Discover the best ways to get your construction projects approved by NYC Department of Buildings

When property owners are planning to construct a building or doing a renovation, please follow these steps to get your construction project approved by NYC DOB:

Hire a Registered Architect or a Professional Engineer

There are many Registered Architects or Professional Engineers that you can find online or through friends.

Architects or Engineers may have their own Filing Representative that will assist them in preparing documents and filing these documents and plans at the Department of Buildings.

Hire a Filing Representative

You may also hire your own Filing Representatives/Expeditors to have more control over the process of filing, approval, and permit issuance. These Filing Representatives are familiar and experienced with the bureaucracy of city agencies and will help you prepare documents required for the applications.

You, your Architect. Engineer or Filing Representative should contact the NYC Department of Buildings in your applications that are not processed yet or still waiting for a Plan Examiner assignments and reviews.

Attend Scheduled Plan Examination for a regular application filing

For any type of application filings that were filed as a regular application filing, a Plan Examiner will be assigned for this application. It may take a couple of days up to two weeks for a Plan Examiner to review the applications including any plans submitted.

During the plan examination appointments, the Architect, Engineer as the applicant of record or the Filing Representative with a Class 2 license may explain and resolve the objections issued for the job application.

Reschedule another Plan Examination appointment if required

Due to the time constrain on the plan examination which is usually limited to 20 minutes, the objections may not be resolved in one appointment.

For most of the applications filed as alterations 2 or 3, one to two appointments should resolve all objections and obtain approval. To resolve objections for Alteration 1 and New Building applications, we are afforded up to five plan examination appointments. After that, the applicant of record needs to apply for a consideration to continue with the plan examinations.

Obtain the Plan Examiner’s approvals for your construction project application

To obtain the project application approval, there are Items Required prior to approval that need to be submitted and accepted by NYC DOB. During the plan examination process, you may submit these Items Required, or the plan examiner may accept that. Once all Items Required prior to approval have been accepted, the Plan Examiner should approve the job application.