{"id":1612,"date":"2015-12-11T02:12:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T02:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/?p=1612"},"modified":"2015-12-11T02:12:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T02:12:54","slug":"5000-nyc-fine-how-do-you-like-them-apples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/5000-nyc-fine-how-do-you-like-them-apples\/","title":{"rendered":"$5000 NYC fine, how do you like them apples?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Would you like to avoid a $5000 fine from the city? \u00a0Lately, too many people are calling SimpleTwig Architecture.llc and asking for help to legalize some construction that was done by them, or by someone else before they owned the property, that they need legalized, NOW!<\/span><\/div>\n

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While a permit costs around $2200 (filing and expediting) if you’re caught with illegal construction on your property you’re fined $5000 minimum by New York City, and then you have to hire the Architect and expeditor to do the work that was supposed to be done before construction, and get the professional services work done\u00a0before the city\u00a0fines the owner again,\u00a0for not getting it legalized fast enough. \u00a0Yikes!<\/span><\/div>\n
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If you don’t submit plans and get a permit the penalty goes up every few months, until you find reason. \u00a0While the minimum\u00a0initial fine is $5000, we think they go up to $7500, then $10,000, etc. until the city gets what they need including\u00a0a court appearance by the property owner proving did the work legally. Yikes again!<\/span><\/div>\n
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At SimpleTwig, we love to design and honestly speaking who doesn’t. \u00a0It’s the thing we do best and the one thing we take pride in. \u00a0Our ability to pull together functional relationships and merge this with a worthy design idea, brought to life with just the right materials, forms and shapes is what makes our engines tick. \u00a0Still, none of that matters if you have to break the law to achieve it. \u00a0And in this respect we believe no one should ever call themselves an Architect unless they can do it all. \u00a0We use the word Architect with a capital A, in its true historical sense, to ensure that every piece of this earths ground is respected with the best humanity can achieve. \u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
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And while designing can be fun, one has to be\u00a0<\/em>responsible, which is what this article is\u00a0about…<\/i><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Some people need the legalization not because they were caught by the city, but because they need to sell their property. Now they have to hope to find a professional to sign off on work that was probably done by an unlicensed contractor, which usually means much of the work has to be torn out and redone. \u00a0When they go to legalize the construction the city fines them the $5000 for building illegally. The only difference here is now the owner is ready to file and resolve the issue. (Personally we think that property owners who go to the city to legalize something should get a break, as an incentive for more to do the same).<\/span><\/div>\n
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And others, with a permit in hand, decided during construction to do a few minor changes without following through and paying an architect to resubmit ‘as built’ drawings and get Department of Buildings approval for the changes, and are in the same situation as those above when they realize years later they need their change legalized and the previous architect is no longer in business, moved or retired.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Examples<\/strong>:<\/div>\n
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  • 1)<\/strong> Neighbor builds small wood deck which interferes with drop down fire-escape ladder. \u00a0He doesn’t learn too well as he is now helping a brother-in-law build an in-ground swimming pool and surrounding wood deck that is too close to the property line… without a permit.<\/li>\n
  • 2)<\/strong> Owner decides, because of a fine from the city, to rebuild their failing garage structure. \u00a0They get plans but decide during construction to make it a two car garage. \u00a0The finish the work but can’t get approval for the structure because the plans don’t match what was built. \u00a0Now the company that did the drawings is long gone. \u00a0Who is going to approve those footings and foundations walls, and how in the heck is anyone going to verify there is rebar in the concrete?<\/li>\n
  • 3)<\/strong> Co-op owner wants to sell their apartment, but the co-op board blocks the sell because the renovated bathroom and kitchen was never filled by the previous owner. \u00a0How the previous owner was able to sell is beyond us, but never the less they left the new owner holding the responsibility. \u00a0I’m pretty sure they used unlicensed contractors who couldn’t care less about permits. \u00a0Now they need to file plans, pay the $5000 penalty, hire a plumber to confirm the plumbing is okay or make changes if required in order to get a final sign-off, all delaying their hopes of moving.<\/li>\n
  • 4)<\/strong> Owner discovers they’re living in a house that had a two story addition built illegally in the back. \u00a0With our help they get it legalized after having to fix some windows, stairs, vents and getting a final inspection from the city. \u00a0In this project, SimpleTwig Architecture.llc was audited by the city, to ensure I was doing our job as registered architects, and we pass the audit perfectly without any objections. \u00a0(Thanks DOB).<\/li>\n
  • 5)<\/strong> Owner wants to put a maids bedroom in the cellar. \u00a0We advise them that this illegal, and that they have room on the first floor with a private exterior entrance for the maid. \u00a0They push forward as if it is going to happen in the cellar anyway. \u00a0We advise them again of the ample space on the first floor, and that it is not only illegal but it is immoral. \u00a0They begin to feel like we are just difficult, and that the issue has nothing to do with the fact that it is against the law to put a bedroom and full bathroom in a cellar which has only one way out and no opportunity for any windows, with a high probability of water and dampness issues. \u00a0Eventually SimpleTwig Architecture.llc, decides that we are not the right Architect for this particular townhouse renovation, in TriBeCa, and proceeds to tell the client. \u00a0Eventually, a couple\u00a0years later, the client sold the townhouse, un-renovated.<\/li>\n
  • 6)<\/strong> Contractor renovates a store without a permit, gets caught, has to add $5000 to the budget along with professional fees. We review what they built and tell them their building technique is flawed, that they installed sheetrock wrong and that we could have saved them a lot of time, along with making the space ‘more rent-able’ by accommodating ‘bumps in the walls’ due to pipes and piers. \u00a0So now the owner, who trusted the contractor, will get less rent, and the cost of construction is 1\/3 higher than it had to be.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    There are too many other ‘stories’ to mention, all resulting in our empathy for people who now have to shell out so much extra money, to get things built right and legal. \u00a0We always suggest to people\u00a0‘please hire an Architect first, to avoid poor design decisions, and to avoid problems like those noted above.’ \u00a0But the influence of so many TV DIY shows that make renovation seem simple, and cheap, encourages people to design themselves, even when they have no design experience, and build themselves. \u00a0I’m often shocked to hear a TV host talk about the budget of $20,000 ‘to do the renovation’ when they don’t mention that the cool ‘before it is built’ animation they show cost $10,000, that many of the materials were donated, another $10k, and that the labor provided by\u00a0the host and crew was free construction (add another $10k). \u00a0In this respect, a tip of the hat to Bob Vila who was always honest, always reminded people to get city approval and hire an architect.<\/div>\n
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    At SimpleTwig Architecture.llc we do not do illegal work. \u00a0We review the NYC and NYState Building Codes, the Energy Conservation Codes (yes there is more than one and as an Architect we have to apply the most stringent requirement, meaning we have to compare codes to make that determination), the NYC Zoning Resolution and other reference standards to ensure that everything will get DOB approval on our first try. \u00a0Only once did the Department of Buildings disapprove a submittal and this was because they questioned our line-weights. \u00a0And that’s okay since we have accommodated their line-weight request on all future projects. \u00a0What we do is this, we understand a client’s budget and goals, and direct them to get everything or most of the things they hope for within that budget and within all legal requirements.<\/div>\n
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    So \u00a0our recommendation is to ‘find reason’ and hire an architect before you buy a house, especially if your intent is to renovate. \u00a0Get a general idea of how much the professional fees will be, but more important given your overall budget what you should spend on a house and what you should save for renovation costs. \u00a0Find out from your professional\u00a0what renovation ‘wish list items’\u00a0can be accomplished with your budget, and have them available to view the house you put an offer in.\u00a0\u00a0Doing a renovation does not have to be stressful with the right architect, as the construction and planning process is truly enough to handle considering all the decisions one will have to make, so\u00a0do yourself a favor and avoid the potential extra costs of illegal construction,\u00a0penalties and court dates by hiring an architect and getting the project done right.<\/div>\n
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    The above begs the question, does SimpleTwig Architecture.llc report properties\u00a0if they observe illegal construction? \u00a0We do if we see that something is being done in a dangerous manner, especially if we think the public is in danger or the workers seem inexperience and in danger, but we are not ‘the DOB police force’ and thus also need to live normal lives, with family and friends. \u00a0We will also report and decaying building that poses a danger to the public. \u00a0But we’d hate to think what our lives would be like if we reported everything we noticed that was illegal, as it would be impossible to walk down the street and enjoy the beautiful sky, trees, people and city-scape. \u00a0So here is to walking\u00a0and\u00a0enjoying life, worry free.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Would you like to avoid a $5000 fine from the city? \u00a0Lately, too many people are calling SimpleTwig Architecture.llc and asking for help to legalize some construction that was done by them, or by someone else before they owned the property, that they need legalized, NOW!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[640,635,628,48,642,88,637,643,632,634,629,644,627,641,631,630,633,638,636,639],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.simpletwig.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}