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Permit tracking for architects

Find the permits your project needs, track every deadline across jurisdictions, and give clients a live dashboard instead of status emails.

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Or try the free permit checker

Review Suggested Permits from Permit Advisor

We found 8 permits for your project. Review, edit, or remove permits before adding them to the project.

Conditional Use Permit

Zoning

Required

San Francisco Planning

Sources:sf.gov

Building Permit

Plan Check

Required

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection

Sources:sf.gov

Health Department Approval

Plan Check

Required

San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health

Sources:sf.gov,www.cdph.ca.gov

Sprinkler Permit

Plan Check

Likely

San Francisco Fire Department, Plan Check

Sources:sf.gov,osfm.fire.ca.gov

Sign Permit

Plan Check

Likely

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection

Sources:sf.gov

Electrical Permit

Plan Check

Likely

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection

Sources:sf.gov

Plumbing Permit

Plan Check

Likely

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection

Sources:sf.gov

Mechanical Permit

Plan Check

Likely

San Francisco Department of Building Inspection

Sources:sf.gov

Might apply

These depend on details Permit Advisor couldn't confirm, such as the site's zone or the final design. They aren't added unless you add them.

Outdoor Dining Permit

Plan Check

San Francisco Public Works

Grease Interceptor Permit

Plan Check

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

Also check with the agency

Permit Advisor thinks this project may also need these. Permitful doesn't have a permit type for them yet, so they can't be added here.

Business Registration Certificate · San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector

Add standard milestones to each permit, starting

Typical dates for each permit's review steps, counted from when you expect to apply. They stay private, off the client dashboard, until you show them from the permit's page.

Review all suggestions. Permit Advisor may make mistakes.

Built for architects and expediters

Permitful replaces the permit spreadsheet and the status-update email: every permit, agency and deadline for every project, in one place.

Permit Advisor

Enter the address and project type. Permit Advisor searches official city, county and state sites and sorts the permits into required, likely and might apply, with who issues each one and the pages it found.

Public Project Dashboards

Share one branded dashboard per project—clients and consultants see live updates, no manual emails, and only the milestones you choose to show. See example(opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Deadlines

See today’s, upcoming and overdue milestones at a glance (submittals, plan check responses, approvals), who each one is waiting on, and permits about to expire.

All Your Projects

Manage every project across clients and jurisdictions, from small remodels to large commercial developments. Give each one its client and project team, and filter by client. Unlimited projects on Pro.

Project-Based Permit Tracking

Track every permit, phase, and milestone in one place, with standard milestone sequences for every permit type and a status history that shows how long each step took—no more spreadsheet chaos.

Calendar Integration

Subscribe once with Pro and every milestone, plus a reminder 30 days before each permit expires, appears in Google, Apple or Outlook Calendar and updates as dates change. Add single milestones on any plan.

How it Works

Set up a project in minutes. Keep clients and consultants in the loop.

1. Create a project
Enter the address and project type, and Permit Advisor suggests the permits you’ll likely need, backed by the official pages it searched.
2. Add permits to track
Required and likely permits are picked for you, and ones that might apply are yours to choose. Edit any of them and add them with their standard milestones in one step, or add any other permit you need to manage.
3. Add standard milestones
One click gives any permit its usual sequence, from submission through plan check comments, approval, issuance and final inspection, dated from your start date. Edit anything, and mark who each milestone is waiting on: you, the agency or someone on the project team.
4. Share a live dashboard (Pro)
Send clients and consultants a link to the project’s live status, so they see progress without asking. Milestones stay private until you choose to show them, your notes never appear, and the dashboard is hidden from search engines.View an example dashboard.
5. Stay ahead of deadlines
See what’s due today, coming up and overdue across every project, with a warning 30 days before a permit expires. Filter permits by client or by who they’re waiting on, and archive finished projects to keep the list focused.

See Permitful in 90 seconds

Your permits and deadlines in one place, plus a shared dashboard that keeps everyone in sync.

Common questions

The short answers before you sign up.

Do I need to integrate with city permit portals?

No integration required. Permitful works alongside any city's permit system. You manually enter permit information and milestones, and Permitful helps you organize and track everything in one place. This works with any city's portal, whether it's Accela, ProjectDox, Austin Build + Connect, or any other system.

Is Permitful free?

Yes, for your first project. The free plan includes one active project, 3 Permit Advisor runs a day, permit and milestone tracking, and calendar export, with no credit card required. Upgrade to Pro when you need unlimited projects, unlimited Permit Advisor runs, public client dashboards, and a live calendar feed.

Is my project data private?

Yes. Projects are private by default, and only you can see them when you're signed in. A project's details become viewable without signing in only if you turn on its public dashboard, and then only to people who have its private link. Public dashboards are also hidden from search engines. You can switch a dashboard back to private at any time. If you set up the Pro calendar feed, your milestones and their project and permit names can also be read by anyone who has the feed's private link, so keep it to yourself; you can reset it at any time in Settings → Calendar.

Can my whole team use Permitful?

Each Permitful account belongs to one person, so each person who tracks projects signs up for their own account. To keep colleagues, consultants and clients up to date on a project, share its live public dashboard, which is included with Pro.

Can I keep track of the consultants and contractors on each project?

Yes. Each project has a team: add the client and everyone else with their role, such as owner, architect, engineer, contractor, expediter, plan checker or consultant. Mark each milestone with who it's waiting on (you, the agency or someone on the team), then filter the Permits page by client or by who a permit is waiting on to see what's stuck with whom. Contacts are for your own records: they never log in or see anything in Permitful, Permitful never emails them, and they don't appear on public dashboards or calendar feeds.

How does Permit Advisor work?

Permit Advisor uses AI and real-time web search to suggest the permits your project is likely to need, based on its type and location. When you create a project, it searches official city, county and state sites, then lists each permit as required, likely or possibly needed, citing the pages it found them on, so you can check them before you add anything. Free accounts get 3 runs a day, and Pro runs it as often as you like.

How is Permit Advisor different from asking an AI chatbot?

A general AI chatbot answers from what it remembers, or from whatever it finds on the open web, including permit services and blogs. Permit Advisor searches only official government sites for your project's city and county, picks each permit from Permitful's catalog of permit types instead of inventing names (anything else it spots is listed separately, for you to check with the agency), tells you which agency issues it, and links the official pages it's based on. That matters most outside big cities: in our tests, the same AI answering from memory alone missed the main permit or named agencies that don't exist for small towns and county areas, and searching official sites found them. The permits you choose go straight into your project to track, with their standard milestones if you leave that option on. As with any research, confirm them with the agency before you apply.

See all questions

FreeNo credit card required.

Win client trust with a real-time dashboard for every project

Your first project is free, with 3 Permit Advisor runs a day. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited projects, branded client dashboards and a live calendar feed.

FreeTry Permitful on a live project.

$0Free forever. No credit card required.

Start free

One active project at a time
Permit Advisor, 3 runs a day
Unlimited permits and milestones on that project
Upcoming deadlines and calendar export

Pro

For architects and expediters running several projects at once.

$29.00/ month

Billed monthly

Get Pro

Everything in the Free plan
Unlimited projects
Unlimited Permit Advisor runs
Live client dashboards with your name and photo
The current drawing set on every dashboard
Private milestones kept off client dashboards
Calendar feed for Google, Apple and Outlook