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

In the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 627 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 589 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 94 days of being issued, the same as 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	627 issued	0	728 issued	0
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	589 finished	94	528 finished	94

“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	6	2			0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	151	107	0	15	22	22	55	0	too recent
2026-Q2	181	156	0	40	70	28	100	0	too recent
2026-Q1	192	172	0	46	107	33	123	0	too recent
2025-Q4	212	192	0	76	116	43	168	0	too recent
2025-Q3	192	181	0	44	133	59	229	0	too recent
2025-Q2	183	173	0	72	128	64	294	0	too recent
2025-Q1	216	205	0	55	153	81	266	0	too recent
2024-Q4	177	169	0	25	127	89	352	0	too recent
2024-Q3	199	188	0	57	151	109	387	0	yes
2024-Q2	195	180	0	34	153	95	318	0	yes
2024-Q1	190	176	0	31	144	86	384	0	yes
2023-Q4	208	194	0	108	141	87	433	4	yes
2023-Q3	224	204	0	41	148	52	411	56	yes
2023-Q2	216	198	1	63	155	126	481	43	yes
2023-Q1	167	153	0	37	115	113	511	36	yes
2022-Q4	183	158	1	379	110	90	370	41	yes
2022-Q3	181	175	0	129	125	92	583	42	yes
2022-Q2	181	170	0	79	122	122	638	38	yes
2022-Q1	216	188	0	140	149	110	418	41	yes
2021-Q4	179	166	0	142	127	148	545	37	yes
2021-Q3	211	197	0	66	158	151	559	34	yes
2021-Q2	205	183	0	110	142	129	549	33	yes
2021-Q1	195	177	0	272	127	147	691	47	yes
2020-Q4	206	174	12	203	136	132	635	36	yes
2020-Q3	229	203	4	205	140	154	717	69	yes
2020-Q2	101	91	6	76	52	108	435	41	yes
2020-Q1	225	205	0	96	120	139	682	85	yes
2019-Q4	293	273	0	286	144	210	800	120	yes
2019-Q3	327	306	0	118	154	163	702	143	yes
2019-Q2	317	301	0	84	176	132	613	124	yes
2019-Q1	271	257	0	57	152	115	636	105	yes
2018-Q4	275	258	0	137	149	175	807	102	yes
2018-Q3	338	321	0	69	192	168	682	122	yes
2018-Q2	281	266	0	50	150	149	495	107	yes
2018-Q1	301	276	0	114	146	142	553	129	yes
2017-Q4	268	252	0	130	150	171	669	92	yes
2017-Q3	320	299	0	52	189	160	530	104	yes
2017-Q2	297	283	0	56	175	111	544	100	yes
2017-Q1	234	227	0	79	120	148	498	95	yes
2016-Q4	289	272	0	187	167	176	596	97	yes
2016-Q3	311	299	0	59	174	158	607	119	yes
2016-Q2	304	289	0	53	173	148	510	104	yes
2016-Q1	280	266	0	159	171	142	1,087	91	yes
2015-Q4	256	246	0	97	151	129	482	87	yes
2015-Q3	274	262	0	31	151	91	368	107	yes
2015-Q2	298	283	0	235	175	119	501	99	yes
2015-Q1	256	248	0	49	167	105	372	78	yes
2014-Q4	253	238	0	201	157	136	731	79	yes
2014-Q3	263	244	0	103	147	145	600	93	yes
2014-Q2	242	235	0	86	144	122	483	82	yes
2014-Q1	254	244	0	63	165	130	537	74	yes
2013-Q4	234	226	0	62	141	103	505	81	yes
2013-Q3	233	226	0	16	131	94	335	89	yes
2013-Q2	246	237	0	43	158	90	562	70	yes
2013-Q1	213	205	0	16	137	68	356	55	yes
2012-Q4	161	153	0	16	104	102	314	45	yes
2012-Q3	234	222	0	15	138	98	386	79	yes
2012-Q2	225	216	0	76	133	69	402	80	yes
2012-Q1	188	181	0	63	121	115	448	55	yes
2011-Q4	184	177	0	29	124	92	411	49	yes
2011-Q3	203	196	0	20	122	73	235	62	yes
2011-Q2	228	217	0	7	139	52	357	71	yes
2011-Q1	200	186	0	14	131	91	363	47	yes
2010-Q4	228	216	0	26	157	112	346	52	yes
2010-Q3	237	228	0	30	152	93	414	64	yes
2010-Q2	214	207	0	45	138	65	422	61	yes
2010-Q1	181	175	0	9	114	96	370	41	yes
2009-Q4	214	206	0	16	144	68	375	49	yes
2009-Q3	234	230	0	18	140	70	358	73	yes
2009-Q2	226	221	0	5	149	56	372	53	yes
2009-Q1	195	190	0	15	109	107	394	70	yes
2008-Q4	266	259	0	7	153	77	347	79	yes
2008-Q3	261	252	0	5	158	66	355	70	yes
2008-Q2	280	267	0	12	149	77	364	83	yes
2008-Q1	238	227	0	7	121	91	335	77	yes
2007-Q4	278	268	0	16	127	115	384	80	yes
2007-Q3	248	238	0	5	112	82	335	93	yes
2007-Q2	231	226	0	1	107	91	276	77	yes
2007-Q1	254	248	0	15	120	98	269	71	yes
2006-Q4	251	248	0	0	130	84	337	72	yes
2006-Q3	300	289	0	26	140	104	317	61	yes
2006-Q2	269	264	0	46	133	123	434	74	yes
2006-Q1	245	242	0	43	122	108	357	63	yes
2005-Q4	227	222	0	41	102	120	352	53	yes
2005-Q3	275	270	0	0	115	109	365	75	yes
2005-Q2	235	225	0	101	110	104	367	51	yes
2005-Q1	229	221	0	22	110	90	409	42	yes
2004-Q4	235	227	0	0	112	94	279	55	yes
2004-Q3	305	297	0	0	169	84	301	58	yes
2004-Q2	223	220	0	54	135	97	346	50	yes
2004-Q1	240	239	0	29	104	96	419	56	yes
2003-Q4	288	284	0	83	110	90	365	110	yes
2003-Q3	255	252	0	0	138	106	266	39	yes
2003-Q2	246	244	0	1	127	74	340	55	yes
2003-Q1	236	232	0	32	105	100	480	46	yes
2002-Q4	300	295	0	41	117	106	387	100	yes
2002-Q3	331	324	0	47	172	119	347	46	yes
2002-Q2	269	252	0	81	143	98	449	17	yes
2002-Q1	211	205	0	50	110	126	290	7	yes
2001-Q4	198	191	0	73	85	67	305	6	yes
2001-Q3	198	191	0	21	92	108	436	1	yes
2001-Q2	234	226	0	14	97	97	322	4	yes
2001-Q1	220	211	0	118	112	80	412	5	yes
2000-Q4	208	201	0	53	87	101	356	4	yes
2000-Q3	211	206	0	38	95	149	366	0	yes
2000-Q2	219	209	0	95	107	183	466	5	yes
2000-Q1	204	186	0	55	84	113	529	12	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

6,179 of the 25,219 building permits filed since 2000 (25%) 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 Bernal Heights neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (3,696 filed, 2,606 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (2,991 filed, 2,081 finished; contractors); stairs (2,249 filed, 1,508 finished; contractors); deck (1,270 filed, 821 finished; contractors); roof deck (214 filed, 133 finished; contractors). Other types: 17,957 permits.

Nearby neighborhoods

Glen Park, Noe Valley, Portola; 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.