Skip to content
Bay Area Architect Architects ranked by permits
Who to call firstWho to call

San Francisco building permits, 2018–2026

Find the right Bay Area architect for your project

Residential and commercial architects, compared by the building permits cities issued them. The rankings start with San Francisco, where 1,543 architects and designers are named on permits. More Bay Area cities are being added.

What are you building?

Each building opens its ranking. The number is architects ranked for that work. Under it in blue, the median wait for a permit.

Homes
Commercial

Building height is architects ranked since 2018. Waits are medians from filing to issued permit, plan review only. Source: San Francisco DBI building permits, updated Oct 2026.

Sheet A-201

Most permits issued, for homes and for commercial work

Counts are building permits the city issued since 2018 with the firm named on the record. Pick a project type for a ranking of that work alone.

Source: San Francisco DBI building permits
Updated Oct 2026

All 1,543 architects
Homes home permits issued
  1. 01 Xie Associates Home remodels 390 · Apartments 115 · ADUs 51 582
  2. 02 Hing Wah Construction Home remodels 281 · Apartments 32 · Additions 21 350
  3. 03 Hing Wah Design Home remodels 264 · Apartments 17 · Additions 11 301
  4. 04 Shatara Architecture Home remodels 131 · Apartments 124 · ADUs 19 288
  5. 05 Ken Chan Home remodels 241 · Apartments 20 · ADUs 5 266
  6. 06 Halyard Construction Inc. Apartments 234 · ADUs 16 · Home remodels 4 254
  7. 07 Architects Sf Home remodels 140 · Apartments 68 · Additions 19 238
  8. 08 Jason M.J.Chan Architect Home remodels 163 · Apartments 40 · ADUs 15 225
  9. 09 Tommy Lee Consulting Home remodels 183 · Apartments 20 · Additions 2 207
  10. 10 Troy Kashanipour Home remodels 118 · Apartments 37 · Additions 23 194

All 1,204 residential architects, ranked. By project: home remodels, home additions, new homes, ADUs, apartments and multifamily.

Commercial commercial permits issued
  1. 01 Revel Architecture & Design Offices 621 · Hotels, schools, clinics 5 · Shops 3 632
  2. 02 Huntsman Offices 534 · Shops 7 · Restaurants 5 548
  3. 03 Gensler Offices 457 · Hotels, schools, clinics 45 · Shops 9 520
  4. 04 Rmw Offices 431 · Hotels, schools, clinics 18 · Shops 15 466
  5. 05 Brereton Architects Offices 370 · Shops 8 · Restaurants 2 381
  6. 06 Asd | Sky Offices 372 · Shops 7 · Restaurants 1 380
  7. 07 Interior Architects Offices 179 · Hotels, schools, clinics 10 189
  8. 08 Forge Architecture Offices 134 · Hotels, schools, clinics 15 · Shops 3 154
  9. 09 Lawrence Smith Offices 144 · Hotels, schools, clinics 3 · Restaurants 2 149
  10. 10 Costa Brown Architecture Offices 85 · Hotels, schools, clinics 27 · Shops 1 113

All 754 commercial architects, ranked. By project: offices, retail and shops, restaurants and bars, hotels, clinics, schools and other commercial.

Ranked from the same permits: 1,204 residential architects 754 commercial architects 1,146 engineers 226 contractors Not sure who to call first?

How we rank

We read 202,974 San Francisco building permits and ranked the 1,543 architects and designers named on them by the permits the city issued. Nobody pays to be listed or ranked.

A firm moves up only when the city issues it another permit. The counts come from the city's own permit records, updated Oct 2026.

Methodology and its limits SF permit data Add or correct a firm Architect fee calculator

Sheet A-301

How long a San Francisco permit takes

Source: San Francisco DBI building permits, plan review only
Updated Oct 2026

Permit time tool

Offices had the shortest median wait from filing to issued permit, 3.9 months. New homes had the longest, 22.7 months.

Shortest median wait, offices
3.9mo
Longest median wait, new homes
22.7mo

Times cover permits that went through plan review, 2018–2026. Over-the-counter permits, 93% of all filed, are left out.

Look up your project type

Homes

Commercial

Sheet A-401

Your city's building and planning departments

332 links to permit portals, planning departments, fee schedules and checklists for 109 Bay Area cities and counties, checked by hand in Oct 2026.

Source: City and county websites, checked by hand
Updated Oct 2026

All cities and counties
cities and counties with a permit portal
97
cities and counties with a planning department page
78
cities and counties with a fee schedule
59
cities and counties with a submittal checklist
71

Sheet A-501

ADUs

A section of their own

The ADU section covers 109 Bay Area cities and counties, with a median ADU permit wait for 91 of them, from the reports each city files with the state. It also ranks the architects who get ADUs permitted and has a timeline tool. San Francisco received 3,439 ADU permit applications since 2018.

Sheet G-001

Before you hire anyone

All guides
  1. 01 Do You Need an Architect, or Just a Better First Step? A homeowner-first Bay Area guide to deciding when a licensed architect is worth it, when another path is cleaner, and what to ask before hiring anyone.
  2. 02 Architect vs. Designer vs. Design-Build: Who Should You Call First? A Bay Area homeowner guide to choosing the right first call: licensed architect, residential designer, design-build firm, or permit drawing team.
  3. 03 Permit Drawings vs. Architectural Plans A homeowner-first Bay Area guide to knowing whether you need a permit set, a design set, or a fuller drawing package before you pay for plans.
  4. 04 Why Home Plans Get Rejected by the City A Bay Area homeowner guide to the plan-check comments that delay ADUs, additions, and remodels, and how to reduce resubmittals before you submit.
  5. 05 What Architects Usually Do Not Include A Bay Area homeowner guide to architect proposal exclusions: consultants, permit fees, interiors, pricing, and construction-phase support.
  6. 06 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Architect A Bay Area homeowner interview script for testing scope, fees, consultants, permits, budget reality, and construction support before signing.