Three cities, three review systems

A practice working across the Bay Area files multifamily sets with several building departments, and each one has its own electronic plan review. The building code underneath is the same California Building Standards Code, with local amendments; the way a set is uploaded, reviewed and corrected is different in each city. A production team that answers corrections has to work inside each system as the city expects.

San Francisco: DBI and Bluebeam sessions

In San Francisco, building permits are issued by the Department of Building Inspection (DBI). For projects that route to in-house review, DBI states that it has moved to 100 percent electronic plan review, done in Bluebeam sessions (SF.gov, plan review process in Bluebeam).

The city describes how that review works (SF.gov, plan review process in Bluebeam):

A project and a session per permit. The city creates a Bluebeam Project for each building permit application, holding the uploaded files, and a Bluebeam Session in which reviewers comment directly on the PDFs.
Several agencies in one place. DBI, SF Planning, the Fire Department, the Public Utilities Commission and Public Works review in the shared session.
Responses in the markups list. The applicant is invited to the session, sees the comments and replies to each one in the Markups List; revised plans are submitted in the session.
Open files. Drawings and documents go in without security restrictions or digital signatures, which the city says would otherwise delay approval.

For the drawing side, that means a correction round in San Francisco is answered comment by comment inside the session, with the revised sheets prepared so a reviewer can compare them directly to the marked-up originals.

HOME-SF and the density bonus programs

San Francisco Planning administers HOME-SF, its local density bonus program for housing projects. As the department describes it today, HOME-SF requires 7 to 10 percent of a project's units as affordable housing, in three tiers: 7 percent with no additional height, 8 percent with one additional story and 10 percent with two, along with relief from density controls. It applies to new construction of three or more units and does not apply in the RH-1 or RH-2 districts. The affordability rates were reduced by the Board of Supervisors on July 21, 2026, effective August 22, 2026 (SF Planning, HOME-SF). Projects can also use the State Density Bonus Law, which San Francisco processes through its own supplemental applications (SF Planning, State Density Bonus Program application). The density bonus guide sets out what a bonus changes in the drawings.

Oakland: Planning and Building online

In Oakland, the Planning and Building Department accepts most permit applications through Oakland PermitsOnline, the city's Accela Citizen Access portal, and new construction building permits for projects of more than three units can be applied for online (City of Oakland, PermitsOnline).

Oakland publishes detailed electronic submittal guidelines for the set itself (City of Oakland, Electronic Plan and Document Submittal Guidelines):

File type. First-generation, vector PDFs converted directly from the drawing software, with all layers flattened.
Sheet size. At least 24 by 36 inches for large construction.
Layout. Landscape, top of the sheet at the top of the screen, a north arrow, and a 4 by 3 inch space at the top right corner of the building plans for the city's approval stamp.
Security. Settings that let staff comment on the PDF.
Revisions. Every revision submitted with a written description by permit number and date.

Each of those is a production detail. A set that arrives in raster, in portrait, or without the stamp space goes back before review starts, so the studio sets the sheet template and the PDF export to the city's rules before the first issue.

San Jose: SJPermits and SJePlans

In San Jose, permits are applied for online at SJPermits.org, and plan review submittals for building permits go through SJePlans, the city's electronic plan review portal. The city describes SJePlans as one place to upload plans for review by the Building, Planning, Public Works and Fire departments, to view and respond to reviewers' comments, and to follow the status of the project. For a new multifamily building, the city's process is to apply in SJPermits, upload the plans in SJePlans, and receive the plan reviewer's comments through SJePlans (City of San José, SJePlans).

Affordable housing in the region

The state's 9 percent tax credit competition divides the Bay Area into separate geographic regions. In CTCAC's 2026 credit estimates, the South and West Bay Region, which includes Santa Clara County, holds 6.0 percent of the geographic credits, about $4.6 million in annual federal credits (CTCAC, 2026 credit estimates). Publicly funded projects bring CBC Chapter 11B into the units and common areas; see the 11A and 11B guide.

How the studio works on a Bay Area set

The founder's own record is in Los Angeles, and the studio does not claim Bay Area projects. What transfers is the production and the correction process:

Your model and template. Every sheet drawn in your Revit model, to your standards and your worksharing rules.
Each city's format. The sheet template and PDF export set to the receiving city's rules, from Oakland's stamp space to San Francisco's unrestricted files.
Corrections inside the city's system. Each comment answered on the sheets and in writing, with a dated log, in the session or portal the city uses.
Your office files. Your office keeps the filing, the client and the decisions.

See plan check corrections for how a correction round is handled, or start with one project.

Construction documents and plan check in the Bay Area