Custom Bathroom Remodel Design & Plans in Monterey County
Design the Bathroom of Your Dreams
When you design your own bathroom, the sky is the limit. From smart mirrors and double vanities to heated floors and custom tilework, the options can get a little overwhelming. At RDD, we’ll carefully listen to your preferences and provide a wide range of design options (some of which you may have not heard of). We’ll use our deep knowledge of bathroom design and years of experience to help you choose the exact features that meet your vision.
- Precise drawings and specifications for every element of your bathroom, from fixtures to finishes.
- Discussion of recommended contractors and how to move forward with design implementation.
By the end of this phase, you’ll have a full set of design documents outlining the layout, materials, and methods to bring your vision to life.
Implement Your Design
With decades of experience in the construction industry, RDD has a wide network of reliable local contractors to recommend and can even work with your selected contractor to make sure the design is properly implemented. We have your back at every stage of the process and are committed to your total satisfaction. If you can dream it, RDD can design it and make sure it complies with all local codes and regulations. In this phase you get:
- Detailed drawings and specifications for every aspect of your project.
- Coordination with structural engineers, mechanical engineers, landscape architects, and interior designers.
Permitting for Bathroom Designs
Our expert team will manage all the paperwork and submissions required for your bathroom project, ensuring a hassle-free process. With a thorough understanding of local building codes, permit fees, and design-specific regulations, we’ll navigate city, county, and local government requirements to minimize delays and secure approvals efficiently.
Key benefits of our permitting services:
- Expert guidance: Our experienced team ensures a streamlined process tailored to bathroom design projects.
- Time and cost savings: Avoid delays and keep your project on budget with our efficient approach.
- Compliance: Rest easy knowing your bathroom design meets all necessary codes and regulations.
- Peace of mind: Focus on planning your dream bathroom while we handle the technicalities.
Trust us to guide you through the permitting process, so your bathroom project moves forward smoothly.
Monterey County's Most Experienced Home Design Firm
What a bathroom remodel plan set includes
For a bathroom where fixtures move or walls change, a submittal set carries:
- Measured existing conditions — as-built drawings of the bathroom and the framing and plumbing around it.
- A demolition plan, including anything structural.
- A proposed floor plan, dimensioned, with fixture locations, clearances, door swings and the wet area layout.
- A plumbing layout — supply and waste, with the route the new drain actually has to take.
- Framing details where joists are notched, drilled or headed off for a relocated drain.
- Electrical and mechanical — circuits, lighting and exhaust ventilation, including where the duct terminates.
- Wall sections and waterproofing details for curbless entries and niche work.
- Title 24 documentation where the scope triggers it.
Moving plumbing in an older Peninsula house
Most of the housing stock worth remodeling here was built between the 1920s and the 1960s, and that governs bathroom projects more than any design preference. Fixtures can almost always be moved; what varies is what it costs, and the answer lives under the floor.
The toilet is the constraint. A sink or shower drain has some latitude. A toilet needs a large-diameter waste line at consistent fall back to the main, routed through the floor framing without cutting anything it should not. Move it along a joist and the job is straightforward. Move it across the joists and you are running a drain perpendicular to the structure — headers, sometimes a dropped soffit below, and occasionally a decision to leave the toilet where it is.
Cast iron is common. Tying into a cast iron system is different work from ABS, and its condition is only knowable once exposed. It is reasonably common for a project to expand from “move the shower” into “replace the drain line while it is open.”
When a bathroom remodel needs a permit
Honest version first: swapping a toilet, vanity or shower valve in the same location, retiling and repainting generally does not require a permit and does not need drawings from us. What makes it a permit job is moving fixtures, changing walls, altering electrical, or touching the exterior.
In the City of Monterey specifically:
- Water credits apply harder here than in kitchens. Adding or relocating plumbing fixtures requires a waiver or permit from the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, and the property must have sufficient credits. A bathroom touches more fixtures than a kitchen — toilet, shower, tub, one or two sinks — so this is frequently the binding constraint.
- Exterior changes need Planning approval first — a new bathroom window, a relocated door, siding.
- Windows always require a permit, and tempered glazing matters specifically near a tub or shower.
The 2025 California Building Standards Code took effect January 1, 2026, set by permit application date. Carmel, Carmel Valley, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach each run their own process.
Requirements and timelines described here were researched in September 2026 and are typical rather than guaranteed. Verify current requirements with the building department for your jurisdiction.
What drives cost, and how the process works
Cost on a bathroom set moves with five things:
- Whether fixtures move, and which ones. The toilet is the expensive one.
- Which way the joists run relative to the drain you want, and whether framing has to be headed off.
- The age and material of the existing waste line. Cast iron adds unknowns.
- Whether walls move, which brings structure and possibly an engineer into the set.
- Exterior work and water credits, each of which adds an approval step ahead of the building permit. More on what drives remodeling costs.
The work runs in five steps:
- Consultation and feasibility — including where the water credit question stands.
- Existing conditions — we establish joist direction, drain routing and what is under the floor.
- Concept design — layout options tested against the drain route and the budget.
- Construction documents — the permit set, plumbing, framing and Title 24 coordinated.
- Submittal and plan check — package prepared, corrections answered.
See all service areas, or our kitchen, addition, whole-house, ADU and contractor services.
Bathroom remodel design FAQs
Do I need a permit for a bathroom remodel in Monterey County?
If fixtures move, walls change, electrical is altered or anything on the exterior changes, yes. A like-for-like replacement in the same locations generally does not require one — typical practice rather than a code citation, and worth confirming with your building department for your specific scope.
I am replacing the tub, vanity and tile in the same spots. Do I need drawings?
Generally no. If nothing moves and no walls change, you do not need a permit set and you do not need us — a good contractor or tile setter is the whole team. Our work starts when the toilet or shower relocates, a wall moves, or the room is being reconfigured.
Can I move the toilet in my bathroom?
Usually, but the cost depends on direction. Moving it parallel to the floor joists is generally straightforward; moving it across them means routing a large waste line through structure, which can require headers and sometimes a soffit in the room below. On a second floor the constraint is tighter.
My house is from the 1940s. Does that change the project?
It changes what is unknown. Original drawings rarely exist, framing has often been modified by earlier work, and waste lines may still be cast iron — which is different to tie into and whose condition is only knowable once exposed. More on as-built drawings.
Does moving a bathroom fixture affect my water credits?
In the City of Monterey, adding or relocating plumbing fixtures requires a waiver or permit from the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, and the property must have sufficient water credits. Because a bathroom involves several fixtures, this is frequently the binding constraint on what you can do.
What does a bathroom remodel need for ventilation?
Bathrooms need mechanical exhaust ventilation, and plan check looks at where the duct runs and where it terminates — venting into an attic or soffit rather than to the outside is one of the more common correction items. The fan, the duct route and the termination are drawn on the set rather than left to the field.
Does a bathroom remodel trigger Title 24?
A cosmetic bath remodel triggers only mandatory measures, meaning appliance efficiency and residential lighting. It escalates to prescriptive or performance compliance if you replace a window, replace the water heater, change out HVAC or extend ducts more than 25 feet.
Do you design kitchens and bathrooms together?
Yes, and it is usually the better way to do it — one plan set and one permit is cheaper and cleaner than two runs at the same house. See kitchen remodel design, or whole-house drafting if the scope has grown past two rooms.
Concept To Plan Submittal, Made Easy
When you work with our building design team in Carmel, you’re not just getting high-quality renovation design services for your home—you’re getting a reliable partner who will help see your project through from dream to reality. Contact us today for a project consultation and estimate.