Crawl Space Service Areas
19 cities in four counties, listed here by county because that is what a permit, a flood study and a radon rule follow. Oregon CCB-licensed contractors handle Oregon projects; Washington L&I licensed contractors handle Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and Battle Ground.
Each city page covers what its own measured figures say about the ground and the housing: how much of the city the USDA soil survey rates as poorly drained, when the houses were built according to the Census, and who issues the permits. The one-line notes below are computed from the same climate and housing dataset, so they rank each city against the eighteen with published figures.
None of that diagnoses a particular house. If you do not yet know what is wrong under yours, what a crawl space inspection covers explains how a contractor's visit gets from a symptom to one written scope, and what to ask before accepting it.
Multnomah County
Portland and Gresham. Both cities run their own permit offices rather than routing work through the county, and between them they cover the metro's oldest inner neighbourhoods and its postwar east side.
-
Portland, OR
Median home built in 1966, the oldest median measured; 25.1% of mapped ground rated poorly drained and 50.9% unrated.
ZIPs: 97201, 97202, 97203, 97206...
-
Gresham, OR
54.5% of mapped ground rated poorly drained, the third-highest share measured; median home built in 1981.
ZIPs: 97030, 97080, 97233, 97236
Washington County
Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Aloha, Sherwood and Tualatin. Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard issue all their own permits, Sherwood sends electrical to the county, and unincorporated communities such as Aloha, Metzger, Bull Mountain and Cedar Hills are permitted by Washington County itself. The valley floor holds much of the metro's poorly drained ground; Tualatin, which measures far drier than its neighbours, is the exception, and there Tualatin crawl space waterproofing is a floodplain and surface-water question rather than a valley-wide one.
-
Beaverton, OR
Median home built in 1987; 52.7% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97005, 97006, 97007, 97008...
-
Hillsboro, OR
61.6% of mapped ground rated poorly drained, the second-highest share measured; median home built in 1997.
ZIPs: 97123, 97124
-
Tigard, OR
Median home built in 1988; 41.6% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97223, 97224
-
Aloha, OR
Median home built in 1983; 49.6% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97003, 97006, 97007
-
Tualatin, OR
Median home built in 1991; 20.2% of mapped ground rated poorly drained. Also extends into Clackamas County.
ZIPs: 97062
-
Sherwood, OR
Median home built in 1997; 27.7% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97140
Clackamas County
Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Wilsonville, Happy Valley, Milwaukie and unincorporated Clackamas. The county issues every permit type in unincorporated areas; inside the cities the split varies, with Lake Oswego, Milwaukie and Wilsonville issuing everything themselves and Happy Valley, Oregon City and West Linn sending electrical to the county.
-
Lake Oswego, OR
Median home built in 1982; 38.9% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97034, 97035
-
West Linn, OR
Median home built in 1988; 22.4% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97068
-
Oregon City, OR
Only 4.5% of mapped ground rated poorly drained, the lowest share measured; median home built in 1991.
ZIPs: 97045
-
Wilsonville, OR
Median home built in 1998; 39.2% of mapped ground rated poorly drained. Also extends into Washington County.
ZIPs: 97070
-
Happy Valley, OR
84.6% of mapped ground rated poorly drained, the highest share measured; median home built in 2006.
ZIPs: 97086, 97015
-
Clackamas, OR
An unincorporated community with no Census place boundary, so no city soil or housing figures exist for it; the county issues every permit type here.
ZIPs: 97015
-
Milwaukie, OR
74.1% of homes built before 1980, the highest share measured; 9.4% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 97222, 97267
Clark County, Washington
Vancouver, Camas, Washougal and Battle Ground, across the Columbia. Washington's residential code and a Washington L&I licence apply here rather than Oregon's, and the EPA places Clark County in radon Zone 1, its highest category.
-
Vancouver, WA
Median home built in 1987; 12.1% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 98660, 98661, 98662, 98663...
-
Camas, WA
Only 11.7% of mapped ground rated poorly drained and 17.8% unrated, the third-lowest share measured; median home built in 1999.
ZIPs: 98607
-
Washougal, WA
Median home built in 1997; 14.0% of mapped ground rated poorly drained and 15.2% unrated.
ZIPs: 98671
-
Battle Ground, WA
Median home built in 2002, the second-newest median measured; 22.7% of mapped ground rated poorly drained.
ZIPs: 98604, 98606
Service Area FAQs
- We connect homeowners with licensed contractors across 19 cities in the Portland metro: Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Aloha, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Tualatin, Sherwood, Wilsonville, Gresham, Happy Valley, Clackamas, Milwaukie, Vancouver WA, Camas WA, Washougal WA, and Battle Ground WA. If your city is not on the list, enter your ZIP code on the home page to confirm coverage or contact us directly.
- Yes. Coverage includes unincorporated Washington County, which takes in Aloha and communities around Beaverton and Tigard such as Cedar Hills, West Slope, Metzger and Bull Mountain, and unincorporated Clackamas County, including the community of Clackamas. In those areas the county rather than a city issues the permits, so it is worth confirming which office a contractor is pulling them from.
- Oregon construction work requires an active CCB (Construction Contractors Board) license. Washington construction work requires an active L&I (Labor and Industries) license. The two are not transferable: an Oregon CCB-licensed contractor cannot legally perform construction in Washington, and vice versa. Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and Battle Ground projects are referred to Washington L&I licensed contractors.
- Your ZIP decides the zone, and the zone decides which licensed contractor your request goes to. The five zones (Portland, Westside, Eastside, SW Corridor and Vancouver WA) exist because no single contractor covers all 19 cities well: the Columbia River is a hard licensing boundary between Oregon CCB and Washington L&I, and drive time across the metro is real. Enter your ZIP in the free inspection form and it confirms your zone before you fill in anything else. If your ZIP is not recognised but you live in one of the 19 cities, call and we will sort it out.
- The same thing in every city: what is wrong under this particular house and what would fix it. The city pages describe the ground and the housing around you, which is useful for reading a quote but cannot diagnose a single crawl space. What a crawl space inspection covers sets out what a contractor's pre-quote visit should establish, how it differs from a home inspection ordered during a sale, and the questions worth asking before a scope is priced.
- Not in the ranges this site publishes: every figure on the cost guide is a metro-wide modelled range, and no city has one of its own. What differs between cities is the job. Hillside lots in places such as Lake Oswego, West Linn, Happy Valley and Camas more often need a curtain drain, which is quoted on top of an interior drainage scope at $2,125 to $5,100 more; older houses in inner Portland and Milwaukie more often need ground cover laid where there never was any. The city pages say which pattern the measured figures point to.
Sources for the county and city notes
-
United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — Year Structure Built (B25034) and Median Year Structure Built (B25035) (ACS 2019–2023 5-year estimates, tables ACSDT5Y2023.B25034 and ACSDT5Y2023.B25035) Open dataset
-
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), via Soil Data Access (muaggatt.drclassdcd — drainage class, dominant condition) Open dataset
-
United States Census Bureau, Geography glossary — Census Designated Place (CDP)
-
City of Portland, Oregon, Portland Permitting & Development — Residential Permits and Inspections
-
City of Gresham, Building Permits and Inspections
-
City of Beaverton, Community Development Department, Building Division — permit fee schedule
-
City of Hillsboro, Building Permits
-
City of Tigard, Building Services
-
City of Sherwood, Oregon, About the Building Department
-
Washington County, Oregon, Building Services — frequently asked questions
-
Clackamas County, Building Permit Responsibility by Jurisdiction
-
Washington State Legislature, WAC 51-51-0408 — Section R408, Under-floor space (Washington State Residential Code, amended by WSR 23-23-104)
-
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Verify a Contractor, Tradesperson or Business
-
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Map of Radon Zones — Washington
Sources last checked between and .
Ready to Fix Your Crawlspace?
Get matched with a licensed local contractor - Oregon CCB, or Washington L&I across the river - for a free in-home inspection, with no obligation.