Engineer/Architect for Simple Permit
Can anyone recommend an architect or engineer who can pull a permit relatively cheaply? We want to turn a parlor window into a door and install metal stairs to the garden. We’ve got a contractor lined up, but the one architect we consulted gave us a quote of almost 50% of the cost of actually…
Can anyone recommend an architect or engineer who can pull a permit relatively cheaply? We want to turn a parlor window into a door and install metal stairs to the garden. We’ve got a contractor lined up, but the one architect we consulted gave us a quote of almost 50% of the cost of actually doing the job. I hope this is not the norm… No creative work architecturally, simply drawing up the plans and getting the permit.
Thanks in advance…
best wish to you ..thanks for sharing
I separate drawing fee from expediting/asbestos so the client knows. yea it’s more than the drawings often on small jobs. Expediting is a good business!
The NYT should write about this.
Think about it:
$5,000 fee
minus $1,500 for the permit expediter,
minus $350 for the asbestos report,
does not leave much for the architect, who has to go out, measure the floor, create the plans, details and permit apps, then inspect a few times. Small projects are not easy.
RBCG, who are you using to open up the window to build door? i need to do the same thing.
totally, it’s a moving target, and ultimately it’s Clients who take the hit as it costs more time, and now we find we have to “pad” the fees to account for these minute-by-minute changes in filing and revisions to docs. It’s getting worse as a process (if that’s possible)
Thinkaboutit: I feel your pain. problem with DOB is that regs. and procedures don’t change anymore by the day it changes by the minute!!
OK
I’m in on this one also.
I’m w/ Minard, the time and hoops involved w/ dealing with DOB in person, is soul-sucking and getting wayyyyy out of hand, and I’ll roll Landmarks Commission in to that also. They all seem to complain how busy they are but cannot seem to find a means to parse out “minor” projects versus ones that warrant substantial scrutiny.
I was there at Brooklyn DOB recently, it’s like the DMV on crack. I was attempting to untangle clerical errors on forms made a ear ago, and the chief engineer had no interest in dealing with the issue as a “clerical” mistake. They wanted new forms, new drawings, etc. It was nuts. I mean it literally was a typo that conflicted with record documents on file, yet they would have no reasoning with us at all.
I mean, I feel like they are “looking” for more work to make for themselves….totally crazy
Interesting metric: 2009 DOB applications down 13% from 2007. Time for plan examinations up 50% from 2007, projected to go up yet another 50% for 2010. Agree with Minard that plan examiners are too timid to exercise judgment and approve anything. Let’s face it, NYC DOB plan examiner was never a career that appealed to the best and the brightest.
It’s pretty clear that the direction to “slow things down” is coming from the top echelons of the DOB, and that the smaller the job, the more burdensome the hassle is.