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City of Spokane Renovation Permits: Preparing for the First Inquiry

Ask which permits the work needs before you pay for drawings.

The City of Spokane’s Development Services Center describes its own first step this way: a permit technician reviews the application and its supporting documents “to determine which permits will be required” and then contacts the applicant for anything further. That review is the point of a first inquiry, and it is why the counter decides the permit set rather than a list found online.

This page is for a City of Spokane address — inside the city limits, not a mailing address that merely reads “Spokane”. Valley addresses are handled at the Valley’s permit centre and unincorporated county addresses by the county’s building department; the jurisdiction guide settles which applies, and the cluster overview routes the rest of the questions.

Two limits apply here. This page does not decide whether your project needs a permit, and it publishes no fees and no review times: the City keeps both in its own documents, where they change, and those destinations are in the sources at the foot of this page.

Who the City will accept an application from

The City’s code settles the applicant question before any question about drawings. For a building permit, SMC 17G.010.070 requires the applicant to be either a contractor holding a City of Spokane business licence and an active Washington Labor & Industries contractor registration appropriate to the work, or the property owner as identified in Spokane County Assessor records, where the owner can claim exemption from state contractor registration and the work is done by the owner or by people licensed or certified for what they do.

Gas work is carved out of the owner route: a mechanical permit for gas piping, equipment or appliances is issued only to an appropriately licensed contractor, unless the property owner holds a current City licence to install it. The City publishes its contractor-registration notice, drawn from RCW 18.27, and verifies registration before it issues a building permit. If an LLC or a trust owns the property, documentation showing the relationship to the property is to be included with the application.

What to have in hand

The address and the parcel number. Both open the City’s application, and the owner name the City checks comes from county records. The City’s own advice to anyone unsure of their jurisdiction is to look the property up on Spokane County’s SCOUT dashboard.

The scope in plain words. The City’s general residential application carries a checkbox list — remodel, addition (a larger footprint, or replacing an attached deck), second-storey addition, fence, attached or detached carport or garage, plumbing only, electrical only, mechanical only, and detached decks or accessory structures under 200 square feet — plus a free-text description. Its note is worth following: electrical scope should name new or altered service, subpanels and circuits; plumbing scope the fixtures replaced or installed; mechanical scope the fixtures. An alteration submitted through the City’s electronic review also requires one of the City’s own alteration levels: Repair, Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3.

The project value. The application asks for the total, described as “Contractor BID Price or Material Cost Estimate”. The City’s fee calculators page states how the figure is determined — the greater of the contract valuation, including labour, materials and profit, or the current ICC Building Valuation Data — and warns that fees are amended annually and the published fee schedule supersedes older figures still sitting in the calculators and forms.

Who is doing each trade. Plumbing, mechanical and electrical are separate permits from the building permit. The City’s residential pages say online permitting is available for licensed contractors, while its electronic review instructions ask each applicant to register for an account before submitting. Which route fits your application is a question for the technician.

The documents the City names for your project

The City publishes a submittal checklist for each residential project type, and a general application that accepts hand-drawn plans. Start from the row that matches the work.

Project The City’s published checklist The minimum it names
Addition, including a second storey Residential Addition EDR guide sheet, rev. 15 December 2020 Floor plan, footings/foundation, elevations and cross section, with a site plan, energy-code documents and footing calculations
Alteration or repair, including an interior remodel Residential Alteration/Repair EDR guide sheet, rev. 15 December 2020 A dimensioned floor plan showing the new or altered work, with separate trade permits
Solar (photovoltaic) Solar Energy EDR submittal guidelines, rev. 13 February 2023 Site plan, panel layout, manufacturer’s instructions and specifications, equipment schedule, engineering where applicable
Deck, fence, detached garage or shed, accessory dwelling unit, change of use The checklist for that project type in the City’s electronic-review library Read the sheet for your type before the plans are drawn

For an addition, the City’s site plan carries the property address, property lines and dimensions, a north arrow and the drawing scale, existing and proposed structures with their distances to the property lines, the main driveway, a site drainage plan, parking spaces, street and alley names, and curb-to-property-line dimensions; Washington State Energy Code worksheets and footing calculations accompany it. For an alteration or repair the City asks for a dimensioned floor plan showing new or altered wall framing, any load-bearing member being removed, the layout of newly formed rooms, the size and location of new headers, beams or load-bearing members, smoke and carbon monoxide detector locations, and the new or altered electrical, HVAC or plumbing. The City’s own bathroom and basement-finish sheet states the same in miniature: a dimensioned drawing, the fixtures, and which floor the work is on.

The paper route through the general residential application asks for the completed form, the plans — “hand-drawn is acceptable” — and a site plan: lot and setback dimensions, easements and driveway, the footprints of existing and proposed structures including decks, dimensioned distances to the property line, a north arrow and a scale.

If you submit electronically, the City’s file standards govern the packaging: PDF only and no zip files, documents unsecured and flattened, plans in greyscale and landscape, a bookmark for every sheet, a 6-inch by 6-inch stamp space on the cover sheet and 3-inch by 3-inch on each drawing sheet, residential sheets between 18 by 24 inches and 30 by 42 inches, sheets identified with the address, and files named to the City’s convention — PLANS, SITE PLAN, FOOTING CALC, WSEC, SUPPORTING DOC. The City states that review does not begin until a submittal meets the standards, that a submittal which fails them is rejected by automated email, and that resubmitted documents must match the original’s page size, orientation and bookmarks. Where construction is not prescriptive under the code — post and beam, steel, retaining walls, pile or pier foundations, alternate materials — the City asks for drawings and calculations stamped by a Washington-licensed engineer.

The questions to ask the counter

Question Why it changes the submittal
Which permits does this scope trigger? The technician determines the permit set; building, plumbing, mechanical and electrical are separate
May I apply as the owner, or must a contractor? City code limits eligibility, and gas work has its own rule
Is my project reviewed electronically or over the counter? The two routes differ in documents and packaging
Which alteration level am I? Electronic alteration submittals require the City’s Repair, Level 1, 2 or 3 selection
Will engineering be required? Stamped drawings and calculations change who prepares the plans
Does anything else review this? Demolition, historic status and asbestos survey questions reach other desks before the permit closes
What is the current fee and review time? The City publishes both; ask where your file sits rather than relying on a figure from an old quote

Where the counter stops

Next step

Write the address, parcel number, scope in plain words, project value, trade list and the drawings you already hold onto one page, then ask the Permit Center which permits and which submittal path apply. The cluster overview routes the rest; the permit-history guide covers what the City already holds for the address, and the fixer-upper records guide covers a property you do not yet own.

Sources

All pages and documents opened and read 2 October 2026.

Source Used for
City of Spokane, Residential Permit Process: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/residential/permit-process/ The published project lists behind the page’s four panels (building, expanding or relocating; inside the home; outside the home); the dwelling-unit and code-requirement links; the Permit Center address, mailbox, telephone and walk-in hours (M/T/Th/F 8 a.m.–5 p.m., W 11 a.m.–5 p.m.); the phrase “Residential Addition and Remodel Permit Application (please see Other Projects section below)”, a reference to a section that does not render on the page
City of Spokane, Residential: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/residential/ “Planning & Development reviews new construction, additions, interior remodeling, fencing and demolition of single-family, duplex family houses and/or accessory buildings”; “Incomplete applications may not be accepted. All necessary forms and documents must be submitted with the application”; separate plumbing, mechanical and electrical permits; “Online permitting is available for licensed contractors”; the demolition and Historic Preservation review trigger; the jurisdiction instruction to use SCOUT
City of Spokane, General Residential Permit Application (rev. 17 March 2020): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/residential/other/general-residential-permit-application-2020-07-28.pdf “A completed application, plans (hand-drawn is acceptable) and a site plan will be required”; the permit technician’s role; the site-address, parcel and applicant fields; the project-type checkbox list; the scope-of-work note; “Value of Project Total (Contractor BID Price or Material Cost Estimate)”; LLC/trust documentation; the electrical and gas contractor statements; the IRC R105.1 and R105.2 permit and exemption lists (read, not published as advice)
City of Spokane, Site Plan for General Residential Permit: https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/residential/other/general-residential-permit-site-plan-2020-03-24.pdf The site-plan checklist and the scale, property-corner, structure, driveway, tank, easement, well and north-arrow requirements
City of Spokane, EDR Getting Started: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/edr/getting-started/ Registration for an ACA account before applying; the EDR project-type list; “Who Can Apply and Conduct Work?”; the electronic file standards, printing, inspection and certificate-of-occupancy routes
City of Spokane, EDR Submittal Checklists: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/edr/project-types/ The residential checklist set — new single-family residence, duplex or townhouse; residential addition; residential alteration/repair; accessory dwelling units; detached accessory structures; decks; fences; residential change of use; solar
City of Spokane, Residential Addition EDR Submittal Guidelines (rev. 15 December 2020): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/edr/residential-addition-edr-guide-sheet-2020-12-15.pdf “Floor Plan, Footings/foundation, Elevations, Cross section”; the site-plan content list; the energy-code and footing-calculation requirements; the ventilation and radon compliance selections; the ACA permit-type selection; the Permit Team hotline number
City of Spokane, Residential Alteration/Repair EDR Submittal Guidelines (rev. 15 December 2020): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/edr/residential-alteration-repair-edr-guide-sheet-2020-12-15.pdf The dimensioned floor plan contents; separate trade permits; the requirement to select an alteration level and the four level names; the ACA permit-type selection
City of Spokane, Solar Energy EDR Submittal Guidelines (rev. 13 February 2023): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/construction/solar-energy-submittal-guide.pdf Site plan, panel layout, manufacturer’s instructions and specifications, equipment schedule, one-line diagram and licensed-engineer stamp; “A separate Residential Building Permit is required for any structural or other building modifications”; submittal via Accela Citizen Access
City of Spokane, Electronic File Standards (rev. 14 December 2020): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/edr/electronic-file-standards-2020-12-14.pdf “Your electronic plan review will not commence until the submittal meets all requirements”; automated-email rejection; PDF-only, no zip files; unsecured, flattened, greyscale, landscape, bookmarked; 6x6 and 3x3 stamp spaces; residential page sizes 18x24 to 30x42; the PLANS / SITE PLAN / FOOTING CALC / WSEC / SUPPORTING DOC naming conventions; address identification; resubmittal matching
City of Spokane, Washington State Contractor License Requirements (dated 17 July 2026): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/permitting/edr/washington-state-contractor-license-requirements-2026-07-17.pdf RCW 18.27 registration requirements; the city’s verification duty before issuing a building permit; the owner exemptions at RCW 18.27.090(11)–(13); the risk of using an unregistered contractor
Spokane Municipal Code 17G.010.070, Eligibility of Applicants: https://my.spokanecity.org/smc/?Section=17G.010.070 Who may obtain a building permit — a licensed contractor with a City business licence, or the property owner as identified in county records claiming the state registration exemption; the gas and boiler exception for mechanical permits; “The issuance of a permit… to a person not otherwise authorized does not operate to confer such authority”
City of Spokane, Residential Fee Calculators: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/residential/fee-calculators/ The greater-of rule for construction value (contract valuation or current ICC Building Valuation Data); the annual fee-schedule notice that the published schedule supersedes older figures in calculators and forms; the calculator families (no figure quoted)
City of Spokane, EDR Permit Timeline: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/edr/permit-timeline/ The City publishes current residential review and revision times on this page (read; no figure published here, because the page changes)
City of Spokane, Residential Codes: https://my.spokanecity.org/business/residential/codes/ The adopted code list for City of Spokane work, including the 2021 International Residential Code with its Part IV, VII and VIII exceptions, the 2021 International Building Code, the 2021 Washington State Energy Code, the 2021 Uniform Plumbing Code and the 2023 National Electrical Code (read, not interpreted)
City of Spokane, Bathroom Addition or Remodel in a Residence (SFR-14): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/construction/bathroom-residential-guidelines.pdf The dimensioned floor-plan-and-fixtures requirement for a bathroom project; the statement that adding or remodelling a bathroom normally requires building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits (compliance guidance in the sheet was not published)
City of Spokane, Basement—Finish a Bedroom or Other Room (SFR-13): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/construction/basement-remodel-finish-guidelines.pdf The drawing requirement for a basement finish — the whole outline, existing and proposed rooms, dimensions — and the statement that permits can be issued over the counter on that information (compliance guidance in the sheet was not published)
City of Spokane, Engineering Documents Required in SFR (SFR-20): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/construction/engineering-required-in-sfr.pdf When engineering is required — post and beam, steel stud or joist, steel frame, foam-form walls, cast-in-place concrete retaining walls, earth retaining structures, pile or pier foundations, alternate methods; drawings and calculations stamped by a Washington-licensed engineer, two copies of drawings and one of calculations
City of Spokane, Who Can Purchase Electrical Permits (EL-07): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/electrical/who-can-purchase-electrical-permits.pdf Who may take out a City electrical permit for remodelling, repair or new construction (read, cited only as a counter question)
City of Spokane, Gas-Fired Appliances—Who May Set (ME-08): https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/business/resources/guidesheets/mechanicalgas/who-may-set-gas-fired-appliances.pdf The Heating Mechanic I or II licence requirement for gas fitting work under SMC 10.29.030
City of Spokane Development Services Center and Permit Center: 3rd Floor City Hall, 808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201 · PermitTeam@spokanecity.org · 509.625.6300 · Permit Team hotline 509-625-6999 (as printed on the City’s EDR submittal guidelines) The inquiry routes a reader uses after reading this page

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J02 · Local permits and property researchIntent: PlanSources checked October 2, 2026Published October 2, 2026

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