Home Remodeling Contractors in Gig Harbor, WA

Building permits inside city limits are processed by the Department of Community Development, through its Building and Fire Safety division. The construction application goes to the city by email; staff then assign a permit number, send a fee invoice and provide a plan specific address for uploading the drawings as flattened PDF files.

Reviewers return marked up files by email, and approved plans, inspection cards and the permit itself arrive as PDFs. Status checks, fee payments and inspection requests run through the city's Public Portal, which also accepts minor residential plumbing and mechanical permits directly.

The city's own permit memo says a single-family dwelling permit usually takes 10 to 20 days, and 30 to 60 days where other divisions must approve the site plan first. Work has to make substantial progress within 180 days of issuance, so we set your start date around those figures.

Gig Harbor has approximately 3.32 miles of Puget Sound shoreline inside city limits. Within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark, on the bay, the Spit, Colvos Passage, the Tacoma Narrows or Henderson Bay, the Shoreline Master Program governs, and any critical area in that band is handled under the shoreline rules.

Away from the water, GHMC 18.08 applies. It sorts hillsides into four classes starting at 15 percent slope and also covers ravine sidewalls, bluffs, wetlands, streams, and landslide, erosion, seismic and flood hazard areas. We confirm which buffers govern at the time your application is prepared.

Ordinance 1540, adopted by the City Council on 12 May 2025, replaced the old 600 square foot accessory apartment, which required the owner to live on site, with GHMC 17.69. Up to two ADUs may go with each principal dwelling, inside the house, attached to it or detached, and each may reach 1,200 square feet of floor area, garage space excluded.

An ADU still has to fit the lot coverage of the zone and uses the setbacks of the main house, not the smaller accessory building setbacks. Off-street parking follows GHMC 17.72 unless the lot is within half a mile of a major transit stop, and the design has to meet the city's Design Manual.

Most Gig Harbor homes are fairly recent: the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey puts the median year built at 1998. Close to a third of its 5,660 homes went up between 2010 and 2019, the largest single decade, and roughly a quarter date from before 1980. About 60 percent are detached single-family houses.

A newer house usually calls for a kitchen or bath refresh and a better layout, while an older waterfront home in the historic core tends to need wiring, plumbing and insulation brought current once it is opened. Either way, the price you sign is written and itemized.