Kitchen Remodeling in Beaverton, OR: Permits and Homes

In Beaverton, one office handles the permits a kitchen remodel usually needs. The city’s Building Division issues building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits, reviews the plans, inspects the work, and processes every application electronically. And because Beaverton adopts the State of Oregon building codes without local amendments, the state’s permit list applies as written. The rest of the metro, Portland included, is on our page about kitchen remodeling in Portland.

Beaverton permits for a kitchen remodel

With no local changes, Oregon’s state list is the guide. A kitchen remodel in Beaverton needs:

• a building permit to add, move or remove walls;
• a plumbing permit when the remodel relocates existing plumbing;
• an electrical permit to run additional wiring or install a new or upgraded outlet or light fixture;
• a mechanical permit to install a kitchen range exhaust, or to install, alter or repair gas piping between the meter and an appliance.

It does not need a building permit for cabinets, countertops and similar finish work, a plumbing permit to repair or replace a sink, a faucet not concealed in a wall, or countertops, or an electrical permit to replace an existing disposal or dishwasher of 30 amps or less. Work exempt from a building permit is not necessarily exempt from a trade permit, so a cabinet job that adds a circuit still needs an electrical permit.

That makes Beaverton simpler than Portland in one respect: Portland’s own list adds a plumbing permit to replace a fixture when the replacement involves concealed connections, while Beaverton’s handout says the city makes no local amendments to the state codes. Apply through the city’s Building Division.

Which code edition applies

Beaverton’s adopted-codes handout (revised February 2026) lists the 2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code and the 2023 Oregon Electrical Specialty Code. The state has since adopted 2026 editions. The 2026 residential code, based on the 2024 International Residential Code, took effect on October 1, 2026. During a phase-in scheduled to end on April 1, 2027, when it becomes mandatory, either the 2023 or the 2026 edition may be used for everything except Chapter 1. If your project is designed around that date, ask the Building Division which edition it will be reviewed under.

Beaverton homes by age

Beaverton’s housing is younger than Portland’s: a median year built of 1987 against Portland’s 1966, with 37.6% of homes built before 1980 and 2.2% before 1940 (Census American Community Survey, 2020-2024). More than a third of homes still predate 1980, and in a house built before 1978, Oregon allows only contractors licensed by the CCB for Lead-Based Paint Renovation to bid or work on it. The National Register lists two historic districts under Beaverton’s name: the Beaverton Downtown Historic District, listed in 1986, and the Oak Hills Historic District, listed in 2013.

Hiring for a Beaverton kitchen

A Beaverton job needs a contractor licensed by Oregon’s Construction Contractors Board; Washington’s L&I registration counts only across the river. You can look a license up in the CCB license search. Oregon’s written-contract notices and the right to cancel are the same here as anywhere in the state, and our page on kitchen remodel costs in Portland has the newest dated figures for whole-kitchen projects in the region.