Category: Recent News

Buildings in New York account for 75 percent of NYC’s carbon emissions. To respond to this huge carbon footprint Michael Bloomberg’s administration launched the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan in 2009. These new laws are the most ambitious set of energy efficient codes in the nation and will touch all parts of the construction industry in New York.

While great for the environment, this plan might not be so great for architects and engineers navigating the new maze of complex codes and years worth of updates that address everything from cranes to smoking rules on the job site.

These new laws mandate that energy code now must apply to ALL construction projects. Part of the new code requires all builders to provide annual energy efficiency benchmarks to the DOB that will be made available to the public.

 

This means a lot of new paper work and environmentally friendly permit applications for you, the architect and engineer. And you probably know what we’re talking about since 2011 Benchmarking stats were due just a few months ago in December.

 

If you found yourself overwhelmed last year with the added planning and paper pushing due to the Greener Greater Buildings Plan, you should consider working with an expeditor like S & M Expediting. Our experts offer guidance and advice on how to comply to with green building standards that include things like converting boilers to No 2 oil and obtaining plan approval for solar system installation in New York City.

If you’d like to learn more, call us today at 718-833-2333.

New York’s Department of Buildings (DOB) has issued some new service changes. Keep reading for details. If you have any questions about the changes, call us at 718-833-2333 and we’ll guide you though them step-by-step.

• Design standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have recently been updated. Beginning March 15, 2012, new buildings and major alterations may be required to meet these new minimum requirements. Click here for complete details.
• Beginning February 14, 2012, applicants or property owners must submit a new L2 form when requesting an override, reduction or waiver of civil penalties for Work Without a Permit or Stop Work Order violation. See the L2 instructions for more on the new form and submission requirements. Click here for complete details.
• Permits to work after hours – After-hours Variances (AHV) — are required to perform crane and derrick work and general construction between 6pm and 7am on weekdays or any time on weekends. Click here for more details.

There are many reasons why you may be required to produce a Certificate of Occupancy on your New York property:

 

• for new construction that changes the use of your building
• when purchasing a newly constructed home
• for claiming a first-time homeowner tax credit.

Finding a Certificate of Occupancy in NYC or applying for one can be a tedious endeavor. At S & M Expediting, we can do this for you in three steps:

 

1. We correspond with your New York Department of Buildings borough office to obtain a final Certificate of Occupancy. As part of our services, we continually follow up with the status of your request and complete any tasks required to insure you receive a final Certificate of Occupancy in a timely manner.
2. If your property was built before 1938, S & M Expediting can also apply for a Letter of No Objection from your borough office. This allows you to prove the legal use of a prospective or existing property for closing or new construction that changes purpose of the building.
3. In some cases, we may need to apply for a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) for your New York City property while you wait for the final certificate to be approved and issued. This allows you to live or work in your property until you receive approval. It’s important to remember that these are temporary and will expire.

While it’s recommended that you don’t close on a property with a temporary certificate, if you do, contact S & M Expediting soon after closing.  We’ll refer you to an architect or engineer that can determine what needs to be done with your property to obtain a final certificate of occupancy in NYC. This is important because if your temporary certificate expires it can become impossible to insure or sell your property.

As you may recall back in April, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new rule requiring the phase out of Number 6 and Number 4 oil, the city’s two most-polluting grades of heating oil with Number 6 being the dirtiest.

About 10,000 buildings in New York City are burning the toxic oils with 60 percent of these buildings being located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The sooty pollution caused by Number 6 and Number 4 oil irritate lungs, aggravate asthma, and increase the rates of heart attacks and premature death.

What this means to you as a building owner, Co-op board member, or property manager is by 2015 you’ll need to convert your building’s boiler to burn at least Number 4 oil if not the most environmentally friendly option Number 2. Then by 2030, all boilers in NYC need to run only on Number 2 oil. This could mean a brand new boiler for many buildings.

Changing the type of oil that your boiler runs on is not as easy as it seems and requires a permit from NYC’s Department of Buildings (DOB).

S&M Expediting can file these boiler conversion permits for you. You can convert your boiler to gas as well through ConEdison. Converting to gas also requires a permit as does completely replacing your boiler. We can expedite all of these permits for you and get you burning cleaner fuel this year.

S&M supports all of New York’s green programs and hope you take your own initiative to make your building healthier today.

The most common DOB violations in NYC are expensive and complicated to deal with on your own, especially if you’ve inherited violations with a newly acquired property. Your first fine will likely be in the hundreds, but if you let those violations go, or if you bought a property that has a long-ignored violation—you could be stuck with a $10,000 fine!

How to Remove Building Violations and Reduce Fines

Once you call our expediting company we look over your violation details to determine the best course of action based on feasibility of legalization, time factor, and cost. When it’s determined whether your violation can be removed completely or your fines negotiated down to the minimum we carefully explain your options to you.

Then, depending on the type of violation, we may need to represent you in ECB court. Many violations do not require appearance at ECB court.  If you have non-hazardous violations which can be cured on or prior to the “cure by” date, we can obtain a Certificate of Correction Approval letter for you.

Hazardous violations are mandated to have have a hearing. DOB violations, or those not requiring a hearing, are resolved either at the borough office or at the centralized unit office.  S & M Expediting has long-standing relationships with these city agencies as well as the ECB court.

If your violation requires an appearance at ECB court, one of our permit expeditors will sit with the administrative judge for you and either plead guilty and obtain a minimum fine or present evidence to have the violation completely dismissed.

Once we receive the ECB court’s decision by mail, we submit a Certificate of Correction to have your violation completely removed from the system. All you have to do is make one phone call. It’s that easy!