General Contractor in Seattle, WA

Seattle general contractor pricing in 2026 runs at a 22 to 28% markup over hard cost of trades for residential remodels and additions. A 180 sq ft mid-range kitchen remodel lands at $42,000 to $86,000, depending on cabinet tier, appliance package, and structural changes. A primary bath remodel runs $28,000 to $58,000. Whole-home additions on a Craftsman lot in Greenwood, Ballard, or Wallingford typically land at $310 to $480 per square foot fully finished.

Labor and trade subcontractor cost is the biggest line item in Seattle, often 60% of total project cost, because PNW trade labor markets stay tight. Seattle bids run 12 to 18% above national medians on identical scope, mostly driven by labor and prevailing wage on permitted work.

Contractor markup in Seattle covers project management, scheduling, permits, jobsite cleanup, supervision, and a one-year warranty on workmanship. ContractShield bids show that markup as a separate line so the homeowner can compare overhead structures, not just bottom lines.

The best general contractors in Seattle hold an active Washington L&I general contractor registration with a bond on file, carry $1M general liability and workers' comp, and document each subcontractor on the bid. Sub disclosure matters in Seattle because Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections audits permitted projects against the bid file regularly.

ContractShield screening tiers climb from basic, to licensed-on-file, to insured-on-file, to Verified Pro (each step reflects documents we have collected and reviewed; homeowners are encouraged to confirm active license status with the state licensing authority). Only verified_pro and insured Seattle GCs can bid on projects above $25,000. Subcontractor lists are required on every Work Order Marketplace bid above the verified_pro threshold, and the marketplace shows historical bid win rate plus average review score per dimension.

• Confirm the L&I registration number on the bid against the Washington L&I lookup tool.
• Ask for the structural engineer or architect on file for any addition or load-bearing work.
• Require sub-tier disclosures up front to avoid mid-project change orders.

Median quote send time for Seattle general contractor contractors on ContractShield is about 25 minutes from site arrival to a signable estimate — walk the job, drop photos, set labor and materials, apply your markup, and tap send. An AI draft of labor, materials, and markup is ready in under a minute. Speed-to-quote is the single biggest driver of close rate, and a quote that lands the same day beats one a client waits two days for.

Once the client accepts, the project workspace takes over. Tasks, photos, time tracking, progress payments, and change orders all live in one place, so you run the whole job from the truck instead of chasing email threads and texts.

Spring and early summer in Seattle trend toward exterior projects: window replacements, decking, additions with roof tie-ins. Late summer and fall lean into kitchen and bath remodels because crews want indoor work as the rainy season returns. Winter is the right window for primary bedroom, basement, and ADU buildouts.

ADU work specifically has surged in Seattle since the 2024 zoning expansion. ContractShield Seattle GCs report 38% of 2026 work orders include either a detached ADU or attached ADU scope, often paired with a primary kitchen or bath remodel.

Calling three Seattle GCs means three weeks of site visits, three different bid templates, and three different markup structures. ContractShield collapses that into one Work Order Marketplace post with normalized line items.

Pick the right GC, run the project through the ContractShield workspace, and close with a five-dimension review that feeds the contractor's marketplace score. The marketplace gets better at matching the next homeowner with the right pro every time a project closes.