How Long Does Permitting Take by Project Type?

Residential permits — additions, remodels, ADUs — typically clear in weeks in most jurisdictions, since the review is focused and often over-the-counter or on a short cycle. Commercial tenant improvements run weeks to a few months depending on the occupancy change and the disciplines involved. New commercial, multi-family, and industrial buildings run several months, with structural, fire, planning, and public works reviews running in sequence or parallel depending on the agency. The spread within each category is the jurisdiction. I've seen the same TI package clear in three weeks in one city and take three months in the next. Staffing, review backlogs, and local amendments all matter. Anyone who quotes you a permit timeline without naming the jurisdiction is guessing.

Three things are in your control. First, submittal completeness — the number one cause of timeline blowouts is an incomplete package that bounces back for missing items before substantive review even starts. Second, pre-submittal meetings, which surface the reviewer's expectations before you draw. Third, responding to corrections fast and completely — one thorough resubmittal beats two partial ones. Phased permitting can also compress the calendar: foundations and shell permitted while tenant improvements are still in design. It requires jurisdiction approval and disciplined coordination, but on commercial work it's a legitimate schedule tool, not a loophole.

Here's where timelines actually die: not in the first review, but in correction cycles. Each round of corrections means revising, re-coordinating, resubmitting, and rejoining the queue. A project with a four-week first review can still take six months if it goes through four sloppy correction rounds. The math is simple — thoroughness at submittal and at resubmittal is the fastest path through permitting. It feels slower to spend an extra week perfecting the package. It isn't.

• Residential addition/remodel/ADU: typically weeks
• Commercial tenant improvement: weeks to a few months
• New commercial/multi-family/industrial: several months, jurisdiction-dependent
• Completeness at submittal: the biggest timeline lever you control
• Correction rounds: where permits actually get slow — answer completely, once