Design Build — Ballard, Seattle
Building in
Ballard has changed more than almost any Seattle neighborhood over the past twenty years, but what hasn't changed is what makes a good building project here: respect for the existing fabric of the neighborhood, quality craftsmanship, and a builder who knows how to work in an urban environment where your neighbors are close and paying attention.
The original Ballard neighborhood — the area roughly bounded by 24th Ave NW, Market Street, 15th Ave NW, and the Locks — is still dominated by early-20th-century bungalows and Craftsman homes. These are good houses: well-built for their era, on generous lots by Seattle standards, with the kind of character that's worth preserving. Renovating them well means understanding what makes them worth saving in the first place. We don't recommend opening up Craftsman bungalows to the point where they lose their identity; we think about additions and remodels that read as extensions of the original home rather than departures from it.
The blocks closer to 15th Ave NW and the newer development corridors are a different story — more contemporary, more density-forward, and increasingly the site of interesting infill construction. Ballard's MHA upzoning has created real opportunities for detached ADUs and new construction on lots that previously weren't viable. We've helped several Ballard homeowners navigate the feasibility questions around their properties: what the lot can support, what permitting will require, and whether the numbers make sense.
One Ballard-specific issue worth mentioning: the neighborhood has a significant concentration of older homes with original plumbing on corroded water mains that run under the street. When we're scoping a full remodel, we always flag whether the service connection is original, because replacing it mid-project is expensive and disruptive in ways that can be avoided with early planning.
Ballard projects near the Locks or the Ship Canal are subject to additional review from the Army Corps of Engineers on anything that involves work near the water. This is a real constraint that affects a small number of properties — but if yours is one of them, the lead time on permits is substantially longer than standard DCI review.
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