City of San Jose Building Department

The absolute worst!
Ridiculous lines, sometimes 2 – 3 hours long. Impossible scheduling for inspections. You are never able to speak to inspectors over the phone and messages left are not returned for over 3 business days. Rude, condescending, and unprofessional employees and staff. Horrific service. If it wasn’t completely necessary for me to deal with these people I would say good riddance!
I work in a position that involves dealing with public agencies every day. From the City of San Jose alone, I pull probably around 20 – 30 permits a month and do my very best to maintain a positive, professional, working relationship but this agency seems to want to test the limits of my professionalism!
If I could give zero stars San Jose Building Department would be worthy.

I was not looking forward to pulling my permits after seeing the low rating. I’m helping my elderly mother with an extensive rebuild of her home encompassing just about everything that needs to be upgraded since the house was built in ’61. I was seeking a permit as an owner builder and know relatively little about the process. Parking was easy and free with validation, I didn’t have to wait long to be seen after pulling a ticket. James Law was the inspector. He first told me what I’d need on my drawings, then checked my drawings for errors on the second visit and finally approved the plans with some exceptions on the third. They were very friendly and seemed more efficient than I expected from government. Only losing one star for the cost of the permits which were very high compared to those I pulled for my home in Fremont.

The citys website is so outdated that nothing is what they say in person. Especially permit costs.
They take way to long to issue you permits, and never follow through on there dates and timelines they provide you.
Expect a 3 month turn around to actually get your permits.
The city is at like 45% staff and 90% of the employees are knew.
On average you can expect 3 rounds of comments.