King County, WA
King County building permit cost
A building permit in unincorporated King County carries two fees from one valuation
because the county publishes two tables and applies the same number to both: a plan review fee, paid at application, and an inspection fee, paid at permit issuance. On a $1,200,000 project that is $11,918.00 for review and $18,903.00 for inspection — $30,846.00 with the $25.00 state surcharge. Both tables close at every seam, and the county's own method paragraph says the valuation "is then applied to the fee tables below to determine the required plan review and inspection fees".
How this fee is calculated
These are the components the schedule defines for this permit, as they applied on 2026-09-28. A component only applies to your project if its conditions match — read that column before assuming a figure. Want a figure for your own project? Estimate this fee with the permit fee calculator.
| Component | Formula | Applies when | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inspection fee, $1.00 to $25,000.00Inspection fee | $183.00 + $44.60 per $1,000 of project valuation | Project valuation up to $25,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, $25,000.01 to $50,000.00Inspection fee | $1,298.00 + $30.80 per $1,000 of project valuation above $25,000 | Project valuation over $25,000 and up to $50,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, $50,000.01 to $100,000.00Inspection fee | $2,068.00 + $21.70 per $1,000 of project valuation above $50,000 | Project valuation over $50,000 and up to $100,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, $100,000.01 to $500,000.00Inspection fee | $3,153.00 + $17.10 per $1,000 of project valuation above $100,000 | Project valuation over $100,000 and up to $500,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, $500,000.01 to $1,000,000.00Inspection fee | $9,993.00 + $13.70 per $1,000 of project valuation above $500,000 | Project valuation over $500,000 and up to $1,000,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, $1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00Inspection fee | $16,843.00 + $10.30 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000,000 | Project valuation over $1,000,000 and up to $5,000,000 | — |
| Inspection fee, Over $5,000,000.00Inspection fee | $58,043.00 + $7.40 per $1,000 of project valuation above $5,000,000 | Project valuation over $5,000,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $1.00 to $25,000.00Plan review | $103.00 + $27.40 per $1,000 of project valuation | Project valuation up to $25,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $25,000.01 to $50,000.00Plan review | $788.00 + $20.60 per $1,000 of project valuation above $25,000 | Project valuation over $25,000 and up to $50,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $50,000.01 to $100,000.00Plan review | $1,303.00 + $13.70 per $1,000 of project valuation above $50,000 | Project valuation over $50,000 and up to $100,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $100,000.01 to $500,000.00Plan review | $1,988.00 + $11.40 per $1,000 of project valuation above $100,000 | Project valuation over $100,000 and up to $500,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $500,000.01 to $1,000,000.00Plan review | $6,548.00 + $8.00 per $1,000 of project valuation above $500,000 | Project valuation over $500,000 and up to $1,000,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, $1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00Plan review | $10,548.00 + $6.85 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000,000 | Project valuation over $1,000,000 and up to $5,000,000 | — |
| Plan review fee, Over $5,000,000.00Plan review | $37,948.00 + $5.70 per $1,000 of project valuation above $5,000,000 | Project valuation over $5,000,000 | — |
| State building code surcharge, each additional dwelling unitState surcharge | the first dwelling unit is included in the permit fee, then $2.00 for each additional dwelling unit | Dwelling units over 1 | — |
| State building code surcharge, commercial or multifamilyState surcharge | $25.00 flat fee | building class is none of residential, single family | — |
| State building code surcharge, single-family residentialState surcharge | $6.50 flat fee | building class is one of residential, single family | — |
A real permit fee is these components added together. The department’s final calculation is the one that applies — this is the schedule it will be based on.
A worked example
Follow the arithmetic by hand. Every line is produced by the engine from the rules above, so the total cannot drift away from the schedule behind it.
Worked example
A commercial tenant improvement in unincorporated King County with a declared construction valuation of $1,200,000, filed as one building permit.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $1,200,000 |
Example total
$30,846.00
An estimate, not an official fee. It is calculated from the published fee schedule as it applied on 2026-09-28. The permit office’s own calculation is the one that applies, and your project may fall under rules this schedule does not describe.
Fee schedule as of 2026-09-28Rules applied 3Rules considered 17
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Plan review fee, $1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00Plan review"Building or Mechanical Plan Review Fee": "$1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00 — $10,548.00, plus $6.85 per $1,000 of Value > $1,000,000.00".Show the working
| $10,548.00 + $6.85 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000,000 | $11,918.00 |
Inspection fee, $1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00Inspection fee"Building or Mechanical Inspection Fee": "$1,000,000.01 to $5,000,000.00 — $16,843.00, plus $10.30 per $1,000 of Value > $1,000,000.00".Show the working
| $16,843.00 + $10.30 per $1,000 of project valuation above $1,000,000 | $18,903.00 |
State building code surcharge, commercial or multifamilyState surchargeGuide 04: "State building code surcharge: minimum fee per building permit $25.00". RCW 19.27.085(2) sets $25.00 on a commercial building permit. Charged unless the permit is named a single-family one.Show the working
| $25.00 flat fee | $25.00 |
| Total | $30,846.00 |
Fees that do not apply here
Listed so you can see what was considered and left out, rather than wondering whether something is missing. A rule can also be left out because it is not published for this permit at all, and that is stated where it matters.
- Plan review fee, $1.00 to $25,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plan review fee, $25,000.01 to $50,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plan review fee, $50,000.01 to $100,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plan review fee, $100,000.01 to $500,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plan review fee, $500,000.01 to $1,000,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Plan review fee, Over $5,000,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, $1.00 to $25,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, $25,000.01 to $50,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, $50,000.01 to $100,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, $100,000.01 to $500,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, $500,000.01 to $1,000,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Inspection fee, Over $5,000,000.00 — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- State building code surcharge, each additional dwelling unit — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- State building code surcharge, single-family residential — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 3 fee rules in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
Both tables land in their sixth band. Plan review is the sixth band's $10,548.00 plus $6.85 for each of the 200 additional thousands, which is $1,370.00, giving $11,918.00 — payable at application. Inspection is the same band's $16,843.00 plus $10.30 for each of the 200 additional thousands, which is $2,060.00, giving $18,903.00 — payable at issuance. The state building code surcharge adds $25.00 as a commercial permit. The total is $30,846.00, and the inspection fee alone is 61% of it. The same project completed as a single-family home would pay $6.50 of surcharge instead of $25.00, and would be priced by Guide 02's residential rows rather than by either table.
What is different in King County
Every other jurisdiction on this site publishes one schedule that returns one permit fee. King County publishes two tables and charges both, and the guide's column headings say why: "Application" and "Permit". Plan review is what is paid when the application is filed; inspection is what is paid when the permit is issued. A reader who finds only one of the two tables will halve the cost of their permit, and the mistake runs in a consistent direction, because the inspection table is the larger of the pair at every band — $183 against $103 at the bottom, $58,043 against $37,948 at the top.
Both tables are banded the same way, in seven ranges that meet at $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, $500,000, $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, and both close at all six seams. Review: $788, $1,303, $1,988, $6,548, $10,548, $37,948. Inspection: $1,298, $2,068, $3,153, $9,993, $16,843, $58,043. Each figure is exactly what the band below produces at its own top, so a reader can check any row against the one beneath it. Denver's table is a dollar short at one handover, Clark County's four cents short at another and Houston's brackets deliberately do not chain; these two are exact, and this site asserts every seam in its tests rather than assuming the arithmetic.
What the fee is read against is the second thing to know, and it differs from every other jurisdiction here. The county does not simply take your number: "The permit technician or plans examiner determines the County valuation... using data tables that list the standard construction cost per square foot, by type of construction and occupancy, or other data provided by the permit applicant." A declared construction cost is one acceptable input rather than the whole answer, so a project can be priced at more than it cost. These pages compute from the figure you give them and say so.
Then there is the route that does not use either table. Single-family work is priced by Guide 02, which prices named residential jobs flat or by square foot: a new home on a pre-registered basic plan is $1,936.00 of application review plus $2.46 per square foot of inspection, a deck or accessory building of 500 square feet or less is $772.00 of review, a carport is $1,627.00, a garage addition is $3,109.00, and a repair with one structural modification is $796.00 of review plus $1,229.00 of inspection. That guide's review column also has its own site-review row, priced by the quantity and complexity of review at $2,033.00, $3,618.00 or $483.00.
The state surcharge follows the same split. Guide 04 prints "$25.00 minimum fee per building permit" and "$2.00 per additional dwelling unit permitted". Guide 02 prints "$6.50". RCW 19.27.085 sets exactly those two rates for commercial and residential permits, so the county's two guides and the statute agree once each is read for the occupancy it covers — and the surcharge is excluded from mechanical, sprinkler and tank permits by the footnote the guide itself prints.
Finally, above the tables sits a list of flat minimum fees for structures the county does not price by value at all: a change of use at $970.00 and $419.00, a sign at $1,597.00 and $737.00, an antenna at $3,364.00 and $1,514.00, demolition or relocation at $796.00, a tank at $970.00 each. Those rows replace the valuation route for the structure they name.
One reading of the tables is worth stating outright, because it is where this schedule differs from every other one on this site. The rates are published "per $1,000 of Value" and the words "or fraction thereof" never appear — not in one band, not in one guide. Boulder City's table, Clark County's table and Denver's table all print that phrase exactly where they mean a valuation is rounded up to the next step, and Houston's brackets are built on it. Read the county's words as written, the rate is charged on the exact number of thousands: a $12,500 valuation pays for 12.5 of them — $103.00 plus $342.50 of review, and $183.00 plus $557.50 of inspection — rather than being rounded up to thirteen and paying $459.20 and $762.80. The pages here use the reading the document supports, and the alternative is stated with its size, because the guides are silent rather than explicit and a reader deserves to know which one produced the figure they are looking at.
What this figure does not include
Impact fees, utility connections and other departments’ permits are the usual omissions, and in some jurisdictions they are larger than the permit fee itself.
Not included in these figures
This estimate is Guide 04's two valuation tables for the permit's plan review fee and its inspection fee, plus the state building code surcharge. It excludes:
- The flat minimum fees above the tables: change of use at $970.00 and $419.00, communication antenna at $3,364.00 and $1,514.00, pole or tower at $6,272.00 and $4,280.00, sign at $1,597.00 and $737.00, school portable at $5,269.00 and $4,225.00, high-piled storage at $1,587.00 and $1,711.00, emergency generator at $1,587.00 and $1,711.00, tank or underground fuel piping at $970.00, alarm system at $970.00 plus $1,160.00 and $24 per device, sprinkler system at $970.00 plus $1,160.00 and $24 per head, other fire suppression at $1,587.00 and $1,711.00, trail bridge at $42.00 and $65.00 per lineal foot, and demolition at $796.00.
- Guide 02's single-family rows, which are the price of a residential permit rather than a version of this one: $1,936.00 to $8,128.00 of review plus $2.46 per square foot of inspection for a new home, $772.00 for a deck or small accessory building, $1,627.00 for a carport, $3,109.00 for a garage addition or conversion into living space, $362.00 to $2,392.00 for a remodel by number of modifications, $183.00 for a mechanical installation only, $560.00 for a demolition or relocation only, and the site-review rows at $2,033.00, $3,618.00 or $483.00.
- Certificate of occupancy and operating permit fees: $442.00 for an individual townhouse or a partly constructed building, $970.00 for more than one building per permit, $970.00 for a temporary certificate, $970.00 for a letter of completion on shell construction, $419.00 per building per site visit for an occupancy inspection, $171.00 for an operating permit and $114.00 for its renewal, per item.
- Plan re-submittals after the second and revisions to an issued permit, which the guide prices as "the plan changes as a portion of the total project, as determined by the department" rather than at a published figure.
- School impact mitigation, priced on Fee Guide 03, and site, road, storm water and environmental review fees, priced on Guides 05 to 08.
- Anything the county decides the valuation should be. These figures use the valuation you enter; if the plans examiner substitutes a figure from the county's cost tables, both tables are read against that number instead.
- The cost of the work itself, and any tax on it. No sales or use tax line is published in these guides and none is added here.
What you need before applying
- The County determines the valuation, and you can supply itRequired
"The permit technician or plans examiner determines the County valuation of the building construction or mechanical installation of a project, using data tables that list the standard construction cost per square foot, by type of construction and occupancy, or other data provided by the permit applicant. The County generally uses data tables published by nationally recognized code organizations but may use other means to estimate valuation as needed." The valuation is therefore not simply what the applicant declares — the County may substitute its own cost per square foot — and the same paragraph says the number the County lands on is what both fee tables are read against.
- Two valuation tables are charged, not one chosen from twoRequired
The guide publishes a "Building or Mechanical Plan Review Fee" table and a "Building or Mechanical Inspection Fee" table, and its method paragraph applies the County valuation to both: "The County valuation is then applied to the fee tables below to determine the required plan review and inspection fees." They are paid at different moments — review at application, inspection at permit issuance, which is what the guide's own column headings "Application" and "Permit" say — and the inspection table's figures are roughly 1.5 to 1.7 times the review table's at every band.
- The state surcharge is $25.00 or $6.50 depending on the guideRequired
Guide 04 prints "State building code surcharge: minimum fee per building permit $25.00; fee per additional dwelling unit permitted $2.00". Guide 02, for single-family work, prints "State building code surcharge (b) $6.50". RCW 19.27.085 sets the same two figures — $6.50 on each residential building permit, $25.00 on each commercial one — so the pair is consistent once each guide is read for the occupancy it covers, and a project that names no occupancy is priced as commercial here because that is the guide these pages quote.
- The surcharge does not follow a mechanical permitMay be required
Guide 04's footnote (d): "Per WAC 51-05-200, the State surcharge is not applicable to mechanical or fire protection systems, or tank permits, but is applicable to permits for the demolition of buildings." A mechanical permit is priced by the same two tables as a building permit and differs from it in exactly this line.
Common questions
How much is a building permit in King County?
It depends on the valuation, and it is two fees rather than one. At $25,000 the plan review table gives $788.00 and the inspection table $1,298.00; at $100,000, $1,988.00 and $3,153.00; at $1,000,000, $10,548.00 and $16,843.00; at $5,000,000, $37,948.00 and $58,043.00. Add the state surcharge — $25.00 on a commercial permit, $6.50 on a residential one. A $1,200,000 project comes to $30,846.00.
Why are there two permit fees?
Because the county publishes two tables and applies the same valuation to both. The guide's own method paragraph says the valuation "is then applied to the fee tables below to determine the required plan review and inspection fees", and the column headings on its first page are "Application" and "Permit" — review is paid when you file, inspection when the permit is issued. Single-family work does not use either table; it is priced by a separate residential guide.
Who decides the valuation?
The county, from its own cost data, with your figures as one input: "The permit technician or plans examiner determines the County valuation of the building construction or mechanical installation of a project, using data tables that list the standard construction cost per square foot, by type of construction and occupancy, or other data provided by the permit applicant." The tables this site computes from use the valuation you enter, and the county may substitute a different one.
Is the state surcharge $25 or $6.50?
Both, on different permits. The commercial guide prints a $25.00 minimum fee per building permit and $2.00 per additional dwelling unit; the single-family guide prints $6.50. RCW 19.27.085 sets the same two rates — $6.50 on a residential building permit and $25.00 on a commercial one. A mechanical, sprinkler or tank permit pays neither, because the guide's footnote excludes them under WAC 51-05-200.
Does a valuation get rounded up to the next $1,000?
The county's guides do not say so. Their rates are published "per $1,000 of Value" and neither guide contains the phrase "or fraction thereof" anywhere, where Boulder City's, Clark County's and Denver's schedules all print it. This site therefore charges the exact number of thousands: a $12,500 valuation pays $445.50 of plan review and $740.50 of inspection, where rounding up to thirteen would give $459.20 and $762.80. The difference is at most one increment, and it is stated here rather than buried because the guides are silent.
Do the fee tables agree with themselves?
Yes, at all six seams in both tables. The review table opens its bands at $788.00, $1,303.00, $1,988.00, $6,548.00, $10,548.00 and $37,948.00, and each of those is exactly what the band below produces at its own top; the inspection table does the same with $1,298.00, $2,068.00, $3,153.00, $9,993.00, $16,843.00 and $58,043.00. This site checks every one of them against the arithmetic rather than trusting it.
What does a new single-family home cost?
Guide 02 prices it by plan and by square foot rather than by valuation. A pre-registered basic plan is $1,936.00 of application review plus $2.46 per square foot of inspection; a custom design is $8,128.00 plus $4,639.00 of site review plus the same $2.46 per square foot; a modular home is $2,419.00 plus $4,639.00; an accessory dwelling unit is $4,556.00 plus $3,618.00. Sprinklers add $1,119.00 of review and $1,997.00 of inspection, and the state surcharge is $6.50.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CountyPrimary source
2026 Fee Guide 02 — Single Family Residential Construction (December 2025)
Three pages, sha256 beginning 2a1e0f0f0a2b4e5b. Read in three pdftotext modes. Two things are taken from it and nothing else. The first is the residential state surcharge of $6.50, which is a different figure from Guide 04's $25 and is the reason the surcharge is modelled as two rules rather than one. The second is its statement of which authority issues what — "Electrical permits are issued by the WA State Department of Labor & Industries. On-site septic design and installation, plumbing, and gas-piping permits are issued by Seattle-King County Public Health" — which is the corroboration for a jurisdiction having three permit types from three bodies. Its own fee rows are quoted in prose and not modelled; they are priced per square foot or per named job rather than by valuation.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CountyPrimary source
2026 Fee Guide 04 — Commercial or Multifamily Residential Building Construction (December 2025)
Three pages, dated "December 2025" in the footer and titled "2026 Fee Guide 04", sha256 beginning 72ef257d6aab25d1. Read 2026-09-24 in three pdftotext modes. This is the document behind every building figure published here: the two valuation tables on its last page, the state surcharge row and its WAC 51-05-200 footnote on its second, and the flat minimum-fee table on its first. The guide's own method paragraph is what makes the two tables a fee rather than two options — the County valuation "is then applied to the fee tables below to determine the required plan review and inspection fees".
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.