Love’s Labor Costs: load-bearing advice for your love-hate relationship with your home.
Dear Dylan,
We submitted plans for our addition and the city sent back comments. Then more comments. I’m starting to think the permit office is a myth. How long is this supposed to take?
Signed, Still Waiting in Willow Glen
Dear Still Waiting,
The permit office is real. It’s just thorough. For a typical addition: about 6 to 8 weeks to draw the plans, about 10 working days for the city to check your submittal is complete, then one or more 30-day review cycles.
Every project goes through Planning (zoning, setbacks, height, design) and Building (structure, energy, code). Depending on your lot, they may also send it to Fire, Public Works, a soils engineer, an arborist or historic review. Each round of comments can add another 30 days.
Big cities like San Jose review in-house, so the line is long, but small one-story additions can sometimes get same-day express permits. Hang in there.
— Your friendly neighborhood contractor
Read more: How long do permits take? in our Home Additions FAQ.
Love’s Labor Costs is written by Dylan Bertet, owner of Build Better Properties, a Bay Area design-build contractor (CSLB #1077286). Letters are made up for fun; the answers are real. Got a question? Send it in, and it might end up in the column.