Lifting Stop Work Orders for Plumbing and Electrical Work

By Mario Aurioso

Stop Work Orders are a part of our industry. They are always, always a source of great frustrating. There is a path towards clearing them up, and in the case of plumbing and electrical work, that is through requesting an SWO Rescission.

To Request a SWO Rescission, the project’s owner’s rep must file an Electrical ED16A, Plumbing PW-2 or LAA1 for a permit to correct the illegal conditions cited in the violation. Since the application is to remove a violation, the Notice of Violation number must be included.

Once this is filed, a request for Rescission needs to be sent via email, and contain contact information for the property, including address, BIN, NOV block and lot numbers, and the job or permit number for the application to correct the conditions that triggered the SWO in the first place. Send the email to either Electricalswo@buildings.nyc.gov or PlumbingSWO@buildings.nyc.gov

Requests will be turned around within five business days. If all the requirements are met, the SWO will be null and void. A re-inspection may be required, and the request will be subject to a department field audit.

Also note that a SWO triggers a mandatory civil penalty, in addition to violation penalties triggered for non-compliant work. These will need to be paid in the local DOB borough office prior to clearing the SWO.