How Long Does a Full Home Remodel Take in Los Angeles?
A full home remodel in Los Angeles typically takes 8-18 months from first design meeting to final walkthrough. Expect 2-4 months for design and engineering, 3-6 months for permitting through LADBS or a separate-city building department, and 4-10 months for construction depending on square footage, structural scope, and finish level. Hillside parcels, historic overlays, and Coastal Commission review add weeks or months to the front end.
The Four Phases and What Drives Each Timeline
A full remodel breaks into design, permitting, construction, and closeout. Design covers programming, schematic layouts, design development, and construction drawings. Permitting covers plan check with the local building department plus any secondary reviews (planning, fire, coastal, historic). Construction covers demolition, framing changes, mechanical rough-in, drywall, and finishes. Closeout covers final inspections, punch list, and certificate of occupancy where applicable. Skipping or rushing design usually costs more time in construction, because changes made after framing is up trigger rework and re-inspection.
How Neighborhood Affects the Schedule
Homes in Bel-Air (90077) and Pacific Palisades (90272) fall under the LADBS Hillside Ordinance, which adds grading, soils, and haul-route review that can extend permitting by 2-4 months. Beverly Hills parcels go through the City of Beverly Hills BSED, a separate-city building department that generally runs longer than LADBS for equivalent scope. Santa Monica (90401-90405) uses the City of Santa Monica CPCD, with additional Coastal Commission review for parcels west of 4th Street. West LA (90025, 90064) and Mar Vista (90066) tend to move fastest because they use LADBS with no overlay layer.
What Can Compress the Timeline (and What Cannot)
Things that legitimately shorten a schedule: locking the design before permits are pulled, ordering long-lead items (windows, cabinetry, specialty tile, appliances) during permitting rather than after, and using a design-build team that runs design and construction under one contract. Things that do NOT shorten a schedule: skipping structural or energy compliance documentation, starting demo before a permit is issued, or hiring more subs to run in parallel on a site that cannot physically support them. Weather, utility company scheduling (LADWP, SoCalGas), and plan-check comment cycles are outside any contractor's control.
Signs Your Timeline Estimate Is Realistic
A realistic timeline is written down as a Gantt chart or milestone schedule, names the permit authority by agency (LADBS, City of Beverly Hills BSED, City of Santa Monica CPCD), includes a permitting window measured in months rather than weeks, and lists long-lead procurement dates. It also names buffer time for plan-check corrections, which are normal, not a red flag. If a contractor promises to permit and complete a full remodel in a 3-6 month window without acknowledging any of the above, treat that as a signal to ask more questions.
Frequently asked follow-ups
Can construction start before the permit is issued? +
No. Starting structural, electrical, plumbing, or mechanical work without an issued permit exposes the owner to stop-work orders, double permit fees, and problems at resale. Cosmetic work like interior painting generally does not require a permit, but anything moving walls or systems does.
How long does LADBS plan check usually take? +
Plan-check duration varies by scope and current department workload. Simple projects can clear in 4-8 weeks; hillside, structural, or heavily commented projects can take 3-6 months across multiple correction cycles. Ask your designer for the current cycle time when you start.
Do we have to move out during a full remodel? +
For most full remodels, yes, at least during framing, mechanical rough-in, and drywall. Phased remodels that keep one wing livable are possible but usually add 1-3 months to the overall schedule and increase cost due to temporary partitions and utility isolation.
What is the biggest cause of overruns? +
Design changes made after permits are issued. Every change may require a revision to the approved drawings, a resubmittal to the building department, and rework in the field. Locking design decisions before permit submittal is the single strongest lever on schedule.
How early should we start talking to a contractor? +
Ideally 6-12 months before you want construction to start. That window lets you complete design, get through plan check, and order long-lead materials without idle site time between milestones.
How much of the total timeline is permit review versus construction? +
For a mid-size LA full-home remodel, expect roughly 20-35% of the total wall-clock timeline to be design + permitting and roughly 55-70% to be construction, with the remainder as closeout and inspection cycles. Hillside or coastal parcels shift more weight to permitting; interior-only same-footprint remodels shift more weight to construction.
Does hiring a project manager separately shorten the schedule? +
Not usually. A separately-hired owner's project manager adds a 10-20% coordination overhead on the design side without materially changing the construction critical path. Owner reps make more sense on complex programs (multi-property renovations, historic-district projects) where independent oversight adds real value.
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Written by Onn Cohen-Meguri, founder and designer at Design Onn Point. Onn has spent 20+ years designing and building in Los Angeles. CSLB #1133368.
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