A kitchen partway through a renovation, with new floors, painted walls and a built-in microwave
A kitchen partway through a renovation, with new floors, painted walls and a built-in microwave. Photo: Tomwsulcer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Home remodeling Campbell

Planning a Campbell kitchen, from the MGO upload to the debris box

A kitchen remodel in Campbell is filed online through the city's MyGovernmentOnline system under its single-family remodel guide, and the floor plan only has to show the kitchen. The rule that shapes a bigger job is the city's New versus Remodel test: when three of four criteria are met, a valuation figure plus 75 percent of the roof framing, exterior walls or interior walls removed or altered, the project becomes a new house, with zero-NOx appliances, fire sprinklers and more.

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  • Rules on this page checked against 15 public sources, October 2026
Where to apply
Online only, through MyGovernmentOnline (MGO)
Contractor work hours
8-5 weekdays, 9-4 Saturday, none on Sundays or holidays
New-house test
3 of 4 criteria in Municipal Code Chapter 18.32
Gas range limit
Zero-NOx cooking only in work classed as new (Chapter 6.13)

The work

How far the kitchen goes decides the paperwork in Campbell

  • New cabinets, counters and appliances in the same room

    Campbell's Single-Family Residential Remodel guide covers kitchen remodels, and its checklist is specific. The construction plans go in as one unlocked PDF, the floor plan only needs to show the room being remodeled, and the electrical and plumbing sheets locate outlets, fixtures, switches, smoke detectors and panels. Title 24 energy forms are part of the set, along with a Blueprint for a Clean Bay sheet. The cover sheet carries two notes: no product above California's VOC limits, and the city's construction hours.

  • Opening the wall to the family room

    Taking out a wall brings structural sheets: the framing, connections and fastening, plus braced wall elements. The guide says any loaded beam longer than 8 feet needs an engineer's sizing or engineered lumber such as LVL, PSL or Parallam, and a structural calculation report from a licensed engineer when the alterations are significant. The memo on New versus Remodel adds a catch: a wall that gets new studs, a new header or jack stud, or even furring counts as altered, while stripping drywall and running new wiring does not.

  • A whole-house remodel built around the kitchen

    Once a remodel and addition pass half of the home's existing gross floor area, garage included, the city wants a New House Determination request before going further. The building official classifies a project as New when it meets three of four criteria, and the memo lists what New can bring: fire sprinklers, frontage improvements, street trees, water-efficient landscaping, reach code and full electrification, solar and reassessment. The inspector re-measures the walls at rough frame. Where only partial wall lengths are counted, the memo wants at least 28 percent unaltered, ideally 30, not the bare 25.

  • A condo or townhome kitchen

    The remodel guide applies to interior remodels in apartment, condominium and townhome units as well. For interior work in a condominium or townhome, it requires a letter on the association's official letterhead, signed by an authorized representative such as the president or the property manager. The letter has to name the contractor and authorize the specific work, and the guide uses a kitchen remodel as its example. Ask the board for it early; the guide treats it as a required submittal.

  • A small kitchen for a junior ADU

    Turning part of the house into a junior accessory dwelling unit uses the same guide, with a tighter kitchen. Campbell limits it to a bar sink with a waste line no larger than one and a half inches, and to cooking appliances that need neither natural or propane gas nor electrical service above 120 volts. The guide's own example is a two-burner electric or induction range, so a full-size range, a gas cooktop or a 240-volt oven is off the table in that space.

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The Ainsley House in Campbell
The Ainsley House in Campbell. Photo: JaGa, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Sixty-year-old kitchens, heavy termites and condos under HOAs

Much of Campbell was built in the 1960s, when its population doubled, so a typical kitchen here sits in a wood-frame house of that decade with drywall walls, while the Alice Avenue district keeps a group of 1920s bungalows. The city's remodel guide asks every cover sheet to record local design data, and one line matters for kitchens: the termite level is listed as heavy. That links straight to the building official's New versus Remodel memo, which names studs or beams replaced for termite damage or dry rot as a common reason a remodel gets reclassified as a new house. Condominiums and townhomes add a different step, because the same guide wants the homeowners association to sign off on interior work before the permit is accepted.

Free request

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Get quotes for remodeling work in Campbell

Two short steps. A local pro who takes this work calls or texts you back.

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Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

Permits and local rules

Campbell code sections a kitchen plan runs into

  • New versus Remodel, under Chapter 18.32

    Campbell's Building Official explains the test in a May 2026 memo. A remodel becomes a new dwelling using portions of the original structure when three of four conditions are met: a valuation above the code's figure; 75 percent or more of the roof framing removed; and 75 percent or more of the exterior walls, or of the interior walls, by length, removed, altered, filled in or rebuilt. A window, door or fireplace added, removed, filled in or resized makes its wall altered. If drawings hide work that is later found in the field, the project can be stopped and sent back to plan check as a new house.

    Source: City of Campbell Building Inspection Division (campbellca.gov)

  • Air quality and NOx limits, Chapter 6.13

    Added by Ordinance 2316 in September 2024, the chapter caps NOx from stoves, ovens, water heaters, furnaces, fireplaces and clothes dryers at zero nanograms per joule, but only in newly constructed structures and new structures that reuse parts of an old one. A remodel that stays a remodel is outside it, and the city's electrification page says Campbell does not regulate existing buildings. Limited exemptions exist, for example when a ten-year life-cycle cost analysis puts a compliant appliance 50 percent or more above a NOx-emitting one; where one is granted, electric service still has to reach the appliance location.

    Campbell Municipal Code, Chapter 6.13 (opens in a new tab)

  • Hours of construction, Section 18.04.052

    Contractors may work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, with no construction on Sundays or federal holidays. Noise above 50 decibels that bothers neighbors, such as unmuffled compressors or a generator left running, is not allowed even within those hours. An owner doing the work alone under a homeowner permit gets wider hours: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays and holidays.

    Campbell Municipal Code, Chapter 18.04 (opens in a new tab)

  • Construction debris, Chapters 6.04 and 6.12

    Chapter 6.04 lets only a hauler under contract with the West Valley Solid Waste Management Authority collect construction and demolition debris in Campbell, keeps that debris in roll-off containers, and keeps those boxes off the street or alley unless the city approves. The city's waste-tracking handout says a single-family remodel that adds no conditioned space needs no waste management plan. Self-hauling means the contractor's own logoed bins and an approved facility, and Section 18.04.035 lets the city clear debris left in the right of way for more than 12 hours, at the permit holder's expense.

    Campbell Municipal Code, Chapter 6.04 (opens in a new tab)

State license for this work: B General Building, B-2 Residential Remodeling. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

Timing

Weeks of plan check, then a clock on the permit

Campbell reviews remodel plans with several departments at once: Building, with a third-party plan-check consultant, Planning, Land Development Engineering and the Santa Clara County Fire District, whose comments come back together. The remodel guide asks applicants to allow at least four to six weeks for the first plan check and two to four weeks for each later round. The plan-check invoice has to be paid within two business days or the application is rejected, an application expires if no permit is issued within 180 days, and an issued permit lapses without a passed inspection every 180 days.

Before you hire

Questions for a Campbell kitchen contractor

  • Which walls will lose or gain studs, plates or headers, and how much unaltered wall stays in the New versus Remodel count?
  • If termite damage or dry rot turns up at demolition, how would replacing those studs change the classification?
  • Who uploads the plans to MGO and pays the plan-check invoice within the two business days the city allows?
  • Does the contractor hold a current City of Campbell business license and an active B license at cslb.ca.gov, which a wall removal needs, rather than only B-2?
  • Which approved debris hauler or self-haul bin will be used, and where will the box sit off the street?

Free, no obligation. Next, add your details in the request form.

Questions

Campbell kitchen questions, from gas lines to debris boxes

Can we keep a gas range in our Campbell kitchen remodel?

Yes, as long as the project stays a remodel. Chapter 6.13's zero-NOx limit on stoves and ovens applies only to new structures, including a remodel reclassified as new under the city's three-of-four test. Campbell's electrification page says the city does not regulate existing buildings. If you switch anyway, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, the city's electricity provider, offers rebates for replacing a gas cooktop or range with induction in an existing home.

What hours can a crew work on our Campbell kitchen?

Section 18.04.052 allows construction from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, with nothing on Sundays or federal holidays. Loud equipment over 50 decibels that bothers neighbors is barred even during those hours. If you are doing the work yourself as owner under a homeowner permit, the hours are wider, starting at 6 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays.

Does a Campbell kitchen remodel need a waste management plan?

Not if it adds no conditioned space. The city's waste-tracking handout says single-family remodels without new conditioned area need no plan, and the permit application asks you to enter REMODEL ONLY where it requests a Green Halo number. The debris still has to leave in a box from a hauler the West Valley Solid Waste Management Authority has approved, or in the contractor's own logoed bins to an approved facility.

We own a townhome in Campbell. What does the HOA have to provide?

A letter on the association's official letterhead, signed by an authorized representative such as the president or property manager, that names your contractor and specifically authorizes the work, for example a kitchen remodel. Campbell's remodel guide requires it for any interior work in a condominium or townhome, so the building application is not complete without it.

Our Campbell house is on the historic inventory. Will the new kitchen be reviewed?

Not for the interior. The city's answer is that changes inside a historic home have the same requirements as in any other house. Work that changes the outside appearance is different: a new window over the sink on a street-facing wall, for instance, falls under the historic review levels, so settle exterior changes with the Planning Division before the building plans are drawn.

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

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