Seattle software engineer turned general contractor built an AI guide to the patchwork of permit rules

What happened

But when he wanted to have a deck added to his Seattle home, he discovered that municipal code was far trickier than software code. The site, kolmo.io/permits, serves as an un-gated database designed to answer the questions that usually send homeowners into a spiral of municipal PDFs.

The AI-powered tool covers 457 verified rules across 80 jurisdictions in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, linking each rule directly to specific city source pages and exact wording rather than forcing users to rely on rough guesses and Google searches. A 3D rendering of the buildable envelope for a property in Seattle is part of the information displayed by Pascal Matta’s permitting information tool.

(Screengrab via kolmo.io/permits) Pascal Matta has a background building software for tech giants like Google and T-Mobile. After trying to sort through a mess of permitting regulations for a deck he never had built, Matta decided to tackle the problem himself in two ways.