The City of Vancouver Remodel Permit Process, Step by Step

The City of Vancouver handles residential remodel permits entirely online. The steps are simple once you know that two different systems are involved and that the fee is driven by the city's own valuation of the job. Everything here applies to homes inside city limits as of October 2026. If you have not yet worked out whether your project needs a permit at all, start with do you need a permit to remodel a kitchen.

Two systems: ePlans and the Online Permit Center

Plans are submitted and reviewed in ePlans (Avolve ePlans). Fees, trade permits and inspection requests go through the Online Permit Center, which replaced the older ePermit system in June 2025. VMC 17.08.100(A) requires the application itself to be electronic: "To obtain a building permit, the applicant shall first electronically submit a completed permit application."

A kitchen remodel is a RES (Residential Building Permit). The city's page says trade work that "is part of a remodel or new construction" is "included in your RES", so plumbing, mechanical and electrical ride on the same application. You need one application for each structure being remodeled.

The five steps the city publishes

1. Application. Email the completed "Addition or Remodel Application Form" (titled "Residential Additions, Remodels, Accessory Structures") to eplans@cityofvancouver.us. Staff enter it and email back an application summary with the plan review fees highlighted. You pay those fees, and ePlans then emails an upload link.
2. Prescreen review. Staff check that the submittal is complete.
3. Plan review. The city says reviews include planning and zoning, structural and fire.
4. Plans approved. You pay the final fee total.
5. Permit issued. You download and print the approved plans, documents, permit and inspection card and keep them on the job site. The city asks for one color set of plans on site for inspections.

On timing, the city states one goal only: "Our goal is to enter your application within one to two business days but on occasion, this may take longer." It does not publish a review-time target for remodels. Its guidance is that "the primary factor in the length of the plan review time is the adherence to the submittal requirements and quality of the plans." Plan your remodel timeline around a complete first submittal, and ask the Permit Center about current turnaround before you set a start date.

What the application form asks for

The form (footer date 12/04/2025) asks for the cost of alteration, including materials and labor; whether the work is performed by a contractor or the owner; whether the work includes plumbing, mechanical or electrical; the contractor's Washington State license number; and a separate block for the plumbing contractor. Both the applicant and the property owner sign it. VMC 17.08.100(A) requires the general and plumbing contractors' names, contact details and current state registration numbers whenever someone other than the owner is doing the work.

Drawings and documents for a kitchen

The city's Residential Remodel Checklist asks for an existing / demo plan and a proposed floor plan. Exterior elevations are needed only for exterior changes, and a site plan only for a garage conversion. Both floor plans must:

• identify each room and dimension all windows and doors;
• locate all plumbing fixtures and exhaust fans;
• locate all smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms;
• locate and identify all appliances in the area of work, and all mechanical and HVAC equipment;
• locate the electrical panel.

Plans must be to accurate scale with dimensions. The minimum sheet size is 17x11 inches, with 24x18 or 36x24 inches preferred. ePlans wants each sheet as a single-page file, a scale bar on every sheet, and a blank area for the approval stamp, ideally in the upper right corner.

Alongside the drawings you submit the signed and dated application, the Energy Code "Remodel/Alteration Worksheet", and "Structural Calculations, if required". That last item usually comes into play when you are opening a kitchen wall. The city does not state that every bearing-wall removal needs stamped engineering. The plans examiner decides.

How fees are calculated

The plan review fee for a remodel is "based on valuation, including labor and materials". The valuation is not simply your contract price. VMC 17.08.130(C) says it is generated from national statistical averages and that the determination "shall be made by the building official". The building permit fee then comes from Table I of VMC 17.08.130, shown here with the 2026 figures.

Several items are then applied to that base:

• Combined permit multiplier. When the work involves two or more codes, which describes most kitchens, the single permit fee is "one and six-tenths times the fee set forth".
• Plan review. 50% of the single permit fee (65% of the building permit fee where only the building code is involved).
• Technology fee. Five and one-half percent on the building fund fees in the fee tables.
• Issuance fee. $32.00 for each RES permit.
• State building fee. $6.50 for each residential building permit, under RCW 19.27.085.

Because the city sets the valuation, treat any figure you work out yourself as an estimate. The fee page has a "Fee Quote Form" tab for a real number. These are 2026 fees, and the city states that fees are "subject to annual increase on the first of the year", so recheck them for any permit issued in 2027. For where permit costs sit in the whole budget, see where the money goes in a kitchen remodel.

Expiration and extensions

Do not let a permit lapse mid-project. VMC 17.08.110(D)(4) makes it a violation "to allow a permit to expire after work has commenced without obtaining the required inspection approvals", and holds both the property owner and the contractor responsible. A permit that never receives its final is also the root of many unpermitted work problems at resale.

After the permit is issued

The permit is the start of the city's involvement, not the end. Rough-in work has to be inspected before walls are closed and a final inspection closes the permit. The sequence, the scheduling numbers and the reinspection fees are covered in kitchen remodel inspections.

On JDI projects, our team prepares the drawings and application, answers plan review comments and schedules the inspections as part of the job. You can see where permitting sits in the sequence on our process page, or read more about kitchen remodeling in Vancouver.