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How long does a solar permit take in Los Angeles?

In Los Angeles, the typical solar permit took 62 days from application to issue, across 294 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026. After the permit, the typical finished solar installation took about 8 months (236 days) from permit to final inspection (155 finished of 208 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 25% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

62 daysfrom application to permitMiddle half: 6 days to 7 months
8 monthsfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 57 days to 15 months

The two steps

How long solar installations take in Los Angeles, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 62 days, middle half 6 to 200 days, 294 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 236 days, middle half 57 to 464 days, 155 permits.Application to permit issued: 62 daysPermit issued to final inspection: about 8 months06 mo12 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 issued62 days6 days to about 7 months294September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspectionabout 8 months57 days to about 15 months155September 2022 to September 2024

Solar installers with the most jobs in Los Angeles

RankContractorJobsContact
1Sunrun
San Francisco, licensed 28 years
4,781
Visit website
2South West Builders
licensed 10 years
1,991
Visit website
3Lajoma Construction Inc
Downey, licensed 21 years
1,138
Call (323) 855-5573

See all 561 ranked solar installers

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You decide who to hire. Your details go only to the contractors you pick. How we use your details

1. Where is the job?

We match contractors who work near it. We never ask for your street address.

2. What do you need?

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3. When do you want to start?
4. What is your rough budget?

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Over the next few days we email you up to 3 contractors who fit, and pass your request to them. Replies usually come within a few days.

Your job room keeps the request, your photos and every reply in one place, with an assistant that checks prices against city permits. Keep its link: it is the key to your job.

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
2023104about 3 months18 days to about 6 months
20249947 days9 days to about 8 months
202515090 days19 days to about 7 months
202611653 days5 days to about 6 months

Why it takes this long

  • 17% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 38% within 30 days (294 permits).
  • 3 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: 62 days for the permit against about 8 months from permit to final, at the median.
  • 32% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 208 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 53 (25%) 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: solar.json.