NEWS

Department of Building Inspection Customer Communication - 3/10/2025

Department of Building Inspection

DBI Update – New Building Permit and Application Report

Dear Customers,

Four years ago, the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) started our digital transformation, work that is continuing under the new PermitSF collaboration. Since then, we’ve made great progress integrating technology into our operations, including:

Today our digital journey continues with a new, comprehensive building permit and application report for In-House Review projects.

The City’s current paper-based system requires substantial manual staff work and doesn’t reflect the entire permit application review process. For example, scope modifications and project revisions aren’t always accurately captured in the final document that’s issued to the customer. Plus, things like unit count, occupied floors and plan review comments are recorded in PTS but not on the actual permit.

In addition, the payment receipt and permit application form are separate, resulting in customer confusion and misunderstanding about what fees were charged as part of plan review.

So, starting today, we’ll be providing one comprehensive, well-organized digital building permit document with all the critical information about a project and permit application. This document will initially be provided at intake as a report to help you track and understand the permit process and will then, once the project is approved, the report will be issued to you as your building permit. We’ve pasted a sample below.

Issued Permit Sample

The new report has all the critical project information in one place, including:

  • Application number and permit type
  • Issuance stamp and date
  • Expiration date
  • Project address and contacts
  • Review stages and scope of work
  • Building characteristics
  • Plan review comments
  • Fees

Here’s how it will work.

You will apply for a building permit and be provided an Application Report to confirm the accuracy of your information. You will then be issued a final Application Report, which will be updated as your project moves through the process. Though the Application Report isn’t available on our website or in the online Permit Tracking System, the applicant can request an electronic copy at any time.

Once the Application Report is stamped and approved, it becomes your building permit and is issued once you submit their disclosures and authorizations and pay any remaining fees.

You will still file a Form 3/8 (the pink form) when applying for a building permit for additions, alterations or repairs but, at issuance, you will be provided with the new permit issuance report instead of a the original, signed application form.

We hope you find these new documents useful and, as always, welcome your feedback at dbi.communications@sfgov.org.

Thank you for your support. Let’s be safe out there.