Editorial policy

Sourcing

Every figure on a city page traces to a public, city-specific source: adopted fee schedules, building department pages, permit portals, planning documents, impact-fee nexus studies, and state law (for SB 9 and factory-built housing rules). We do not publish figures we cannot trace to a local source.

What gets published — and what doesn't

• A city page is only published when research finds enough distinct local data to be useful. Cities where the record is too thin are dropped, not padded.
• Every draft passes a quality screen before publication; drafts that fail are rejected and not published.
• Costs are presented as ranges, because site conditions, lot slope, soil, and utility distances move real budgets substantially.

AI assistance

We use AI tools for research collection and drafting under editorial direction, with city-specific sources as the input. Pages that cannot be grounded in local sources are killed rather than published. See about for who runs this site.

Corrections and updates

Fee schedules change — most Bay Area cities adjust fees annually in July. If you spot a figure that a city has since updated, use the quote form on any page to reach us and we will re-verify against the current schedule.