How long does a roofing permit take in San Francisco?
In San Francisco, the typical roofing permit was issued the same day it was applied for: 91% of 6,492 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026 were. After the permit, the typical finished roofing job took 28 days from permit to final inspection (5,317 finished of 6,610 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 20% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).
28 daysfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 13 days to 65 days
The two steps
The numbers behind the chart
| Step | Median | Middle half | Permits | Permits issued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application to permit issued | same day | same day to same day | 6,492 | September 2024 to September 2026 |
| Permit to final inspection | 28 days | 13 days to 65 days | 5,317 | September 2022 to September 2024 |
Roofing contractors with the most jobs in San Francisco
| Rank | Contractor | Jobs | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Lee Roofing Inc. Daly City, licensed 29 years | Call (415) 333-5373 | |
| 2 | Apollo Building & Roofing Group Inc. Walnut Creek, licensed 5 years | Call (925) 860-3538 | |
| 3 | American Standard Roofing Inc San Francisco, licensed 10 years | Call (415) 671-0203 |
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Permit wait by year issued
| Year issued | Jobs | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 600 | same day | same day to same day |
| 2023 | 3,179 | same day | same day to same day |
| 2024 | 3,978 | same day | same day to same day |
| 2025 | 3,678 | same day | same day to same day |
| 2026 | 1,665 | same day | same day to same day |
Why it takes this long
- 91% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 99% within 30 days (6,492 permits).
- 23 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: same day for the permit against 28 days from permit to final, at the median.
- 82% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
- Of the 6,610 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 1,293 (20%) 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: roofing.json.