Tenant Improvement Permit (Blanket)
What Is It?
A blanket permit is an expedited construction permit for certain office tenant improvement projects. Once you set up your blanket permit, the application, review, and issuance process for future work is streamlined. Blanket permits are intended for building owners or operators who will need multiple permits over time for work in large (50,000 square feet minimum) office buildings.
- Tip 309, Blanket Permits
Office tenant improvement projects may also qualify for a subject-to-field-inspection permit.
You may also need a business license if you are working in Seattle, even if your office is outside the city.
How Much Does It Cost?
When you set up your blanket permit, you can either set up a trust account for payment of future blanket permit fees or pay by credit card through your Seattle Services Portal account. Fees are based on either the square footage or value of your project. All fees are subject to an additional technology fee. See our Fee Subtitle for details.
How Long Does It Take?
Setting up your blanket permit will take about a week once you submit the necessary information. We try to review each subsequent submittal related to the blanket permit in about 2 weeks.
Steps To Get Your Permit
Get property information. Find information about your property to help you plan your project.
- Tip 233, Sources for Property Information
Attend a coaching session. We offer 20 minutes of free video coaching through the Applicant Services Center to answer construction permit questions.
Contact us. Call or email a resource and production co-manager to confirm that your project will qualify for a blanket permit and to obtain a project number.
You will be responsible for providing the following information:
- Legal description of the property
- Statement of Financial Responsibility form
- Contractor disclosure information
- A set of drawings showing standard construction details used throughout the building
- A floor plan for each typical floor level
- Documentation showing the existing building use (such as a copy of the approved master use permit or shell and core permit)
Pay fees. Once your project has been reviewed and an application created, you will be asked to pay a setup fee. If you choose to set up a trust account, you will need to deposit a minimum of $2,000 into the account to pay future blanket permit fees.
Prepare your plans. Plans should be to scale, easy to read, and should show the proposed construction work. A typical set of plans will include a location plan, key plan, floor plan, construction details (including relevant details from your blanket permit record set), and architectural notes.
Submit your application. Each time you need approval for work under the administrative blanket permit, log-in to the Seattle Services Portal and use the following procedure to create a new related blanket permit application:
- Select My Records
- For the applicable administrative blanket permit, select Make Changes under the Action header
- Select Blanket Tenant Improvement Plan
- Follow the instructions to complete the application
- You will need to upload the following documentation:
- Plan Set
- Salvage Assessment
- Statement of Financial Responsibility
Make corrections and resubmit your plans. The plans examiner assigned to your Blanket Permit will review your plans. You will be informed via the Seattle Services Portal if you are required to make corrections or changes to comply with our codes. We will upload our correction responses to the Seattle services Portal.
Pay fees. When we approve your proposed work, we will inform you that there are fees due. You may pay fees through the Seattle Services Portal using the following options:
- Using the Trust Account (contact SDCI Accounting, sciaccounting@seattle.gov, first to link the Trust Account to the applicable applicant)
- Pay by credit card
Get your permit. Once you pay all your fees, the blanket permit will be immediately issued. You can then download the Building Permit and the Approved Plan Set from your Seattle Services Portal.
Get related permits. You may need to get additional permits or approvals from other departments.
- Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) CAM 2102, Certificate of Liability Insurance
Request an inspection. See the construction inspections page for when to call us and how to schedule your inspection.
Close your permit. Your permit information will be archived in our electronic document management system.