How long does a heat pump permit take in San Francisco?

In San Francisco, the typical heat pump permit was issued the same day it was applied for: 99% of 2,330 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026 were. After the permit, the typical finished heat pump installation took 45 days from permit to final inspection (1,283 finished of 1,723 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 26% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

Same dayfrom application to permitMiddle half: same day to same day
45 daysfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 11 days to 5 months

The two steps

How long heat pump installations take in San Francisco, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 0 days, middle half 0 to 0 days, 2,330 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 45 days, middle half 11 to 158 days, 1,283 permits.Application to permit issued: same dayPermit issued to final inspection: 45 days02 mo4 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 issuedsame daysame day to same day2,330September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspection45 days11 days to about 5 months1,283September 2022 to September 2024

Heat pump installers with the most jobs in San Francisco

RankContractorJobsContact
1Schmitt Heating Co Inc
San Francisco, licensed 31 years
235
Visit website
2Building Efficiency Inc
San Francisco, licensed 16 years
178
Visit website
3Galaxy Hvac and Appliance Repair
Pleasant Hill, licensed 5 years
164
Call (925) 233-7378

See all 218 ranked heat pump installers

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
2022147same daysame day to same day
2023766same daysame day to same day
20241,095same daysame day to same day
20251,149same daysame day to same day
2026896same daysame day to same day

Why it takes this long

  • 99% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 100% within 30 days (2,330 permits).
  • The longer step is building and inspection: same day for the permit against 45 days from permit to final, at the median.
  • 64% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 1,723 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 440 (26%) 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: filed_date, issued_date, completed_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: San Francisco Building, Electrical and Plumbing Permits (data.sf.gov i98e-djp9, ftty-kx6y, a6aw-rudh), read 2026-09-24. The same figures as data: heat-pump.json.