SERVICE
Eliminating Physical Stamps from In-House Review Permits
May 19, 2025
Dear Customers,
San Francisco is phasing out all 56 physical stamps used on In-House Review building permit applications.
As part of the PermitSF initiative, starting today, all approvals for all permitting departments will be documented in a table on the new digital building permit and application report we introduced in March. Comments from plan checkers will be included, along with their names and the review date.
Once the In-House Review permit application is approved by all the relevant departments and the final permit fees are paid, DBI will mark the document with a digital issuance stamp on behalf of the City. For now, Over-the-Counter permits will still use paper forms and physical stamps.
We believe eliminating the need for physical stamping will reduce the time required to review your application, simplify your building permit and application report, and result in a more transparent process.
It’s also going to free up staff time to work on other permit applications.
We estimate that the average In-House Review permit application is reviewed by five city departments and receives up to 25 physical stamps. With approximately 1,100 In-House Review permit applications submitted each year, that’s 27,500 stamps or about 15 hours of total stamping by all City departments over the course of the year.
But the real value is the placement of another foundational building block in our digital transformation. With this change, In-House Review permit applications are submitted through our website, reviewed and tracked electronically, paid for online, and issued by email.
We hope you find this change beneficial.
In the coming weeks and months, please let us know how the new Approval Tables, or any of our recent improvements, are working for you by emailing us at dbi.communications@sfgov.org.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Stay safe out there.
Partner agencies
Dear Customers,
San Francisco is phasing out all 56 physical stamps used on In-House Review building permit applications.
As part of the PermitSF initiative, starting today, all approvals for all permitting departments will be documented in a table on the new digital building permit and application report we introduced in March. Comments from plan checkers will be included, along with their names and the review date.
Once the In-House Review permit application is approved by all the relevant departments and the final permit fees are paid, DBI will mark the document with a digital issuance stamp on behalf of the City. For now, Over-the-Counter permits will still use paper forms and physical stamps.
We believe eliminating the need for physical stamping will reduce the time required to review your application, simplify your building permit and application report, and result in a more transparent process.
It’s also going to free up staff time to work on other permit applications.
We estimate that the average In-House Review permit application is reviewed by five city departments and receives up to 25 physical stamps. With approximately 1,100 In-House Review permit applications submitted each year, that’s 27,500 stamps or about 15 hours of total stamping by all City departments over the course of the year.
But the real value is the placement of another foundational building block in our digital transformation. With this change, In-House Review permit applications are submitted through our website, reviewed and tracked electronically, paid for online, and issued by email.
We hope you find this change beneficial.
In the coming weeks and months, please let us know how the new Approval Tables, or any of our recent improvements, are working for you by emailing us at dbi.communications@sfgov.org.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Stay safe out there.