Pull SDCI permit and site history for your address

Most older Seattle houses have a quiet, clean permit history — a re-roof, a water heater, maybe a side-sewer repair. A few don't. Spending 15 minutes here surfaces the second kind before your designer does, and saves a stop-the-presses moment two months into permit review.

What you're looking for

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) Permit and Site History Research Tool shows every recorded permit, complaint, code-compliance case, and unresolved notice tied to your address. Three things to look for:

1. Unresolved permits. Open or expired permits from prior owners can hold up your new submittal until they're closed out. A previous re-roof permit that never got a final inspection is a common one.
2. Code-compliance cases. Active violations have to be resolved before SDCI will issue a new permit. If a prior owner had an unpermitted basement bedroom flagged, that's now your problem to fix.
3. Original construction date. The house's permit history confirms whether you're dealing with pre-1978 (lead paint rules apply) and pre-1980 (asbestos rules apply) construction. Combine this with King County Assessor records as a cross-check.

How to do it

1. Open the research tool.
2. Search by your address.
3. Print or screenshot the full history. You'll attach it to your eventual permit submittal.

What good looks like

A clean history is a one-page list of routine permits (re-roof in 2003, water heater in 2014, side-sewer repair in 2019), all closed. Most older Seattle houses look like this.

A complicated history shows expired permits, open complaints, or large-scale prior work without final sign-off. Each unresolved item is something to clean up before you submit the addition.