Kenmore building permits
VerifiedDepartment contacts, adopted codes, permit types, fees, and gotchas for Kenmore, Washington.
Last verified 2026-09-16 · Source · Embed this page’s badge · Version history
Building department
- Address
- 18120 68th Ave NE, Kenmore, WA 98028
- Phone
- (425) 398-8900
- Website
- Official site
Codes adopted
The State Building Code is in effect in every county and city in Washington, and its minimum performance standards may not be diminished locally. A local amendment that affects single-family or multifamily residential buildings is not effective unless the State Building Code Council approves it; amendments to non-residential provisions carry no such approval requirement.
- IBC — KMC 15.20.010: “The 2021 Edition of the International Building Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Scope and Administration,’ as published by the International Code Council, is adopted, together with the amendments set forth in Chapter 51-50 WAC.”
- IRC — KMC 15.20.120: “The 2021 Edition of the International Residential Code”, expressly including Appendix AT “Solar Ready Provisions”, Appendix AWU “Dwelling Unit Fire Sprinkler Systems”, Appendix AWV “Fire Sprinklers”, Appendix AWY “Construction and Demolition Material Management” and Appendix AWZ “Building Deconstruction”.
- IMC — KMC 15.20.140: “The 2021 Edition of the International Mechanical Code, excluding Chapter 1”, with the amendments in Chapter 51-52 WAC.
- UPC — KMC 15.20.145: “The 2021 Edition of the Uniform Plumbing Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Administration,’ as published by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials”, together with Appendix A on sizing the water supply system.
- NFPA 54 — KMC 15.20.150: “The 2021 National Fuel Gas Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Administration,’ as published by NFPA, is adopted together with the amendments set forth in Chapter 51-52 WAC.”
- NFPA 58 — KMC 15.20.155: “The 2020 Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Administration,’ as published by NFPA, is adopted, together with the amendments set forth in Chapter 51-52 WAC.”
- IFGC — KMC 15.20.160: “The 2021 Edition of the International Fuel Gas Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Administration’”, with the amendments in Chapter 51-52 WAC.
- WSEC — KMC 15.20.165: “The 2021 Washington State Energy Code, excluding Chapter 1, as adopted by the State Building Code Council in Chapters 51-11C and 51-11R WAC”.
- IEBC — KMC 15.20.170: “The 2021 Edition of the International Existing Building Code, excluding Chapter 1, ‘Scope and Administration’”.
- International Swimming Pool and Spa Code — KMC 15.20.175: “The 2021 Edition of the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, excluding Chapter 1”. The first city in this Washington series to adopt it by name.
- International Wildland-Urban Interface Code — KMC 15.20.180 IS HEADED “International Wildland-Urban Interface Code adopted” AND ITS BODY READS, IN FULL, “Repealed by Ord. 24-0610.” KENMORE DOES NOT ADOPT IT. The heading is the only thing that says otherwise.
NO ELECTRICAL CODE IS ADOPTED IN TITLE 15. Chapter 15.20's sections were enumerated end to end and none adopts the NEC or the Washington Cities Electrical Code, unlike Mountlake Terrace, Mercer Island, SeaTac and Des Moines. Show full textShow less
NO ELECTRICAL CODE IS ADOPTED IN TITLE 15. Chapter 15.20's sections were enumerated end to end and none adopts the NEC or the Washington Cities Electrical Code, unlike Mountlake Terrace, Mercer Island, SeaTac and Des Moines. KMC 15.30.245(C) nonetheless sets a one-year life for “electrical, mechanical, and plumbing permits not associated with a building permit”. The usual Washington route is inspection by Labor and Industries under Chapter 19.28 RCW, BUT NO SUCH PROVISION WAS FOUND IN THIS TITLE and none is asserted here.
Permit types & fees
Residential building permit
Permit to build, alter or add to a house in Kenmore, under the International Residential Code adopted at KMC 15.20.120.
See fee scheduleCommercial building permit
Permit for commercial, multifamily, institutional and industrial construction in Kenmore, under the International Building Code adopted at KMC 15.20.010.
See fee scheduleMechanical permit
Permit for mechanical work in Kenmore, under the International Mechanical Code adopted at KMC 15.20.140.
See fee schedulePlumbing permit
Permit for plumbing work in Kenmore, under the Uniform Plumbing Code adopted at KMC 15.20.145.
See fee scheduleFuel gas permit
Permit for fuel gas and LP-gas work in Kenmore, under the codes adopted at KMC 15.20.150, 15.20.155 and 15.20.160.
See fee schedule
Kenmore's permit history isn't searchable here yet
This page covers what the permit requires. What we don't have for Kenmore yet is the record of permits actually issued — the history you'd search by street address. That is a gap in our coverage, not a statement about any particular property.
Your email, and the place — never an address. We only use it to tell you when Kenmore lands. Privacy.
Tips & gotchas
- Permit life depends on what you are building. A house or a tenant improvement runs two years, a commercial, multifamily, institutional or industrial building runs three, and a standalone mechanical, plumbing, electrical or sign permit runs only one year under KMC 15.30.245.
- On a house, the outside must be finished within the two years — roofing, siding, windows, exterior doors and the site and right-of-way work. The code says that particular deadline may not be extended unless the building official approves it, even though the permit itself can be.
- Letting a permit lapse is not a neutral event here. KMC 15.30.245(E) makes it “a violation of this chapter to allow a permit to expire without first obtaining an approved final inspection”, so the fix is an inspection, not simply a new application.
- If you stall before the framing inspection and later re-permit, the replacement permit lasts six months and the project loses its original code vesting, re-vesting to whatever codes are in force when the new application is made. Framing approval is the milestone that protects your edition.
- Exemptions here are conditional on where the work is. KMC 15.30.205 applies its whole exempt list only if the work is not in a critical area, shoreline, associated buffer or native growth protection area, so an exempt shed on one lot needs a permit on another.
- A detached shed up to 200 square feet is exempt, which is generous by the standards of this region — neighbouring Mountlake Terrace stops at 80 square feet. Confirm your lot is outside the critical-area overlays before relying on it.
- The fee is computed from a valuation that is not necessarily yours. You supply an estimate, but KMC 15.30.365 provides the valuation is whichever is higher of the applicant's and the building official's, and the official works from the latest ICC Building Safety Journal.
- Kenmore's code adopts every model code with its Chapter 1 removed and replaces it with the city's own Construction Administrative Code at Chapter 15.30. Look there, not in the model code, for permits, fees, expiry, inspections and appeals.
- Title 15 adopts no electrical code. Kenmore names the NEC nowhere, unlike several nearby cities, so confirm with the city and with Labor and Industries who issues and inspects electrical work before you plan around it.