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

In the Seacliff neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 125 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 128 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 172 days of being issued, up from 151 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	125 issued	0	161 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	128 finished	172	73 finished	151

“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	33	23	0	34	2			0	too recent
2026-Q2	50	47	0	18	21	24	85	0	too recent
2026-Q1	29	27	0	14	14	54	204	0	too recent
2025-Q4	31	28	0	89	11	49	159	0	too recent
2025-Q3	46	46	0	100	26	73	258	0	too recent
2025-Q2	50	48	3	29	31	80	323	0	too recent
2025-Q1	40	38	0	40	27	139	453	0	too recent
2024-Q4	31	29	0	118	14	112	266	0	too recent
2024-Q3	51	50	1	44	40	185	339	0	yes
2024-Q2	48	45	0	22	36	186	443	0	yes
2024-Q1	46	45	0	27	35	105	615	0	yes
2023-Q4	26	24	0	222	17	220	700	0	yes
2023-Q3	26	23	1	276	17	84	766	5	yes
2023-Q2	34	30	0	139	20	142	791	9	yes
2023-Q1	35	33	0	63	22	206	459	10	yes
2022-Q4	28	25	1	316	14	230	466	10	yes
2022-Q3	39	36	0	164	24	116	426	9	yes
2022-Q2	40	35	1	85	18	186	695	14	yes
2022-Q1	31	31	1	272	21	213	1,162	8	yes
2021-Q4	27	27	0	75	20	247	740	4	yes
2021-Q3	26	23	0	347	17	263	1,240	7	yes
2021-Q2	25	24	0	72	18	308	1,030	4	yes
2021-Q1	33	30	19	172	21	257	629	8	yes
2020-Q4	18	16	4	217	13	85	1,145	3	yes
2020-Q3	40	40	2	102	28	122	621	10	yes
2020-Q2	18	16	5	11	13	171	1,431	4	yes
2020-Q1	36	34	0	473	13	110	349	17	yes
2019-Q4	33	32	0	292	18	210	590	12	yes
2019-Q3	53	51	0	5	22	204	596	28	yes
2019-Q2	65	62	0	56	32	170	617	28	yes
2019-Q1	43	43	0	42	26	205	1,064	12	yes
2018-Q4	46	45	0	188	27	430	904	18	yes
2018-Q3	45	43	0	15	22	208	413	21	yes
2018-Q2	38	37	0	410	21	71	893	13	yes
2018-Q1	46	44	0	35	22	153	574	17	yes
2017-Q4	38	37	0	59	17	168	377	19	yes
2017-Q3	49	48	0	441	28	196	967	18	yes
2017-Q2	52	51	0	50	34	293	953	13	yes
2017-Q1	45	45	0	123	24	157	1,981	19	yes
2016-Q4	53	53	0	27	26	140	629	22	yes
2016-Q3	58	55	0	41	31	160	334	21	yes
2016-Q2	57	51	0	26	28	185	428	19	yes
2016-Q1	44	43	0	98	29	155	384	11	yes
2015-Q4	40	36	0	140	19	111	998	16	yes
2015-Q3	79	77	0	56	52	188	610	21	yes
2015-Q2	45	43	0	33	28	198	505	14	yes
2015-Q1	45	44	0	77	29	215	734	13	yes
2014-Q4	39	38	0	6	26	210	699	10	yes
2014-Q3	51	47	0	49	35	205	654	9	yes
2014-Q2	46	46	0	174	29	190	683	12	yes
2014-Q1	37	37	0	40	24	274	689	10	yes
2013-Q4	44	42	0	38	27	223	609	13	yes
2013-Q3	37	34	0	41	18	136	422	14	yes
2013-Q2	43	40	0	94	25	213	655	13	yes
2013-Q1	40	40	0	66	21	148	498	14	yes
2012-Q4	49	48	0	8	26	267	598	20	yes
2012-Q3	45	44	0	25	31	157	765	10	yes
2012-Q2	41	40	2	186	27	203	838	11	yes
2012-Q1	40	39	0	67	28	134	571	8	yes
2011-Q4	46	45	0	45	30	91	390	13	yes
2011-Q3	61	56	0	54	39	145	711	13	yes
2011-Q2	35	34	0	152	26	65	536	6	yes
2011-Q1	26	26	0	200	16	290	586	7	yes
2010-Q4	30	30	1	105	15	267	785	12	yes
2010-Q3	41	39	0	34	26	286	726	10	yes
2010-Q2	46	42	0	20	23	118	508	20	yes
2010-Q1	34	33	0	6	20	130	406	13	yes
2009-Q4	47	47	0	13	30	126	456	15	yes
2009-Q3	39	39	0	3	20	152	351	16	yes
2009-Q2	51	51	0	11	22	226	396	27	yes
2009-Q1	48	46	0	68	33	86	391	12	yes
2008-Q4	40	39	0	10	24	172	400	14	yes
2008-Q3	59	56	0	2	32	156	440	22	yes
2008-Q2	67	62	0	39	37	92	529	18	yes
2008-Q1	64	63	0	9	33	101	352	26	yes
2007-Q4	62	58	0	10	34	32	179	18	yes
2007-Q3	60	59	0	39	32	112	322	15	yes
2007-Q2	77	75	0	0	41	101	269	23	yes
2007-Q1	47	47	0	88	22	44	304	10	yes
2006-Q4	53	53	0	85	35	85	337	11	yes
2006-Q3	53	53	0	0	31	93	366	16	yes
2006-Q2	52	52	0	0	30	127	335	10	yes
2006-Q1	41	40	0	5	24	88	301	8	yes
2005-Q4	42	41	0	59	11	150	298	9	yes
2005-Q3	60	60	0	0	35	96	278	7	yes
2005-Q2	63	63	0	0	33	123	207	10	yes
2005-Q1	57	56	0	0	33	76	347	10	yes
2004-Q4	39	38	0	79	18	106	234	7	yes
2004-Q3	53	53	0	53	28	138	317	11	yes
2004-Q2	56	56	0	39	26	154	372	16	yes
2004-Q1	63	62	0	13	32	133	327	14	yes
2003-Q4	44	43	0	0	19	162	615	8	yes
2003-Q3	69	69	0	26	34	72	219	9	yes
2003-Q2	70	69	0	63	38	126	421	6	yes
2003-Q1	34	33	0	143	19	53	123	4	yes
2002-Q4	36	35	0	149	18	104	338	7	yes
2002-Q3	48	47	0	39	15	92	319	7	yes
2002-Q2	57	56	0	4	26	122	230	10	yes
2002-Q1	48	47	0	31	28	99	262	3	yes
2001-Q4	49	49	0	79	29	76	370	2	yes
2001-Q3	40	40	0	28	21	34	250	0	yes
2001-Q2	49	48	0	169	31	113	451	2	yes
2001-Q1	49	45	0	16	26	121	245	1	yes
2000-Q4	50	44	0	173	17	98	333	2	yes
2000-Q3	51	48	0	30	17	124	320	0	yes
2000-Q2	67	64	0	134	29	121	479	0	yes
2000-Q1	54	54	0	32	19	75	340	0	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

1,121 of the 4,854 building permits filed since 2000 (23%) 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 Seacliff neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (763 filed, 503 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (548 filed, 369 finished; contractors); stairs (345 filed, 210 finished; contractors); deck (289 filed, 181 finished; contractors); roof deck (79 filed, 44 finished; contractors). Other types: 3,420 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Outer Richmond, Lincoln Park, 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.