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Phase 2 · Design · Step 2.1

Engage a designer or architect

Hire a designer or architect with recent permitted Seattle DADUs (verify them through the SDCI Permit Research Tool) and sign a contract that names deliverables and CA scope.

Who
Designer, Architect
How long
Engagement: 1-2 weeks; output: full phase
Cost
$5,000-$30,000+
You end up with
Signed design contract with deliverables and CA scope

If you skip this: Designers fluent in current SDCI expectations typically clear permit in 1-2 correction rounds. Without recent Seattle DADU history, plan for 3-4 rounds — that's 2-4 extra months.

Architect vs. designer in Seattle

For most SF DADUs that fit under SDCI's complexity thresholds, an unlicensed residential designer can produce the drawings as long as a structural engineer stamps the structural sheets. A WA-licensed architect (RCW 18.08) is required when complexity or site conditions push past those thresholds.

In practice, the title matters less than the designer's track record in Seattle.

What you're hiring them to deliver

  • Site plan with setbacks, drip lines, ECA buffers, easements
  • Floor plans, elevations, sections
  • Energy code forms
  • MEP coordination (drives engineer engagement in 2.3, 2.4, 2.5)
  • Permit-ready set
  • Construction administration during the build

Fee structures

  • Full-service architect: 8–15% of construction cost
  • Residential designer: 5–10% of construction cost
  • Hourly: $125–$250/hr
  • Fixed bid: $8K–$30K+ custom; $5K–$15K adapting a pre-approved plan

The verification step

The single best filter: ask for three Seattle DADU projects they've completed in the last three years, with addresses. Pull the addresses on the SDCI Permit and Site History Research Tool and you'll see the actual permit history — corrections, holds, discipline, all of it.

A designer with three permitted Seattle DADUs is a different bid than one with zero, no matter how good the rest of their portfolio is.

License verification

  • Architect: WA DOL Architect Search.
  • Designer: No license to verify, so the SDCI permit history is the verification.

What goes in the contract

  • Scope (basic / construction documents / construction administration — be explicit on each)
  • Deliverables and milestones
  • Number of design iterations included
  • Coordination with structural / civil / energy (your fee or theirs?)
  • Whether SDCI correction responses are in scope
  • Hourly rate for out-of-scope work

Where this information came from

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