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Under construction — inspected in last 120 days
Permit active — no recent inspection
Opportunity (underbuilt, <25% of allowable FAR)
Other coverage
Map filters
Color
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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)
▶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
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
▶Earthwork
Site Conditions
Material
▶Geotech
Subsurface Risk
▶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).
permit issuedcompletedpermit lapsed
Dots = buildings with activity that month, colored by union status
Search NYC construction projects
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.
DOB NOW, BIS, FDNY, violations and plans — in one place. Just ask.
BuildNYC is a searchable record of New York City construction: every Department of Buildings filing and permit, the plans behind them, violations, and the owners, architects, engineers and contractors who did the work. Ask in plain English, or use the map.
Why we built it
This information is public, but it is scattered across DOB NOW, legacy BIS, ACRIS and other city systems, and most of it is locked inside PDFs. Finding who built what, for whom, and what it involved takes days. We put it in one place so it takes a question.
What it can do
- Look up any building — filings, permits, violations, owners, and who is behind the LLC.
- Profile any firm — a contractor's, architect's or engineer's real body of work, by licence.
- Search the plans themselves — equipment, systems, scope of work and sheets, not just filing titles.
- Answer from the record — every figure comes from our own data, with sources shown. If something isn't on file, it says so rather than guessing.
- 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 lets you chat with AI over the plans once you have them.