Getting on schedule with facade inspection reports.

It may be surprising to note that the filing period for the sixth cycle of Local Law 11 Facade Inspection Reports is now half over! Only a year remains until the deadline of February 21, 2007. This has resulted in a sense of urgency among those who have not yet arranged to have their inspection performed.

Following are a few recommendations for ensuring a timely and cost effective compliance: 1. Obtain proposals from qualified consulting engineering firms who are capable of not only performing the Local Law 11 inspections, but who can also provide the ancillary services (such as preparing plans and specifications for exterior repairwork, filing for permits and approvals from City agencies, etc.) which are typically required in connection with the compliance process. This should be done immediately so that the inspection process can commence without delay.

2. Authorize the engineer to proceed with the inspection promptly upon selection. As the task requires both a complete visual inspection of the facade, as well as a scaffold drop inspection, it will likely take several weeks to complete. In addition, it is important to note that the scaffold inspection cannot be performed until proper insurance is provided. Upon completion of the inspection, the Local Law 11 report should be prepared and submitted to the property owner or authorized representative.

The completion of steps 1 and 2 should take about two months. Therefore, if the process was to begin immediately it is unlikely that the client would be able to have a report until sometime in April 2006.

3. Once the report is furnished to the client there will remain a number of activities that must be completed to address any unsafe conditions at the building in order for safe with repair and maintenance program report to be filed with the Department of Buildings. These include:

a. Soliciting a proposal from and retaining the engineer to prepare and develop plans and specifications and bid documents for the needed repairwork. This can take a few weeks.

b. The engineer must prepare the plans and specifications for the project. This can take one to two months.

c. Upon preparation, the contract documents will be sent out for bid to qualified contractors.

d. While the contractor selection process is underway, the filing for permits with the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission should take place where required. Follow up actions will be necessary until all required permits are obtained.

The processes outlined in item 3c and 3d typically take some two months to complete; longer where landmarks are involved. Delays should be expected at public agencies during this time frame as the number of projects expected to be filed will likely be very high. This should be anticipated because all of the conditions carried over from the fifth cycle of Local Law 11 as items in need of repair and maintenance will have to be corrected before the filing of sixth cycle report. If they are not, such conditions will have to be documented as unsafe conditions in the report. Pursuant to the above, it is quite likely that the typical repair project will not be started until September 2006.

e. The repairwork will have to be performed and the project signed off so that a letter of completion can be filed with the Department of Buildings. The time necessary to perform the required repairwork will vary from building to building. It will be dependent on various factors, including the amount of work to be performed, the nature and complexity of the work, the availability of qualified contractors, disruptions caused by inclement weather, etc. In addition, securing funding for the project can also cause delays.

In the event the project can be completed in three months and assuming the work was to start in September, completion during December 2006 would be feasible. If the work takes longer to complete, portions of the work may have to be postponed until after March or April 2007 and completed sometime thereafter. This would necessitate an unsafe Local Law 11 filing (and associated violation, fines, etc.).

f. Upon issuance of the letter of completion, the final sixth cycle Local Law 11 inspection report should be prepared and filed with the Department of Buildings. It is anticipated that a considerable number of reports will be rejected during the audit process and refiling with the Department of Buildings may be required. Ultimately, the filed report should be acceptable to the Department of Buildings. If the work was completed by December 2006, as noted above, this should be achieved in a timely manner. In the event the work could not be completed prior to the deadline the process will have to continue beyond the filing deadline in order to achieve compliance. This can involve the filing for time extensions and the possibility of having to address costly violations and the filing of amended sixth cycle.

Time is running out to achieve compliance with Local Law 11. The time to perform inspections, implement repairs and have them filed with and accepted by the Department of Buildings is running out. This process will take a year or longer for many buildings. Accordingly, it is recommended that those owners or managers who have not made arrangements to have their sixth cycle Local Law 11 inspections performed yet, do so immediately. Costs and related problems will likely increase with the passage of time as the deadline approaches.

While a year may seem like a sufficient time to start and complete all required Local Law activities, experience in prior cycles indicates it really is a very small window of opportunity.