Shoreline Area Full Home Renovation Services and Remodeling Contractor

Every new application goes in online. The Planning and Community Development Department accepts permits only through eTRAKiT, using either a licensed contractor account tied to an L&I license or a public account. A few permit types can be picked straight from a menu; everything else begins as a Pre-Intake Record, known as a PIN, before formal intake.

A building permit covers additions, new or replacement decks, porches and patio covers, and the conversion of an unfinished basement or garage into finished space. A licensed contractor can apply for residential plumbing and mechanical permits directly in the portal.

Shoreline has written review targets into its development code: 65 calendar days for building permits, 100 days for decisions that need public notice, and 170 days for decisions that need a public hearing. Those days count only while the city is reviewing, so a fast, complete response to correction requests is the best way to protect your schedule.

For a kitchen remodel or bathroom remodel, the permit path depends on what moves. New plumbing runs or a relocated fixture call for a plumbing permit, heating or ventilation changes fall under a mechanical permit, and taking out a wall moves the job toward a building permit.

With so much of Shoreline built between 1950 and 1969, many kitchens and baths we open still carry original drain lines and circuits. We check for that during the design visit so it is part of the written price, not a surprise once the cabinets come out.

Finishing a basement or converting a garage into living space needs a building permit in Shoreline, because the city treats it as turning unfinished space into finished space.

A lower floor can also become an ADU. Shoreline caps ADUs at 1,200 square feet, but an interior unit on its own floor under the same roof as the house may be larger. An attached unit has to be separated by a fire wall or have hard wired smoke alarms and fire sprinklers.

Shoreline updated its critical areas code, SMC chapter 20.80, in 2025. It regulates geologic hazard areas, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, wetlands and flood hazard areas, and it uses the Washington Department of Ecology coastal zone atlas for marine bluffs and state liquefaction susceptibility maps as references.

The rules reach further than many owners expect: they apply to work within the maximum buffer distance of a critical area even when that area sits on a neighbor's property.

The city has about four miles of Puget Sound coastline, and land within 200 feet of the water falls under the Shoreline Master Program. No lake or stream inside the city meets the state definition of a shoreline, so the program is about the Sound, from Richmond Beach south past Innis Arden and The Highlands.

Each lot in Shoreline can have up to two accessory dwelling units, attached, detached or one of each, and both count toward the maximum number of homes allowed on the lot. Every ADU, including a conversion inside the house, needs a building permit.

Detached units have to meet fire separation standards and carry fire sprinklers. The city has no pre-approved ADU plans, so each one is drawn for its lot. ADUs pay reduced impact fees, and adding one does not trigger frontage improvements such as new curbs or sidewalks.

The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey puts the median year built for Shoreline homes at 1970. The 1950s were the busiest decade, and about 62 percent of homes were built before 1980.

Newer construction is adding up too, with close to 2,500 homes built since 2020. For a remodel, the older houses are where planning matters most: layouts, electrical capacity and insulation from that era usually shape what a kitchen, bath or basement project involves.