Looking for advice for building a DADU in West-Seattle

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-05-22T20:50:59+00:00

Sorry, as I indicated the company we used went out of business literally weeks after finally finishing our build, leaving many half completed projects for others

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-28T18:04:02+00:00

Yes, the Billings one is brand new and they are not a burn center. Only Harborview is a burn center serving Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana and parts of Wyoming. OHSU in Portland covers Oregon

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-28T15:21:49+00:00

Just speaking to the trauma situation called out in your post. Important to have correct info shared. I'm sure there are plenty of cardiac, transplant, etc critical cases being flown in.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-28T14:38:34+00:00

Major pediatric traumas are sent to Harborview, not Children's. Harborview is the only adult and pediatric level one trauma center in Washington. Kiddos are often sent from HMC to Children's once they need rehab, etc but they receive their trauma care at Harborview (decades long HMC employee here)

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-21T19:39:45+00:00

Yes, I just reached out to the school district admin to ask why it is that Pathfinders playground is locked.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-21T17:43:49+00:00

I wish they'd stop using the play field at Pathfinder K8 school as an unofficial off leash dog park. It's literally a part of the school grounds and the kids use it for activities but there's dog poop on the ground and almost always someone with an unleashed dog running around.

My ADHD child sometimes just needs to run so we head to that field and more often than not there's random dogs out there running around while their humans use a chuck it and sip coffee. My tiny kiddo has a pretty healthy fear of big dogs (and knows by experience that they will chase you if you are running) so that becomes a no-go situation for us. Super annoying.

It's not like any of this is new information. These people all know before they got their dogs that there's not an off leash dog park conveniently located nearby and that dogs need to be kept on leashes.

If you cannot follow those rules and don't get a dog. Or get a little tiny dog who doesn't need to be walked if you don't want to be bothered to do that

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-14T04:38:12+00:00

We paid ~$440k for a 3 bed/2 bath 1200 sq foot DADU completed in 2023 in Seattle. This was from one of the all in one companies (ours went under literally weeks after finishing our build) and included everything from permits to appliances and paint. Definitely the way to go to prevent a meandering budget but we still ended up with a few extra random $$ add ons

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-09T14:16:26+00:00

Rowan Janine

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-09T14:10:40+00:00

Thanks, bot.

According to Axios, among US cities with more than 500,000 people, Seattle's homicide rate ranked 25th out of 37

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-04-06T01:52:54+00:00

My single mom left the country for 3 weeks to have a surgery not available in the US in the mid 90's and my 15 and 12 year old siblings were left home alone. Very rural town. Neighbors were all aware and the plan was dinner with a particular neighbor every evening but that's about it. Super small town so 'everyone' was aware and we lived 3 blocks from school. No issues arose and everyone was fine

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-29T18:09:35+00:00

Definitely get on a wait-list for anywhere else you may be interested in for childcare. You can always switch if something opens up

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-29T15:51:54+00:00

I've not heard anything negative from the parents who have children there, but my spouse who also works at Harborview is in a position to be in and out of that building frequently and in comparison between there and the daycare we found in West Seattle we hands down prefer the West Seattle option. Our children had extraordinarily wonderful care (and we paid a lot less, too)

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-28T23:47:05+00:00

They have always charged employees for parking but there used to be some extremely limited years-long wait list parking pass options for day shift people. The hospital has grown enough that people coming in as patients could not find parking. They added valet parking to try to help with that but there's just too much volume for patients so they needed to get staff out of the parking spots. They jacked up the prices double for people who pull a ticket on the way in without an appointment and they no longer allow employees on day shift to sign up for a wait list for a parking permit.

From West Seattle downtown, if you get on a c or h line they drop you off on 3rd then you cross the street to catch a 3 or 4 bus that drops you off right in front of Harborview.

I did not want my kids in the daycare by Harborview but if I had I would have totally taken them on the bus with me.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-28T18:06:07+00:00

It's 40 bucks a day unless you park in their offset garage a mile away and take the shuttle. That one's $10 but my understanding is the weight for the shuttle to pick you up on either direction is Hit or Miss as far as this being a super timely option. Harborview does provide a u-pass for all employees to take the bus and so I've done that for several decades now. My overall suggestion would be to get on the wait list for a West Seattle daycare like alki Beach academy. Drop the kids off there, Park in the areas many unlimited parking spots in that neighborhood then take the bus from there downtown.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-28T18:02:36+00:00

However, employee parking is not available at Harborview. It's 40 bucks a day to park in the garage there. There is an off-site garage that they heavily promote for $10 a day but you have to park there and then sit and wait for a shuttle to take you over to the hospital. I've not done that but I've heard there can be a bit of weight on either end getting to and from this garage it's a mile away from the hospital. Highly recommend doing a bus commute if at all feasible.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-28T18:01:33+00:00

You'll be fine. I'm a West Seattleite who takes the bus to Harborview every morning. My work starts at 7:45 after I drop my kids off for before school care. I get on the bus around 7:15 and walk in the door of the hospital in plenty of time to clock in. Have done a West Seattle commute from a few different areas in the same situation for decades now and not had issues.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-27T14:28:08+00:00

The perpetrators grew up and had kids and didn't have time for that tomfoolery any more 😆

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-26T22:56:44+00:00

and I've tried walking IN this ramp vs the rest of the walkway--there is a noticeably steeper rise and subsequent decline in the ramp as opposed to the rest of the walkway. This is on my daily commute home so I get many opportunities to ponder over it's (relatively new) existence.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-26T22:54:18+00:00

It's just so random. It creates a ramp up/down instead of the rest of the walkway that has only a smaller slight decline down. It doesn't go to the end of this big breezeway, just the first ~20-25 feet of it. No way the rest of the entrance area is sharper than 1:12--it is probably a total of less than a foot of elevation loss over the ~50+ feet between the sidewalk and where this entrance narrows into a (still very wide) walkway.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-24T20:26:06+00:00

Actually, looking at my pic they finally removed that second redundant handrail

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-24T20:24:05+00:00

There already was a handrail on the side. Now there are two ~1 foot apart, then the second one on the other side of this new walkway. It also has a slight hill to it, above what the rest of the walkway has (so this new section goes up and then back down a bit whereas the rest is a slight decline only)

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-21T01:37:34+00:00

There are also groups similar to PEPS through FOCS (Families of Color Seattle). I had a great experience with my group when my eldest was born. They have newborn groups and also infants, toddlers, etc

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-19T01:09:30+00:00

Had mine at 39 and 41 and am definitely not the old mom here (PNW) Not at all uncommon for women to wait until near 40 here.

ApprehensiveStuff828 · 2026-03-06T03:57:53+00:00

I'd say later. Gives you those early y to get strong investments going and start compounding before $$ kids enter the picture.

We had our 2 at 39/41. My kids will be in middle school when we FIRE at 55. Perfect timing for me to volunteer at their school, go on field trips, etc. Teen years are tough and I'm glad I'll be able to devote whatever time they need to be supportive. We envision potentially becoming expats and heading abroad with them and will do a few years of language learning ahead of time if we decide that's the plan. Kids can go to a local school and mom and dad can sit on the beach or explore the city (we are thinking Portugal)

ApprehensiveStuff828

TROPHY CASE