Construction & Remodeling in Tacoma, WA

Permit authority in Tacoma is the City's Planning & Development Services office. All building permits — remodels, additions, new construction, and DADUs — go through tacomapermits.org. If your parcel is in unincorporated Pierce County, those permits route through Pierce County PALS instead, but the vast majority of Tacoma addresses are within city limits and use City permits, not county.

The "Home in Tacoma" middle-housing package, effective February 2025, is Tacoma's companion to state HB 1110. It rezones residential parcels citywide to allow attached and detached ADUs, duplexes, and cottage housing in configurations that were barred under the prior code. For ADU work specifically, this layers on top of Washington's HB 1337 (RCW 36.70A.680), which prohibits local governments from requiring owner-occupancy, limits impact fees to 50% of the principal-unit rate, and mandates that garage and shed conversions be allowed even where existing structures don't meet current setbacks. The result: two ADUs per lot, no owner-occupancy requirement, and permit timelines that have compressed sharply since 2023. Most Tacoma DADU applications are issued in 4–8 weeks — a fraction of the 4–6 months common before HB 1337 forced jurisdictions to streamline.

Volume reflects the policy shift. Residential permit applications that used to average 1–2 units per submission now routinely come in at 1–6 units. Multi-unit infill that would have been rare in 2023 is ordinary in 2025.

Historic-character work in the North End and Stadium District involves additional design-review considerations. We're familiar with those neighborhoods and know what plan submittal looks like there. DSHS-related work for Adult Family Homes routes through a separate plan-review process within the City's permit system. We handle both tracks.