Do you need a bathroom remodel permit?

How bathroom remodel permits work, start to finish

Applying

A bathroom remodel that creates a new bathroom or touches its plumbing, wiring, or walls needs a building permit application, typically filed as separate building, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing permits submitted together and backed by a floor plan showing the fixture layout. A simple like-for-like fixture swap with no other work is often exempt.

• Creating a new bathroom or toilet room, or altering, moving, or replacing a plumbing, electrical, gas, or mechanical system as part of the remodel, is regulated work that requires a permit before work starts, usually filed as separate building, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing permit applications submitted together (IRC R105.1).
• The permit application itself must identify and describe the work, describe the site, state the intended use, be accompanied by construction documents, state the valuation of the work, and be signed by the applicant or their agent (IRC R105.3).
• Those construction documents have to show the location, nature, and extent of the proposed work, which in practice means a scaled existing and proposed floor plan showing every fixture, outlet, switch, and vent fan, including the code-mandated clearances around fixtures such as the water closet (IRC R106.1.1; R307.1 fixture clearances).
• A bathroom needs ventilation: mechanical exhaust ducted to the outside where the required openable window is absent, sized in the range of 50 cubic feet per minute intermittent (IRC R303.3; M1505).
• New or relocated bathroom receptacles must be ground-fault circuit-interrupter protected (IRC E3902.1 / NEC 210.8(A)(1)).
• Tub and shower walls have to be finished with a nonabsorbent, waterproof surface extending to a minimum height above the floor (IRC R307.2).
• Routine maintenance items such as towel bars, mirrors, paint, or floor coverings done alone are commonly permit-exempt, but that exemption ends once the work relocates fixtures or opens up wiring, piping, or walls, so a like-for-like fixture swap should be checked against the local exemption list rather than assumed (IRC R105.2).

Inspections and close-out

Once the permit is issued, the work stays subject to inspection at each stage, and the plumbing, mechanical, and electrical rough-in must be inspected and approved before the walls are closed up. A final inspection, made after everything required by the permit is done, closes out the job.

1. Any construction or work covered by the permit stays subject to inspection and must remain accessible and exposed until the building official approves it (IRC R109.1).
2. The plumbing, mechanical, and electrical rough-in has to be inspected and approved before it is covered or concealed, before fixtures or appliances are installed, and before the framing inspection, so the trade work behind the walls is signed off before drywall closes them up (IRC R109.1.2, R109.1.4).
3. Work cannot proceed past the point covered by the last approved inspection without the building official's sign-off (IRC R109.4).
4. Scheduling is on the permit holder: it is their duty to notify the building official when work is ready and to provide access for each inspection (IRC R109.3).
5. A final inspection, covering everything required by the permit including items such as GFCI protection, closes out the job once all the permitted work is complete (IRC R109.1.6).

General practice; your locality's page carries its own process, fees, and portal. Sources: International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 edition, Sections R105, R106, R303.3, R307, and E3902, International Residential Code (IRC), 2021 edition, Section R109 (Inspections).