How long do kitchen remodel permits take in San Francisco?

In San Francisco, of the 2,718 kitchen remodel permits filed from October 2025 through September 2026 that have been issued, half were issued within 0 days, down from 1 day a year earlier. Of the 2,272 permits filed from October 2023 through September 2024 that have reached final sign-off, half did so within 176 days of being issued, down from 178 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	2,718 issued	0	2,948 issued	1
Permit issued to final sign-off	October 2023 through September 2024	2,272 finished	176	2,438 finished	178

“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.

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	45	10	0	2	0			0	too recent
2026-Q3	781	580	0	22	56	40	73	0	too recent
2026-Q2	838	753	1	42	222	80	140	0	too recent
2026-Q1	747	682	0	72	339	97	189	0	too recent
2025-Q4	758	703	2	121	404	133	269	0	too recent
2025-Q3	846	806	0	84	531	137	302	0	too recent
2025-Q2	798	767	1	81	541	149	344	0	too recent
2025-Q1	743	709	1	81	506	138	357	0	too recent
2024-Q4	697	666	0	102	497	157	360	0	too recent
2024-Q3	753	713	1	65	553	169	410	0	yes
2024-Q2	899	875	1	77	695	200	530	0	yes
2024-Q1	673	647	0	66	529	180	504	0	yes
2023-Q4	641	610	0	102	495	158	488	3	yes
2023-Q3	770	723	0	66	595	173	516	114	yes
2023-Q2	781	755	1	121	616	166	498	101	yes
2023-Q1	720	674	0	49	556	170	527	92	yes
2022-Q4	903	838	2	147	671	202	524	131	yes
2022-Q3	885	830	1	118	687	182	535	116	yes
2022-Q2	925	878	1	97	720	195	652	132	yes
2022-Q1	1,034	986	1	84	821	186	553	135	yes
2021-Q4	999	956	2	106	789	202	613	127	yes
2021-Q3	1,052	1,010	0	78	814	196	622	155	yes
2021-Q2	1,206	1,156	0	92	916	187	680	198	yes
2021-Q1	1,149	1,081	0	204	855	197	683	187	yes
2020-Q4	1,222	1,143	0	209	882	196	668	237	yes
2020-Q3	1,078	1,009	2	135	751	192	621	219	yes
2020-Q2	378	345	6	88	284	148	504	45	yes
2020-Q1	855	785	0	256	618	213	658	145	yes
2019-Q4	1,172	1,089	4	259	838	238	725	212	yes
2019-Q3	1,161	1,102	0	118	854	179	686	206	yes
2019-Q2	1,070	1,009	1	108	789	183	674	202	yes
2019-Q1	1,093	1,047	0	93	862	171	610	147	yes
2018-Q4	1,021	959	0	117	785	181	685	140	yes
2018-Q3	982	939	0	84	745	176	647	160	yes
2018-Q2	1,158	1,086	0	100	873	175	604	180	yes
2018-Q1	1,077	1,022	0	107	802	171	582	181	yes
2017-Q4	980	947	1	164	745	198	615	159	yes
2017-Q3	1,067	1,018	0	116	800	181	646	168	yes
2017-Q2	1,161	1,103	0	165	867	174	575	177	yes
2017-Q1	961	926	0	96	768	153	541	114	yes
2016-Q4	988	937	0	125	742	160	532	135	yes
2016-Q3	1,115	1,068	0	153	848	158	516	165	yes
2016-Q2	1,114	1,062	0	91	847	167	548	158	yes
2016-Q1	1,106	1,040	0	99	863	163	681	144	yes
2015-Q4	1,029	979	0	97	763	169	518	163	yes
2015-Q3	1,168	1,125	0	121	895	175	594	183	yes
2015-Q2	1,235	1,182	0	207	939	175	621	180	yes
2015-Q1	1,090	1,058	0	71	861	171	549	149	yes
2014-Q4	978	935	0	93	727	182	610	161	yes
2014-Q3	1,119	1,074	0	68	802	166	532	226	yes
2014-Q2	1,134	1,104	0	63	889	158	540	168	yes
2014-Q1	980	955	0	53	756	140	477	149	yes
2013-Q4	985	961	0	99	781	168	557	128	yes
2013-Q3	1,047	1,016	0	34	839	139	452	140	yes
2013-Q2	978	951	0	35	802	138	461	106	yes
2013-Q1	901	884	0	28	714	129	448	115	yes
2012-Q4	845	821	0	42	667	146	500	104	yes
2012-Q3	885	856	0	32	729	141	421	93	yes
2012-Q2	893	878	0	27	722	128	394	109	yes
2012-Q1	756	742	0	32	625	125	411	77	yes
2011-Q4	664	653	0	38	551	141	439	62	yes
2011-Q3	829	803	0	33	681	132	405	65	yes
2011-Q2	720	703	0	34	581	132	435	70	yes
2011-Q1	661	639	0	20	549	124	381	49	yes
2010-Q4	685	660	0	46	544	150	506	62	yes
2010-Q3	686	654	0	29	536	134	425	70	yes
2010-Q2	786	766	0	40	630	152	437	79	yes
2010-Q1	691	670	0	20	542	134	427	69	yes
2009-Q4	630	596	0	53	476	138	456	69	yes
2009-Q3	655	638	0	27	522	134	414	67	yes
2009-Q2	627	610	0	21	491	134	438	68	yes
2009-Q1	662	645	0	23	486	133	378	90	yes
2008-Q4	702	681	0	17	501	138	371	69	yes
2008-Q3	901	876	0	10	641	149	389	90	yes
2008-Q2	973	956	0	26	664	150	364	107	yes
2008-Q1	876	841	0	21	600	141	351	103	yes
2007-Q4	955	925	0	17	631	154	374	112	yes
2007-Q3	988	965	0	3	644	146	359	131	yes
2007-Q2	903	891	0	1	618	142	343	101	yes
2007-Q1	807	799	0	0	548	144	371	83	yes
2006-Q4	704	696	0	0	459	153	414	56	yes
2006-Q3	810	803	0	0	513	163	399	80	yes
2006-Q2	812	802	0	0	533	153	406	91	yes
2006-Q1	705	704	0	0	500	140	356	60	yes
2005-Q4	665	662	0	0	448	157	384	69	yes
2005-Q3	834	828	0	3	533	141	367	93	yes
2005-Q2	780	772	0	0	504	152	367	75	yes
2005-Q1	630	621	0	0	427	144	370	62	yes
2004-Q4	545	536	0	0	351	144	374	51	yes
2004-Q3	708	699	0	0	474	130	356	78	yes
2004-Q2	680	673	0	28	460	132	373	68	yes
2004-Q1	622	618	0	0	416	130	344	73	yes
2003-Q4	551	550	0	1	385	115	353	58	yes
2003-Q3	623	611	0	0	381	143	318	81	yes
2003-Q2	631	620	0	15	426	124	350	71	yes
2003-Q1	561	557	0	15	381	125	367	63	yes
2002-Q4	498	486	0	21	311	138	369	60	yes
2002-Q3	565	551	0	7	358	138	357	89	yes
2002-Q2	541	533	0	31	324	146	364	53	yes
2002-Q1	508	503	0	22	344	132	341	17	yes
2001-Q4	469	462	0	28	287	143	338	14	yes
2001-Q3	445	435	0	29	275	134	370	2	yes
2001-Q2	475	466	0	57	271	156	389	7	yes
2001-Q1	472	466	0	27	295	141	362	4	yes
2000-Q4	436	422	0	37	246	158	382	4	yes
2000-Q3	545	534	0	26	287	154	435	2	yes
2000-Q2	562	546	0	42	322	166	394	5	yes
2000-Q1	539	524	0	91	276	172	472	6	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

10,044 of the 88,742 kitchen remodel permits filed since 2000 (11%) 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

Shown apart, with their own page here: bathroom remodel (104,357 filed, 75,687 finished; contractors); kitchen remodel (88,742 filed, 63,705 finished; contractors); stairs (42,896 filed, 29,067 finished; contractors); deck (24,218 filed, 16,266 finished; contractors); roof deck (5,264 filed, 3,106 finished; contractors); pergola or trellis (645 filed, 372 finished; contractors). Other types: 613,041 permits. All permits in 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.