San Diego building permit search: how to look up permits on an address

Where San Diego permits live

The City says you can "Conduct your own research for permits and applications from 2003 to present" for any City address, and self-service stations are available without an appointment during opening hours. OpenDSD takes the street number and the base road name ("Santa Fe" for 7325 W. Santa Fe St.); some permit types filed after 16 January 2018 are only in Accela (City of San Diego, read 22 October 2026).

These tools cover the City of San Diego only; other cities and unincorporated San Diego County keep their own records. None of the City's pages describe a contractor search; our compare pages group the City's approvals by firm.

How to look up the permits on a San Diego address

1. Open Permit Finder and search the address or the parcel number.
2. Click the parcel to list every permit and approval on it.
3. For a permit from before 2018, open it in OpenDSD by project or approval number to see its status and inspections.
4. For a recent permit, search Accela by record number.
5. If you need the plans, not just the permit, book a records appointment (below).

How to read San Diego permit statuses

The City's data uses different words in the old and new systems. We treat these as finished:

Closed rows carry a close date, which is how we time each firm's work. Completion rates use approvals a year or more old (San Diego about page, methodology).

When the permit you want is not online

Plans and paper files are not self-service. Development Services says building plans "require an in-person appointment with a team member", plans go back to about 1955, and copies cost $0.25 a page. Under California Health and Safety Code sections 19850 to 19853, plan copies need written permission from the current owner and the design professional who signed them (Information Bulletin 110). For homes built before 1955 the City points you to the County Assessor on 619-236-3771. Other records go through a Public Records Act request (read 23 October 2026).

What our San Diego file adds

Permit Finder answers "what was permitted on this parcel". We answer "what does this firm's San Diego record look like".

5,296 firms pulled the 42,447 approvals. Most small electrical, plumbing and HVAC jobs are filed under one combined no-plan permit, so they sit in one row; 59.5% of those a year or more old were finished.

The San Diego permit statistics page has the same file by trade, year and month; the firm lists are on the solar, remodel and ADU compare pages. To check the licence behind a name on a permit, use the San Diego contractor license lookup; to check whether your job needs a permit at all, see Do I need a permit?.

See every San Diego remodeler by finished permits →

What this does not tell you

Permit runners, designers and owner-builders are left out of our firm lists. Job values exist only on building permits. Our file covers October 2023 to September 2026.