Plan Search
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Map filters
Time
Fixed date ranges, either end optional. Limits the map and Cadence to projects filed and/or permitted in them (same project when both are set). DOB NOW filings, Aug 2016 on.
Inspected in last 120 days
All time
Location
▶Borough
Manhattan
Bronx
Brooklyn
Queens
Staten Island
Activity
Opportunity (underbuilt)
▶Inspection result (most recent)
DOB's own result for the building's most recent inspection on file — only ~20% of buildings have any inspection record at all.
▶Filing status (most recent filing per building)
Raw DOB status of the building's own most-recently-updated filing — not every filing ever made on it.
▶Permit type
Initial Permit
Renewal Permit Without Changes
Renewal Permit with Changes
No Work Permit
DOB NOW's own permit-type field ("Filing Reason") — was this an initial permit pull or a renewal, independent of trade (Work Type, under Scope of Work) or filing status above.
Zoning
▶Zoning challenge status
Open to Challenge
None Challenged
AR Changes Applied
Building
▶Building type
Plans & Documents
▶Discipline
▶Document type
Buildings with at least one of the picked types on file, from DOB's BIS and DOB NOW records.
Sheet title, sheet number, discipline and drawing type — the drawings themselves, not the paperwork filed alongside them.
Form name, type and category of filed paperwork — separate from the drawings above.
Scope of Work
Sized by scope
▶Work Type (DOB NOW permit trade)
Trade
Raw permit trade category, independent of the OCR-derived scope chips above.
▶HVAC
System
Equipment
Manufacturer
▶Plumbing
System
Component
▶Electrical
System
▶Sprinkler
System
Number of Heads
▶Solar
Location
Roof Type
Number of Panels
▶Structural
System
Max Excavation Depth (ft)
Framing Material
Concrete & Foundation
▶Crane
System
From the foundation questionnaire (dobnow_scope_st) — was the foundation designed to carry a tower crane. Not a jobsite crane-notice or device registry: DOB NOW's own crane device/prototype registration data (which devices exist citywide, owner, capacity) has no building/BIN link, so it can't filter buildings on this map.
▶Earthwork
Site Conditions
Material
Support-of-excavation and earthwork detail from DOB NOW's earthwork questionnaire, separate from the Structural sub-section above.
▶Geotech
Subsurface Risk
From the subsurface record — bedrock, groundwater, fill, and liquefaction data already on each building's Geotech profile, not DOB NOW filings.
▶Scaffold/Shed
System
Min Shed Length on Public Row (ft)
Filing & land use
▶Filing type
New Building
Alteration
Alt-CO
Demolition
✕ Demolition marks (display only)
▶Land use
Contractors
▶Contractor type (active permittee)
Type 2+ characters — matches live against every real contractor name on file, not a fixed list. A suggestion covers that firm's whole record even where DOB filed it under several signers — the building count shown is the total. Pick several to compare them at once — the map colors each one differently and a legend shows how much work each has on file.
Design Professionals
DOB’s data doesn’t tag a design professional’s discipline — architect and engineer aren’t distinguished here, only the name/firm on record, so this one search covers both. Type 2+ characters; pick several to compare — the map colors each one differently.
Special Inspectors
Special inspectors are their own licensed technical role, separate from a building’s architect or engineer of record. Type 2+ characters; pick several to compare — the map colors each one differently.
Compliance & flags
Historic filing
Has open objections
Rent stabilized (DHCR)
Has open violations
▶HPD violation class
Class A (non-hazardous)
Class B (hazardous)
Class C (immediately hazardous)
Class I (vacate order)
▶DOB violation type
Matches a building with an open DOB violation in ANY selected subject category (e.g. Elevator covers annual inspection failures, affirmations of correction, and Local Law 10/16/81 elevator violations alike).
▶ECB violation category
Matches a building with an open ECB (Environmental Control Board) violation in ANY selected category.
▶Union labor (by trade)
Matches a building if a permit in ANY selected trade was filed by a UNION contractor (is_union) — one building can carry both union and non-union permits in the same trade over time.
▶Non-union labor (by trade)
Matches a building if a permit in ANY selected trade was filed non-union (false or unclassified — see is_union convention).

Search the NYC construction record

The digital record is deepest for DOB NOW filings (2016 onward) and patchier for older, legacy BIS-era work; base-building systems and original filings can predate what's digitized. When an answer says something isn't on file, that means not in the digital record, not that it doesn't exist.

Know what was really built, who built it, and for whom.
What it is

BuildNYC is AI-powered access to New York City’s construction record, built for real estate and construction professionals: Department of Buildings filings, the filed plans, violations, and the owners, architects, engineers and contractors behind every property.

Why it exists

This information is public, but it is scattered across DOB NOW, legacy BIS, ACRIS and other agencies, and much of it is locked inside PDFs. Finding who built what for whom takes days. Here it takes a question.

What you can do
  • Diligence any property — ownership, violations, work history and who did it, before you buy, lease, lend or build. Every answer comes from our record, and if something isn’t on file, it says so.
  • Profile any firm — a contractor’s, architect’s or engineer’s real body of work, by licence.
  • Work from the plans — we hold the filed drawings behind NYC permits, alongside the filings that reference them.
  • Get the plans you don’t have — coming soon. Our plan marketplace connects you with the owners, architects and engineers who hold a building’s drawings, lets you request them, and puts AI chat over the plans.
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