Kitsap County Building Soft Costs: How Design, Permit, and Builder Fees Add Up.
Are you planning to build or remodel a home and wondering how much it costs to hire someone to design and build your project? This guide breaks down typical construction and design fees, explains the difference between hard costs and soft costs, and shares practical tips to help you get the most value from your budget.
Curious about construction costs? See our article on Cost to Build a Custom Home in Kitsap County.
Hard Costs versus Soft Costs
Hard costs build the house. Soft costs make it possible.
Definitions:
Hard Costs: Direct construction expenses, the materials and installation labor needed to build the house
Construction Soft Costs: The Builder’s Fees, the non-tangible costs such as General Conditions (site supervisor, storage, etc.), Mark-Up and Sales Tax.
This usually totals about 50% of Hard Costs
Pre-Construction Soft Costs: The Architect’s Fee, Engineer Fees, Consultant Fees, and Permits
This usually totals about 13% of Hard Costs
Note: These examples do not include land acquisition, financing fees, legal costs, or property taxes.
Let us look at a million dollar example:
You might be thinking: “That’s a lot.” And it is—but these soft costs are necessary. Let us take a closer look at what goes into them using the one-million-dollar example and how you can strategize to reduce those numbers.
What are Design Fees?
Architects get paid Design Fees for their services.
Basic Services include:
Schematic Design
Big-picture concepts, preliminary sketches, and overall design ideas
Design Development
Refined drawings, product selection, and coordination with consultants
Construction Document
Detailed drawings and specifications for permitting and construction
Construction Contract Administration
Support and guidance throughout the construction phase
This work includes design, code research, consultant coordination, specifications, and permit processing. Hiring an architect ensures a thoughtfully planned, functional, and code-compliant home that is both beautiful and practical.
In addition to the Architect, who else is paid Design Fees?
The architect serves as the lead designer and primary coordinator for the project, but most projects also require input from additional engineers and consultants to support specific technical aspects of the design.
Common Consultants include:
Structural Engineer (most common on every project)
Civil Engineer
MEPF: Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire (typically only on Commercial Projects)
Many specialized consultants may be involved in a project, including landscape designers, acousticians, septic system designers, and building envelope experts. Some consultants contribute feedback that is incorporated into the construction documents or provide drawings directly. Other consultants produce reports or surveys required by the permitting authority, such as land surveyors, geotechnical engineers, and wetlands or shoreline biologists. In general, consultant fees can be roughly one-third of the architect’s fee.
How much are Design Fees?
There are several ways to determine architectural fees, including hourly billing, a fixed fee, or a percentage of construction cost. At Studio Kamppari, we bill hourly, but we encourage clients to think about total design fees in terms of a percentage of construction cost to help with early budgeting.
Design fees vary based on project complexity. A simple project—such as a box-shaped warehouse on a flat site—typically requires significantly less design effort than a complex project, like a custom home on a sloped lot.
Below is a chart showing typical design fees expressed as a percentage of construction costs. Every project and every Architect is different — a star Architect’s like Tom Kundig can charge much higher rates — but it is helpful to know what is common for many projects here in the Puget Sound area.
Why would a renovation cost more design fee? Renovation projects require careful documentation and investigation of existing conditions. It takes time to understand what is already in place and how it can be changed or added to. From an architect’s perspective, working within existing conditions is often more complex than designing new construction, as it requires adapting to constraints and unknowns.
Why is a custom home considered complex? A custom home is designed specifically for an individual or family. This level of personalization requires additional time to thoughtfully resolve materials, style, program, and spatial layout. Designing a home around the needs, preferences, and daily rhythms of a specific client inherently adds complexity—and results in a more refined, meaningful outcome.
What are Builder fees?
General Contractors fees are a little more complicated.
If you self-manage your home construction project, you pay only for the labor and materials required to complete the work. We will refer to this as Labor and Material Costs.
When you hire a General Contractor, they take on responsibility for managing the construction process. Every builder structures their fees differently, but here is a fairly common set-up for builders in the Puget Sound area. In addition to labor and materials, the contractor charges fees for General Conditions and Mark-Up. In Washington State, General Contractors are also required to collect Sales Tax on their billings.
General Conditions
General Conditions typically range from 15–35% of construction costs, with around 20% being common. These costs cover supervision, construction management, and items needed to complete the work that do not remain once construction is finished, such as dumpsters, temporary fencing, and portable toilets. People costs (site supervisor, project manager) are usually the largest line items.
Mark-Up
Mark-up is typically around 15% and represents the contractor’s profit on the project. Builders apply mark-up in different ways: some apply it to every line item in the budget, others only to select items, and some use different mark-ups for different components (for example, windows versus lumber).
Sales Tax
In Washington State, sales tax is generally around 10%, though rates vary by jurisdiction. Sales tax is applied to everything the general contractor bills you for.
How General Contractors Costs add up.
Construction Cost Breakdown:
Labor and Material Costs
General Conditions
Mark-Up
= Pre-Tax Construction Cost
Construction Cost
Sales Tax
= Post-Tax Construction Cost
Since you, the homeowner, will be paying for the post-tax amount, this is the bottom line you care about.
Protip: ask your builder if they are referring to pre-tax or post-tax amounts when reviewing bids.
A Million Dollar Home
If you wanted to build a $1,000,000 home—a home that costs $1,000,000 for material and labors—how much would your total project cost be? The answer is about $1.65 million dollars.
The Million Dollar Home:
Labor and Material Costs = $1,000,000
General Conditions = $1M * 20% = $200,000
Mark-Up = $1M * 15% = $150,000
= Pre-Tax Construction Cost = $1M + $200K + $150K = $1,350,000
Construction Cost = $1.35M
Sales Tax =$1.35M * 10% = $135,000
= Post-Tax Construction Cost = $1.35M + $135K = $1,485,000Design Fees = $1.5M * 9% = $135,000
Permit Fees* = $7K
Impact Fees** = $8K
= Total Project Cost = $1.5M + $135K + $15K = $1,650,000
*Go here for Kitsap County 2026 Permit Fee Schedule and here for Kitsap 2025 Building Valuation which shows $165.67 / SF for heated space and $64.61 / SF for garage space. That value is then be multiplied by a Permit Fee Multiplier (0.0224 for a Single Family Residence) for the total permit fee. Assuming the house is a nice 2,300 square foot (SF) home including a 400 SF garage at a construction cost of $650/SF, yields a permit fee of 1,900 SF * $165.67 / SF + 400 SF * $64.61 / SF = 314,773 + 25,844 = $340,617 valuation * 0.0224 Fee Multiplier = $7,629. Do not use actual Construction Costs!
**Impact Fees depend on where you are located. In unincorporated Kitsap County it is a flat fee for Roads and Parks for new development, but the fee for schools can vary.
A Million Dollar Project
If you wanted a $1,000,000 project—a home that costs $1,000,000 for construction, fees, and permits, how much would the Materials and Labor budget be for the house? The answer is about $600,000.
The Million Dollar Project:
Labor and Material Costs = $605,000
General Conditions = $605K * 20% = $121,000
Mark-Up = $605K * 15% = $90,750
= Pre-Tax Construction Cost = $605K + $121K + $90.75K = $816,750
Construction Cost = $816,750
Sales Tax =$816,750 * 10% = $81,675
= Post-Tax Construction Cost = $817K + 82K = $898,425Design Fees = $898,425 * 10% = $89,000
Permit Fees* = $4.5K
Impact Fees* = $8K
= Total Project Cost = $898.5K + $89K + $12.5K = $1,000,000
*See the Million Dollar home for more info. For this example, assuming the house is a nice 1,200 square foot (SF) home at a construction cost of $500/SF, yields a permit fee of 1,200 SF * $165.67 / SF = 198,804 valuation * 0.0224 Fee Multiplier = $4,453.
Pro Tips for how to get more for less
If your goal is to spend less on soft costs and more on the materials and labor that actually go into your project, the key is to reduce the amount of time spent managing the project. You cannot get anything for free, but there are strategies to shift your budget toward hard costs.
1. Fixed-Fee Budget with Your Builder
What it is: You agree on a set price for the builder to complete the work.
Pros:
Potentially lower overall cost, since the builder doesn’t need to charge for every hour managing receipts or subcontractors.
Cons:
Less transparency into actual line-item costs.
Less control over materials or methods.
Builders may be incentivized to meet only the minimum contract requirements, which can affect quality.
Tip: If high quality is a priority, a time-and-materials contract can offer more control. You pay more for soft costs, but the builder is less likely to cut corners.
2. Streamlined Design Approach
What it is: Ask your Architect to create a design based on your minimum requirements.
Pros:
Reduces the Architect’s time, lowering your soft costs.
Cons:
Requires a high level of trust in your designer.
Fewer opportunities for personal input or changes during the design process.
Bottom line: The most effective way to allocate more of your budget to hard costs is to reduce the hours spent on management and decision-making, while making careful choices about contract type and design approach. As an architect, I love bringing people’s dreams to life. I also understand that budgets can sometimes get in the way. If you trust your architect’s vision, set some clear guidelines, and then let them work their magic.
Here is the cliché design Price List from low to high cost:
We design everything (low cost)
We design, you watch
We design, you help
You design, we help
You design, we watch
You design everything (high cost)
Ready to Take the Next Step?
We are here to help you, just send us a note to set up an introductory call.