Bathroom Remodeling in Sherman Oaks
Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975, bonded and insured) based about ten minutes from Sherman Oaks in Van Nuys. Every bathroom remodel we take on is design-build — drawings, permitting, and construction come from one company under one contract, so the person who draws your layout is accountable for the crew that builds it.
We get to Sherman Oaks jobs via Van Nuys Blvd or a short hop on the 405 to the 101, depending on where in the neighborhood you are. A free site visit runs about two hours; you get a written proposal within 48 hours — and we reply to every inquiry within one business day. Before anything gets demolished, you have drawings and a written scope in hand, so you’re approving a design you can see rather than a verbal description.
Bathrooms we have built nearby
We haven’t completed a bathroom remodel inside Sherman Oaks yet, so we’ll say that plainly rather than imply otherwise. Here’s work we’ve done in the surrounding area that reflects the same kind of craftsmanship a Sherman Oaks remodel would get:
- Bathroom Remodel in West Hollywood — a small, awkward bathroom rebuilt into a shower room: navy shaker vanity, brass fittings, white oak shelving, and a tiled walk-in shower behind sliding glass. Useful reference if your Sherman Oaks bathroom is tight on square footage, which is common in the 1970s–80s condo buildings along Ventura Blvd.
- Primary Bathroom Remodel in Inglewood — rebuilt down to the framing, with new plumbing, full waterproofing, marble-look and black tile, a freestanding tub, frameless glass, and a double vanity. This is the closest comparison for a full primary-bath reconfiguration.
- Two Bathrooms and a Powder Room in Diamond Bar — three bathrooms done together with large-format marble-look tile and linear drains, which is the kind of multi-bathroom scope larger Sherman Oaks hillside houses tend to call for.
See more finished work at our projects page and layout ideas at design ideas: bathroom.
What Sherman Oaks houses need
Sherman Oaks splits into a few distinct housing types, and each one changes what a remodel actually involves.
South of Ventura Blvd, on the hillside, you’re mostly looking at 1940s–60s ranch and mid-century houses. A lot of these sit on raised foundations rather than slabs, which is good news for a remodel: relocating a toilet, shower drain, or vanity plumbing under a raised floor means a crew works from a crawlspace, not a jackhammer. It’s faster and less disruptive than cutting concrete.
North of Ventura, on the flatter lots, you’ll find the same era of house but more of them sitting on slab foundations, especially anything built or heavily modified since the 1960s. If your bathroom is on a slab and the layout is changing — moving a toilet or shower to a new spot — that requires cutting into the concrete to move the drain line. It’s routine work, but it adds time and cost that a same-footprint refresh doesn’t need.
Along Ventura Blvd itself, and scattered through the flats, there’s a large stock of 1970s–80s condo and apartment buildings. These come with their own set of headaches that have nothing to do with the bathroom design: HOA approval before work starts, restricted work hours (often 8am–5pm weekdays only), and — because you likely have a unit below you — mandatory waterproofing at any shower or tub sitting over another unit. We install a sheet or liquid waterproofing membrane behind every tile shower we build, full stop, but in a condo it’s not optional and your HOA will often ask to see it specified in writing before approving the permit.
One thing worth clearing up: the hillside lots south of Ventura fall under the City of LA’s hillside construction rules, but those rules govern exterior work — grading, retaining walls, additions that change the building envelope. An interior bathroom remodel that doesn’t touch the exterior or the foundation doesn’t trigger hillside review. People sometimes assume a hillside address means extra permitting for an interior job; it usually doesn’t.
Permits in Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks is part of the City of Los Angeles, so permits go through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), not a separate Sherman Oaks agency. LADBS requires a permit for plumbing and electrical changes even when you’re keeping the same footprint — moving a shower valve, adding a GFCI circuit, or relocating a light all count. We handle the LADBS plan check and inspections as part of the contract, so you’re not the one making trips downtown or to the local office.
What a bathroom remodel costs in Sherman Oaks
| 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.
For Sherman Oaks houses, the scopes that most often land mid-range are a tub-to-shower conversion in a hillside ranch, or a condo bathroom refresh where the HOA’s waterproofing requirement pushes the job past a basic refresh. High-end reconfigurations are more likely on the hillside, where larger primary suites justify a curbless shower or heated floor. See what a bathroom remodel costs and tub-to-shower conversion cost for more detail on those two scopes.
How long it takes
A same-layout refresh usually takes 2–3 weeks of construction. A mid-range remodel with a layout change or tub-to-shower conversion runs 3–5 weeks. A high-end reconfiguration is 5–8 weeks. Before any of that, budget 1–4 weeks for design and permitting — LADBS plan check timing varies, and if you’re ordering a custom vanity, that’s roughly three weeks of manufacturing time that can run in parallel with the permit process rather than adding to your total.
Questions we get asked
Do I need HOA approval before you can start work on my Ventura Blvd condo?
Yes, almost always. Most of the 1970s–80s buildings along Ventura Blvd require HOA sign-off on scope and often a certificate of insurance from us before work begins. We can provide project documentation for your HOA packet; just flag it during the site visit so we build the timeline around their approval process.
My house is on a raised foundation — does that make the remodel cheaper?
It doesn’t lower material costs, but it can shave time and mess off plumbing relocation. Moving a drain line under a raised floor is crawlspace work; moving the same line in a slab house means cutting concrete. If your layout change involves moving fixtures, a raised foundation is genuinely the easier version of that job.
Is my hillside house going to need extra permits for a bathroom remodel?
Not for an interior remodel that doesn’t touch the exterior or foundation. LA’s hillside construction rules apply to exterior work like additions, grading, and retaining walls. A bathroom remodel that stays inside the existing footprint goes through standard LADBS plumbing and electrical permitting, same as anywhere else in the city.
Can you convert my tub to a walk-in shower?
Yes — it’s the single most requested bathroom change we see across the Valley. The work involves removing the tub, reframing the opening, waterproofing the new shower pan and walls, and installing frameless glass. It typically lands in the mid-range tier depending on tile choice and glass configuration.
What happens to my old galvanized or copper plumbing during the remodel?
Any plumbing we open up gets brought up to current code as part of the permit — that’s required, not optional, whenever LADBS is involved. If we’re relocating a fixture, we’re also replacing the supply and drain lines in that run rather than tying new work into old pipe.
How disruptive is this if I still have to work from home?
A same-layout refresh is the least disruptive option — water may be shut off in short windows, but the house stays livable. A full reconfiguration means the bathroom is unusable for the length of the project. If you only have one bathroom, we’ll talk through phasing or a temporary setup during the site visit.
Sources
Permit rules on this page are City of Los Angeles rules and can change. Confirm what applies to your address with LADBS before you plan around a date. Cost ranges and durations are our own, from jobs we have built.
- LADBS, Building Permits — the work that requires a permit in the City of Los Angeles, and the rule that building plans must be approved as a Building Plan Check before a permit is issued.
- LADBS Information Bulletin P/GI 2020-003, Express Permits — the narrower list of work that can be permitted without plan check, including re-roofing and non-structural kitchen and bathroom work.
- LADBS, Van Nuys office — the Development Services Center that serves the San Fernando Valley, at 6262 Van Nuys Blvd, 2nd floor, Room 251.
Last reviewed 17 September 2026.
Tell us about your Sherman Oaks bathroom
Tell us what’s not working about your current bathroom and we’ll come take a look. The site visit takes about two hours, it’s free, and you’ll have a written proposal in 48 hours. Call (800) 348-3050, or see your neighborhood page at service areas: Sherman Oaks. For plumbing questions specific to your house, see plumbing.