How long does a solar permit take in San Francisco?

In San Francisco, the typical solar permit took 35 days from application to issue, across 414 permits issued from September 2024 to September 2026. After the permit, the typical finished solar installation took about 6 months (184 days) from permit to final inspection (50 finished of 73 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024; 32% had no final inspection on record by September 2026).

35 daysfrom application to permitMiddle half: 20 days to 72 days
6 monthsfrom permit to final inspectionMiddle half: 3 months to 13 months

The two steps

How long solar installations take in San Francisco, in daysApplication to permit issued: median 35 days, middle half 20 to 72 days, 414 permits; Permit issued to final inspection: median 184 days, middle half 98 to 406 days, 50 permits.Application to permit issued: 35 daysPermit issued to final inspection: about 6 months03 mo6 mo9 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 issued35 days20 days to 72 days414September 2024 to September 2026
Permit to final inspectionabout 6 monthsabout 3 months to about 13 months50September 2022 to September 2024

Solar installers with the most jobs in San Francisco

RankContractorJobsContact
1Luminalt Energy Corporation
San Francisco, licensed 22 years
80
Call (415) 640-4000
2Oxypower Inc Dba Occidental Power
San Francisco, licensed 36 years
43
Call (415) 681-8861
3Bright Planet Solar Inc.
Worcester, licensed 10 years
37
Visit website

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Permit wait by year issued

Year issuedJobsMedianMiddle half
202333about 5 months69 days to about 11 months
202432about 5 months85 days to about 9 months
202513428 days18 days to 49 days
202627838 days22 days to 87 days

Why it takes this long

  • 3% of permits were issued the day they were applied for, and 46% within 30 days (414 permits).
  • The longer step is building and inspection: 35 days for the permit against about 6 months from permit to final, at the median.
  • 22% of finished jobs passed final inspection within 90 days of the permit.
  • Of the 73 permits issued from September 2022 to September 2024, 23 (32%) 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: solar.json.