Hire a designer or architect with Seattle older-home addition experience

Hiring the designer is the moment the project starts feeling real, and it's the highest-leverage decision you'll make. A designer who has done several Seattle pop-ups in the last few years has muscle memory for what SDCI's reviewers ask for and what older Seattle houses actually hide — that's most of what you're paying for.

Designer vs. architect

For a Seattle single-family second-story addition, both work. Architects (licensed by WA DOL) are required for some commercial projects but not for most single-family residential — a residential designer can stamp drawings for an addition under most conditions, and they'll typically engage a structural engineer separately.

The trade-off:

• Architect: higher fee, broader design vocabulary, useful if the addition is design-driven (matching original Craftsman details, complicated rooflines, custom millwork).
• Residential designer: lower fee, narrower scope, fast on permit-track projects.

Where to find a designer or architect

Three reliable channels, in order of how the founder would actually shop:

1. Recent permit history. The SDCI Permit and Site History Research Tool — filter recent residential addition permits in your neighborhood. Designers of record who appear repeatedly are local specialists. Single best discovery channel.
2. GCs from your feasibility walk-through. Builders know designers they like to work with — biased toward designers who collaborate well.
3. AIA Seattle. AIA Seattle maintains a residential referral list — useful when you specifically want a licensed architect.

What to look for either way

• Three or more recent Seattle addition permits visible on the SDCI permit research tool.
• Direct experience with the substantial-alteration threshold in SDCI Tip 314. They should be able to tell you in plain language whether your project will trigger it.
• A working relationship with one or two Seattle structural engineers who do older-home work.
• References on at least one finished project you can call.

Fee structure

Most residential designers charge 8–15% of construction cost for full service through permit + construction administration. Architects often charge 10–18%. Either way, this includes:

• Schematic design (step 2.3).
• Design development.
• Construction documents (permit set).
• SDCI submittal + correction-letter responses (step 3.5).
• Construction administration (site visits during the build).

What goes in the agreement

• Scope (full service vs. permit only — full service is what you want).
• Fee and payment schedule.
• Number of design revisions included.
• Owner-supplied items (survey, geotech, structural).
• Construction-administration hours included.

A designer who's done a few of these will hand you a clean agreement; expect to sign within a couple of weeks of the initial walk-through.

Initial payment ("deposit")

Most architects and residential designers ask for an initial payment of 5–15% of their fee before producing drawings. Per AIA standard practice for architect compensation, this is a non-refundable initial payment held on account against the final invoices, not a refundable retainer — if you cancel mid-project, it's gone. Trades that order custom materials (cabinets, windows, specialty doors) also typically require a deposit at order time — often 30–50%, because those items aren't returnable.