Sprinkler inspection in small 7 unit condominium
Hi, I just recently moved into a small condo of 7 units in bushwick/Bedford Stuyvesant. We have sprinkler system installed in our condo by sponsor. We recently receive a bill of monthly subscription for their monthly check service, but it’s expensive with cost of $1200 a year. Does anyone know if the sprinkler system inspection is required? Insurance agent said it’s only required when first enrolled to satisfy their requirement. We try to find the least expensive solution.
tommysampson1979
in General Discussion 6 years ago
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7 replies
michaelsaur67 | 5 years and 11 months ago
@stevecym, what are your rates for door repair?
stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago
test location is 9 metro tech center.
stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago
and by the way, the test to get this cert is easy. they give you the study materials (you can probably down load them) and read it twice and take the test. i used to read them on the subway on the way to the test location. I think you need something called City Wide Sprinkler. it used to begin with W- (its been a long time for me, i let mine expire but i think it was W-26). if someone wants to do this and is not sure, come back here and ask and i will look.
stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago
i may go get the cert again to sign these for people who are in the midst of deciding what to do. it is not something i want to do as a business per se, but at the same time i can sign a sprinkler inspection sheet and hand someone the paperwork needed to get the cert of fitness from the FDNY and run over it with them. i can also advise if someone should contact a real company, re any issues.
brokelin | 5 years and 11 months ago
steveycym is right – in many small, self-managed builldings, one of Board members gets certified (or a resident, as many small self-managed buildings make little distinction between official board members and just run the place as a collective – though do check the requirements for certification, in case legally the person who has the certification has to be a board member – if that is the case, you just be sure to put the person who is willing to get the certification and do the tasing on the board, and keep them there.)
As with many things in small coops, you can decide how much work you want to do yourselves for the building, and how much you’d rather throw money at someone else to do for you. Back in the 80’s and early 90s, small Brooklyn coops were frugal, and managed themselves and did things like cleaning the common areas, taking out the garbage, small repairs, etc. themselves. Then, around 1998, when prices of coops in the most popular Brooklyn neighborhoods doubled from what they were in 1997 (in 1997 they regained the 25% value they had lost from where they were at their previous height in the late 80s, but then lost in the long downturn after the late 80s market crash, but in 1998 prices doubled then from 1997) people with more money started to buy more coops in Brooklyn, and they had different opinions about how much self-management and physical labor they wanted to do, and what they’d rather pay someone to do. You had different opinions between long-term building residents and some of the newer owners. How you decide to handle this is going to be based on what the residents of your particular building want to do – or, most likely, on whether one of the same few people who are on the board and do all the work for the others in the building year after year is willing to get the certification and do the testing, and if not, if everybody is the building can afford to just pay up.
stevecym | 5 years and 11 months ago
ok. in the commercial builidngs i worked in, i did the inspections as i carried a cert of fitness from the FDNY – and you can get one as well. our inspections were every 30 days. In two buildings i worked in, we had a company do them because we had more extensive systems and felt it was better to have a relationship with a professional service co in case we needed a repair (and with old pipes, that happens). i have thought about getting another cert of fitness and performing these for people who have gotten stuck with either a violation or need one to prevent a violation in the interim before they actually get a cert of fitness of their own or develop a relationship with a service provider. if people ever said to me, that sounds like a great idea, i’d get the cert and would charge the rate i do for my first hour of door repair. someone on your board should get the cert.
resident2 | 6 years ago
Every multiple dwelling (7 families is multiple) has to have the sprinkler system tested & inspected annually & every 1/4.
The building management/ Condo Board should be doing this. If you have a bill for $1,200; if it is for the whole building, it is cheap. As an individual 1 of 7 it is high.
Who is the bill from?
Building wide routine inspections should be covered in the common charges.