Bathroom Remodeling in Glendale
Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975, bonded and insured) headquartered about 20 minutes from Glendale via the 134, in Van Nuys. We run every Glendale bathroom project as design-build: one company handles the drawings, the permit, and the construction, which matters more in Glendale than in some LA neighborhoods because Glendale runs its own building department with its own process.
Because Glendale is a separate city from Los Angeles, “how permits work” is a real question here, not boilerplate. We’ll cover that below along with what Glendale’s housing stock — a lot of it 80–100 years old — actually requires when you open a wall. A free site visit runs about two hours, you’ll have a written proposal within 48 hours, and we reply to every inquiry within one business day. You have drawings and a written scope before anything gets demolished, so you approve the design, not a guess at it.
Bathrooms we have built nearby
We don’t have a completed bathroom project inside Glendale yet — we’ll say that directly rather than dress it up. These are projects in the surrounding area that show the level of work a Glendale remodel would get:
- Two Bathrooms and a Powder Room in Diamond Bar — three bathrooms remodeled together with large-format marble-look tile, linear drains, and frameless glass. A good reference for a multi-bathroom project, which is common in larger Glenoaks Canyon and Chevy Chase Canyon houses.
- Hall Bathroom Remodel in Ontario — a full hall-bathroom rebuild, the same scope you’d expect in a Rossmoyne or Adams Hill house where the original hall bath hasn’t been touched since it was built.
- Bathroom Remodel in West Hollywood — a small bathroom rebuilt as a shower room with a navy shaker vanity and tiled walk-in shower. Relevant if your Glendale bathroom is on the smaller side, as many are in the older Craftsman-era houses.
More finished work is at our projects page, and layout ideas are at design ideas: bathroom.
What Glendale houses need
Glendale’s housing stock is older and more varied than most of the San Fernando Valley, and that shapes what a remodel involves before you get to finishes.
In Rossmoyne, Adams Hill, and Kenneth Village, you’re mostly dealing with 1920s–30s Spanish and Craftsman houses. These almost always have cast-iron drain lines, and it’s common to find original tile still on the walls or floor underneath whatever’s been added since. If your house was built before 1978, any work that disturbs painted surfaces has to follow lead-safe practices — that’s a federal requirement, not a Glendale-specific one, but it applies to a large share of the city’s housing and it affects how we scope demolition.
North Glendale and Montrose have more 1950s ranch houses, which behave more like the mid-century houses you’d find elsewhere in LA — generally easier plumbing access, fewer surprises behind the walls. The hillside neighborhoods — Chevy Chase Canyon and Glenoaks Canyon — have larger, later-built homes where we more often see full reconfigurations: moving a shower to a different wall, adding a second vanity, converting a tub to a curbless shower.
Glendale also has a large stock of 1960s–80s apartment and condo buildings, concentrated more centrally. As with any multi-unit building, if you’re remodeling a bathroom in one of these, HOA or property-management approval and unit-to-unit waterproofing matter — a shower over another unit’s ceiling gets a sheet or liquid membrane behind the tile regardless of what the original construction had.
One utility note worth knowing before you plan a remodel: Glendale is served by Glendale Water & Power, not LADWP — relevant mainly if you’re upgrading electrical service as part of a larger bathroom or whole-house project, since GWP’s process and inspection scheduling is separate from LA’s.
Permits in Glendale
Glendale permits go through Glendale Building & Safety, a separate department from LADBS. It runs its own plan check and its own inspections, with its own submittal requirements and inspection scheduling. That said, “separate department” means separate forms and separate timelines from what we’re used to a few miles away in LA proper, so we account for that in the schedule rather than assuming it’ll move at LADBS’s pace. Any plumbing or electrical work in your bathroom remodel needs a permit through Glendale Building & Safety, even if the layout isn’t changing.
What a bathroom remodel costs in Glendale
| Scope | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Basic refresh, same layout (new flooring, tile, vanity, toilet, faucets, lighting, mirror, paint) | $8,000–$18,000 |
| Mid-range remodel (some layout change, tub-to-shower conversion, relocated vanity, moved plumbing, frameless glass, new exhaust fan) | $18,000–$40,000 |
| High-end renovation (full reconfiguration, custom vanity, large-format or natural stone tile, curbless shower, heated floor, premium fixtures) | $40,000–$80,000+ |
These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.
In Glendale, older homes in Rossmoyne and Adams Hill more often land in the mid-to-high range once cast-iron drain replacement and lead-safe demolition are factored in — that work adds labor time before tile even starts. Hillside houses in the canyons tend to be the high-end jobs, mostly because the primary suites are bigger. Ranch houses in Montrose and north Glendale are more likely to land in the basic-to-mid range. See what a bathroom remodel costs and tub-to-shower conversion cost.
How long it takes
A same-layout refresh runs 2–3 weeks of construction. A mid-range remodel — including most tub-to-shower conversions — runs 3–5 weeks. A full high-end reconfiguration is 5–8 weeks. Add 1–4 weeks up front for design and Glendale Building & Safety’s plan check before construction starts. A custom vanity takes about three weeks to manufacture, which we schedule alongside the permit wait rather than after it.
Questions we get asked
Is Glendale’s permit process slower than LA’s?
Not necessarily slower — just separate. Glendale Building & Safety runs its own plan check and inspections rather than routing through LADBS. The timeline depends on their current queue, which we check before we set your schedule.
My house is from the 1920s — will you find surprises when you open the wall?
Often, yes. Cast-iron drain lines and original tile underneath later layers are common in Rossmoyne, Adams Hill, and Kenneth Village. If your house was built before 1978, we also follow lead-safe work practices on any disturbed painted surface, which is standard procedure for pre-1978 renovation work, not an extra we tack on.
Can you replace old cast-iron pipe during the remodel?
Yes. If we’re opening the wall or floor for a layout change, we replace the section of cast-iron drain in that run as part of the scope, brought up to current code. We don’t leave old cast iron in place and just tie new fixtures into it.
I’m in a condo near downtown Glendale — what’s different about that?
Mainly approval and waterproofing. You’ll likely need HOA or property-manager sign-off before we start, and any shower or tub gets a full waterproofing membrane behind the tile since you’re probably above another unit. We build both into the schedule once you confirm your building’s requirements.
Do curbless showers work in older Glendale houses?
Usually yes, but it takes planning. A curbless shower needs the floor framing dropped or a slab recess so the shower floor sits flush with the bathroom floor. In a 1920s–30s house on a raised foundation, dropping the framing is generally workable; we confirm it during the site visit once we can see the actual floor structure.
Does Glendale Water & Power affect my bathroom remodel timeline?
Only if the project involves an electrical service upgrade, which is uncommon for a bathroom alone but does come up on larger combined projects. Routine bathroom electrical work — new circuits, GFCI outlets, exhaust fan wiring — goes through Glendale Building & Safety’s inspection process and doesn’t involve GWP directly.
Tell us about your Glendale bathroom
Whether it’s a Rossmoyne Craftsman or a Montrose ranch, tell us what you’re working with and we’ll come take a look — a free two-hour site visit, a written proposal in 48 hours. Call (800) 348-3050, or see your neighborhood page at service areas: Glendale. For plumbing-specific questions, see plumbing.