How long does a seismic retrofit permit take in San Francisco?

In San Francisco, the typical seismic retrofit permit took 16 days from application to issue, across 196 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026. After the permit, the typical finished seismic retrofit took about 8 months (242 days) from permit to final inspection (274 finished of 366 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 25% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

16 daysfrom application to permitMiddle half: same day to 4 months
8 monthsfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 5 months to 15 months

The two steps

How long seismic retrofits take in San Francisco, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 16 days, middle half 0 to 128 days, 196 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 242 days, middle half 144 to 456 days, 274 permits.Application to permit issued: 16 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 issued16 dayssame day to about 4 months196September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspectionabout 8 monthsabout 5 months to about 15 months274September 2022 to September 2024

Seismic retrofit contractors with the most jobs in San Francisco

RankContractorJobsContact
1Seismic Retrofitters Inc.
San Francisco, licensed 28 years
18
Visit website
2Sft Construction Corp
San Francisco, licensed 11 years
17
Call (415) 707-1046
3Mulhall Construction Inc.
Novato, licensed 18 years
16
Visit website

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
20225376 days6 days to about 23 months
202320066 days12 days to about 9 months
202414664 days6 days to about 19 months
202510119 dayssame day to about 3 months
2026628 dayssame day to about 4 months

Why it takes this long

  • 26% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 57% within 30 days (196 permits).
  • 1 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: 16 days for the permit against about 8 months from permit to final, at the median.
  • 11% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 366 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 92 (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: 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: seismic-retrofit.json.