Book a conversation with Baily online or by phone. Share photos, your address, any prior DBI permit history, rent-stabilized status, historic-district status, and budget range. Baily returns a rough scope, a cost band, the applicable DBI permit track, whether SF Planning review will be required, whether HPC review will be required, and whether the building falls inside the Soft-Story Retrofit mandate or the Rent Ordinance — all in the same session.

SF remodels bifurcate on six questions: is the parcel inside an Article 10 Landmark District or on an Article 11 rated building, does the building have two or more residential units permitted before June 13, 1979 (Rent Ordinance), is the scope large enough to trigger §311 neighborhood notification, is the building inside the Soft-Story Retrofit Program roster, is the scope potentially a §317 demolition, and is there any coastal-zone exposure (rare in SF proper but possible in some westside parcels). Baily answers all six from the address and photo set alone, so the scope conversation reflects the real permit path — not a best-case fantasy.

The matched SF GC walks the home, confirms electrical panel capacity (many SF Victorians still run 60-100 amp service), plumbing-stack condition, gas-line material (cast-iron vs galvanized vs copper), load-bearing walls, foundation type (perimeter concrete vs brick vs pier-and-post), asbestos and lead-paint presence (anything pre-1981 is assumed asbestos-containing until tested), and any existing DBI permits open or recently finaled. Fixed-fee proposal follows within 5-7 business days.

SF's housing stock skews old: a large fraction of Victorian (1860s-1900), Edwardian (1900-1920), early-modern (1920s-1940s), and mid-century (1940s-1960s) buildings carry existing-conditions complications that first-time renovators routinely underestimate. Galvanized water supply lines leak at the threads the moment they are disturbed. Knob-and-tube wiring on the upper floors of pre-1940 buildings must be decommissioned during any electrical scope. Pre-1981 materials require asbestos testing before any demolition. Foundation bolting to meet current seismic standards is a common scope line in Victorian and Edwardian homes. A contractor who skips the walk and bids from photos is setting up change orders; Baily's matched GC walks every home before issuing the fixed-fee proposal.

Before a contract is signed, the matched SF GC's CSLB record is verified directly against cslb.ca.gov — active status, Class B General Building classification (required for any structural or multi-trade residential work), active $25,000 surety bond, general-liability insurance, and workers' compensation coverage if the contractor has employees. Verification is per-project, not per-signup; CSLB records refresh in real time. The LicenseCard on this page demonstrates the receipt shape live.

AskBaily's Wave 181 verifier automates direct CSLB lookups and is the same tool used on /los-angeles. SF partner GCs go through the identical verification path; the only difference is the partner's own license number replaces the current sample. CSLB enforcement history is also checked — suspension, probation, revocation, and unresolved complaints are all surfaced. A contractor who claims a CSLB number that doesn't appear active, that doesn't include Class B classification, or that has an open formal accusation is filtered out before reaching the homeowner. SF-area contractors who hold only Class C specialty classifications (e.g., C-36 Plumbing, C-10 Electrical, C-54 Tile) cannot legally be the prime contractor on a multi-trade residential remodel; a C-class-only contractor acting as GC is a common red flag on Angi and Thumbtack rosters.

The architect or contractor files a DBI Pre-Application (or proceeds directly to a Planning Department counter review for small scopes) to confirm which DBI track applies, whether Planning review is required, whether §311 neighborhood notification will be triggered, and whether HPC Certificate of Appropriateness is required. Triage typically runs 2-6 weeks and saves 6-20 weeks downstream by catching path selection before a full plan set is produced.

An SF Pre-Application is not a permit — it is a path-selection conversation with DBI and Planning staff that answers the gating question 'what review track will this project go through?' before the architect spends $30K-$150K on a full construction set. Triage outcomes include confirmation of DBI track (OTC, Standard, Complex), confirmation of Planning review (needed / not needed), confirmation of §311 notification (required / exempt), confirmation of §317 demolition classification (alteration / demolition), confirmation of HPC jurisdiction (CofA required / not required), and confirmation of whether any state-law overrides (SB 9, SB 35, ADU law §65852.2) apply. Skipping triage and filing a full permit set blind is how SF projects lose 6-12 months.

Planning reviews the proposed scope against the applicable zoning class (RH-1, RH-2, RH-3, RM-1 through RM-4, RC, NCD), setback and rear-yard requirements, height and bulk limits, and urban-design guidelines. CEQA lead-agency review runs in parallel. Most single-family residential remodels qualify for a Class 1 (existing facility) or Class 3 (new small structure) categorical exemption. §311 neighborhood notification is mailed if required; any filed Discretionary Review request triggers a Planning Commission hearing.

Planning's timeline is the usual SF bottleneck. A Class 1 / Class 3 CEQA-exempt single-family residential alteration with no §311 notification clears in 4-8 weeks. A §311-noticed scope with no DR filing clears in 8-14 weeks (the 30-day protest window is the bottleneck). A DR-filed scope takes 24-44 additional weeks to reach a Planning Commission hearing, and the homeowner typically spends $15K-$50K on architect/expediter/hearing-prep fees. Historic-district parcels route to HPC in parallel; coastal-zone parcels (rare in SF proper, more common in adjacent Marin and San Mateo) route to the California Coastal Commission. State-law overrides (SB 9 ministerial lot splits, SB 35 streamlined ministerial, ADU statute §65852.2) bypass Planning Commission hearings on qualifying projects but require separate substantiation.

If the building is individually landmarked (Article 10 or Article 11) or sits inside one of SF's 11 Article 10 Landmark Districts — Alamo Square, Bush Street-Cottage Row, Dogpatch, Duboce Park, Jackson Square, Liberty-Hill, Northeast Waterfront, Pacific Heights, South End, Telegraph Hill, Webster Street — any visible exterior alteration requires a Certificate of Appropriateness from HPC before the DBI permit can issue. Review runs 8-20 weeks in parallel with Planning; complex whole-facade Victorian or Edwardian restorations extend to 26+ weeks.

HPC review is not optional and not negotiable. Historic-district status is a parcel overlay that many SF buyers discover only at closing or — worse — at the first DBI counter visit. Baily checks landmark and rated-building status against the SF Planning GIS overlays at consultation. The architect prepares the HPC CofA submission package (materials cutsheets, elevations, historic photographs where available, window-and-door schedules, roofing samples) in parallel with the DBI filing so the two clocks overlap rather than sequence. HPC staff review and Commission hearing stages are distinct; a properly prepared staff-level CofA can often clear without a full Commission hearing. SF Heritage's informal advocacy and SF Architectural Heritage's advisory review are separate from formal HPC review and do not substitute.

The plan set is filed through DBI's Permit & Project Tracking portal under the applicable track: OTC for minor interior non-structural (same day to 2 weeks), Standard for typical kitchen/bath with plumbing/electrical (6-14 weeks), Complex for additions and structural (12-24 weeks), or special tracks for high-rise, multi-family, and Soft-Story Retrofit work. Plan check typically runs two to three review cycles with corrections returned to the architect. Trade permits (plumbing, electrical, mechanical) may file separately or bundled. Issued permits carry itemized fee schedules including Planning review fees, SFFD fees where applicable, and impact fees on substantial additions.

SF DBI plan review is more rigorous than comparable review in most US cities. Energy compliance under Title 24 2022 / 2025 is audited line by line; structural calculations for any load path change require stamped engineer review; fire-rated assembly details in multi-unit work are verified against the 2022 SF Building Code (based on 2021 IBC with SF amendments). Two review cycles is typical; three or four cycles on a complex Complex Plan Review project is not unusual. The architect and expediter answer plan-check corrections directly; the homeowner should not be in the response loop. Once the permit issues, trade-permit coordination (plumbing, electrical, mechanical, soft-story retrofit if applicable) is the next sequencing task.

With permit in hand and the CSLB-licensed GC holding the job, demo starts within SF Noise Ordinance hours (7am-8pm Mon-Sat, no Sunday work without variance). Asbestos abatement and lead-safe RRP work on pre-1978 surfaces sequences early. Framing, MEP rough-in, insulation, drywall, finishes, and final trade inspections proceed through DBI's inspection cadence — typically 8-20 inspections on a standard remodel, more on a complex addition or soft-story retrofit. BAAQMD dust control and VOC compliance remain in force throughout.

SF construction is logistically harder than LA or Austin because of parking (every job needs an SFMTA temporary no-parking permit or daily street-parking dance), street width (fire access + disposal-truck access can force staging to back yards or roof drops), SFMTA street use permits for scaffolding or sidewalk-shed overhead, and the SF Rent Board's scrutiny of tenant habitability on multi-unit work. A skilled SF GC budgets these logistics costs explicitly rather than hiding them in the 'conditions' line. Winter-season (December-February) rain is the dominant schedule risk on any project that opens the roof or envelope; summer's persistent fog moderates the heat exposure that burdens Austin and Phoenix sites but does not eliminate weather delays.

Structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and building trade finals clear in sequence. SFFD signs off on sprinkler/alarm work where applicable. Any Planning conditions of approval are confirmed satisfied. DBI final building inspection closes the permit and — on substantial additions and new-dwelling-unit projects — issues a Certificate of Final Completion (CFC) or, for new occupancy, a Certificate of Occupancy. Cosmetic remodels close at permit final only, without a formal CFC issuance.

A finaled DBI permit plus a clean CFC (where applicable) is what future buyers, insurers, title companies, and the SF Assessor-Recorder all require. An open permit that never finals is a chronic title-search flag on SF real estate — unpermitted or un-finaled work discovered at closing can reprice the transaction, lose the buyer, or trigger DBI enforcement. SF's aggressive code-enforcement posture, paired with a hot real-estate disclosure regime, makes close-out discipline especially important. We close the paperwork the month the project ends, file any HPC CofA final documentation if one applied, confirm Rent Board compliance on rent-stabilized buildings, and archive the complete permit history for the homeowner's records. Clean close-out is what distinguishes a finished SF project from a perpetually pending one.