Short answer: I design whole house remodels in Woodinville for a fixed fee, about $10,000 to $200,000 depending on the project budget and location, and the first feasibility check is free and takes about a day. Before you pay for drawings, your architect should settle whether your parcel is inside the City of Woodinville at all, whether the house is legally nonconforming and how much wall framing your plan removes, and whether the lot touches the Sammamish River, Little Bear Creek, a stream, a wetland, a steep slope or the floodplain.

This page is for a Woodinville owner with a remodel budget of $750,000 or more who is comparing architects. Piper Cole designs and administers construction on your behalf and does not build. City rules come from the Woodinville Municipal Code (WMC), current through Ordinance 811 (August 4, 2026), and the city’s own FAQ and permit pages, read on 19 October 2026. County rules come from King County Code Title 21A, updated September 9, 2026. Confirm any number with the city. Zoning tables, setbacks and tree credits are in my Woodinville zoning and permit guide; this page covers what decides a remodel.

City of Woodinville or King County: settle this first

Not every Woodinville address is in the city. The city’s own FAQ says a property with a Woodinville mailing address may sit in unincorporated Snohomish County or unincorporated King County. Inside the city, the Building Official decides your permit under WMC Title 21. I read nothing from Snohomish County. The county side differs:

The percentage tests and permit clocks below are the city’s. After a fire or other casualty, the city can let a rebuild keep its nonconformance if a complete application comes within 3 years (21.14.050(6)); the county’s window is 12 months (21A.32.045).

The percentage tests that decide a whole house remodel

Woodinville’s code uses several percentage tests, and each measures something different. A plan can clear one and fail another.

The nonconforming tests apply only to a house that was lawful when built and later fell out of step with the code, and the owner must prove that (WMC 21.14.030). The code does not say how the city finds market value; for the shoreline test it defines replacement cost as square footage times local building cost per square foot, or a similar method (21.70.227). The shoreline cost test counts construction costs until 24 months after the permit is finalized, without taxes or permit fees (WMC 21.70.228). That rule also says reconstruction, which the code defines by replacement cost, so ask which test applies.

The arithmetic on a plain house: a 40 by 60 foot house has 200 feet of exterior wall (2 x (40 + 60)). Fifty percent is 100 feet, so a plan that takes out more than 100 feet of framing ends the protection. On the shoreline the line is 120 feet (200 x 0.6). Partial removal counts as if the whole wall along that length came out, and swapping a window or door counts only if beams or struts come out. A $750,000 scope reaches 50 percent when the house’s replacement cost or market value is $1,500,000 or less ($750,000 divided by 0.5). These are illustrations, not rulings. The permit valuation is a third number: the code has the applicant estimate it, design work included (WMC 21.62.060(2)).

Roof coverage and shoreline surface: two worked lots

An R-6 lot, 8,000 square feet. The city caps building coverage, the horizontal surface of roof areas covering structures (WMC 21.11A.030), and requires a minimum share of landscaping. For an R-6 lot of 5,000 to 9,999 square feet, Table 21.32.050(1) allows 50 percent roof and requires 25 percent landscaping: 4,000 square feet of roof (8,000 x 0.50) and 2,000 of landscaping (8,000 x 0.25). If the house, garage and covered entry already total 3,300 square feet of roof, an addition has 700 (4,000 to 3,300), before setbacks and other limits, which may cap it sooner. That leaves 2,000 square feet (8,000 to 4,000, 2,000) for driveway and terraces, and pervious pavement does not count as landscaping.

A river lot, 100 by 200 feet. On the Sammamish River and Little Bear Creek, shoreline jurisdiction reaches 200 feet landward of the ordinary high water mark, and further where a floodway, floodplain or associated wetland extends it (WMC 21.70.050). Impervious surface is capped on the lot area inside it (21.74.020). The first 100 feet landward is the Conservancy environment. Beyond it the city’s map assigns Residential, Urban Conservancy or Urban General (21.71.030 to 21.71.080). Take a lot whose 100 foot side fronts the water, with all of it inside jurisdiction and Residential beyond the first 100 feet. Each part takes its own percentage, and the total may be spread across the lot if the Conservancy part stays within its own limit (21.74.020(3)).

A detached house is a prohibited use in the Conservancy and Urban Conservancy environments and permitted in Residential and Urban General (WMC 21.72.030). If yours stands in a prohibited one, the shoreline rule for nonconforming uses says floor area and every other element may not be expanded, except through an unclassified use approval (21.73.080(4)(b)). I found no published reading of how the city applies that to a remodel, so ask before design. My shoreline exemption guide covers the permit path.

Streams, slopes, floodplain and trees

Critical areas. The city’s map is a guide, and a site investigation decides what is on your lot (WMC 21.51.030(3)). A remodel of an existing structure needs no critical area review if it adds no footprint in the critical area or buffer, intrudes no further and adds no significant risk (21.51.040(6)). A building stays at least 10 feet from a riparian zone or wetland and its buffer unless the director reduces it (21.51.050(3)), and development in an erosion or landslide hazard area needs a geotechnical report (21.51.110(4)). If the job needs a critical area or shoreline decision first, the city treats an earlier building application as incomplete unless you choose consolidated review or the director waives the rule (21.80.035, 21.80.040).

Trees. A project that needs a construction permit also needs a tree permit, unless the remodel removes no trees, does not alter or expand the footprint and has tree protection in place (WMC 21.50.030(1)(g), 21.50.050(1)). The arborist report covers trees within 50 feet of the construction limits and any neighbor’s trees whose canopy overhangs them (21.50.050(2)). Heritage and specimen trees may not be removed except under the city’s Heritage Tree Program (21.50.020(4)).

What the city publishes about review time

The city’s permitting FAQ lists current turnaround times. It is undated and does not say whether a range is one round or the whole review.

The code sets its own clocks in calendar days, counted from the completeness decision and stopped while the city waits on you (WMC 21.80.210).

Staff must send a completeness notice within 28 days of accepting an application, or it counts as complete on day 29 (WMC 21.80.100). After a correction notice you have 90 days to answer, with extensions of up to 90 days each at the director’s discretion, or the application is void, and once the city approves you have 90 days to pick the permit up, with one extension of up to 90 (21.80.230). A permit is valid for 24 months, with one extension of up to 12 if work has not stopped (21.62.085). Construction time depends on scope, so ask each builder for a written schedule.

Applications go through the city’s online Permit Portal. The city issues the permit online once it has your contractor’s Washington license and a Woodinville business license. A pre-application meeting is optional and held Wednesdays at 9 and 10 am; the city says it flags fatal flaws. Plan review is usually 65 percent of the building permit fee, per the FAQ. I could not read the 2026 fee schedule, so I give no total. City fees sit outside my fee.

What changes the cost and the schedule

Planning ranges from Piper Cole, before design fees, permits, sales tax and contingency. They are not quotes. At those ranges, $750,000 of construction renovates roughly 1,364 to 2,500 sq ft ($750,000 divided by $550, and by $300). The million dollar remodel guide shows where the money goes. Here, a nonconforming wall, river frontage, a buffer, a floodplain line or a tree report can add scope or time, and opening walls may bring a structural engineer.

What to ask any architect before you sign

1. Is my parcel inside the City of Woodinville, and how will you confirm it?
2. Is my house legally nonconforming, and how many feet of exterior wall does your plan remove? A good answer gives a number against 50 percent.
3. Does any part of my lot sit in shoreline jurisdiction, a buffer, a steep slope or the floodplain? Ask which cost tests apply.
4. Will I need a tree permit and an arborist report?
5. Is the fee fixed, and is it set before drawings start? Ask what happens if the budget moves.
6. What sits outside the fee? A surveyor, structural, geotechnical and civil engineers, an arborist and the city’s permit fees are the usual items.
7. Which permits come first, and can they be filed together? Ask about consolidated review.
8. Do you administer construction, and do you build? I administer for you and do not build, so the person judging the work is not doing it.

How the work runs, in order

I have worked as an architect since 1996, I am an AIA member since 1992 and an NCARB member since 1996, and I take on 20 to 30 projects a year. I have won three Masonry Excellence Awards, for commercial projects. The Carr residence was featured in Above The Lake and Lux magazines. My office is in Kirkland, and the remodels I take on start at $750,000.

Questions