How long does an ADU permit take in Los Angeles?

In Los Angeles, the typical ADU permit took about 4 months (119 days) from application to issue, across 15,650 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026. After the permit, the typical finished ADU took about 12 months (363 days) from permit to final inspection (11,182 finished of 14,597 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 23% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

4 monthsfrom application to permitMiddle half: 53 days to 8 months
12 monthsfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 7 months to 18 months

The two steps

How long ADUs take in Los Angeles, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 119 days, middle half 53 to 245 days, 15,650 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 363 days, middle half 222 to 555 days, 11,182 permits.Application to permit issued: about 4 monthsPermit issued to final inspection: about 12 months06 mo12 mo18 mo
Bars show the median; the line through each bar spans the middle half of jobs. The second step starts where the typical permit wait ends. The two steps come from different groups of permits, so they are not added up.
The numbers behind the chart
StepMedianMiddle halfPermitsPermits issued
Application to permit issuedabout 4 months53 days to about 8 months15,650September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspectionabout 12 monthsabout 7 months to about 18 months11,182September 2022 to September 2024

ADU builders with the most finished jobs in Los Angeles

RankContractorFinished jobsContact
1Baksh Construction Inc
Rolling Hills Estates, licensed 18 years
43
Call (323) 974-2804
2C S W F Construction Inc
La Puente, licensed 10 years
38
Call (626) 825-0272
3Arrow Construction Co
Artesia, licensed 37 years
36
Call (562) 674-6171

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
20221,933about 5 months68 days to about 10 months
20237,115about 5 months60 days to about 10 months
20247,386about 5 months55 days to about 9 months
20258,103about 4 months50 days to about 8 months
20265,584about 4 months55 days to about 8 months

Why it takes this long

  • 3% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 16% within 30 days (15,650 permits).
  • 36 more permits issued in those dates carry no application date and are left out of the permit wait.
  • The longer step is building and inspection: about 4 months for the permit against about 12 months from permit to final, at the median.
  • 7% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 14,597 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 3,415 (23%) had no final inspection on record by September 2026. They may still be under way, dropped or never inspected; the records do not say which. They are left out of the build time; any of them that finishes will have taken more than two years, so counting them would make the typical time longer.

Days are counted between the dates on each city permit: submitted_date, issue_date; final: status 'Permit Finaled' or a certificate, dated by cofo_date or status_date. Median and middle half: half of the jobs took longer than the median; the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. A figure is shown only when it rests on 30 or more permits. Kinds of work are sorted by the same rules as our contractor lists. Source: City of Los Angeles, Building Permits Issued from 2020 to Present, read 2026-09-24. The same figures as data: adu.json.