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Cost to Build a Deck in San Francisco, CA: what the permits say

How much does it cost to build a deck in San Francisco? The usual decks, stairs & porches job filed with San Francisco is $22,000, from 1,678 priced permits (October 2023 through September 2026); the middle half of firms file between $12,000 and $80,000. A filed value is what the contractor wrote on the permit, not a quote or the final bill.

$22,000usual filed value
$12,000–$80,000middle half of firms' usual jobs
1,678priced permits (99% of 1,701)
1,014firms on file
237days, permit issue to final
Sep 2026records through

How much does it cost to build a deck in San Francisco?

The usual decks, stairs & porches job filed with San Francisco is $22,000, from 1,678 priced permits, October 2023 through September 2026. The middle half of firms usually file between $12,000 and $80,000. Half of jobs were filed for less, half for more. A filed value is what the contractor wrote on the permit, not a quote or the final bill. A decks, stairs & porches permit here usually takes 237 days from issue to final inspection. How long permits take →

What the spread looks like

Approximately, from each firm's own spread: every firm's range of filed values, weighted by its 1,678 priced permits across 1,004 firms, pooled into one. Half of San Francisco decks, stairs & porches permits were filed between $10,000 and $100,000.

PercentileFiled valueReads as
10th$4,6001 in 10 permits filed below
25th$10,0001 in 4 filed below
50th$26,400the middle permit
75th$100,0001 in 4 filed above
90th$235,0001 in 10 filed above

By home value

Firms split into thirds by the usual value of the homes they work on, with each third's usual filed value weighted by permits. Home values: San Francisco Assessor-Recorder 2025 assessed values (Proposition 13 values, which usually sit well below market value). Under Proposition 13 a home assessed at its 1980s purchase price can carry a value far below what it would sell for today, so treat the home-value matching and the price-versus-similar-jobs comparison as rough.

Firms working onUsual home valueUsual filed valueFirmsPermits
Lower thirdunder $766,100$25,000333491
Middle third$766,100–$1,635,046$25,000333643
Upper third$1,638,000 and up$29,500334551

Busiest firms and what they usually charge

Top 10 by permits in the last 12 months. Usual is each firm's middle filed value; middle half is the range its middle half of jobs were filed in. Busy is not the same as careful: pick what you value to build a list.

FirmPermitsLast 12 moUsualMiddle halfFinished
M & L Construction359$11,000$7,250–$14,75093.2%
Regency General Contractors Inc278$15,000$10,000–$15,00095.4%
Gil Construction & Assoc Inc216$9,000$5,000–$25,00084.4%
Xteam Design Construction75$25,000$13,000–$72,500—
D3 Construction114$75,000$8,750–$169,0005 of 7
Hong's General Construction Inc84$170,000$78,000–$270,000—
IY Development & Renovation Inc64$98,000$27,500–$156,500—
Golden State Builders Group Inc54$20,000$16,500–$30,000—
Daaron Builders54$43,000$32,000–$48,000—
Reliable Construction Inc123$22,500$14,125–$38,9678 of 9

Why filed values run low or high

  • The 10 busiest firms usually file $15,000; the 998 firms with fewer than 10 permits usually file $30,000.
  • Firms working on the most expensive third of homes (usual home value $1,638,000 and up) usually file $29,500, against $25,000 for the least expensive third.
  • One permit type covers small and large jobs: 1 in 10 decks, stairs & porches permits is filed under $4,600 and 1 in 10 over $235,000, 51 times as much.
  • 98.6% of the 1,701 permits carry a value; the 23 without one are left out of every figure here.

Is your quote normal? Compare it with 1,678 filed values

Line your quote up against the file. In San Francisco, 1 in 10 decks, stairs & porches filed values sit under $4,600, the middle half between $10,000 and $100,000, and 1 in 10 over $235,000.

  • $305,000Above $235,000: higher than 9 in 10 filed values for this work in San Francisco.
  • $22,000Right at the usual $22,000: in the middle of the file.
  • $3,200Below $4,600: lower than 9 in 10. Ask what the quote leaves out.

When to schedule a deck build in San Francisco

San Francisco files the fewest decks, stairs & porches permits in November (72 against an average month of 100) and the most in April (125). If you can choose, ask for quotes in a quiet month. We have no prices by month, so this is about crews' schedules, not a discount. When each trade is busiest in San Francisco →

How these numbers are made

Source: San Francisco DBI building permits on one- and two-family homes, with the contractor from the city's permit contacts file. The window is October 2023 through September 2026; a permit filed after that isn't here yet.

Usual is the middle permit: half were filed for less, half for more. Only permits with a filed value count; a value of $0 or none is left out.

The spread is approximate: we keep seven points of each firm's own range of filed values, not every permit, and pool them.

Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can. How the records work in San Francisco →

Common questions

  • How many quotes should I get for a decks, stairs & porches job in San Francisco?At least three. In the permit record the middle half of San Francisco decks, stairs & porches firms usually file between $12,000 and $80,000 a job, so two ordinary firms can sit 6.7 times apart and both be normal for San Francisco. A third quote shows which one is the outlier. Filed values are what contractors wrote on permits, not quotes, so use them to judge the spread, not to price your own job.
  • What range is normal for decks, stairs & porches jobs in San Francisco?Half of permits were filed between $10,000 and $100,000; 8 in 10 between $4,600 and $235,000. These are approximate, pooled from each firm's own spread.
  • How much do deck builders charge in San Francisco?The usual decks, stairs & porches job is filed at $22,000; the middle half of firms usually file between $12,000 and $80,000. The 10 firms with the most permits in the last 12 months usually file $15,000, less than the usual. See every firm's usual job →
  • Why is this different from the per-square-foot prices I see online?Online prices are quoted per square foot. A filed value is one number for the whole job on one permit, often many square feet plus the work around them, and the San Francisco file does not record how many each job covered, so we can't turn $22,000 into a price per square foot.
  • Do bigger houses get bigger bills?In the file, yes for the firms: those working on the upper third of homes by value usually file $29,500, the lower third $25,000. That is firms, not single jobs.
  • Where does this data come from?San Francisco DBI building permits on one- and two-family homes, with the contractor from the city's permit contacts file, read October 2026. How the records work in San Francisco →

Decks, Stairs & Porches cost in other cities: Colorado Springs Greensboro Arlington, VA Somerville Naperville Bellevue Columbus, OH Wheaton, IL Marin County (unincorporated)

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