Bremerton is a Navy and shipyard city on the Kitsap Peninsula, across the Tacoma Narrows from Pierce County. People sometimes lump it in with Gig Harbor because our modules cross the same bridge to reach both, but the City of Bremerton has its own permit office. If the lot is inside city limits, Bremerton Community Development reviews the packet. If it isn’t, you file with Kitsap County, even when your mailing address says Bremerton.
Wolf’s factory is in Battle Ground, near Vancouver, WA. Delivery runs I-5 to SR-16 across the Narrows, then into West Bremerton, Manette, East Bremerton, or Charleston. We’ve already completed a Bremerton project, and it’s in our case-study library.
City of Bremerton or Kitsap County
Pull the parcel before you sketch a backyard. If the lot is inside Bremerton, the Department of Community Development handles it, and you apply through the city’s online permit portal. If it isn’t, Kitsap County reviews the file. Silverdale, Tracyton, Chico, and a lot of “greater Bremerton” mailing addresses are in the county. Port Orchard is south and has its own city hall, as does Poulsbo farther up the peninsula. Gig Harbor is in Pierce County, across the Narrows.
Washington law allows two ADUs on qualifying properties in urban growth areas. The available space, utility capacity, and any protected areas still affect what you can build. Read the Washington ADU laws guide and the Kitsap County ADU rules guide. The city or county reviews the site plan and issues the permits. We coordinate that process for your project.
Bremerton Municipal Code 20.46.010 is the city’s ADU section. The city’s Accessory Dwelling Units page is the handout we use on evaluations (confirm it when you file):
- An ADU may be permitted anywhere a new or existing single-family dwelling is allowed. ADUs are exempt from the density requirements of the underlying zone.
- Each property can have one single-family home and two ADUs, attached or detached, for a maximum of three dwelling units.
- Size: 1,000 square feet, or not more than 60 percent of the principal unit’s total habitable floor area, whichever is greater. If the primary residence is larger than 1,667 square feet, 60 percent can exceed 1,000. If it’s 1,667 or less, 1,000 is the usual ceiling.
- Owner occupancy is not required.
- Parking: under code amendments that took effect June 16, 2025, no parking is required to add ADUs. Parking you add by choice must meet BMC 20.48.060. Confirm the current BMC.
- Setbacks, height, and lot coverage follow the underlying zone’s standards for the principal unit. In the R-10 zone the city publishes 15-foot front and rear setbacks and 5-foot sides as a starting point, so contact a planner for your zone. An ADU can sit on the rear property line if it abuts an alley, and as close as 3 feet from the side property lines if the wall meets fire-separation standards.
The city page asks that an ADU preserve the main house’s appearance as a single-family dwelling, with materials that complement the house. Check how staff are applying that when you file. State law also limits how much stricter ADU design rules can be than those for the principal unit.
Kitsap County runs a pre-approved ADU plan program with Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Port Orchard, and Poulsbo. Those stock plans (480, 600, 800 square feet, and similar) are site-built designs, which is a different product from a Wolf modular home inspected by L&I.
Unincorporated Kitsap County has its own rules. Inside a UGA, the county guide tracks two ADUs and the 1,000-square-foot / 60 percent size test. Outside a UGA, the county allows one ADU, with different size caps, owner-occupancy, and extra parking. BMC 20.46.010 doesn’t apply on a county lot. County lots may also need a CUP or ACUP depending on the zone, plus a septic or sewer capacity review.
How Bremerton takes a permit
Bremerton’s portal expects dimensions that match the lot. Incomplete site plans, missing dimensions, and unresolved access comments get sent back. Here’s the sequence we use:
- Confirm a single-family dwelling is allowed in the zone, using city maps, BMC 20.46.010, and the current ADU page.
- Draw the plot plan: existing house, proposed cottage, the zone’s setbacks, the alley if you have one, utilities, and a truck or crane path that works around on-street parking near the shipyard or a Manette hillside driveway.
- Prepare the engineered modular plan set. These are modular homes built to the Washington State Building Code and inspected by L&I in the factory, so each one ships with an L&I insignia. They aren’t HUD (the federal standard for manufactured homes) manufactured homes. Bremerton still handles the foundation, placement, and utilities.
- Submit through the city’s online permit portal (or to Kitsap County if unincorporated), with utility connection plans. Site prep is part of the scope.
- Schedule inspections as called, then get occupancy. Keep approved drawings on site until the inspector signs off.
A typical city submittal includes the application, a dimensioned site plan, floor plans, the engineered modular set, and foundation and connection drawings. The city has published counter hours for Community Development (confirm current hours; some weeks they’ve been morning-only) and a contact at dcdpermits@ci.bremerton.wa.us / 360-473-5275.
Lots we see
West Bremerton and the older grid near the shipyard can be tight, with short lots, on-street parking, and alleys that look useful until you measure the turning radius. Manette and some east-side streets add grade and a bridge-adjacent approach. East Bremerton plats are often wider but still come with HOA (homeowners association), tree, and drainage questions. Charleston and the blocks near the Navy base have a mix of both.
Sinclair Inlet and some low parcels raise flood and geotechnical questions. If the lot is in a flood or shoreline overlay, note that on the evaluation request. We work from the mapped flood elevation, not an estimate.
Our Bremerton project
A tiny home in Bremerton is in our case-study library: a one-bedroom modular cottage with a covered porch, built as an investment property in a growing housing market.
Current catalog plans are B, K, E, F, J, L, and I. We match your lot to a current plan rather than copying that earlier set.
Models
- Model K (~432 sq ft). A compact one-bedroom layout to explore. A tight side yard or hillside pad needs a property and delivery review before we can recommend a footprint.
- Model E / Model F (~616 sq ft). Two bedrooms, well under 1,000 square feet.
- Model L (~984 sq ft) and Model J (~828 sq ft) fit under the 1,000-square-foot figure. Model I (~1,232 sq ft) needs a primary house large enough that 60 percent clears it, plus the coverage and truck path to match.
The 60 percent test is why we ask for the habitable floor area of the existing house. If the house is 2,200 square feet, 60 percent is 1,320, which is enough for a Model I if the zone and the pad work. If the house is 1,400 square feet, 1,000 is the usual ceiling. If you’ve already picked a model, we still check it against that math before treating it as the plan.
ADU, tiny home, or granny flat
If it has a kitchen and bath, Bremerton treats it as a dwelling. Family occupancy, long-term rental, and short-term lodging are separate use questions. Owner occupancy isn’t required under BMC 20.46.010, but short-term rental rules are still local, so don’t assume an ADU permit allows a vacation rental.
Cost and timeline
The model sets the starting home price. Trench length, retaining, electrical capacity, foundation work, and the Narrows haul determine the rest. Building indoors protects the home from Kitsap rain, but city review and site preparation still affect the schedule.
The Model K starts at $85,500 for the home itself. Permitting, delivery, installation, and site work are listed separately in your property-specific proposal. A hillside that needs retaining will cost more than a level lot with short laterals, so we give you a complete proposal after a property evaluation. See the Washington ADU cost guide. Financing is usually a HELOC, a cash-out refinance, or a construction-to-perm lender who has worked with factory-built ADUs. See financing.
Utilities
Most in-city Bremerton lots are on city water and sewer. That still leaves lateral length, cleanout location, and whether the electrical service can handle a second dwelling without a panel upgrade. Outside the city you may be on a water district, a well, or septic, and county rural ADU rules plus septic design usually decide those parcels. If you don’t know which you have, that’s the first thing we check.
Delivery, weather, and the set
The trip from the factory to Bremerton is a real haul: I-5 to SR-16 and across the Narrows. Bridge wind restrictions and oversize-load timing go on the schedule. From SR-16, Kitsap Way, Warren Avenue, Wheaton Way, and the Manette bridge are each a different final approach, and school traffic and Navy shift changes affect timing.
In town, the usual obstacles are overhead lines, firs, and a 24-foot street with parking on both sides. A 12-foot-wide Model K is an easier street-use permit than a 14-foot E. A single-wide can be set in a morning when the path is clear, while a two-piece home on a dead-end with shipyard shift traffic needs its own plan. An alley that looks like a delivery path, or a Manette driveway built for a passenger car, is why we measure access early.
Kitsap is wet from fall through spring. On site, saturated soils and a high water table change how we excavate and control erosion. Summer is the easier set window, and winter sets take tighter site management. Wind on the Narrows can push the crane schedule.
Site work covers foundation excavation, trenching, grading, and minor tree work. On set day we use a standard delivery trailer, and a crane when the swing requires one. We weather-seal the same day when we can, then complete the mechanical and plumbing tie-ins. Dual-wide plans add a day to join the two halves.
After the set
Next come inspections, a walk-through, the punch list, keys, and the warranty packet. Because Bremerton is a Narrows trip from the factory, follow-up visits are scheduled returns. Bremerton inspectors still handle occupancy on city lots. We take city lots and, when the file is clean, nearby county lots.
What to send
An address is enough to start. It helps to include a survey, the square footage of the existing house (for the 60 percent test), photos of the backyard and the street approach, and whether the use is family, long-term rental, or a cottage you might live in yourself. We’ll check city versus county, the size math, parking under the current BMC, and whether a truck can reach the pad.
Send the address, tell us city or county and where the building would sit, and we’ll match a model to BMC 20.46.010, or to the county rules if your lot is outside the city.
