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Building Inspection Commission urges pause on Qmatic queuing system after widespread complaints
Summary
After hours of public testimony from contractors, architects and DBI staff citing long waits and lost tickets, the commission recommended the acting director pause the Qmatic queuing system, revert to the previous clipboard process and bring the vendor back for a technical review.
The San Francisco Building Inspection Commission on July 18 recommended that the Department of Building Inspection halt its recently deployed Qmatic queuing system and return to the prior clipboard sign-in process while staff works with stakeholders and the vendor to identify fixes.
The move followed more than three hours of public comment from permit expediters, contractors, architects and DBI employees who said Qmatic—designed for single‑window, express workflows—has lengthened waits, dropped or “purged” ticket numbers, and reduced transparency in DBI’s multi‑station permit review. "This system is a solution to a not a problem," said Patrick Buskovich, a structural engineer and daily DBI user, describing wait times that increased from about one hour to nearly two in his experience.
Deputy Director Ed Sweeney, who presented staff findings, said DBI collected 56 written comments about the system: 53 opposed, three supportive. He described operational issues staff have tracked, including clients being routed serially across multiple floors instead of processed in parallel and staff spending time reissuing tickets when numbers disappear. "We tried to tweak it, but the system has no built‑in flexibility for our multi‑floor plan‑check process," Sweeney said.
Acting Director Tom Hui and other staff told the commission that Qmatic’s configuration in other cities works for express windows but cannot, as currently implemented, provide the parallel routing DBI customers need. Commissioners asked whether vendor representatives could be brought back to work on reprogramming; Commissioner Walker said the key question is whether the system can support parallel ticketing, and staff replied that it currently cannot.
Commissioner Lee moved to recommend that the director suspend Qmatic operations, restore the clipboards in the short term, and assemble a working group of staff and stakeholders to explore options including vendor fixes, alternate technologies, or a more limited Qmatic deployment for single‑permit transactions. The motion carried by consensus; staff said they would revert operations immediately and return with a vendor briefing and options at a subsequent meeting.
The commission framed the directive as an effort to preserve the original policy goals of fairness and transparency that led to Qmatic’s purchase—chiefly to deter favoritism and "shopping" of plan checkers—while restoring timely service. The acting director told commissioners DBI intends to consult users, MIS and the vendor, and to report back with a path forward.
Next steps: DBI will pause the current Qmatic routing, reinstate the clipboard sign‑in where needed, invite the vendor to the next commission meeting to explain technical limits and repair options, and produce a director’s report on options and timelines.
