Alex Pell
Owner, Beyond Green Construction · 6 min read
In Berkeley, a kitchen remodel can get through plan check in about 30 minutes. How long does a kitchen remodel take, start to finish? On our jobs, anywhere from 8 weeks to 5 months, first meeting to cooking again. The spread comes down to two things: how much the job changes, and how fast the city moves that week. Only the first one is up to you.
How long does a kitchen remodel take, start to finish
The fast end is a kitchen where every finish gets replaced and nothing else changes: no window, and no wall, structural or not. On a job like that, we can sometimes settle the design on the first walkthrough and be at the city for an over-the-counter permit within a day or two. Even if a small revision comes later, having the permit in hand means demolition can start right away. That kind of kitchen runs about 8 weeks, start to finish.
The slow end is a larger remodel with structural changes and new windows. That one brings in an engineer, a planner and more rounds of review, and it runs closer to 5 months. If the permit is the unlucky kind and takes 2 to 3 months, that job can run past 6.
What separates them is scope, and scope decides which permit path you’re on.
Your remodel’s design scope sets the timeline
Your remodel’s design scope sets the timeline. The more it changes, the more permitting it takes. For a kitchen, that comes down to three tiers.
Basic remodel. Every finish replaced: cabinets, counters, floors, fixtures. No walls move and no windows change. It’s the fastest path in all three cities below.
Engineering inside. Walls move. If one carries weight, an engineer designs the beam and the city reviews the structural plans. Still nothing changes on the outside of the house.
Engineering plus windows. Add or change a window and the outside of the house changes, which brings in planning. Now the job goes through two reviews instead of one.
Where these numbers come from:
- City of Berkeley, Plan Check
- City of Berkeley, Estimated Plan Check Turnaround Times
- City of Oakland, Average Permit Processing Turnaround Times
- City of Piedmont, Turnaround Times for Building Permits
The city’s numbers are guidelines
Those are the cities’ own numbers, and they’re worth knowing. They’re also guidelines.
In Berkeley, the line is the exterior. A kitchen that stays inside the walls, with new cabinets and finishes and maybe a drain line moved, can get its plan check over the counter in about 30 minutes. Change a window and it’s a different review: planning gets involved, and on our jobs that has run 4 to 8 weeks, never less than four. Berkeley doesn’t post a time for that zoning review at all.
Berkeley and Oakland are both inconsistent. Sometimes things just go fast. Sometimes they just don’t.
Both have speed lanes, and so does Emeryville. Berkeley offers accelerated plan check: 8 working days instead of 15 on a mid-size review. Emeryville offers expedited review in 3 to 5 business days for a surcharge. Oakland offers overtime plan check, billed by the hour, with no promised turnaround; the city’s own form commits only to a “reasonable effort.” I’ve paid for it on Oakland jobs, and it sped things up.
Two more things catch people:
- The sewer lateral. A big enough remodel means proving the pipe from your house to the street is sound. In Berkeley, that comes due on permits valued over $60,000, before the permit is even issued. In Oakland, Piedmont and Emeryville, EBMUD’s rule applies over $100,000, before final sign-off. The same kitchen can trigger it in one city and not the next.
- Inspections. Oakland books inspections at least one business day ahead, allows three a week per permit, and counts a failed one against the three. Piedmont inspects Monday through Thursday, 9 to 2.
How we get ahead of it
Since nobody controls the city’s pace, the real answer is to start early and expect the worst. It never pays to be last minute.
In Oakland, I have one more advantage. Oakland is home. I know nearly all the inspectors there, the combination inspectors included, and a lot of people in planning. That helps when we have a request or a question, because Oakland is known for not answering email quickly. I can’t say the same about any other city.
The other half is the client’s side of the schedule. Even a simple kitchen can pile up 10 to 15 things for the client to do: buying the tile, the cabinets, the flooring and the fixtures, plus the ones nobody thinks of, like clearing out a space we need by a certain date. Email is for design and conversation. The Beyond Green Project Portal is how everyone stays on track: clients log in and see exactly what they need to decide or buy and by when, with real-time updates on everything else.
One late sink once cost a kitchen of mine nearly three months, which is why every selection has a date now.
What I’d tell anyone planning a kitchen
- Decide early whether you’re changing a window. It decides whether planning gets involved.
- Read the city’s posted times as guidelines, not a promise.
- Start the permit early. It never pays to be last minute.
- Make your selections on time, so the city is the only thing you’re waiting on.
The verdict
The guidelines are worth knowing. But permits get unpredictable, and you never know which week you’ll get. That’s why we start early and plan for the slow version. Kitchen permits move at the city’s pace; the part you control is when you start.
If you’re planning a kitchen, here’s how we run a kitchen remodel from first meeting to final.
FAQ
What is the average time it takes to remodel a kitchen?
On our jobs, anywhere from 8 weeks to 5 months from the first meeting to cooking again. A kitchen where every finish is replaced but no walls or windows move lands near the short end. Structural changes and new windows push it toward the long end, because they add engineering and planning review.
What comes first in a kitchen remodel, floors or cabinets?
In our experience, floors usually go in first, especially a click-together laminate, which needs room to drop into place that the cabinets would take away. New cabinets usually mean new floors anyway: the new layout often doesn’t land exactly where the old one did, so you’d be patching the floor regardless.
What delays a kitchen remodel the most?
In our experience, the biggest unknown is the city: posted review times are guidelines, and sometimes things go fast and sometimes they don’t. Scope adds time too, since a window change brings in planning. The delay you can avoid is a late selection or purchase, which is why our clients see every action item and its due date in the Project Portal.
About the author
Alex Pell
I grew up in the Colorado mountains, the kid rebuilding CD players and racing a dog sled I’d built myself. (My great-grandfather held more than 100 patents; it runs in the family.) I was on my first jobsite at 17, building straw bale homes, then apprenticed as a carpenter, electrician and plumber, and started Beyond Green in 2017. Here I write about what’s behind the finished photos: the calls forced by budget, code and the site, and the ones that come from 25 years of seeing what holds up and what doesn’t.
The topic
Kitchen remodel timeline
Permit times by scope in Berkeley, Oakland and Piedmont
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