Do You Need a Permit to Remodel a Bathroom in Florida?

You need a permit for a Florida bathroom remodel when the work goes past finishes and same-spot fixture swaps: moving or adding plumbing, converting a tub to a shower, adding electrical circuits, venting a new exhaust fan outdoors, replacing a window or changing a wall. Painting, new flooring and replacing a vanity, toilet or faucet in the same place usually don't need one. In Melbourne and the rest of Brevard County, the permit comes from your city or town's building department, or from Brevard County if the home is in an unincorporated area such as Viera, Suntree or Merritt Island.

Bathroom work, line by line

Building departments look at what changes in the plumbing, wiring, ventilation and structure, not at how expensive the tile is. A luxury tile job with every fixture left in place can need less paperwork than a basic remodel that moves the toilet.

Miami-Dade County's home renovation guidance puts the rule the other way around: new plumbing, electrical and mechanical work needs permits. In most bathrooms, the shower is where a "cosmetic" update crosses that line. Swapping a vanity is a finish job. Rebuilding the shower with a new drain or a valve in a new spot isn't.

Why the $7,500 exemption rarely helps

Since July 1, 2026, the owner of a single-family home can ask in writing to skip the building permit for some work valued under $7,500. The exemption never covers plumbing, electrical, mechanical, gas or structural work, homes in a designated flood hazard area, or a bigger job split into pieces. A tub-to-shower conversion can cost less than $7,500 and still not qualify, because it's plumbing work, and the bathroom work that would qualify, such as paint, flooring or a same-spot vanity, usually doesn't need a permit anyway. See the $7,500 permit exemption.

Tub-to-shower conversions

A conversion is the bathroom job most often mistaken for a cosmetic update. Taking out an alcove tub and building a walk-in shower in its place usually means a new shower drain, sometimes in a different spot from the tub drain, plus new or relocated valve work. That's plumbing work, so it generally needs a permit. A like-for-like replacement of the shower valve may be treated differently, so describe exactly what's changing when you ask the building department that covers your address.

What to settle before you apply:

• Where the drain goes. Most Florida homes sit on a concrete slab. If the shower drain moves, the slab is cut, the new line is run, and the underground plumbing is inspected before the concrete is patched.
• The valve. Decide whether the valve stays, is replaced in place or moves to another wall. Moving it is plumbing work that belongs on the permit.
• A curbless entry. We haven't verified how the Florida Building Code treats shower thresholds, floor slope to the drain or waterproofing for curbless showers. Ask the building department before you commit to a design. Our walk-in shower vs. bathtub guide covers the trade-offs, including curbless entries on a slab.
• The Notice of Commencement. Our Florida planning estimate for a tiled conversion is $4,500–$12,000 before glass, so many conversions pass the $5,000 contract value above which Florida requires a recorded Notice of Commencement before the first inspection.

For prices and worked examples, see tub-to-shower conversion costs in Melbourne.

Who can do the work

A general, building or residential contractor can manage the whole remodel, but Florida law requires plumbing and electrical work to be subcontracted to licensed plumbing and electrical contractors unless the contractor holds those licenses, under section 489.113 of the Florida Statutes. A 2021 state law, HB 735, generally stops local governments from requiring a license for job scopes such as tile installation and flooring. So a tile setter may not need a license for the tile, but the work should stop where the valve, drain and wiring start.

As a homeowner, you can do some licensed work on your own home as an owner-builder, but you take on the contractor's legal responsibilities and the inspections. If you only want to wire a new fan or outlet yourself, the separate owner exemption for electrical work is explained in electrical permits in Florida.

Inspections and hidden damage

Permitted bathroom work is inspected in stages. Typical ones are underground plumbing before a cut slab is patched, rough plumbing and electrical before the walls are closed, and a final. Don't let backer board, tile or drywall go over a new valve, drain or circuit that hasn't passed. Our guide to building inspections in Florida covers the stages, failed inspections and closing out a permit.

Old leaks behind showers and tubs often reveal rotted framing or damaged block once the walls come off, and that can change the scope. If a repair becomes structural, ask your contractor whether the permit needs to be revised before the work continues. Read change orders and hidden damage.

In Melbourne and Brevard County

County, city or town

If your home is outside any city or town limits, in places such as Viera, Suntree or Merritt Island, your bathroom permit comes from Brevard County Planning and Development, which permits only unincorporated areas. Inside a city or town, the local building department issues it. Melbourne, Palm Bay, West Melbourne, Rockledge, Titusville, Cocoa Beach, Indian Harbour Beach and Melbourne Beach all run their own permitting.

A Melbourne mailing address can belong to a home inside the city or in unincorporated county, so check before you or your contractor applies. The office matters for more than the form: it decides whether your plumbing goes on one permit or its own, which portal the plumber uses and whose inspectors come out. For every office's permit pages and portal, see our Brevard County permit guide.

Unincorporated Brevard: renovation and trade permits

The county handles bathroom remodels with its Residential Renovation permit, which covers "minor repairs, renovations, or alterations (no additional square footage and not affecting the building footprint or new additional living space)." The county gives an interior remodel as an example. A bathroom rebuilt inside its existing walls fits that description. If you push the bathroom out into new square footage, the project becomes an addition, which has its own county Residential Addition permit.

What a bathroom application involves:

• Plans and subcontractor authorizations. The renovation page lists plans and a subcontractor authorization for each subcontractor. In a bathroom, the subcontractors are usually the plumber and, if circuits change, the electrician. An older county checklist, from April 2020, asks for much the same on a single-family or duplex interior renovation.
• Trade permits. The county also has separate residential plumbing and HVAC/mechanical permit types. We couldn't confirm whether a bathroom's plumbing goes on the renovation permit through subcontractor authorizations or needs its own plumbing permit. If your only work is a tub-to-shower conversion, ask whether the county wants it on the renovation permit or the plumbing permit.
• A bathroom window. Exterior window replacements have their own county doors, windows and shutters permit, which asks for Florida product approval and the manufacturer's installation instructions. If the remodel includes a new window, ask whether it goes on the renovation permit or a separate one.
• Condo units. A bath remodel in a single unit of a multi-family building goes through the county's separate Multi-Family Renovation permit.
• Who files. Licensed contractors apply online through the county's BASS system, and they can pull permits only for work within their license type. Owner-builders must apply in person, citing section 489.103 of the Florida Statutes, with the county's Owner Builder Application for Contractor Exemption. A signed disclosure statement must reach the county before the permit is issued.
• The Notice of Commencement. When the direct contract is over $5,000, the recorded notice is uploaded to the permit and must be approved before the county will schedule inspections. The 2020 checklist still shows an older $2,500 figure, so go by the current statute and the county's current pages.

The county calls its permit pages a guide that may not cover every situation, so treat this list as a starting point.

City of Melbourne

For a home inside Melbourne city limits, the bathroom permit is filed in the city's EnerGov online portal and handled by the Building Section, part of the Code Compliance Division. The city says electrical, plumbing, mechanical, gas and structural work needs a permit even when the job is under $7,500, which takes in the parts of most bathroom remodels that need permits. Its FAQ also lists window replacement among projects that need a permit.

We didn't find a Melbourne page specific to bathroom remodels. When you ask which permits apply, give the city a written list of every fixture that moves or is added, any new circuits, any new fan duct, and any window or wall change. The city's current building permit fee schedule took effect August 7, 2026. If you plan to be your own contractor, read the city's owner-builder guide first.

Melbourne accepts written requests under the $7,500 exemption, filed in EnerGov as an "Exemption Request," but only for a single-family home outside a designated flood hazard area, and work has to wait for the city's written approval. For a bathroom it's rarely worth the paperwork, because the parts that need a permit are almost always the plumbing, electrical, mechanical or structural work it excludes.

Palm Bay, West Melbourne and Rockledge

• Palm Bay wants a copy of the contractor's state license or registration, proof of workers' compensation (or an exemption) and general liability insurance with each permit application. Don't let demolition start early: the city says work begun without a permit can be charged up to four times the permit fees.
• West Melbourne takes permit applications online through its Building Department. We didn't find bathroom-specific rules, so ask.
• Rockledge wants every residential permit application to include a written, detailed narrative of the scope of work. For a bathroom, that's where you spell out whether the drain and valve move and which fixtures change.

The beach towns

• Indian Harbour Beach publishes residential permit checklists, including ones for plumbing, electrical and HVAC work, which are worth reading before a bathroom job. Owner-builders apply in person with the city's owner-builder affidavit and proof of ownership.
• Melbourne Beach permits go through the town's Building Official. The town's permit application asks for contractor licensing and insurance information that's current with Brevard County, so have your plumber and any electrician check their county records before applying.
• Satellite Beach and Indialantic. A Satellite Beach city contact page directs permit questions to the Community Development Department, but we couldn't confirm its process. For Indialantic, we found no official page saying who handles permits. In either town, ask city or town hall before your contractor prices the job.

Need a contractor for this project?Request a bathroom remodel estimate

Barrier island and lagoon homes: the flood rules

If your home is in a FEMA flood zone, the substantial improvement rule compares the cost of the work with the building's market value before construction starts. When the cost equals or exceeds 50%, the whole home generally has to meet current flood rules. The test counts the whole project, not just the bathroom, so it matters most when a new or remodeled bathroom is one part of a bigger renovation.

Brevard County's flood-zone permitting guidance says market value may be estimated from the building's tax-assessed value, excluding land and accessory structures, plus about 15–20%, and it calls for an elevation certificate from a licensed surveyor when a project counts as a substantial improvement. In unincorporated Brevard, the county's Floodplain Administration office keeps copies of elevation certificates for structures in special flood hazard areas, generally going back about ten years (research fees may apply), so ask whether one is on file. Inside a city or town, ask that building department how it applies the rule. See the FEMA 50% rule.

On a beachfront lot seaward of the state's coastal construction control line, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection says alteration or construction needs its approval, with certain exceptions. If your home is seaward of the line, ask DEP whether interior bathroom work falls under an exception. See CCCL permits.

Condos and HOAs

Condominium associations, beachside and on the mainland, usually require approval before bathroom work. They may restrict working hours and contractors, ask for proof of contractor insurance, and control any plumbing that connects to the building's risers, which can limit where a drain can go. Check your declaration and rules before you design, and get approval in writing before you sign a contract.

In a planned community, the HOA may need to approve exterior changes, such as a fan vent through an outside wall or a new bathroom window. The two reviews can now run side by side, because since July 1, 2026 an HOA can't make you get the building permit first. Read HOA approval in Florida before you submit.

Checking the plumber and electrician in Brevard

Brevard County says there's no handyman license in the county, that a handyman can do only unregulated specialty trades, and that plumbing, electrical and mechanical work, including remodeling and repairs, must be done by a licensed contractor, unless you're a qualifying owner-builder doing that work yourself.

Look up the plumber and electrician, not just the remodeler, on the state's MyFloridaLicense.com and on Brevard County's Licensed Contractor Search, linked from the county's licensed trades page. The county lists a contractor there only with a current active license, general liability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance or an exemption. If a license number returns nothing, the county says the contractor either isn't registered with Brevard or has a deficiency on its record, so ask before you sign. Our guide to hiring a contractor in Melbourne covers contracts, deposits and references.

Common mistakes

• Treating a tub-to-shower conversion as cosmetic. A new drain or a moved valve makes it plumbing work.
• Counting on the $7,500 exemption because the job is small. The price doesn't matter when the work is plumbing or electrical.
• Tiling over work that hasn't been inspected. A new valve, drain or circuit has to pass rough inspection before backer board and tile go up.
• Adding to the scope mid-job. Deciding during demolition to move the toilet or add a circuit adds permit work. Raise it with your contractor before the work happens.
• Going by the mailing address. A Melbourne address can be inside the city or in unincorporated county, and the two use different offices and portals.
• Letting a handyman move the valve or add an outlet. In Brevard, plumbing and electrical work needs a licensed contractor.
• Designing a condo bathroom before reading the association's rules. Riser plumbing and approval rules can decide where the shower drain goes.
• Pulling an owner-builder permit for a contractor's work. An owner-builder permit is for work you do yourself. A contractor who asks you to pull one for their work is a red flag; see owner-builder permits.
• Paying the last installment before the final inspection. Hold it until the plumbing and any electrical work have passed and the permit is closed.

Next steps

1. Write down the scope: every fixture that stays, moves or is added, whether the shower drain and valve stay put, and any new circuits, fan duct, window or wall change.
2. Find out whether your home is in unincorporated Brevard or inside a city or town, then ask that office whether your scope needs one permit or separate plumbing and electrical permits.
3. If you're on the barrier island or near the lagoon and the bathroom is part of a bigger project, check your flood zone and compare the whole project's cost with the building's value.
4. In a condo or HOA community, get the association's rules on plumbing, contractors and exterior vents, and its approval in writing.
5. Make sure a licensed plumber (and electrician, if circuits change) does the trade work, and get in writing who pulls each permit. If the contract is over $5,000, make sure the Notice of Commencement is recorded before the first inspection.
6. Don't let tile or drywall go up until rough inspections pass, and keep the final inspection records with your home documents.

For budgets, see bathroom remodel costs in Melbourne, the Florida bathroom remodel cost guide and tub-to-shower conversion costs. If you're adding a bathroom on a septic system, read septic rules for Florida remodels. If the kitchen is next, read kitchen remodel permits.