Stop Work Order / DoB Bureaucracy
Kind of a long story, but I’ll do my best to keep it short. Back in April, my business partner and I rented a warehouse in Gowanus with the intention of building partitioned rooms (what we’re using it for isn’t important). We started doing the work ourselves without permits, an admittedly bonehead move on our…
Kind of a long story, but I’ll do my best to keep it short.
Back in April, my business partner and I rented a warehouse in Gowanus with the intention of building partitioned rooms (what we’re using it for isn’t important). We started doing the work ourselves without permits, an admittedly bonehead move on our part. We got slapped with a SWO shortly thereafter.
After a few months of dealing with an expeditor, an architect, and a contractor, we got our plans approved, paid the $5,500 (!) penalty, and got our permits to work. We thought it was a done deal.
Because this cost a ton of money, we figured we’d wait a couple of months to generate more cash before we moved on to our HVAC installation, also an expensive job. We already had plans approved in September, but just found a company we were happy with and signed a contract last week for a 15-ton unit on our roof. We went to expeditor, and he went to DoB to pull permits today. What they told him blew my mind. Apparently, we still have some civil penalty for almost $10,000 that is due, for a SWO that doesn’t exist, or was already paid. What is going on here?!?!
I’d like to know if anyone else is completely fed up with the DoB being easily one of the most corrupt and money-hungry organizations in this town. I certainly am. It seems to me that people are quick to defend them, but I feel like everyone there is either on the dole or would like to be. Is it possible to make it what it’s supposed to be, i.e. an organization that actually CARES about safety and enforcing code, instead of a bureaucratic greed machine? It’s one thing to throw arbitrary fines at giant developers building huge condos on 4th Ave (it may not be right, but they have budgets for that), it’s another to screw over small businesses who are just trying to build some walls and put heat in their buildings.
Any advice, Brownstoners? I’m at a loss. I’m about to throw in the towel and move to Nebraska or something.
Also, why is there not a category on here for the DoB? They are the source of SO MANY problems…
blow me
@eman1234
Hence my comment that it was “an admittedly bonehead move.” Don’t worry, though: your eye-rolling condescension didn’t go unnoticed.
Ahem. Since then, we have done every last thing on the level. We have paid our civil penalty, and hired licensed contractors, electricians, plumbers, riggers, HVAC…everything is legitimate, so save your snotty “welcome to new york” comments for someone who deserves them, and learn how to capitalize, punctuate, and provide actually useful feedback in forums.
nothing personal, but you made your own bed when you started construction without a permit…why do you think that legitimate contractors have to charge the prices that they do?..welcome to new york
denton, that’s unbelievable.
I mean, I TOTALLY believe it, but I have to remark at the utter inefficiency of this organization.
Is there NOTHING that can be done about it? Is it just too big, too broken.
I’m sorry that happened to you.
I’m sorry the DoB is what it is.
Ugh.
I wish they were on the take. Then you could just pay them off. Be cheaper in the long wrong.
I’m doing a gut reno in the SS and have had zero major problems with the work (the usual minor ones, of course).
However I have just failed another plumbing inspection cuz the inspector insisted the boiler can’t vent thru the chimney. Had he turned to the next page in the manual, he would have seen that it could.
He was 100% dead wrong but does the DOB correct their errors fro free? No, I had to hire an engineer (who I had to personally show WHY the DOB was wrong) and my expeditor to go get the objection removed. I can’t wait to get the bill for fixing the city’s f/u.
Good question. It’s a good thing that my expeditor and I are both fastidious record-keepers, because I’m pretty sure they just biffed it up and didn’t record our original fine payment (Actually $5,565 with another $397 filing fee: I just found the receipt). Because it’s been so long (the SWO was issued on April 29), I think they’ve doubled the penalty for what they THINK is a non-payment (or some other arbitrary and no doubt archaic code they continue to stick to).
Ugh. 750k kitchen, you say? Want to buy a business while you’re at it? We could have done all this three times over with that kind of cash…
Anyway, yeah, you’re right: it DOES suck. Maybe I’ll follow bk14’s advice. Even better, I have a few friends who are Assemblymen. Who knows, maybe I’ll become a crusader against the DoB and force the FDNY to take over their duties. Okay, now I’m just rambling. I’m still reeling from this fine news. I hope it’s just a mistake, but I’m not holding my breath.
A 750k kitchen? You mean 75k, right? And that seems very high as well…
Wow, I am so sorry that this happened to you. It is a tough lesson that you’re not above the law. So, is the real question: Are the fines justified? If they are incorrect, you can probably bring it to someone’s attention and get the mistake corrected. If they are legitimate then I guess you have to pay the price that everyone else, who is doing work legally in the city, must pay.
It is incomprehensibly expensive to build and renovate in the city. I have never really been able to figure it out. I am currently adding a 750k kitchen. How is that even possible?
Good Luck. It sucks.
I’d suggest writing to a couple of the NYTimes reporters that cover real estate to see if they’d like to do an expose-type story on the DOB. Then threaten the higher-ups at DOB with this story…seriously.