The real LA
permitting timeline.

The four review tracks

Every renovation submitted to LADBS gets sorted onto one of four paths, and each has a genuinely different timeline attached to it:

• Express Permit — no plan check. Straightforward, like-for-like plumbing, electrical, or mechanical work — a water heater swap, a like-for-like fixture replacement, a handful of new circuits — is typically approved within the hour, same day.
• Counter Plan Check — while you wait. Small to medium residential projects get reviewed at the counter, generally in about 45–60 minutes.
• Expanded Counter Plan Check — a few days. Modest additions and larger tenant improvements that need more than a quick look, but not a full review cycle, get assigned within a few days of submittal.
• Standard (Regular) Plan Check — weeks to months. Anything structural. Kitchens, baths, and ADUs under 750 square feet typically run 4–8 weeks for the first review, plus 2–3 weeks per correction cycle. Hillside lots, new single-family homes, and additions over 750 square feet run 8–14 weeks for the first review alone — with two correction cycles being common, that’s realistically around four months before a permit is in hand.

What actually decides your track

Not your budget, and not really the size of the room — it’s the scope. Anything that touches a load-bearing wall, adds square footage, or alters the structure gets routed to standard plan check regardless of how small the project feels. A full gut of a kitchen that keeps the same walls, plumbing, and electrical layout can often qualify for Express or Counter review. Move a single load-bearing wall six inches, and the same project is in the multi-week track.

Realistic timelines by project

• Kitchen or bath remodel, same footprint: same day to a few weeks
• Kitchen or bath remodel, moved walls or relocated plumbing: 4–8 weeks of plan check before construction even starts
• ADU under 750 sq ft: 4–8 weeks plan check, separate from any city-run pre-approved ADU plan programs, which can move faster
• Addition, hillside lot, or new single-family build: 8–14 weeks for the first review; plan on roughly four months total before permit issuance

What actually slows a permit down

In our experience, it’s rarely the city being arbitrary — it’s almost always one of a few specific, avoidable things: an incomplete submittal package (missing structural calculations, drawings at the wrong scale), corrections that trigger a full second review cycle instead of a quick counter fix, unpermitted prior work that surfaces mid-review, or a hillside/soils report that should have been submitted upfront but wasn’t.

Where your contractor actually matters here

This is the part most homeowners never see: your general contractor isn’t just building the thing, they’re the one deciding whether your submittal is complete the first time or bounces back with corrections that cost you weeks. We build every project plan around getting this right — pulling the review track that actually matches your scope, submitting a complete package the first time, and giving you the real number upfront instead of a best-case guess that falls apart the moment plan check sends back a correction.