Queens, NY
Permits and Building Access in Queens
The sequence before demolition can start in a Queens building: the asbestos assessment, the filing, the board, the hours, the elevator windows and the container. In order, and with who does each part.
Most delays happen before day one
Nearly every demolition job that runs late in Queens ran late before anyone picked up a tool. The permit waited on an assessment nobody had ordered. The board met once a month and the job was two days too late for the agenda. The container needed a permit for the curb because the driveway was too short. The elevator was only available two hours a day and nobody had asked.
None of that is complicated. It is just a sequence, and it has to run in order. Here is the order.
First question: does your job need a filing at all?
Not every demolition job needs a Department of Buildings permit, and the answer decides how much of the rest of this page applies to you.
Taking out kitchen cabinets, flooring, a dropped ceiling or fixtures, and putting back like for like, is generally minor work that does not need a permit. Removing walls, changing the layout, touching plumbing or gas, or doing anything structural does, and the filing is made by a registered design professional, an architect or an engineer, not by the demolition contractor.
Where it is not obvious, the design professional decides, and we will tell you honestly on the first call which side of the line your job is likely to sit on. What we will not do is pretend a job is minor because it is convenient. The building department, the super and your neighbours all know the difference.
The sequence
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Step 1 of 5
The asbestos assessment, if the building predates April 1987
For a building built before 1 April 1987, the city requires an asbestos assessment before the Department of Buildings will issue a permit for work that could disturb material. A DEP certified asbestos investigator inspects the areas the work will touch and files Form ACP-5 with the Department of Environmental Protection if the work is exempt, or an abatement plan if it is not.
Most of Queens's houses and all of its pre-war apartment stock predate that date. This is the customer's own filing, it is the most common cause of a late start, and it is the first thing to order.
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Step 2 of 5
Design and filing, where the work needs it
A registered architect or engineer prepares the drawings and files with the Department of Buildings. The permit issues to the licensed contractor doing the permitted work. Demolition that is part of a larger renovation is normally filed with it, as one job, rather than as a separate permit.
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Step 3 of 5
The building's own approval
In a co-op or a condo the board and the managing agent have their own process, set out in the alteration agreement: drawings, insurance certificates, a deposit, a schedule, and rules about hours, the elevator, protection and noise. It can take longer than the city's permit. A house owner skips this step entirely, which is one reason the same job moves faster in Bayside than in Forest Hills.
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Step 4 of 5
Work hours, and a variance if you need one
Construction work runs 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays. Anything earlier, later or at the weekend needs an After Hours Variance from the Department of Buildings, filed a few business days before the first day and covering days inside a fourteen day window. Your building may set narrower hours, and a co-op usually does.
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Step 5 of 5
The elevator, the container and the route out
The last thing to settle, and the one that decides the schedule. In a house: where the container sits, which is the driveway if it is long enough and the curb with a permit if it is not. In a co-op or a pre-war building: which windows the service elevator is released for, how the cab is protected, and how much can leave in a day. We work this out with the super before we quote, because a two-hour elevator window sets the pace of the whole job.
Houses with driveways
Historic districts, and what Landmarks actually asks for
Queens has fewer designated blocks than Manhattan or Brooklyn, but it has them: Jackson Heights, Sunnyside Gardens, Douglaston, Fort Totten, Hunters Point and parts of Ridgewood among them.
Inside a historic district, on an individual landmark, or in a building with an interior landmark, the Department of Buildings may not issue a permit until the Landmarks Preservation Commission has issued a certificate. For interior work that does not touch a protected feature and is not visible from the street, which is nearly all interior demolition, that certificate is a Certificate of No Effect, issued at staff level and usually within about ten business days.
It is a step, not a barrier, and it belongs in the sequence ahead of the permit rather than as a surprise after it.
Every step on this page except the last is the owner's, the design professional's or the building's to carry out. We do not file permits, order assessments or approach boards on your behalf. What we do is tell you on the first call which steps your job triggers and in what order, so the schedule you plan against is a real one.
Common questions
What is an ACP-5 and when do I need one?
Form ACP-5 is the Department of Environmental Protection form a certified asbestos investigator files to certify that a project is exempt from asbestos abatement requirements, either because no asbestos-containing material is present in the areas the work will disturb, or because it is under the thresholds and will not be disturbed.
You need one when your building was built before 1 April 1987 and the work needs a Department of Buildings permit. The permit waits on it, so order the inspection early.
Does a historic district mean I need Landmarks approval?
For permitted work, yes, but the approval is usually light. Inside a historic district the Department of Buildings will not issue a permit until the Landmarks Preservation Commission has issued a certificate.
For interior demolition that does not touch a protected feature and is not visible from the street, that certificate is a Certificate of No Effect, handled at staff level and normally issued within about ten business days. It is a sequence step, not a hearing.
What is an After Hours Variance?
Permission from the Department of Buildings to carry out construction work outside the legal hours of 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on weekdays.
It is filed by the permit holder a few business days before the first day of after-hours work and can cover working days inside a fourteen day window. Your building may still refuse the hours the city allows, and in a co-op it usually sets narrower ones of its own.