A 0.0
What we build
Five kinds of project. They are not variations on a theme — they are governed by different approval paths, and the difference is measured in months rather than weeks. Each one is accented by the phase that dominates its schedule.
The most important decision on a San Francisco residential project is frequently not what to build but which approval path to be on, and most owners make that decision without knowing they are making it.
An addition and an ADU of the same size can cost similar money to build and finish six months apart, because state law has made one of them far more predictable to approve. A seismic retrofit that does not change the outside of the building skips Planning altogether. A full demolition and rebuild puts you on the longest path there is. None of that is obvious from the outside, and none of it is usually explained before an architect starts drawing.
So the five pages below all start with a schedule rather than with a photograph, and the schedule page puts all five side by side. Read those before you read the prices.
What is the same across all five: an old building, a narrow lot, neighbours on one or both sides, and something behind the wall that nobody has seen since it was built.
How the colour works
Every colour on this site names a phase of work. Nothing else. It never means important, recommended or new.
- Design Design & feasibility
- Measured drawings, structural concept, what the site will actually allow
- Entitlement Planning entitlement
- Planning review, neighbourhood notification, and discretionary review if it comes
- Permit Plan check & permit
- Building, Fire and Public Works review, corrections, and issuance
- Construction Construction
- The part everybody talks about, and frequently not the longest one
- Closeout Inspection & closeout
- Final inspections, certificate of final completion, warranty and records
The phase tag beside a scope names the phase that usually dominates its schedule, which is where you should expect the surprises.
A 0.2 Five scopes
Each with its own schedule
End-to-end spans are planning ranges from first drawing to final sign-off, assuming no discretionary review.
Adding to a San Francisco house — out the back, up a storey, or down into the ground floor. The construction is ordinary; the entitlement almost never is.
- You receive
- Permit set, structural calculations, final inspection sign-off, as-builts
A second unit in the ground floor, the garage or the back yard. State law has made the approval path faster and more predictable than almost anything else in this city.
- You receive
- Permit set, separate utility documentation, final sign-off, warranty package
Soft-storey retrofit, foundation replacement, shear walls and moment frames on buildings put up before anybody wrote the rules they are now judged by.
- You receive
- Engineer’s calculations, permit set, special inspection records, final sign-off
Renovating a small apartment building around the people who live in it. The sequence is set by habitability and access rules, not by what is convenient.
- You receive
- Permit set, tenant notices and schedules, inspection records, as-builts
A house on an infill lot, or a rebuild behind a facade the city will not let you remove. The longest schedules on this site, and the ones where entitlement dominates most.
- You receive
- Full permit set, structural and energy documentation, certificate of final completion
A 0.3 Compared
The same table an owner should be given at the first meeting
Every one of these figures is on this site somewhere. Putting them on one row is the part that is usually left to you to work out.
| Scope | End to end | Construction, per SF | What usually decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Additions | 14–30 months | $650–$1,250 | Whether a neighbour objects |
| ADUs | 10–22 months | $520–$1,150 | Whether the ceiling height is there |
| Seismic & structural | 5–14 months | by scope | What the existing foundation actually is |
| Multifamily | 8–24 months | $330–$780 | Whether units are occupied, and in what order |
| New construction | 20–40 months | $800–$1,900 | Entitlement, and the carrying cost of waiting |
Prices are USD planning ranges for San Francisco residential work, exclude design and engineering fees, city permit and impact fees, geotechnical and hazardous-materials assessment, furnishings and any applicable tax, and assume normal access and no undisclosed conditions. Durations are planning ranges that assume no discretionary review and one round of plan-check corrections. They are published so an owner can plan before spending money on drawings. They are planning ranges, not a bid. Reviewed October 2026. A price and a schedule for your project come from a written proposal against a defined scope. See the disclaimer.
A 0.4 Fit
When we are the wrong builder
Worth reading before you invite a bid. The wrong fit costs you weeks and costs us a bid we should not have submitted.
| Project | Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An addition or ADU on an older San Francisco house | Right | The entitlement path is the project, and it is what fifty years here buys you |
| Soft-storey or foundation work | Right | Structural work on pre-1930 wood frame is the core craft here |
| A small apartment building, occupied | Right | The sequence is the hard part and it is what we plan around |
| A single bathroom or a kitchen alone | Wrong | A specialist remodeler will be faster and cheaper; we would be the expensive answer |
| A large commercial or institutional building | Wrong | Different trade, different licensing posture, different firm |
| A project that needs to start next month | Wrong | Nothing on the schedule page starts next month, and a builder who says otherwise has not read the permit path |
| A project priced to the lowest bid with no allowances | Wrong | We will not pretend an 1890s building has no unknowns in order to win a number |
The last two are the uncomfortable ones and they are the ones worth trusting. A builder who tells you they can start next month and has no allowances in their number is telling you something about their sales process rather than about your building.
A 0.5 Before you start
Three things worth reading first
Not sure which of these you are?
Most people are not, and the answer changes the project substantially. Describe the building and what you want and we will tell you which path you are on, which is frequently not the one people expect.
Trico Construction, LLC · 981 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103