Playbook · San Francisco
Read a San Francisco permit record in 60 seconds
One real record from the city's open data, a completed office job at 405 Howard St, read field by field with the city's own definitions. The same fields appear on every San Francisco building permit in the dataset.
The whole path at a glance
Step by step
Read the description first
- The description field is the city's "description of permit scope of work." On this record it reads: "mep for previously approved architectural pa# 202412126726 hvac/ductwork, new power, signal, lighting controls." MEP means mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and the record points to an earlier architectural permit for the same job.
- For a contractor, this is the line that says which trades the permit touches: here HVAC ductwork, power, signal and lighting controls.
Watch out: The wording is whatever the applicant wrote. Short or blank descriptions are common.Read the status with the three dates
- The dataset says its Current Status column should be read together with the approved, issued and completed dates. Filed is the date the permit was filed in the permit tracking system, issued is the date fees were paid, and completed is the date inspection staff finaled the work.
- This record was filed Jan 17, 2025, approved and issued Mar 5, 2025, and completed Oct 15, 2026, with status "complete." A job that is complete is finished: it is not a lead.
Watch out: A permit that is filed but not issued is the early stage. Issued but not completed means work may be under way.Check the cost fields
- Estimated cost is the "estimated project cost" and revised cost is the cost "after project review." Both read $200,000 here.
- It is the applicant's estimate, not a contract price.
Look at use and occupancy
- Existing use and proposed use are both "office," and the existing and proposed occupancy are both B. The record shows 10 existing and 10 proposed stories, and the permit type definition reads "otc alterations permit."
- Same use before and after tells you it is a tenant-style alteration, not a change of use.
Know what the record leaves out
- This dataset has no contractor name field, so it won't tell you who is doing the work. The city lists a separate contacts dataset, which we have not used.
- One permit number can appear on several rows when the permit has more than one address, and the dataset is loaded nightly, so the newest changes may not show yet. The city says associated addenda, routing and inspection information is in its Permit Tracking System.
Watch out: On the city's tracking page for this same permit, the summary shows a received date of Jan 30, 2025 next to a plans revision number. That is not the filed date in the open data (Jan 17, 2025). Dates on different city pages can mean different things.
Honest effort and what goes wrong
About a minute per record once you know the fields: description, status and dates, cost, use, then what is missing.
- Treating a completed permit as a new job.
- Reading the estimated cost as what the contractor was paid.
- Assuming a blank or short description means there is no work to bid.
- Mixing the dates from different city pages.
Next steps
See this week's commercial jobs by trade
See this week's commercial jobs by trade: pickersdesk.com/permits.html
Educational only: not legal, tax or financial advice. Fields and definitions from the DataSF Building Permits dataset page, read October 22, 2026; the record is from the city's open data as we archived it on that date. Picker's Desk isn't affiliated with the City and County of San Francisco. Last checked against the sources October 22, 2026. Spot something out of date? Email roger@pickersdesk.com.