How long do stairs permits take in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood?

In the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, of the 57 stairs permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 0 days, down from 17 days a year earlier. Of the 48 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 130 days of being issued, down from 214 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	57 issued	0	65 issued	17
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	48 finished	130	40 finished	214

“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 7 days to issue and 175 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	15	7	0	24	1			0	too recent
2026-Q2	14	10	7	98	3			0	too recent
2026-Q1	24	22	0	17	14	36	134	0	too recent
2025-Q4	19	18	3	163	8	96	215	0	too recent
2025-Q3	18	18	19	247	8	222	302	0	too recent
2025-Q2	18	17	14	116	10	123	258	0	too recent
2025-Q1	19	16	18	224	10	192	297	0	too recent
2024-Q4	16	14	32	148	8	354	455	0	too recent
2024-Q3	22	21	2	103	15	104	396	0	yes
2024-Q2	8	7	1	65	6	78	248	0	yes
2024-Q1	17	17	21	189	15	182	546	0	yes
2023-Q4	20	17	78	302	12	243	409	0	yes
2023-Q3	18	18	0	233	9	78	246	5	yes
2023-Q2	9	9	25	411	7	127	333	0	yes
2023-Q1	16	15	24	119	11	234	439	3	yes
2022-Q4	19	18	54	860	13	338	743	2	yes
2022-Q3	18	15	14	357	12	307	758	4	yes
2022-Q2	23	21	18	427	14	357	738	5	yes
2022-Q1	18	16	52	336	11	232	512	3	yes
2021-Q4	16	13	152	647	10	422	918	2	yes
2021-Q3	21	20	94	639	15	310	880	4	yes
2021-Q2	17	16	250	957	9	328	695	5	yes
2021-Q1	20	16	76	326	12	222	966	4	yes
2020-Q4	28	25	89	335	22	215	1,046	3	yes
2020-Q3	18	13	72	414	9	57	802	4	yes
2020-Q2	8	8	9	197	6	32	206	2	yes
2020-Q1	23	17	21	570	13	494	634	4	yes
2019-Q4	23	22	113	480	13	325	962	7	yes
2019-Q3	27	26	26	780	17	418	871	6	yes
2019-Q2	21	18	12	684	13	435	566	4	yes
2019-Q1	16	15	70	493	11	397	802	3	yes
2018-Q4	23	19	78	557	14	454	1,430	6	yes
2018-Q3	23	21	2	253	17	183	521	5	yes
2018-Q2	26	25	20	728	20	212	539	3	yes
2018-Q1	18	17	40	469	13	372	573	4	yes
2017-Q4	24	23	18	436	17	300	904	5	yes
2017-Q3	25	23	10	165	17	247	1,073	6	yes
2017-Q2	20	16	2	292	16	279	822	0	yes
2017-Q1	18	17	12	188	16	316	690	1	yes
2016-Q4	22	19	21	258	14	247	677	5	yes
2016-Q3	17	17	54	908	12	310	1,371	4	yes
2016-Q2	32	30	4	399	25	202	1,299	1	yes
2016-Q1	18	18	73	481	16	451	1,134	1	yes
2015-Q4	24	22	4	355	18	152	1,094	3	yes
2015-Q3	16	16	28	486	11	302	540	2	yes
2015-Q2	21	19	63	281	14	384	1,044	3	yes
2015-Q1	30	28	11	343	23	176	802	3	yes
2014-Q4	34	33	84	343	26	354	1,276	6	yes
2014-Q3	27	27	7	280	16	318	882	8	yes
2014-Q2	29	27	5	478	16	146	590	5	yes
2014-Q1	27	26	18	381	19	155	550	5	yes
2013-Q4	33	30	13	368	26	206	729	4	yes
2013-Q3	35	33	22	363	26	144	1,358	2	yes
2013-Q2	17	16	6	346	15	176	794	1	yes
2013-Q1	22	22	16	305	17	128	694	4	yes
2012-Q4	18	18	4	308	16	191	474	2	yes
2012-Q3	29	28	4	80	23	98	361	4	yes
2012-Q2	27	24	4	209	20	180	430	3	yes
2012-Q1	34	32	6	249	26	200	509	5	yes
2011-Q4	21	21	24	317	20	86	552	1	yes
2011-Q3	21	20	4	257	16	115	322	4	yes
2011-Q2	31	31	1	311	27	273	637	3	yes
2011-Q1	27	24	2	81	23	150	413	1	yes
2010-Q4	32	30	4	272	23	72	686	5	yes
2010-Q3	33	31	3	118	26	118	646	4	yes
2010-Q2	42	40	2	192	35	130	434	1	yes
2010-Q1	19	16	8	140	15	208	393	1	yes
2009-Q4	26	26	4	292	21	147	375	2	yes
2009-Q3	18	17	0	68	15	84	606	1	yes
2009-Q2	32	30	5	292	26	227	354	1	yes
2009-Q1	28	26	1	38	21	113	358	2	yes
2008-Q4	33	30	2	166	19	226	526	6	yes
2008-Q3	34	32	0	155	24	105	470	4	yes
2008-Q2	38	36	1	143	28	151	382	3	yes
2008-Q1	33	31	1	105	23	131	632	3	yes
2007-Q4	37	31	0	54	22	176	471	4	yes
2007-Q3	29	27	0	127	13	167	294	6	yes
2007-Q2	36	34	0	121	20	115	251	5	yes
2007-Q1	23	22	0	114	16	132	324	2	yes
2006-Q4	36	34	0	249	23	135	421	5	yes
2006-Q3	35	33	0	281	22	158	517	3	yes
2006-Q2	17	17	0	448	10	204	518	2	yes
2006-Q1	28	28	0	170	21	90	290	2	yes
2005-Q4	29	27	0	396	17	132	513	3	yes
2005-Q3	35	33	0	96	23	92	522	5	yes
2005-Q2	39	39	0	437	21	88	411	10	yes
2005-Q1	23	21	0	255	12	118	310	4	yes
2004-Q4	19	17	0	387	13	122	294	2	yes
2004-Q3	36	35	0	361	24	74	299	8	yes
2004-Q2	26	26	0	262	18	117	409	4	yes
2004-Q1	25	24	0	235	13	85	287	3	yes
2003-Q4	32	32	0	148	23	111	228	4	yes
2003-Q3	24	24	0	148	10	56	170	9	yes
2003-Q2	34	34	0	54	25	116	225	6	yes
2003-Q1	31	31	0	190	19	49	228	7	yes
2002-Q4	24	23	0	47	14	82	260	4	yes
2002-Q3	44	43	0	211	29	63	312	5	yes
2002-Q2	37	33	0	191	20	104	240	3	yes
2002-Q1	39	36	0	75	25	86	265	0	yes
2001-Q4	24	23	0	210	12	90	157	1	yes
2001-Q3	47	46	0	106	33	46	374	0	yes
2001-Q2	33	30	0	186	15	75	271	1	yes
2001-Q1	20	19	0	82	10	124	318	1	yes
2000-Q4	23	22	0	100	13	161	302	0	yes
2000-Q3	27	23	0	162	17	157	315	0	yes
2000-Q2	43	40	0	50	31	152	530	1	yes
2000-Q1	25	24	0	223	12	158	562	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

323 of the 2,707 stairs permits filed since 2000 (12%) 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. 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 Noe Valley neighborhood

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (4,669 filed, 3,402 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (3,842 filed, 2,770 finished; contractors); stairs (2,707 filed, 1,804 finished; contractors); deck (1,767 filed, 1,161 finished; contractors); roof deck (405 filed, 239 finished; contractors). Other types: 22,798 permits. All permits in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood

Nearby neighborhoods

Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Castro/Upper 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.