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New York City Renovation / Remodeling Filing Process
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When doing
a renovation project in New York City, one
of the most common obstacles that catch owners
off guard are the various approvals and the
time needed before a project can start. With
the exception of private houses and some small
brownstone buildings, the first step is to
get your renovation project reviewed and approved
by the buildings owners association. This
process is usually overseen by the buildings
management company and they present the information
to the board as a packet once all of the required
documentation is collected. On average, most
project approvals take between 2 and 4 weeks
once the board receives the package and assuming
no permits are required. If permits are required,
final approval is issued after permits are
obtained.
The specific information that needs to be
submitted for project approval varies from
building to building. The most common information
that is requested is: a detailed scope of
work, drawings showing existing and proposed
conditions, contractor’s licenses and insurances,
and any processing fees the building requires.
Once all documents are collected, the management
company forwards the submittal package to
the board for review. Some boards will review
the project via email, while others require
it to be discussed at a monthly board meeting.
Based on the scope of work, the board may
require the buildings’ architect to review
the plans and scope of work. While most buildings
require this on complex renovations (reconfiguring
kitchen or bathroom, add/remove partitions,
combining apartments) some boards require
all projects to be reviewed by their architect
even if it is a direct replacement of a kitchen
or bathroom. Most architect reviews are completed
within 1-2 weeks. This time frame varies based
on their work load as well as if they ask
for clarifications or changes to be made to
the plans and scope of work. Some additional
work they may ask for includes: waterproofing
kitchen/bathroom floors and walls, soundproofing
for new hardwood floor installation, soundproofing
for washer/dryer installation, replacing water
and waste lines back to the apartment riser,
or filing permits with the Building Department.
The typical filings required with the DOB
are Electrical Permit, LAA Plumbing Permit,
OP-128 form, and full permit filing. Electrical
permits are required when adding 10 or more
additional outlets or lighting devices, replacing/upgrading
circuit breaker panel. This permit is usually
issued the same day the application is submitted.
LAA Plumbing permits are used when adding
up to 2 additional fixtures, running new plumbing
or gas piping(relocating items), or mounting
new fixtures on an existing rough (for example
removing a tub and installing a shower). The
time to obtain LAA permits average 4-8 weeks
and can be extended during winter months.
Due to this extended time line, the DOB started
an Express LAA application for permits that
can be issued the same day. Unfortunately,
if there is gas piping involved, it can not
be filled under the express application. As
per DOB regulation, if an LAA permit is required,
an asbestos inspection (not necessarily abatement)
will need to be performed by a licensed inspector.
An OP-128 is a form that the plumber submits
to the DOB at the end of the month that indicates
the ordinary plumbing (i.e. swapping fixtures
in existing locations, installing new dishwasher)
jobs that were performed that don’t require
a permit.
Usually, the longest processing time is to
file a full permit for the job. Any addition
or removal of walls (structural or non-structural)
including dropped ceilings may trigger DOB
filing. While MyHome can advise when DOB filing
appears to be needed, the ultimate decision
is in the hands of the Building Architect/Engineer
and the co-op board. Full permits require
architectural drawings from a licensed architect.
With this type of permit, there are two reviews
that will take place. The plans must first
go through the buildings architect and co-op
board. After they finish their review and
all their comments have been satisfied and
they give their approval for the scope of
work, the architect can file the drawings
with the DOB. This is important because some
work that is legally allowed by the DOB, may
not be approved by the buildings co-op board.
One example is extending a bathroom or kitchen
beyond its original foot print and the foot
print of the same wet area below (wet-over-dry).
While this type of work is perfectly legal
as far as the DOB is concerned, performing
the actual work is at the discretion of the
co-op board. Since the DOB application requires
the signature of the board members, these
two reviews can not take place simultaneously.
Some projects can be professionally certified
by the architect, while others need to be
fully reviewed by a plan examiner at the Building
Department. The timing to get the project
approved depends on how many comments/objections
the examiner has as well as their schedule
to meet with the architect to go over the
objections and the architects proposed changes
to satisfy those objections.
While professional certification can speed
things up at the beginning of a project, it
can turn out to be costly in the end. On average
about 20% of professionally certified projects
are chosen to be audited. Due to abuse of
the system, they have been trying to do more
audits on professionally certified projects.
These audits are usually conducted when the
architect applies to have the project signed
off and consists of a DOB plan examiner reviewing
the plans as well as making an unscheduled
jobsite visit to confirm that the final conditions
match the drawings. One of the downsides is
that if the DOB finds any issue with the drawing
or the final conditions do not match the plans,
they will perform a full plan review and can
request changes to be made to the construction
even if the project has been fully completed.
It is also important to understand that when
permits are filed for a job, the time to complete
the project can be delayed. Since inspections
are required with most permits, when certain
phases of the project are reached, the project
may need to stop until the project passes
inspection. While MyHome does its best to
schedule inspections to minimize lost time,
the actual schedule of the inspectors are
out of our control. The inspectors could be
backed up and make us wait longer than normal
to come to the inspector, or they may not
show up when they are scheduled to. A good
example of inspectors timing is with electrical
permits. Final inspections tend to take place
1-3 months after a request is submitted for
final inspection. |
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