Ask the Architect

Why does flipping house take longer on L.I.?

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Q. I do a lot of work flipping homes in Queens, and the reason I prefer to is that we get permits right away, usually in less than a week. On Long Island it takes months just to get a permit. Do you know why they don’t allow architects or engineers to “self-certify” like they do in the city? It would sure make things easier.
A. Flipping homes takes great strength, probably as much as catching a train. Actually, it mostly takes great patience, to wait the many weeks or months to finally obtain a permit on Long Island. The main reason it takes so long is policy. That’s a blanket term describing the many reasons, including public safety, drawing and document completeness, legal compliance, and avoiding corruption.
Policy makers accepted, a century ago, that people, left to their own devices, didn’t always use common sense, weren’t always sensitive to others and didn’t always respect authority. All those factors led to the city of Chicago burning to the ground. People in the Windy City Oct. 8-10, 1871, ran for their lives, some with their hair and clothes on fire, some reportedly holding their children under water in Lake Michigan to keep flames from scorching their skin. Yes, it really did happen, and immediately, cities across the country woke up to the reality that there needed to be regulation, building codes and laws so, maybe, this devastation would never happen, again.
But people cheat, lie, look the other way, accept “gratuities” in exchange for public safety, substitute, deviate from plans, manipulate … you get the idea. New York City is a big place, so big that the system would come to a grinding halt if everyone doing construction had to undergo rigorous plan review, authorities realized. They devised a system shifting 100 percent responsibility to architects and engineers. Read the many forms that design professionals sign to self-certify and you’ll see what I mean.
The beautiful thing for construction people is that they get work started sooner, can do more without getting caught, and have less responsibility, given the way it gets dumped on the self-certifiers. No wonder you’d rather do work on the west side of the Cross Island Expressway. Plans cost more in the city, because professionals seek ways to protect themselves, loading drawings with tons of extra notes and details, many of which contractors have admitted to me that they never read or follow.

Lawyers who devised the city’s system were very smart, because when something goes wrong, the city has no responsibility, basically only acting as a facilitator and archivist of records and permits, having a team of auditors who also get to scrutinize without responsibility. This simplifies preparation for court cases, with only contractors and design professionals to prosecute. It may seem enticing to L.I. municipalities to consider a similar system, but they see how many things can go wrong, and public safety is the main concern.

© 2018 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.