The riskiest word in a bathroom quote is "cosmetic." The job gets described as a refresh, the walls get closed, and the permit question comes up later, when it can't be answered without opening them again.
The short answer is this. The Florida Building Code requires a permit to alter, repair or replace a home's plumbing, electrical, gas or mechanical systems. Its list of exempt work is short. So a bathroom remodel needs a permit if it moves or replaces a pipe, a valve or a fixture, adds wiring, adds a vented fan, or opens a wall.
Everything below applies to the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), and is current as of October 2026. Section numbers can change when the next edition takes effect. Your local building department enforces the code. It can also adopt local amendments and set its own procedures, so its answer on your project is the one that counts. For the full project, start with bathroom remodeling in Southwest Florida.
What Florida's Code Says Starts a Bathroom Permit
The Residential volume of the Florida Building Code covers how a house is built, but Section R101.2.1 of the Florida Building Code, Residential hands the paperwork to the other volume: "The provisions of Chapter 1, Florida Building Code, Building, shall govern the administration and enforcement of the Florida Building Code, Residential."
So the permit rule for your bathroom is Section 105.1 of the Florida Building Code, Building. For a home's systems, it says: "Any owner or owner's authorized agent who intends to … erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any … electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system … shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit."
The same sentence also covers altering the building itself. It is broad on purpose. If you install, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace a plumbing, electrical, gas or mechanical system, the starting point is a permit.
Florida's Short List of Work With No Permit
Section 105.2 lists the work that does not need a permit. In the Florida edition, that list has three headings: gas, mechanical and plumbing. There is no heading for electrical work, and no general exemption for finish work such as tile, cabinets or countertops.
The items that touch a bathroom are narrow. The mechanical list exempts portable ventilation equipment and the replacement of a part that does not alter the equipment's approval. The plumbing list exempts stopping leaks and clearing stoppages, but only where the repairs "do not involve or require the replacement or rearrangement of valves, pipes or fixtures." Our guide to what a one-day bathroom remodel really includes quotes those plumbing items in full.
Section 105.2.2 adds one more route: "Ordinary minor repairs may be made with the approval of the building official without a permit." Two of its exclusions matter in a bathroom. A minor repair cannot include:
- "the cutting away of any wall, partition or portion thereof"
- "addition to, alteration of, replacement or relocation of any … water supply, sewer, drainage … gas, soil, waste, vent or similar piping, electric wiring systems or mechanical equipment"
Read together, those sections leave very little of a real bathroom remodel outside the permit.
Common Bathroom Work, Line by Line
This is a plain reading of the state code, not a ruling. The building department for your address applies the code to your exact scope, so ask it before work starts.
| Bathroom work | What the code text says |
|---|---|
| Moving a sink, toilet, tub or shower | Alters the plumbing system, so Section 105.1 applies. |
| Replacing a shower valve, a tub or another fixture | The plumbing exemption stops at replacing or rearranging valves, pipes or fixtures. |
| Fixing a leak or clearing a clog in place | Listed in the 105.2 plumbing exemptions, until a concealed pipe has to be replaced with new material. |
| A new circuit, outlet or wiring | Section 105.1 covers electrical systems, and the Florida exemption list has no electrical items. |
| A new vented exhaust fan or a new duct to the outdoors | The mechanical exemption covers portable ventilation equipment, not a fan ducted through the house. |
| Removing, moving or opening a wall | Section 105.1 covers altering the building, and 105.2.2 excludes cutting away any wall from minor repairs. |
| New tile over an existing wall, with no plumbing or wiring | Tile is not on the 105.2 list. The state's $7,500 rule below may apply, and Lee County's page also points to its Land Development Code Section 6-117 for work not requiring a permit. Ask your own building department. |
If your contractor describes a bathroom job as needing no permit, ask which line of that table the job sits on, and which exemption covers it.
Florida's $7,500 Exemption Leaves Out Most Bathroom Work
Florida law now adds a second exemption on top of the code. Section 553.79(1)(g) of the Florida Statutes says: "A local government that issues building permits shall exempt an owner of a single-family dwelling or the owner's contractor from the requirement to obtain a building permit to perform any work valued at less than $7,500 on the owner's property."
The same paragraph limits it in three ways that matter for a bathroom:
- It does not apply to "Any electrical, plumbing, structural, mechanical, or gas work performed on property containing a single-family dwelling."
- It does not apply to a property that is partly or entirely in a flood hazard area as the Florida Building Code defines it. You can look up your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and your building department can confirm the zone.
- The owner or contractor has to submit a written request for the exemption. It must include the contract or other documents that show what the work is and what it is worth. The statute also says a project "may not be divided into more than one project" to get under the limit.
So the $7,500 rule can reach finish-only work, such as new tile with no plumbing or wiring involved. It cannot reach a new valve, a moved drain or a new circuit, at any price, and it speaks only to a single-family dwelling.
What Lee County and Collier County Publish
Permitting here is handled per jurisdiction, not per county. Lee County's office covers unincorporated Lee. Some cities and towns run their own review, for example the City of Fort Myers, the City of Sanibel, the City of Bonita Springs, the Village of Estero and the Town of Fort Myers Beach. Collier County runs its own review. If you live inside a city in Collier County, ask whether that city runs its own building department before you assume the county is the office.
Section 105.3 of the code says "a local enforcement agency shall post each type of building permit application on its website," so the office for your address is where the forms and the final answers are. Each county's own permit page says the following, as of October 2026.
Lee County
The Lee County Building and Permitting Services page states: "Building permit applications and plans must be certified as meeting the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023)." For work that needs no permit, it tells readers to "reference FBC Section 105.2 and Lee County Land Development Code Chapter Section 6-117 for information regarding improvements or repairs not requiring a permit."
Collier County
The Collier County Building Permits and Construction page posts a notice on the state change: "Beginning July 1st, 2026, certain qualifying work valued under $7500.00 will be exempt from building permits." It adds that "a written request must be submitted to the Collier County Building Division along with a copy of the contract or other documentation demonstrating the nature and the value of the work to be performed."
For the kitchen side of the same question, see our guide to kitchen remodel permits in Lee and Collier County.
Bathroom Inspections Happen Before the Walls Close
This is the part of the permit that shapes the schedule. Section 110.1 says permitted work "shall remain exposed and provided with access for inspection purposes until approved."
Section 110.3 lists the inspections. For plumbing, the rough-in inspection comes once the soil, waste and vent piping is complete and before the wall or ceiling membranes, the code's term for the wall and ceiling coverings, go on. The final inspection comes once every plumbing fixture is in place and properly connected. Electrical work follows the same pattern, with a rough-in inspection before the wall or ceiling membranes and a final once the fixtures are in place and connected.
The same section gives the local office the last word on timing: "The building official shall determine the timing and sequencing of when inspections occur and what elements are inspected at each inspection."
In a bathroom, that means the backer board and tile wait for the rough-in to pass. A schedule that shows tile starting the day after the plumber finishes has skipped a step. Ask where the inspections sit on yours.
Two Florida Statutes That Come With the Permit
The Notice of Commencement. Section 713.13 of the Florida Statutes covers this document. An owner or the owner's authorized agent, "before actually commencing to improve any real property," shall record a notice of commencement in the clerk's office. A copy is also posted at the site. Florida law exempts an improvement whose direct contract price is $2,500 or less, under Section 713.02(5). The statute also says "The owner must sign the notice of commencement and no one else may be permitted to sign in his or her stead." So even when your contractor applies for the permit, you sign this one yourself.
Section 713.135 requires the permit card to carry a warning that includes this line: "A NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT MUST BE RECORDED AND POSTED ON THE SITE OF THE IMPROVEMENT BEFORE THE FIRST INSPECTION."
The owner-builder disclosure. Section 489.103(7) of the Florida Statutes lets owners act as their own contractor on a one-family or two-family home they occupy and do not offer for sale or lease. They must directly supervise all work not done by licensed contractors. To use it, the owner "must personally appear and sign the building permit application." The disclosure statement the owner receives includes this line: "I understand that, as an owner-builder, I am the responsible party of record on a permit."
That is the real choice behind an owner-builder permit. If a contractor asks you to pull the permit in your own name, you become the party of record for their work.
When a Leak Turns Into a Pipe Replacement
Stopping a leak is already on the 105.2 plumbing list. The question that matters is a leak in a pipe behind the wall. If a concealed trap, drain, water, soil, waste or vent pipe "becomes defective and it becomes necessary to remove and replace the same with new material, such work shall be considered as new work and a permit shall be obtained and inspection made as provided in this code."
Section 105.2.1 covers the timing when that replacement can't wait: "Where equipment replacements and repairs must be performed in an emergency situation, the permit application shall be submitted within the next working business day to the building official."
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a permit to replace a toilet?
The plumbing exemption covers taking a toilet out and putting the same one back as part of a repair. It does not cover repairs that involve replacing a fixture, and a new toilet is a new fixture. Ask the building department for your address how it treats a like-for-like swap.
Does retiling a bathroom need a permit?
Section 105.2 does not list tile as exempt. Finish-only tile work valued under $7,500 may qualify for the exemption in Section 553.79(1)(g) of the Florida Statutes. The home must be a single-family dwelling outside a flood hazard area, which you can check on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. The exemption also needs a written request to the building department. If the retile also replaces the shower valve or opens the wall, it needs a permit under 105.1.
Who applies for the permit?
Section 105.1 puts it on the owner or the owner's authorized agent. On a HomeWorks job, we apply for it as the licensed contractor. On a job over $2,500, you sign the notice of commencement, because Florida law requires the owner to sign it.
Getting the Bathroom Permit Right the First Time
Chad and Lyndee own HomeWorks, and its Florida certified building contractor license is CBC-1261775. That license is what lets us apply for your bathroom permit as the contractor of record. We pull permits in Lee County and in Collier County, we manage every sub on the job, and Chad is on every project.
Our projects run on schedule 81 percent of the time. Homeowners have given us 4.8 stars over 60 Google reviews. Your bathroom price includes a 15 percent contingency that we show you up front. There is normally no design fee, and your first hour with us is free.
See a bathroom remodeled by HomeWorks in Southwest Florida, or request a quote and tell us what you are planning.
