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

In the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 417 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 1 day, up from 0 days a year earlier. Of the 323 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 107 days of being issued, down from 137 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	417 issued	1	478 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	323 finished	107	347 finished	137

“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	7	2			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	111	83	0	19	17	10	54	0	too recent
2026-Q2	122	103	9	35	50	54	124	0	too recent
2026-Q1	128	118	1	38	82	56	156	0	too recent
2025-Q4	125	113	1	141	63	66	213	0	too recent
2025-Q3	128	118	0	78	81	69	293	0	too recent
2025-Q2	127	120	0	109	83	63	273	0	too recent
2025-Q1	139	126	1	127	83	73	288	0	too recent
2024-Q4	123	114	0	83	84	82	357	0	too recent
2024-Q3	122	120	0	33	78	80	356	0	yes
2024-Q2	132	120	0	74	93	136	357	0	yes
2024-Q1	94	90	0	54	77	88	554	0	yes
2023-Q4	107	97	1	79	75	110	359	3	yes
2023-Q3	160	147	0	78	97	106	465	46	yes
2023-Q2	137	122	1	137	92	136	427	28	yes
2023-Q1	106	99	1	78	79	103	433	13	yes
2022-Q4	113	100	1	181	79	201	663	22	yes
2022-Q3	146	136	0	107	106	166	546	27	yes
2022-Q2	144	126	1	401	89	114	491	34	yes
2022-Q1	125	108	1	305	82	196	549	21	yes
2021-Q4	126	115	1	101	86	176	740	27	yes
2021-Q3	102	83	0	203	65	158	581	20	yes
2021-Q2	150	138	0	107	99	112	514	38	yes
2021-Q1	129	120	0	327	84	155	727	30	yes
2020-Q4	129	112	26	253	96	202	864	18	yes
2020-Q3	137	128	4	150	94	112	508	38	yes
2020-Q2	70	60	10	247	37	154	963	27	yes
2020-Q1	174	160	0	151	84	234	772	73	yes
2019-Q4	224	207	0	99	110	222	768	98	yes
2019-Q3	241	225	0	66	122	210	862	97	yes
2019-Q2	244	218	0	56	133	109	836	90	yes
2019-Q1	205	200	0	44	114	157	979	83	yes
2018-Q4	225	209	0	136	118	128	942	92	yes
2018-Q3	207	200	0	164	107	186	929	90	yes
2018-Q2	223	207	0	91	115	185	991	85	yes
2018-Q1	194	183	0	215	96	143	682	81	yes
2017-Q4	169	159	0	60	83	133	994	70	yes
2017-Q3	221	210	0	62	104	134	669	95	yes
2017-Q2	179	166	0	88	89	186	580	75	yes
2017-Q1	177	166	0	196	102	200	898	61	yes
2016-Q4	156	140	0	142	75	147	1,337	58	yes
2016-Q3	176	169	0	135	95	162	426	65	yes
2016-Q2	154	144	0	204	92	129	789	51	yes
2016-Q1	186	170	0	149	105	172	1,128	60	yes
2015-Q4	161	152	0	189	93	248	899	58	yes
2015-Q3	190	177	0	57	104	158	739	66	yes
2015-Q2	161	153	0	64	99	169	1,051	50	yes
2015-Q1	184	175	0	246	119	142	966	49	yes
2014-Q4	164	155	0	125	88	170	1,128	67	yes
2014-Q3	182	172	0	86	115	184	1,356	54	yes
2014-Q2	187	180	0	255	128	126	715	47	yes
2014-Q1	146	141	0	940	88	168	944	46	yes
2013-Q4	159	156	0	332	108	139	890	40	yes
2013-Q3	177	169	0	18	123	68	408	43	yes
2013-Q2	186	176	0	50	114	83	583	60	yes
2013-Q1	121	116	0	90	86	116	546	24	yes
2012-Q4	126	120	0	139	72	132	488	42	yes
2012-Q3	130	127	0	56	79	106	616	45	yes
2012-Q2	130	124	0	45	83	92	548	35	yes
2012-Q1	87	86	0	92	58	122	539	25	yes
2011-Q4	124	117	0	127	79	105	581	35	yes
2011-Q3	147	141	0	23	86	90	527	52	yes
2011-Q2	121	115	0	39	76	117	598	35	yes
2011-Q1	132	127	0	9	78	104	394	45	yes
2010-Q4	103	96	0	140	64	108	722	32	yes
2010-Q3	173	163	0	21	100	74	387	58	yes
2010-Q2	145	141	0	17	87	107	577	49	yes
2010-Q1	100	93	0	28	63	64	351	28	yes
2009-Q4	135	131	0	63	87	75	477	37	yes
2009-Q3	107	102	0	35	68	108	288	33	yes
2009-Q2	134	132	0	111	76	50	328	50	yes
2009-Q1	128	121	0	10	77	108	381	39	yes
2008-Q4	131	126	0	10	73	127	307	44	yes
2008-Q3	158	152	0	8	79	63	330	53	yes
2008-Q2	154	146	0	62	76	82	433	58	yes
2008-Q1	135	123	0	6	59	79	333	51	yes
2007-Q4	137	122	0	162	52	115	284	52	yes
2007-Q3	142	136	0	32	64	96	468	57	yes
2007-Q2	148	145	0	55	76	92	388	49	yes
2007-Q1	141	140	0	75	55	70	348	57	yes
2006-Q4	116	113	0	17	62	86	276	35	yes
2006-Q3	153	149	0	69	69	75	346	39	yes
2006-Q2	142	140	0	50	76	88	280	39	yes
2006-Q1	134	130	0	51	68	94	341	40	yes
2005-Q4	133	132	0	13	58	114	351	53	yes
2005-Q3	145	142	0	46	73	123	422	41	yes
2005-Q2	140	135	0	53	69	117	420	40	yes
2005-Q1	136	129	0	50	70	120	438	38	yes
2004-Q4	142	141	0	66	72	84	288	39	yes
2004-Q3	160	149	0	23	72	90	552	50	yes
2004-Q2	155	152	0	36	89	125	455	49	yes
2004-Q1	172	168	0	100	93	82	304	53	yes
2003-Q4	170	166	0	128	93	74	457	39	yes
2003-Q3	201	195	0	63	110	74	368	55	yes
2003-Q2	146	142	0	165	88	97	347	28	yes
2003-Q1	113	111	0	146	63	70	242	20	yes
2002-Q4	135	130	0	306	63	118	362	30	yes
2002-Q3	172	163	0	82	84	78	344	35	yes
2002-Q2	176	169	0	119	104	66	277	12	yes
2002-Q1	124	119	0	56	58	84	357	9	yes
2001-Q4	105	102	0	71	61	91	360	3	yes
2001-Q3	121	116	0	110	52	121	437	2	yes
2001-Q2	160	156	0	142	86	144	458	4	yes
2001-Q1	139	135	0	234	74	112	816	7	yes
2000-Q4	135	128	0	113	63	118	552	1	yes
2000-Q3	167	159	0	156	84	149	547	4	yes
2000-Q2	176	168	0	221	98	121	461	3	yes
2000-Q1	136	123	0	148	58	153	874	2	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

4,151 of the 15,884 building permits filed since 2000 (26%) 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 Potrero Hill neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (1,780 filed, 1,238 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,479 filed, 1,013 finished; contractors); stairs (1,133 filed, 718 finished; contractors); deck (754 filed, 510 finished; contractors); roof deck (191 filed, 118 finished; contractors). Other types: 12,029 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Mission Bay, Mission, South of Market; 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.