CONTENTS: The Building Block Volume 6, Issue 8 August 14, 2015 DOB UPDATES & BULLETINS 1 BUZZ OF THE MONTH 2 EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION 2 ARTICLE– 2015 UNION OR NON-UNION 3 HORROR STORIES 4 SERVICE UPDATES 5 MEET CRSG STEPHEN TRIMBOLI 6 RECRUITMENT 7 CRSG NEWS 9 CALENDAR OF EVENTS AUGUST 10 CONSTRUCTION & REALTY SERVICES GROUP 68 Whitehall Street Lynbrook, NY 11563 Tel: (516) 256-0317 Fax: (516) 256-0335 307 West 38th Street, Suite 1218 New York, NY 10018 Tel: (212)736-6900 Fax: (212) 736-6910 www.crs-group.com THE SITE SAFETY PROBLEM Over the last few years, there have been numerous complaints and discussions regarding the shortage of Site Safety Licenses and the resolution to come. This issue has become a reality and has hit the NYC Construction Industry hard over the last several months. Though 2300 plus license exist, very few are “active”, others are expired and a large amount are of management employees in companies where they will never perform that function. Over the last 7 months approximately 24 licenses were issued, both manager and coordinator, however, there were hundreds of New Building Permits also issued. Through conversation with major developers and construction management firms, we are being told that projects under the “major buildings” category are ready to start but are under a delay due to the fact that there are no Site Safety Managers out there to start work and most importantly sign the PW2. Requests and petitions have been sent to the agencies via industry organizations but those requests have fallen on deaf ears. The general feeling is that the delays are mainly in the multi step background investigation process which is an arduous one at that. Each submitted candidate, who has already passed the exam, must go through this process, which is very important, nevertheless, we are seeing that some are rejected or put at the bottom of the pile when questioned about a review time. How can we resolve this issue? What can we do to help usher this process and keep this “Historic Building Boom” going? Those are the major questions we all want answered. DOB BULLETINS Outdoor Decorative Gas Appliances Bulletin 2015-012 This document establishes acceptance criteria for outdoor decorative gas appliances connected to a fixed fuel piping system , as an alternative material under the NYC Construction Codes. Lot Line Openings Bulletin 2015-013 To clarify code requirements for lot line openings. Post-Installed Anchors in Masonry Bulletin 2015-014 This document establishes acceptance criteria for post- installed anchors in masonry in accorane with the NYC Construction Codes. Memoradum Rescind Bulletin 2015-015 This bulletin rescinds 1 Memorandum and 2 letters that are no longer applicable under any code. Additionally, this bulletin conditionally rescinds 1 Memorandum and 2 letters that are not appicable to projects filed under the 2014 New York City Construction Codes.
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CONTENTS:
The Building Block Volume 6 , Issue 8
August 14, 2015
DOB UPDATES & BULLETINS 1
BUZZ OF THE MONTH 2
EMPLOYEE
RECOGNITION
2
ARTICLE– 2015 UNION
OR NON-UNION
3
HORROR STORIES 4
SERVICE UPDATES 5
MEET CRSG
STEPHEN TRIMBOLI
6
RECRUITMENT 7
CRSG NEWS 9
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
AUGUST
10
CONSTRUCTION & REALTY SERVICES GROUP
68 Whitehall Street
Lynbrook, NY 11563
Tel: (516) 256-0317
Fax: (516) 256-0335
307 West 38th Street, Suite 1218
New York, NY 10018
Tel: (212)736-6900
Fax: (212) 736-6910
www.crs-group.com
THE SITE SAFETY PROBLEM
Over the last few years, there have been numerous complaints and discussions regarding the shortage of
Site Safety Licenses and the resolution to come. This issue has become a reality and has hit the NYC
Construction Industry hard over the last several months.
Though 2300 plus license exist, very few are “active”, others are expired and a large amount are of
management employees in companies where they will never perform that function.
Over the last 7 months approximately 24 licenses were issued, both manager and coordinator, however,
there were hundreds of New Building Permits also issued.
Through conversation with major developers and construction management firms, we are being told that
projects under the “major buildings” category are ready to start but are under a delay due to the fact that
there are no Site Safety Managers out there to start work and most importantly sign the PW2.
Requests and petitions have been sent to the agencies via industry organizations but those requests have
fallen on deaf ears.
The general feeling is that the delays are mainly in the multi step background investigation process which
is an arduous one at that. Each submitted candidate, who has already passed the exam, must go
through this process, which is very important, nevertheless, we are seeing that some are rejected or put
at the bottom of the pile when questioned about a review time.
How can we resolve this issue? What can we do to help usher this process and keep this “Historic
Building Boom” going? Those are the major questions we all want answered.
DOB BULLETINS
Outdoor Decorative Gas
Appliances
Bulletin 2015-012
This document establishes
acceptance criteria for outdoor
decorative gas appliances
connected to a fixed fuel piping
system , as an alternative
material under the NYC
Construction Codes.
Lot Line Openings
Bulletin 2015-013
To clarify code requirements
for lot line openings.
Post-Installed Anchors in
Masonry
Bulletin 2015-014
This document establishes
acceptance criteria for post-
installed anchors in masonry in
accorane with the NYC
Construction Codes.
Memoradum Rescind
Bulletin 2015-015
This bulletin rescinds 1
Memorandum and 2 letters
that are no longer applicable
under any code. Additionally,
this bulletin conditionally
rescinds 1 Memorandum and
2 letters that are not appicable
to projects filed under the
2014 New York City
Construction Codes.
05
BUZZ OF THE MONTH
Given the current cost of land, the new development deals that are
popping up have extremely complex zoning and code issues associated
with the plan. Although they are not a sure bet, they are necessary to
make the deal pencil.
DOB should provide an “experience” substitution for the educational
requirements for the Level II Code Consultant requirements to allow firms
to establish a career ladder in the consulting business.
Recent city council hearings on Construction Site Safety and reports fro
NYCOSH have shined the spotlight on non-union construction companies
for their safety performance.
Are the accomodations being given by the DOB (qualified person, pro-cert,
for façade site safety plans) really going to give any relief to the current
site safety managers shortage problem?
EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION
Matt Caruso and Stephen Lampard of Domani Inspections Service Inc are proud to present the Award
for Excellence to Professional Engineer, Christian Ofosu.
It was Christian’s in depth knowledge of construction, special inspections and professional ethics that
ended the unethical and unsafe construction practices on 9-19 9th Avenue project.
Though the contractor failed to protect their workers while excavation operations where ongoing,
Christian had persistently exercised his professional knowledge and voiced concerns with regards to the
lack of field safety and inadequate use of the excavation means/methods.
We commend Christian for his due diligence and immediate notification to all the parties involved with
the work being conducted and thank him for performing his inspections duties at the utmost level.
03
ARTICLES
2015 UNION OR
NON UNION
One of the major issues that will confront our industry in 2015 will be
the narrowing of the cost gap between union and non union work.
One has already seen some owners cross back to the union side of
the fence, accepting the increase cost, to get a guaranteed schedule
and delivery.
As absorption rates increase bringing new product to market timely
becomes more important than construction dollars.
Not only will schedule delays and/or the extended delivery times in
the non union construction environment impact product pricing
negatively but it will also result in an increased cost in financing for
the extra “carry” duration.
Non union costs have been steadily rising due to demand; worker
and management shortages. The “40 percent” difference has been
severely abated by non union price increases; unions PLA
agreements; extended non union time frames and change orders that
result from construction miscues.
Add to this the lessons learned by many of the union to non union
“Crossover” developers that the short fall of non union cm’s in
regard to management services such as scheduling, budgeting,
procurement and depth of infield construction management has led
their organizations to do more thus increasing costs, and exposures
on their part by augmenting their in-house team to fill the gaps of
non-union construction management.
It will be interesting to assess that cost gap as owners start pricing
projects both ways since the delivery delay factor; instead of
resulting in passive revenue benefit due to price increases because
of project demand in a hot market becomes a revenue “hit” as the
demand decreases as more product hits the market.
The Queens DOB has, without a doubt,
become the most difficult borough to file jobs
in New York. The reason it is so difficult is
because the it has created its own sets of
rules different than every other borough. In
order to file a job, you must get an “A” ticket.
In every borough, the “A” ticket allows you to
file, approve and permit up to 3 Pro Cert
filings per ticket. Once your ticket has been called, you can then get another ticket to file another 3 jobs, etc.
In Queens, you are allowed 1 “A” ticket per day and only allowed to file 1 job per day under that ticket. They
also limit the number of tickets given each day. In other words, there is a chance that you will wait hours and
still not be given a ticket to file. The DOB opens their doors at 8:30am; everyday by 7am there are already
over 50 people waiting on line outside the DOB. So in order to file a ticket you must get to the DOB hours
before the doors open and wait outside (rain or shine, sometimes snow).
I recently went to file a job in Queens and I arrived at 6:45am only to be number 55 waiting outside. I waited
hours to file and around 12pm my ticket finally got called. I approached the window, handed my paperwork
and plans over along with my ticket and waited. When filing 3 sets of plans are required. The DOB keeps 1 set
and the other 2 are taken back by me. The sets of plans I had were quite large and I did not have enough
stickers to complete the 1 of the 2 sets I would take back. Everything else was stickered and completed
correctly. The clerk flipped through my plans, saw the last set didn’t have a sticker on it and told me I can’t
file the job because my paperwork was incomplete. She then threw the plans on the counter back to me and
called the next ticket. With stickers for new jobs, the job must first be filed in order to obtain more stickers. It
took me an additional 30 minutes arguing with the borough manager before he agreed to allow me to file the
job.
The DOB is difficult enough with the typical rules and regulations needed to be followed by all boroughs, it
gets even more complicated when specific boroughs make up their own rules whenever they feel like it.
06
HORROR STORIES
Inside Scoop
From Domani
I submitted a PAA to supersede applicant aim one NB project. This PAA was accepted and processed in the
Department of Buildings system. Unfortunately at the time it was entered we moved some engineers around
and I needed I change the person listed. All company information and other information would remain the
same, just the name and license number would be a DEAR correction. After submitting this request 6 times,
we went to the borough manager to discuss why this simple DEAR correction Could not be made. He stated
that we needed to add a work type to the PAA and this could not be done once the document was entered.
When asked why the original PAA was accepted, he could not answer us. We revised our paperwork and
submitted it to him, per his instructions. When we followed up his response was that we needed to close out
the wrong PAA by having it paid for, then submit another. This was now the second set of directions, after
doing this and following up he stated that his response was another set of directions. Finally after months of
wasted time, we will withdraw this PAA and resubmit another. We have had to reschedule our appt now twice
as well.
This is not so much a horror story as it is an anecdote about how even the buildings department employees
are not happy with the way the buildings department is run. I recently had an inspection for a few mechanical
units that need to have EUP cards issued. When the inspector showed up he immediately started complaining
about how the Buildings department never gives him what he needs to do his job. The inspectors are
supposed to take pictures of the site that they are auditing as proof to the buildings department that the work
was done properly. On this particular day the inspectors camera was not working, he would turn it on and the
flash would go off a few times, the shutter would open and close a random amount of times and the camera
would shut off. After half a dozen attempts the inspector gave up and said the buildings department was just
going to have to trust his judgement. For the remainder of the time the inspector did nothing but comment
about how the inspection was pointless because he was just going to have to go on his word anyway. At the
end of the inspection he even asked the rep from the company that owned the building for a business card
because he wanted to submit a resume to them for an engineers position at their company.