How long do building permits take in San Francisco's Lakeshore neighborhood?

In the Lakeshore neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 165 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 28 days, up from 8 days a year earlier. Of the 61 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 95 days of being issued, up from 88 days the year before.

From the city’s permit records, by the quarter each permit was filed. Data as of 8 October 2026. How to cite this · How this is calculated

How long until a permit is issued, and until final sign-off?

This chart as an image (SVG), with its title, source and date, free to embed under CC BY 4.0.

At a glance

Stage	Permits filed	Permits counted	Median days	Counted a year earlier	Median a year earlier
Filed to permit issued	October 2025 through September 2026	165 issued	28	116 issued	8
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	61 finished	95	66 finished	88

“Counted” is the permits the median was taken over: those filed in the window that have been issued, or that have reached final sign-off. The first stage covers the last four complete quarters, since most permits are issued within the year. The second covers the last four quarters that ended two or more years ago, so that most of their permits have had time to finish. Citywide, the median was 0 days to issue and 98 days from issue to final over the same quarters.

Every quarter since 2000

Quarter filed	Filed	Issued	Median days to issue	Slowest 10%	Reached final	Median days issue to final	Slowest 10%	Never finaled	Settled
2026-Q4	2	2			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	28	19	16	30	4			0	too recent
2026-Q2	40	36	2	29	16	20	69	0	too recent
2026-Q1	27	25	2	70	17	21	52	0	too recent
2025-Q4	99	85	129	183	33	49	170	0	too recent
2025-Q3	59	57	9	325	25	26	148	0	too recent
2025-Q2	30	27	13	104	25	101	234	0	too recent
2025-Q1	15	14	0	47	10	104	169	0	too recent
2024-Q4	18	18	38	176	14	182	240	0	too recent
2024-Q3	24	22	0	24	18	40	320	0	yes
2024-Q2	23	23	1	34	16	129	266	0	yes
2024-Q1	21	18	5	86	13	130	326	0	yes
2023-Q4	20	20	5	216	14	73	242	0	yes
2023-Q3	25	24	6	190	16	80	274	6	yes
2023-Q2	27	27	2	57	20	74	208	7	yes
2023-Q1	26	25	1	79	15	134	439	10	yes
2022-Q4	34	28	10	225	15	103	277	16	yes
2022-Q3	23	23	6	204	13	141	409	10	yes
2022-Q2	20	19	21	94	12	110	234	7	yes
2022-Q1	14	14	72	569	10	176	501	2	yes
2021-Q4	15	13	0	54	10	148	437	3	yes
2021-Q3	28	27	0	33	19	136	422	8	yes
2021-Q2	35	34	32	59	18	123	309	16	yes
2021-Q1	32	30	66	364	13	34	255	18	yes
2020-Q4	35	33	49	217	22	151	399	11	yes
2020-Q3	33	29	40	183	22	180	383	7	yes
2020-Q2	27	26	37	114	15	576	677	10	yes
2020-Q1	22	20	8	229	10	200	624	10	yes
2019-Q4	24	22	5	482	20	239	855	2	yes
2019-Q3	21	20	2	196	15	176	657	4	yes
2019-Q2	26	25	1	121	19	90	485	6	yes
2019-Q1	34	32	14	213	27	143	998	6	yes
2018-Q4	16	16	5	42	9	92	314	7	yes
2018-Q3	30	29	21	150	20	143	507	8	yes
2018-Q2	32	30	0	69	23	73	327	7	yes
2018-Q1	38	37	12	69	18	48	515	19	yes
2017-Q4	19	19	0	130	14	173	916	4	yes
2017-Q3	26	23	5	41	15	92	654	7	yes
2017-Q2	24	21	0	137	12	202	350	11	yes
2017-Q1	42	42	2	53	21	116	415	20	yes
2016-Q4	44	40	7	100	23	147	263	17	yes
2016-Q3	72	72	4	20	31	80	341	41	yes
2016-Q2	77	74	14	104	47	288	406	26	yes
2016-Q1	54	52	0	61	29	306	560	22	yes
2015-Q4	96	85	14	91	43	375	684	48	yes
2015-Q3	41	39	7	181	14	264	666	23	yes
2015-Q2	103	101	12	129	70	300	427	28	yes
2015-Q1	107	105	6	75	62	257	368	43	yes
2014-Q4	49	49	2	59	25	76	187	24	yes
2014-Q3	47	44	0	59	27	80	234	17	yes
2014-Q2	64	59	31	245	47	250	308	13	yes
2014-Q1	35	31	2	179	17	76	356	14	yes
2013-Q4	45	41	4	113	26	80	314	15	yes
2013-Q3	41	39	0	219	28	62	308	11	yes
2013-Q2	58	56	0	32	42	72	185	14	yes
2013-Q1	25	24	29	288	16	88	302	7	yes
2012-Q4	26	25	0	83	16	50	94	7	yes
2012-Q3	53	50	0	391	37	99	452	10	yes
2012-Q2	54	49	1	55	41	54	96	6	yes
2012-Q1	29	29	0	89	19	72	128	8	yes
2011-Q4	15	14	2	39	12	48	90	1	yes
2011-Q3	17	17	1	48	10	50	146	5	yes
2011-Q2	19	18	0	53	12	63	127	2	yes
2011-Q1	25	21	0	14	17	50	177	3	yes
2010-Q4	26	24	1	133	14	64	311	8	yes
2010-Q3	33	31	0	60	21	53	162	7	yes
2010-Q2	25	23	0	84	13	35	132	10	yes
2010-Q1	33	29	0	30	17	81	249	11	yes
2009-Q4	27	25	0	45	15	70	240	9	yes
2009-Q3	27	26	2	115	17	42	122	8	yes
2009-Q2	39	38	0	13	24	84	263	13	yes
2009-Q1	27	27	0	29	16	76	292	6	yes
2008-Q4	26	26	0	4	20	21	61	4	yes
2008-Q3	25	22	0	58	16	43	128	5	yes
2008-Q2	40	39	0	51	24	96	160	12	yes
2008-Q1	36	36	0	3	21	112	239	13	yes
2007-Q4	43	43	1	27	29	124	337	10	yes
2007-Q3	48	46	0	120	32	62	249	11	yes
2007-Q2	27	27	0	3	13	59	123	7	yes
2007-Q1	32	32	0	26	17	71	495	5	yes
2006-Q4	124	124	97	98	79	209	392	36	yes
2006-Q3	22	20	0	50	11	99	329	3	yes
2006-Q2	28	28	0	85	15	63	155	12	yes
2006-Q1	26	25	0	27	11	43	98	10	yes
2005-Q4	16	16	0	0	10	44	90	6	yes
2005-Q3	28	23	0	2	14	51	72	5	yes
2005-Q2	21	21	0	28	8	18	49	9	yes
2005-Q1	14	14	0	211	8	60	878	5	yes
2004-Q4	10	9	0	5	5	110	245	2	yes
2004-Q3	22	22	0	33	8	87	110	12	yes
2004-Q2	29	29	0	38	10	110	231	12	yes
2004-Q1	35	35	0	67	15	79	179	13	yes
2003-Q4	22	21	0	76	9	88	217	7	yes
2003-Q3	31	31	0	49	15	59	132	11	yes
2003-Q2	30	27	0	31	14	158	240	11	yes
2003-Q1	21	21	46	186	17	106	351	3	yes
2002-Q4	24	24	0	258	14	248	364	5	yes
2002-Q3	15	15	0	120	8	206	335	6	yes
2002-Q2	25	25	0	0	16	67	171	3	yes
2002-Q1	34	33	0	35	21	60	208	2	yes
2001-Q4	59	44	0	94	27	71	212	12	yes
2001-Q3	32	32	0	27	19	143	381	0	yes
2001-Q2	41	41	0	64	24	178	268	1	yes
2001-Q1	29	29	0	119	12	310	448	1	yes
2000-Q4	18	18	0	111	11	373	403	2	yes
2000-Q3	21	20	0	12	8	72	118	1	yes
2000-Q2	34	33	0	41	19	99	323	2	yes
2000-Q1	28	26	0	98	17	59	217	1	yes

A blank median means fewer than 5 permits behind it: issued permits for the first stage, and for the second, finished permits whose final is dated after their issue (a permit never issued has no span). “Slowest 10%” is the 90th percentile: one permit in ten took at least this long. Download the table as CSV or JSON; both carry the source, license and data date.

What the numbers leave out

979 of the 3,683 building permits filed since 2000 (27%) have no final sign-off 3 years after they were issued or, if never issued, filed. A median over finished permits understates the real wait: the permits that never finish are not in it. Citywide, 798 of 801,386 permits since 2000 (0%) name no neighborhood and count in the city's figures only. Inspection records are not yet included: “final sign-off” is the city’s own completion date on the permit.

Project types in San Francisco's Lakeshore neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: kitchen remodel (120 filed, 80 finished; contractors); bathroom remodel (79 filed, 57 finished; contractors); stairs (52 filed, 35 finished; contractors). Other types: 3,456 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside, West of Twin Peaks, Sunset/Parkside; all of San Francisco; every neighborhood compared.

How this is calculated

Approved means the city issued the permit: the permit’s issue date. The first stage counts days from the filing date to the issue date, over permits issued on or after they were filed. Final sign-off means the city’s own status for the permit is “complete”, with its completion date; this site does not yet read inspection records, so the inspection date is not a separate stage. The second stage counts days from the issue date to the completion date, over permits that have reached it.

Permits are grouped by the quarter they were filed. A quarter’s median counts only its permits that have finished the stage, so recent quarters look faster than they will end up: their slow permits have not finished yet. Quarters that ended two or more years ago are marked settled; the rest are shaded in the chart. The headline’s first stage uses the last four complete quarters; its second uses the last four settled quarters.

The median is the middle permit: half took less, half more. The slowest 10% is the 90th percentile. A median needs at least 5 permits behind it, or it is left out. A project type is shown apart within a neighborhood only when it has 30 or more finished permits there; the rest are “other types”.

Never finaled means no final sign-off three years after the permit was issued (or filed, if never issued), and not expired, cancelled, withdrawn, revoked, disapproved, denied or suspended (the site’s “expired or cancelled” outcome). About a quarter of permits citywide end this way; often the work was done and nobody called for the final inspection. These permits are in the counts and not in the medians.

A permit’s neighborhood is the Analysis Neighborhood the city writes on the permit record (the official set of 41). Permits with none are counted citywide only; the page says how many. “Nearby” neighborhoods are the three nearest by the center of their permits. The site reloads the city’s data every night; permits filed since 1 January 2000 are included. The placement of a permit, its dates and its status are the city’s; the grouping and the words are this site’s. How to read these records.