California's Permit Process Has 25 Sign-Offs. Your Project Shouldn't Stall on Number 14.

A new CalMatters profile of San Diego land-use consultant Tanner Blackman puts a number on something most builders already feel in their bones: a typical California housing project requires 25 separate reviews and clearances before a shovel legally hits the ground.

Twenty-five.

Not one permit. Not a building department stamp and a fire sign-off. Twenty-five distinct agency reviews, each with its own queue, its own checklist, and its own timeline.

What the Numbers Actually Say

The CalMatters piece, republished by Times of San Diego, is worth reading in full. A few figures stood out:

• Entitlement in Los Angeles takes 8.5 months on average. One of Blackman's projects was stuck for nearly five years.
• Dirt removal alone on another project would have been delayed six extra weeks without active coordination.
• A Princeton/Harvard study found that getting land through LA County's approval process raises its value by roughly 50%. On a $1.5M lot, that's approximately $500,000 in value created — or destroyed, if the timeline drags.
• Expediters charge tens of thousands of dollars because the expertise is genuinely specialized and the stakes are high.

The State Keeps Passing Streamlining Laws. The Complexity Doesn't Go Away.

California has passed a wave of housing streamlining legislation in recent years — by-right approvals, faster permitting mandates, ministerial review requirements. Blackman's read on it is blunt: each new law "creates a new space for us to fight around."

Michael Hansen, a San Diego consultant and former city planning director, frames the shift differently: the expertise has moved from political relationships to deep technical knowledge of the laws themselves. The rules are more legible on paper. Navigating them in practice is still a full-time job.

What This Means for Builders and Contractors

Every month a project waits on permits, the owner is paying carrying costs — financing, insurance, property taxes — on a lot that isn't producing anything yet. Crews get picked up by other jobs. Subcontractors reprice. Material costs shift.

The 25-review process doesn't care about your schedule. But someone tracking it actively can make a real difference in how long each review takes — and whether a stalled sign-off at step 14 quietly kills your timeline while nobody's watching.

Where JD Build Group Fits

We handle the technical middle layer of the permit process: assembling submittals in the right order, tracking each review and clearance, turning around plan-check corrections quickly, and following up with departments for status so nothing sits idle.

A practical example of what that looks like: a small San Diego builder has a 4-unit project in review across six departments with no one actively checking status. We map every open review, identify the two holding things up, turn corrections around within days instead of weeks, and send the owner a weekly one-page status update so they always know where things stand.

The 25 sign-offs don't go away. But they don't have to stall your project either.

Permits handled. Structure created.

Ready to talk through where your project stands? Send us the basics and we'll take a look.

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Written by Janine Patrizio, Founder of JD Build Group

Source: "How do you get a housing permit in California? He can hook you up, for a fee" — CalMatters / Times of San Diego, September 26, 2026