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

In the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 387 building permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 0 days, the same as a year earlier. Of the 297 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 109 days of being issued, down from 182 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	387 issued	0	420 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	297 finished	109	298 finished	182

“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	4	0			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	102	67	0	55	13	8	25	0	too recent
2026-Q2	118	96	0	52	39	30	108	0	too recent
2026-Q1	112	104	0	80	52	46	173	0	too recent
2025-Q4	126	120	0	60	84	60	198	0	too recent
2025-Q3	134	128	0	54	85	74	242	0	too recent
2025-Q2	112	107	0	84	65	122	338	0	too recent
2025-Q1	100	91	1	109	65	123	295	0	too recent
2024-Q4	101	94	0	75	69	85	317	0	too recent
2024-Q3	107	100	0	64	76	131	389	0	yes
2024-Q2	121	114	0	108	82	102	365	0	yes
2024-Q1	97	95	0	31	70	87	476	0	yes
2023-Q4	96	86	0	74	69	175	632	2	yes
2023-Q3	102	93	2	112	67	203	656	30	yes
2023-Q2	129	122	0	146	92	136	607	18	yes
2023-Q1	72	64	0	25	61	189	647	4	yes
2022-Q4	119	112	4	223	78	239	634	25	yes
2022-Q3	93	88	0	61	70	167	600	13	yes
2022-Q2	112	107	1	105	79	218	781	24	yes
2022-Q1	121	109	0	198	93	197	703	17	yes
2021-Q4	123	113	1	75	92	184	664	18	yes
2021-Q3	125	118	3	224	90	222	775	18	yes
2021-Q2	119	110	4	170	82	195	733	26	yes
2021-Q1	116	111	3	162	85	317	867	22	yes
2020-Q4	107	100	26	145	76	143	774	23	yes
2020-Q3	108	94	4	205	58	140	604	44	yes
2020-Q2	65	52	6	67	18	141	404	41	yes
2020-Q1	154	148	0	132	82	162	569	62	yes
2019-Q4	231	188	0	94	95	238	906	116	yes
2019-Q3	215	207	0	109	92	188	975	114	yes
2019-Q2	225	216	0	17	102	130	782	111	yes
2019-Q1	136	127	0	22	64	140	777	63	yes
2018-Q4	179	171	0	49	79	219	874	87	yes
2018-Q3	190	186	0	60	96	184	831	83	yes
2018-Q2	186	178	0	28	83	121	781	93	yes
2018-Q1	175	171	0	45	79	165	741	84	yes
2017-Q4	200	189	0	35	99	175	720	89	yes
2017-Q3	229	216	0	294	126	169	742	87	yes
2017-Q2	192	184	0	63	107	175	613	72	yes
2017-Q1	147	142	0	19	69	144	667	72	yes
2016-Q4	174	167	0	102	86	120	564	77	yes
2016-Q3	213	208	0	72	109	161	614	92	yes
2016-Q2	193	186	0	32	100	160	435	84	yes
2016-Q1	149	142	0	91	77	168	686	65	yes
2015-Q4	193	185	0	57	84	160	713	98	yes
2015-Q3	214	207	0	70	107	140	752	89	yes
2015-Q2	182	173	0	38	97	153	660	66	yes
2015-Q1	175	169	0	70	100	194	607	60	yes
2014-Q4	188	175	0	91	92	226	622	75	yes
2014-Q3	172	166	0	36	101	156	728	58	yes
2014-Q2	212	203	0	103	121	158	659	72	yes
2014-Q1	146	138	0	63	80	82	661	53	yes
2013-Q4	159	153	0	42	89	127	412	60	yes
2013-Q3	196	191	0	20	111	154	569	72	yes
2013-Q2	163	159	0	26	89	125	589	65	yes
2013-Q1	135	133	0	67	68	126	565	64	yes
2012-Q4	156	149	0	38	88	188	467	60	yes
2012-Q3	172	169	0	45	97	162	558	61	yes
2012-Q2	147	143	0	47	76	184	531	58	yes
2012-Q1	136	133	0	96	83	138	684	50	yes
2011-Q4	110	106	0	24	55	62	703	48	yes
2011-Q3	161	157	0	30	88	145	497	63	yes
2011-Q2	176	171	0	49	89	129	561	73	yes
2011-Q1	164	156	0	25	101	161	574	56	yes
2010-Q4	159	156	0	33	85	137	462	68	yes
2010-Q3	165	158	0	15	87	148	376	69	yes
2010-Q2	177	173	0	63	99	128	491	71	yes
2010-Q1	130	128	0	48	73	134	442	46	yes
2009-Q4	124	122	0	9	69	84	404	47	yes
2009-Q3	161	156	0	6	89	91	394	59	yes
2009-Q2	141	136	0	13	78	59	376	43	yes
2009-Q1	128	123	0	12	71	84	574	46	yes
2008-Q4	154	149	0	9	75	102	472	63	yes
2008-Q3	205	196	0	2	95	111	744	86	yes
2008-Q2	192	187	0	14	84	108	294	84	yes
2008-Q1	177	165	0	13	80	120	303	70	yes
2007-Q4	152	147	0	65	59	98	469	74	yes
2007-Q3	184	175	0	14	82	97	354	82	yes
2007-Q2	189	186	0	1	80	98	396	82	yes
2007-Q1	165	162	0	0	78	127	500	70	yes
2006-Q4	165	159	0	0	72	134	401	70	yes
2006-Q3	194	192	0	27	94	124	436	83	yes
2006-Q2	174	173	0	20	86	106	374	66	yes
2006-Q1	158	157	0	124	87	111	367	48	yes
2005-Q4	171	168	0	0	88	102	382	49	yes
2005-Q3	205	200	0	0	88	88	286	62	yes
2005-Q2	181	179	0	0	75	105	389	66	yes
2005-Q1	159	155	0	0	68	94	226	56	yes
2004-Q4	164	162	0	0	83	86	408	51	yes
2004-Q3	192	189	0	3	89	123	387	50	yes
2004-Q2	193	188	0	12	93	81	266	45	yes
2004-Q1	148	146	0	67	71	70	255	36	yes
2003-Q4	151	148	0	36	63	66	205	45	yes
2003-Q3	207	205	0	239	81	96	287	68	yes
2003-Q2	181	178	0	43	103	93	323	37	yes
2003-Q1	111	110	0	56	55	94	310	28	yes
2002-Q4	109	107	0	58	50	98	238	43	yes
2002-Q3	146	140	0	175	61	82	314	34	yes
2002-Q2	150	148	0	57	72	98	350	10	yes
2002-Q1	126	124	0	48	61	92	356	12	yes
2001-Q4	112	111	0	45	53	132	484	2	yes
2001-Q3	118	116	0	45	58	164	319	4	yes
2001-Q2	137	133	0	124	86	112	326	4	yes
2001-Q1	103	100	0	68	64	111	284	3	yes
2000-Q4	122	118	0	70	72	138	411	1	yes
2000-Q3	134	128	0	40	67	116	367	1	yes
2000-Q2	201	189	0	32	123	161	385	1	yes
2000-Q1	187	177	0	83	83	210	437	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

5,114 of the 16,388 building permits filed since 2000 (31%) 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 Presidio Heights neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (2,186 filed, 1,601 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (1,790 filed, 1,292 finished; contractors); stairs (954 filed, 639 finished; contractors); deck (617 filed, 395 finished; contractors); roof deck (172 filed, 112 finished; contractors). Other types: 12,277 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Presidio, Lone Mountain/USF, Inner Richmond; 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.