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…
The crane collapses in Manhattan have really had a negative impact on everyone seeking to file at the DOB. We are all victims of those highrise accidents. Ironically, it is the small building owner who are now facing the brunt of the City’s “enhanced enforcement”. There definitely is no such thing as a simple permit. Examiners are terrified to approve anything. You can understand why, any industrial accident involving their permit would result in a steady media drumbeat to prosecute them and put them in jail. We live in a scapegoat-happy society. As a result, many examiners have quit or taken early retirement and very few jobs are being filed. People just do the work and risk the possibility of being caught.I agree the system is broken.
No more such a thing as a SIMPLE permit these days. Those days have ended. You may need also a fence permit if the window to be changed for a door is at the front wall and at the lot line.
Blame the City not the architect for the ludicrous costs. It is a broken system and getting worse.
Try Scott Schnall on Atlantic Ave, I have not used these guys in years but for what you want they were reasonable and well versed in the Brooklyn DOB morass.
It is Kafkaesque with a lot of Catch 22 and like a tour of Dantes Inferno.
Or roll the dice and do it quickly without a permit
You might save money by dealing with an expediter who has engineer/architect on staff who can do the drawings. Even so, on a small job the filing fees are likely to be a substantial percentage of the overall project. But all of the above commenters are right, there is a certain minimum expenditure of time on the professional’s part that does not change with the size of the job. Put another way, you’re looking for a professional service and you should expect to pay for a professional service.
Perfect, Minard. I always liken it to Kafka also.
I am in the middle of filing a project involving replacing a partition between two apartments in a townhouse, in its same location. The plan examiner included the following objection:
“Document distance to street fire hydrant.”
I kid you not. It’s not that it’s an impossible task, actually it took a minute to add that note. The point is they can ask for anything they want, regardless of whether it’s in the code, and arguing with them is almost always the longer route.
dealing with the brooklyn department of buildings is like dealing with the department of disinformation in Saddam’s Baghdad. Just navigating through that life-shortening experience is worth $5,000.
RBCG, this may seem simple to you, but what the city could potentially require even for a project as small as you’re describing could be a burden. Depending on what you’re doing, from just the little you describe the city could require a footing plan and footing section (to demonstrate the footing is below frost depth). They require a floor plan but in some cases also a certified site survey (to demonstrate the stair is still within allowed setbacks). They would want a section of the stairway and on a similar project I’ve been asked before for assembly details (to demonstrate the stairway is fabricated from non-combustible material, etc). The paperwork alone is a few hours.
And this is all assuming you’re allowed by the plan examiner to file this as an Alt2 without changing the egress characteristics of the building. If it’s seen as an egress change then you have to change the C of O…
So even if the project has no “creative work architecturally” the project may still have a considerable amount of hours in documentation, depending on how demanding the plan exam at the Dept of Buildings turns out to be.
Since bb and ML seem to be familiar with the process, perhaps they give me an approximate itemization of the costs of this process. I’m agree architects serve a valuable function, and don’t think they should be paid “next to nothing”, but I fail to understand how this adds up to more than 5K in this instance.
Seriously, I don’t mean to be snide – please enlighten me.
I hate to pile on, but I did want to say that the administrative tasks required to serve as architect of record on this small project are not so much less than those required for larger projects. The fact that your construction cost is low will not diminish the amount of time or effort it will take to meet all of the DOB’s administrative requirements.