How Much Does a Kitchen Remodel Permit Cost Through LADBS?
For a typical Los Angeles kitchen remodel, expect roughly $500 to $2,500 in LADBS fees once the building permit, the plan-check fee and the various surcharges are added together. Small-value work that does not touch structure, the electrical service or gas can often go through an express counter permit for a few hundred dollars with no plan check and same-day issuance. These are market estimates: the city sets its own fees, they are driven by the declared value of your work, and they change — confirm the current figure with LADBS before you budget it.
How the fee is actually worked out
The number is not a flat kitchen rate. It is calculated from the declared value of the construction, so a $25k kitchen and a $90k kitchen pay different permit fees for the same rooms.
On top of the building permit there is a separate plan-check fee, which on a job requiring drawings is close to the permit fee again. Then come state and school surcharges and an issuance charge, which are small individually and add up to a few hundred dollars.
The practical consequence: the fee scales with your budget. If you are told a flat permit price before anyone knows the value of the work, that is a guess.
What you will pay, by how far the kitchen goes
The route through LADBS depends on what you are touching, and the route decides the fee far more than the size of the room does.
| What you are doing | Route | Typical LADBS fees | Typical time to permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic only — no plumbing, gas, electrical or structure moved | Often no permit | $0 | n/a |
| Small-value work, nothing structural, no service change | Express counter permit | $250–$500 | Same day |
| Standard remodel — new circuits, sink moved, appliances changed | Permit with plan check | $800–$1,800 | 3–6 weeks |
| Wall opened, structure or service upgrade involved | Permit with plan check + engineering | $1,500–$2,500+ | 6–10 weeks |
Los Angeles market estimates for LADBS fees, not our own charges and not a quote. Fees are set by the city, driven by the declared value of the work, and revised periodically — check the current schedule with LADBS. Separate cities such as Beverly Hills and Santa Monica run their own departments and their own fees.
What the permit fee is not
It is not the cost of drawings. Plan check is the city reviewing your drawings. Producing them is a separate cost, paid to whoever draws them.
It is not the cost of delay. The fee is a few hundred to a couple of thousand. The schedule is the expensive part: weeks of plan check on a job where the kitchen is unusable is a much larger real cost than the fee itself.
It is not optional on service work. The moment a sink moves, a circuit is added or a wall is opened, a permit applies. Kitchen work done without one is among the more common things we are called in to remediate, and it is far more expensive to correct afterwards than to have done properly — it also surfaces at resale, when you have the least leverage.
How to keep the permit path cheap and short
Keep the plumbing where it is if you can. It is the single decision that most often moves a kitchen from the express route to full plan check.
Declare the value honestly. Understating it to reduce the fee is a false economy that surfaces at inspection, and the saving is small relative to the risk.
Get the drawings right before submitting. Most of the time lost in plan check is correction cycles, not queue time, and each round trip adds weeks.
Check which department you are actually in. Several addresses that people call Los Angeles sit inside separate cities with their own building departments, their own fees and their own queues.
Frequently asked follow-ups
Do I need a permit for a kitchen remodel in Los Angeles? +
If you are only changing surfaces — paint, doors, hardware, a like-for-like countertop with no plumbing change — often not. As soon as plumbing, gas, electrical or structure is involved, yes. The dividing line is whether anything behind the finish moves.
How long does LADBS plan check take for a kitchen? +
Commonly 3 to 6 weeks from submitting drawings to permit issuance, with the review itself taking a couple of weeks and the rest going on correction cycles. Structural work extends it. Express counter permits for small-value, non-structural work can be issued the same day.
Can my contractor pull the permit for me? +
A licensed contractor normally pulls it in their own name, and that is what you want — it puts the responsibility for the work on the licence. Be wary of being asked to pull an owner-builder permit for work a contractor is doing, because it shifts liability onto you.
What happens if the kitchen was remodelled without a permit? +
It usually surfaces at sale, when a buyer or appraiser notices work that does not match the record. Resolving it means opening finished work for inspection, and occasionally undoing it. It is one of the more expensive things we are asked to put right, and the cost is almost always higher than the permit would have been.
Are permit fees different outside the City of Los Angeles? +
Yes. Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Culver City and others run their own building departments with their own fee schedules and their own review times, and several of them are slower and dearer than LADBS. Confirm which department your address falls under before budgeting.
Want the same answer applied to your specific project? Onn personally reviews every inquiry.
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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