Bluefoot Architecture & Design is an award-winning architecture and interior design firm serving Port Orchard from our studio in Poulsbo. For Port Orchard clients we design custom homes, additions and remodels, waterfront homes and ADUs, and we prepare the permit documents the City of Port Orchard or Kitsap County reviews. Architectural work is led by Principal Architect Jay Volz, named Best Architect in South Kitsap in the 2026 Best of Kitsap awards, with interior designer Michele Doyle and her team under the same roof. To book a design consultation, call 360-602-2965 or tell us about your project.
Which rules apply depends on the address: a property inside Port Orchard city limits is permitted by the City of Port Orchard, and one with a Port Orchard mailing address outside them by Kitsap County. We confirm which applies before design starts. See all of our architectural design services, our interior design services, or our architect in Bremerton page.
What our Port Orchard architectural services cover:
We design custom homes in Port Orchard around the site and the way you live, then carry the design through 3D modeling and the permit documents for review.
Additions and whole-home remodels that read as original to the house, with the drawings the City of Port Orchard or Kitsap County needs to approve them.
Waterfront lots fall under a Shoreline Master Program: the City of Port Orchard's inside city limits, Kitsap County's outside them. We check those rules before the first sketch, so the design fits them rather than being reworked at review.
Port Orchard projects are permitted by the City or by Kitsap County, depending on the address. We prepare the submittal set for the right office, file it through the City's online permit portal where it applies, and stay with the project through review.
Port Orchard's zoning code allows an ADU as an attached accessory apartment or a detached backyard cottage, reviewed as an administrative permit. We design ADUs that fit the lot, the main house and the code.
Every Port Orchard project starts with the site and the jurisdiction: which office reviews it, what the lot allows, and what you want the finished home to do for you. From there we take the design from concept through permit documents and construction support, with interior design in the same studio if you want it. Our interior design team has already worked in Port Orchard: see the Port Orchard Guest Loft.
Looking for an architect near you? Our studio is at 18820 Front St NE, Suite 210, Poulsbo, WA 98370 (get directions), open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. Besides Port Orchard we also serve the rest of Kitsap County, including Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Silverdale and Bremerton, and nearby Gig Harbor.
Every Port Orchard project follows the same five-phase process, adapted to the office that reviews it: the City of Port Orchard inside city limits, Kitsap County outside them.
We treat the client as part of the design team. Regular check-ins, clear milestones and honest communication mean there are no surprises when construction begins, and no scramble when the reviewer asks a question about your submittal.
Our five phases:
Port Orchard is an incorporated city in Kitsap County. Inside city limits, applications go to the City’s Permit Center in the Department of Community Development, which routes them to planning, building, fire and engineering review before the permit is issued.
Many Port Orchard mailing addresses are outside city limits, in unincorporated Kitsap County. Those projects are reviewed by the Kitsap County Department of Community Development instead.
The City of Port Orchard takes permit applications electronically. Its online permit portal shows a property’s zoning and site constraints and lists what each permit type needs before you apply.
Port Orchard Municipal Code Chapter 20.68 allows an ADU as an attached accessory apartment or a detached backyard cottage, and the ADU permit is a Type I (administrative) review. Port Orchard is also part of the regional pre-approved ADU plans program.
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2026 Best of Kitsap: Best Architect in North, Central and South Kitsap, and Best Interior Designer in North and South Kitsap. Best of West Sound 2024 for Architect and Interior Design.
Principal Architect Jay Volz and interior designer Michele Doyle bring more than four decades of combined experience to every home and commercial project.
We work from Front Street in Poulsbo, across Kitsap County and the rest of Washington — on the lots, codes and conditions we know well.
One team from the first sketch through 3D modeling, construction documents, permitting and construction support — for residential and commercial projects alike.
Straight answers about working with an architect in Port Orchard. Anything else? Call 360-602-2965.
Yes. Bluefoot Architecture & Design designs custom homes, additions and remodels, waterfront homes and ADUs for Port Orchard clients from our studio in Poulsbo, and we prepare the permit documents the City of Port Orchard or Kitsap County reviews. Principal Architect Jay Volz was named Best Architect in South Kitsap in the 2026 Best of Kitsap awards. We also serve Bremerton, Silverdale, Poulsbo and the rest of Kitsap County.
Bluefoot’s studio is at 18820 Front St NE, Suite 210, Poulsbo, WA 98370, open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and Port Orchard is part of the Kitsap County area we serve. We meet you to talk through the project and the property before anything is drawn.
If the property is inside Port Orchard city limits, the City of Port Orchard’s Permit Center takes the application and the City reviews it. A Port Orchard mailing address outside city limits is in unincorporated Kitsap County, so Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development reviews it instead. We confirm the jurisdiction before design starts.
Online. The City’s online permit portal holds the application for each permit type: the residential building permit covers remodels, additions, decks and garages, a new single-family home has its own application, and the ADU permit is filed the same way. Pre-application meetings are booked through the Permit Center. We prepare the drawings and the submittal set and answer the reviewers’ comments until the permit is issued.
Not by law: Washington’s RCW 18.08.410(5) lets anyone design a residential building of up to four dwelling units. The reviewing office still needs a complete, code-compliant submittal set, stamped engineering where the design needs it, and shoreline or critical-area approvals where they apply, and that is where an architect earns their place. Our guide Do I need an architect for a home addition in Washington? explains the rule.
In most cases, yes. Port Orchard’s code allows an ADU as an attached accessory apartment or a detached backyard cottage, with a Type I (administrative) permit review. Outside city limits, Kitsap County’s ADU rules apply. Our ADU design guide for Port Orchard and Kitsap County covers both, or see our ADU design services.
Yes. Interior designer Michele Doyle, named Best Interior Designer in South Kitsap in 2026, and her team work alongside our architects, so finishes, lighting and built-ins are planned with the structure. See the Port Orchard Guest Loft or our interior design services.
Call 360-602-2965 or send your project details through our contact form. Tell us the address and what you want to build, and we will tell you which rules apply and how we would approach the design.
