and the reconstruction bill is yours.

Then there’s the sale. Permit history is public, and buyers’ agents around Everett and Lynnwood check it. An unpermitted addition doesn’t add value — it adds a negotiation, a price cut, or a dead deal. And the insurance version is the ugliest: a fire or flood traced back to unpermitted work hands your insurer an argument you never wanted to have.

None of this means a permit makes a project painless. It means someone checks the work who isn’t on the contractor’s payroll. When you think about who benefits from skipping that step, it’s never you.

Who can help me sort this out?

Your city building department or county PDS answers “do I need a permit” questions for free, and a good contractor handles the filing as part of the job. If you’d rather have someone in your corner, our permit help comes with every match Ascent Prime makes.

On our permit help page you can see what that looks like — we figure out what your project needs and who files it, and like everything else here, it costs homeowners nothing.