How long a kitchen
permit actually takes.

The official baseline

LADBS states that a regular plan check submittal normally takes 15 to 30 business days for the first review, with expedited submittals running 6 to 10 days. That's the number you'll find on the city's own site — and it's accurate as a baseline, not as a current reality.

Why it's running slower than that right now

LADBS is currently working through a genuine backlog. The 2024–2025 wildfire season sent a wave of rebuild applications from Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and Altadena into the same review queue as every other project in the city, and the department hasn't fully rebuilt the plan-checker staffing it lost during the pandemic. The practical result: the amount of time a plan actually sits before review varies week to week depending on that day's backlog, and it's common right now to see waits stretch well past the official 15–30 day window — consistent with the 4–8 week range we quote for standard kitchen plan checks.

Three ways to actually speed it up

• Pay for expedited review. LADBS offers an expedite option for roughly 50% more than the standard plan check fee, which moves your submittal ahead in the queue.
• Confirm you actually qualify for Express Permit. If your scope is a like-for-like kitchen remodel with no wall or plumbing relocation, you may not need standard plan check at all — Express Permit review can mean same-day approval instead of weeks.
• Use private plan check. A city-approved third-party firm can review your plans instead of LADBS staff, bypassing the municipal queue entirely. It costs more upfront, but for a project on a tight timeline it can realistically save four to eight weeks.

How to check where your permit actually stands

You don't have to guess. LADBS publishes wait times through 311, its online permit and inspection portal, and the LADBS Go mobile app, which shows current wait times at every service center counter. We check these the same way you would — there's no insider channel, just knowing where to look.

What this means for your project

If your timeline is tight, the plan check track you land on matters more than almost anything else in the schedule. We scope every kitchen project to qualify for the fastest track it honestly can, and flag upfront when a project's scope means it's headed for standard plan check — so the backlog is a known variable in your schedule, not a surprise three weeks in.