Home Remodeling Contractors in Federal Way, WA

Building permits in Federal Way run through the Permit Center in the Department of Community Development. Plan review files are electronic: the city opens a file, sends a document upload link, and the drawings, application form and checklist go in through that link. Residential electrical, mechanical and plumbing permits are applied for separately online through My Building Permit.

Staff at the counter are available 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and the Permit Center is closed to the public on Wednesdays. Painting, tiling, carpeting, cabinets and countertops are exempt from a building permit, but replacing or rearranging pipes, valves or fixtures counts as new plumbing work that needs one.

Federal Way does not post review times for residential remodels, so we set your construction dates once the first review comments are back.

Federal Way regulates five kinds of environmentally critical area under FWRC 19.145: wetlands, critical aquifer recharge areas, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, frequently flooded areas and geologically hazardous areas. The shoreline code defines a steep slope hazard as a slope of 40 percent or more with at least 10 feet of vertical relief. Work inside a critical area or its buffer is never exempt from a permit, even for projects that would otherwise need none.

Where a critical area report is needed, the city may send it to its own third party reviewer at the applicant's expense and says it will flag that early. Shoreline rules cover Puget Sound, North Lake, Steel Lake and part of Lake Killarney today, and name Star Lake, Lake Dolloff, Lake Geneva and Five Mile Lake in the potential annexation area.

Federal Way updated its ADU code in May 2025 (Ordinance 25-1010) to follow the state ADU law, HB 1337. FWRC 19.200.180 allows up to two ADUs on a single-family lot. Each may hold up to 1,000 square feet of living space and two bedrooms, and may stand up to 30 feet above average building elevation. An attached ADU can be larger, up to the biggest floor of the house, when creating it needs no exterior change beyond what makes it a separate home.

The code asks for one parking space per ADU, and none within half a mile of a major transit stop. The house, the ADUs and any accessory buildings together must stay within the zone's lot coverage: 50 percent in RS 35.0 and RS 15.0, and 60 percent in RS 9.6, RS 7.2 and RS 5.0. An ADU can also go into an existing structure, such as a garage, even one that is legally nonconforming on setbacks or coverage.

The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey counts about 36,400 homes in Federal Way, with a median year built of 1984. The 1980s are the biggest single decade, at about 28 percent of the stock, and roughly 38 percent predates 1980. Just over half are detached single-family houses.

A 1980s split level or a 1970s rambler often hides dated wiring and tired plumbing behind the drywall. When walls open, we write that work into your itemized price rather than leaving it for later.