How to read these records
Where the data comes from
Two public datasets from the City and County of San Francisco: Building Permits, and Building Permits Contacts, which lists the contractor attached to each permit. The site reloads both every night. It covers permits filed since 1 January 2000, in San Francisco only.
What a license number means here
It is the contractor license number written on the permit. This site does not check the license with the state. It cannot tell you whether a license is active, what work it covers, or whether the contractor is bonded and insured. Check that with the Contractors State License Board.
Permit outcomes
- Completed
- final inspection signed off
- In progress
- filed or issued within the last 3 years
- Never finaled
- issued over 3 years ago with no final sign-off
- Expired or cancelled
- expired, cancelled, withdrawn, revoked or denied
About a quarter of permits are never finaled. Often the work was done and nobody called for the final inspection, so it is a weaker signal than an expired permit.
How contractors are ranked
By completed permits as a share of permits with an outcome, adjusted so that 9 of 9 ranks above 2 of 2. Permits still in progress do not count for or against.
What the record cannot show
A completed permit means the city signed off. It says nothing about workmanship, price or how the client felt. The contractor on a permit may be the general contractor for a larger job. Project types are matched by keywords in the permit description, so some permits are missed and some are wrongly included.