MorningSheetSeattle kitchen hood and fire suppression permits: cost, timeline, and who installs them
If your kitchen fries, grills, or sears, Seattle requires a Type I hood with a fire suppression system. Here is what the permits involve, how long they took, what recent jobs declared, and which contractors do the most of this work, from city permit records since 2022.
- 123Type I hood permits since 2022
- 60Median days to issue the hood permit
- $25kMedian declared hood job
- 14Median days to issue the suppression permit
Do you need a Type I hood?
Seattle's mechanical code splits kitchen hoods into two kinds:
- Type I goes over anything that gives off grease or smoke: fryers, griddles, charbroilers, ranges, woks. A Type I hood needs its own grease duct and an automatic fire suppression system.
- Type II goes over equipment that only gives off heat or steam, like a dishwasher. It still needs a mechanical permit, but no suppression system.
Some electric equipment is listed for ventless use and can skip a hood under the model mechanical code. Confirm that with your mechanical designer before you plan a kitchen around it.
The permits, in order
- Public Health plan review. Public Health Seattle and King County must approve your kitchen plans before construction starts. Their page says the first review can take up to 8 to 10 weeks right now.
- SDCI mechanical permit for the hood, grease duct, exhaust fan, and make-up air. Your drawings must include the city's Commercial Kitchen Hood Worksheet. The city tells applicants to plan for 9 weeks for most mechanical permits; simple jobs can get a subject-to-field-inspection permit within 24 hours. Fees are based on job value plus hourly review, with an extra fire review fee for kitchen hoods.
- Fire suppression permit. The wet-chemical system (Ansul, Captive Aire, Buckeye and similar) shows up in city records as its own Fire Sprinkler and Suppression trade permit, usually pulled by the fire protection company.
- Public Health pre-operational inspection before you open. Opening without it can mean closure plus fees, including 50% of the annual permit fee.
How long it actually took
These are medians from Seattle permits applied for between January 2022 and September 2026. Half of jobs landed between the low and high numbers.
| Step | Typical range (days) | Median (days) | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I hood permit: applied to issued | 41 to 92 | 60 | 112 |
| Type I hood permit: issued to final inspection | 78 to 288 | 144 | 76 |
| Suppression permit: applied to issued | 7 to 24 | 14 | 131 |
| Restaurant building permit: total plan review | 35 to 119 | 64 | 455 |
One thing stands out in the restaurant building permits: the city's own review time and the time plans sat with the applicant waiting on corrections were about the same (a median of 36 days and 35 days), over a median of two review rounds. Complete drawings are the part of the clock you control.
What recent jobs cost
Every Seattle permit carries a declared value. It is the applicant's estimate, not a final invoice, but it is a real local number.
| Work | Typical range | Median | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I hood mechanical work | $15,000 to $72,500 | $25,000 | 123 |
| Hood fire suppression system | $2,188 to $9,500 | $4,236 | 134 |
The hood range is wide because some permits cover one hood and a fan while others fold in a whole kitchen's HVAC. Once you are open, budget for the ongoing work too: a suppression test every six months and hood cleaning on the schedule below.
Who does the work
These counts come straight from the contractor name on each permit. They are not reviews or endorsements. "Job size" compares a contractor's median declared value with the median for that kind of permit.
Hood fire suppression systems
| Contractor | Permits | Median declared | Median days to issue | Job size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAA Fire Protection | 40 | $4,900 | 15 | Typical |
| Vulnix Fire Protection | 35 | $1,000 | 16 | Smaller |
| Captive Aire | 14 | $3,310 | 10 | Typical |
| Performance System Integrated | 11 | $9,750 | 12 | Larger |
| Alexander Gow Fire Equipment | 7 | $6,104 | 17 | Typical |
| Frank Fire Protection | 4 | $24,000 | 84 | Larger |
Two companies pulled more than half of the named suppression permits. Most of these permits were filed from 2024 onward, when they began showing up as their own permit type.
Type I hood mechanical work
| Contractor | Permits | Median declared | Median days to issue | Median days, issued to final | Job size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Sun | 22 | $12,000 | 49 | 144 | Smaller |
| CFM Heating and Cooling | 10 | $112,500 | 76 | 118 | Larger |
| Dingnor | 4 | $17,500 | 45 | 168 | Typical |
| Emerald Aire | 4 | $139,865 | 91 | 81 | Larger |
| ACCO Engineered Systems | 4 | $112,500 | 81 | n/a | Larger |
| United Systems Mechanical | 4 | $330,000 | 101 | 431 | Larger |
| New Castle Mechanical | 3 | $42,500 | 41 | 77 | Typical |
| Johansen Mechanical | 3 | $78,000 | 64 | 88 | Larger |
| MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions | 3 | $162,538 | 39 | n/a | Larger |
Only about half of Type I hood permits name a contractor, since owners and permit services often apply on their own. Great Sun holds a third of the named permits, mostly single-hood jobs around $12,000. The time from permit to final inspection mostly follows the whole build-out schedule, so read it as the pace of that contractor's typical project, not a speed rating.
After you open: testing and cleaning
- Suppression testing every six months. The testing company files the report with the Seattle Fire Department through The Compliance Engine within seven days. The filing fee is $35 per six-month report, with a $12 late fee. An impaired (red-tagged) system must be reported immediately.
- Hood and duct cleaning by cooking volume. NFPA 96, the national standard the fire code relies on, sets it at monthly for wood or charcoal cooking, quarterly for high-volume kitchens like 24-hour, charbroil, or wok operations, every six months for a typical restaurant, and yearly for low-volume kitchens.
Common questions
Do I need a Type I hood for my restaurant in Seattle? If you cook anything that gives off grease or smoke, yes, with a fire suppression system. Equipment that only gives off heat or steam needs a Type II hood, which does not need suppression.
How long does a Seattle kitchen hood permit take? The city says to plan for 9 weeks. In records since 2022, Type I hood permits took a median of 60 days to issue and the suppression permit a median of 14 days.
How much does a kitchen hood and suppression system cost? The median declared value was $25,000 for Type I hood work and $4,236 for the suppression system.
How often does the suppression system need to be inspected? Every six months, reported to the Fire Department within seven days.
How we counted
We pulled every non-residential permit applied for from January 1, 2022 through September 11, 2026 from Seattle's Trade Permits and Building Permits open datasets. Hood permits are mechanical permits whose description names a Type I hood or grease duct. Suppression permits are Fire Sprinkler and Suppression permits whose description mentions a hood, kitchen, or a wet-chemical system. "Typical range" is the middle half of permits. Restaurant building permits are those whose description names a restaurant, cafe, bar, bakery, or similar food business.