Construction estimating services in San Francisco, CA

We see a mix of multi-family residential, mixed-use infill, and commercial tenant improvements, which lines up with the permit data: of the 1,444 new privately-owned residential units permitted in San Francisco in 2025, 1,424 were in multi-family buildings. Those projects bring shoring, drilled piers, and tight MEP plenums. We also estimate single-family renovations and additions on steep lots, where the sitework and foundation scope often exceeds the above-grade work. If you send plans for a project type not listed here, we will tell you whether we can take it off accurately.

The permit figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey for 2025, and they count new privately-owned residential units permitted by the city itself. They do not include commercial permits, tenant improvements, or alterations. In 2025, San Francisco permitted 1,444 residential units, up 88% from 770 in 2024, with a permitted value of $288 million. That works out to an average value per unit of $199,200. The city ranked 7th of 25 covered California cities by units, and accounted for 3.9% of the 36,591 units permitted across those cities.

Yes. On a San Francisco lot, shoring is often the largest sitework cost, and it needs its own takeoff. We measure soldier piles by the each, lagging by the square foot of exposed face, tiebacks by the linear foot, and underpinning by the linear foot of adjacent foundation. Excavation is measured by the cubic yard to the neat lines shown on the drawings, with a separate quantity for over-excavation and disposal. If the geotech report requires dewatering, that is another line item. When these are lumped together, you cannot tell which system is driving the cost.

We separate steel by member type and by connection. Wide-flange shapes are taken off by size and weight, base plates and anchor bolts are counted, and moment or braced-frame connections are counted by piece because fabrication is priced per connection. On a typical mid-rise, the lateral system might be special concentrically braced frames with gusset plates, and those gussets are a separate count. If the drawings call for a hybrid system with concrete shear walls, we note which elements carry lateral load so the connection pricing is not applied to the wrong members. This keeps the fabricator's quote aligned with the drawings.

Send the architectural, structural, and MEP drawings in PDF, plus any specifications, geotech report, and addenda. If you have a bid date, tell us so we can set the turnaround. We return an Excel workbook and a PDF organized by CSI MasterFormat division, with marked-up plan sets showing what we measured. For most projects, turnaround is 24 to 48 hours, and rush service is available. If a drawing set is incomplete, we will list the assumptions we made so you can confirm them before you bid.

Yes. We use ZIP-code-adjusted material and labor pricing from RSMeans data, so your quantities carry San Francisco costs, not a national average. That matters because labor rates and material freight into the city are higher than in most of California. The adjustment applies to each line item, so a concrete pour in the 94110 ZIP code is priced differently from the same pour in a lower-cost market. If you are bidding a project in a nearby city, we adjust for that ZIP code instead. You can see how we handle other markets on our California construction estimating page.

Yes. Tenant improvements are a large share of the work in the Financial District and SoMa, and they have their own takeoff logic. You are often working with existing structure, so you measure new partitions by the linear foot, new ceiling by the square foot, and new MEP by the fixture and device count. Demolition is a separate line item, and so is the patching of existing finishes. If the building is older, the drawings may not match field conditions, so we note where the scope depends on a site visit. Send the architectural and MEP plans and we will take it off.

Bay Mud changes both the quantity and the method. You may need over-excavation below the mat, import fill, and a dewatering system, and each of those is measured separately. Drilled piers are taken off by diameter and depth, with concrete volume by pier type and reinforcing tonnage by bar size. If the geotech report calls for a mat on piers, we measure the mat and the piers as separate line items. We do not guess at the soil conditions; we take off what the report and the structural drawings show, and we list any assumptions so you can verify them.

Waste factors vary by element. For a mat slab placed by pump, 5% is typical. For formed walls and columns, 7% to 10% is common because of spillage and cleanout. For roofing membrane, 10% is typical on a flat roof with few penetrations, and it goes higher on a roof with many drains and curbs. Rebar waste depends on bar lengths and lap splices, and we usually apply 3% to 5% unless the drawings show a specific lap schedule. These are typical ranges, not a substitute for your own supplier terms; we list the factor we used on every line.

Yes. We cover San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Fresno, Sacramento, and Long Beach. Each market has its own labor rates, permit costs, and soil conditions, so the takeoff is adjusted for the project ZIP code. If you are comparing bids across two cities, we can take off the same scope in both and show you the cost difference. The state page lists the markets we cover, and you can send plans for any of them through our get an estimate page.