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

In the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 167 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 146 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 70 days of being issued, down from 99 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	167 issued	0	217 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	146 finished	70	121 finished	99

“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	1	0			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	29	21	0	13	5	36	63	0	too recent
2026-Q2	72	62	2	26	25	34	81	0	too recent
2026-Q1	46	37	0	56	17	41	178	0	too recent
2025-Q4	50	47	0	97	31	48	185	0	too recent
2025-Q3	50	48	0	39	36	49	292	0	too recent
2025-Q2	53	53	0	32	37	47	306	0	too recent
2025-Q1	58	57	0	63	41	27	222	0	too recent
2024-Q4	62	59	0	22	45	44	271	0	too recent
2024-Q3	58	54	0	50	42	52	175	0	yes
2024-Q2	51	48	0	77	37	76	290	0	yes
2024-Q1	41	38	0	74	33	139	360	0	yes
2023-Q4	49	46	0	205	34	66	409	0	yes
2023-Q3	45	43	0	45	30	80	642	11	yes
2023-Q2	43	43	0	13	32	42	414	11	yes
2023-Q1	48	43	0	23	19	72	214	25	yes
2022-Q4	57	51	7	168	40	236	421	10	yes
2022-Q3	47	44	0	85	38	108	603	7	yes
2022-Q2	38	35	0	265	24	127	559	12	yes
2022-Q1	34	31	0	12	23	38	320	7	yes
2021-Q4	40	36	0	162	27	83	462	8	yes
2021-Q3	48	42	0	44	33	59	396	11	yes
2021-Q2	31	27	0	379	18	160	898	8	yes
2021-Q1	34	29	0	79	23	70	433	11	yes
2020-Q4	61	55	0	349	41	134	705	15	yes
2020-Q3	49	46	0	72	30	76	287	15	yes
2020-Q2	8	5	2	62	4			3	yes
2020-Q1	58	55	0	507	31	43	478	19	yes
2019-Q4	57	54	0	247	35	117	578	16	yes
2019-Q3	62	61	0	126	42	128	755	18	yes
2019-Q2	44	43	0	114	32	101	571	12	yes
2019-Q1	55	53	0	124	27	297	1,034	22	yes
2018-Q4	75	70	0	50	47	147	434	23	yes
2018-Q3	70	68	0	74	48	41	341	16	yes
2018-Q2	74	70	1	128	55	199	311	15	yes
2018-Q1	49	47	0	119	29	157	427	16	yes
2017-Q4	49	46	0	106	23	68	378	23	yes
2017-Q3	54	51	0	0	35	67	300	15	yes
2017-Q2	50	44	0	166	30	91	1,210	10	yes
2017-Q1	34	32	0	59	20	101	594	14	yes
2016-Q4	49	45	0	23	23	79	800	19	yes
2016-Q3	43	41	0	12	21	110	368	15	yes
2016-Q2	39	35	0	40	17	112	1,091	18	yes
2016-Q1	42	36	0	23	23	134	359	11	yes
2015-Q4	33	32	0	20	14	166	634	16	yes
2015-Q3	54	50	0	27	29	97	563	19	yes
2015-Q2	52	45	0	335	22	65	327	22	yes
2015-Q1	29	28	0	12	18	110	404	10	yes
2014-Q4	37	36	0	67	25	107	867	10	yes
2014-Q3	40	38	0	9	24	108	399	13	yes
2014-Q2	41	36	0	1,707	20	138	468	13	yes
2014-Q1	45	43	0	6	30	70	252	13	yes
2013-Q4	36	36	0	4	24	74	378	12	yes
2013-Q3	49	47	0	24	26	94	242	18	yes
2013-Q2	37	34	0	12	23	78	464	12	yes
2013-Q1	37	35	0	1	22	79	277	11	yes
2012-Q4	41	41	0	5	23	61	381	16	yes
2012-Q3	46	44	0	2	31	55	149	14	yes
2012-Q2	39	38	0	84	27	109	356	8	yes
2012-Q1	24	24	0	3	18	62	382	5	yes
2011-Q4	30	29	0	28	14	50	135	13	yes
2011-Q3	34	34	0	0	23	81	410	7	yes
2011-Q2	39	39	0	28	26	63	182	11	yes
2011-Q1	34	28	0	90	17	91	452	9	yes
2010-Q4	48	45	0	6	24	60	261	18	yes
2010-Q3	44	44	0	9	33	41	190	10	yes
2010-Q2	45	41	0	5	28	90	311	9	yes
2010-Q1	36	34	0	10	18	66	256	15	yes
2009-Q4	43	39	0	28	22	72	239	18	yes
2009-Q3	40	37	0	5	23	46	188	15	yes
2009-Q2	44	42	0	5	23	75	332	17	yes
2009-Q1	50	49	0	5	33	48	183	13	yes
2008-Q4	55	50	0	124	30	64	208	18	yes
2008-Q3	56	55	0	6	29	43	223	20	yes
2008-Q2	50	49	0	1	26	36	156	20	yes
2008-Q1	68	62	0	3	35	90	211	23	yes
2007-Q4	36	36	0	6	25	84	415	9	yes
2007-Q3	66	63	0	50	33	92	341	26	yes
2007-Q2	49	46	0	2	31	100	246	9	yes
2007-Q1	49	46	0	0	23	58	274	17	yes
2006-Q4	47	46	0	738	20	96	520	15	yes
2006-Q3	57	54	0	0	29	57	184	12	yes
2006-Q2	60	59	0	73	35	97	328	15	yes
2006-Q1	44	44	0	0	25	41	258	14	yes
2005-Q4	73	72	0	0	40	65	211	16	yes
2005-Q3	79	74	0	0	46	122	267	17	yes
2005-Q2	55	52	0	362	35	180	333	7	yes
2005-Q1	57	56	0	72	31	109	311	18	yes
2004-Q4	69	67	0	269	35	119	398	21	yes
2004-Q3	64	62	0	26	30	84	292	17	yes
2004-Q2	46	42	0	76	24	102	257	9	yes
2004-Q1	70	70	0	16	43	72	326	18	yes
2003-Q4	53	51	0	407	25	153	447	15	yes
2003-Q3	48	45	0	23	28	123	351	11	yes
2003-Q2	49	48	0	144	30	126	287	8	yes
2003-Q1	61	60	0	97	35	62	297	13	yes
2002-Q4	59	59	0	106	31	91	432	13	yes
2002-Q3	54	51	0	0	29	47	440	17	yes
2002-Q2	73	72	0	446	42	83	418	4	yes
2002-Q1	66	63	0	96	37	54	484	2	yes
2001-Q4	68	64	0	244	36	144	411	2	yes
2001-Q3	59	59	0	16	34	82	320	1	yes
2001-Q2	52	50	0	33	32	110	370	1	yes
2001-Q1	38	37	0	0	21	47	297	0	yes
2000-Q4	69	66	0	0	35	62	189	1	yes
2000-Q3	43	43	0	23	19	113	365	2	yes
2000-Q2	79	76	0	344	39	85	613	1	yes
2000-Q1	89	87	0	233	39	440	759	3	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

1,218 of the 5,344 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 Visitacion Valley neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (859 filed, 628 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (570 filed, 393 finished; contractors); stairs (237 filed, 147 finished; contractors); deck (213 filed, 141 finished; contractors). Other types: 3,988 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

McLaren Park, Portola, Excelsior; 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.