Technology Continues to Lead the Way

By Frank Fortino

Every year, we are amazed at the pace and complexity of building in our City, and how everything somehow continues to accelerate. In order to handle the increases in speed, we need systems that move faster too – able to push the process along as fast as required. With Building One City the DOB lays out the thinking and approach of how the City will use technology to stay ahead of this pace of change.

Central to the thinking is the need to route more of the overall process online, a trend we’ve been seeing for the last few years. Now, the next stage of this platform is nearly complete – and it’s called Inspection Ready.

Inspection Ready focuses squarely at scheduling, and intends to provide online scheduling for virtually all inspections. Since scheduling is essentially the backbone of all projects, the belief is that centralizing this will streamline the overall process.

Inspection Ready will allow licensed professionals and owners to request inspections for the following:

  • Electrical
  • Fire Suppression
  • Construction
  • Elevators
  • Oil Burning Equipment
  • Plumbing
  • Signs
  • Boilers
  • Cranes and Derricks
  • BPP
  • Sustainability
  • High Rise Initiative

Here is what is required:

  • Licensee Name
  • License Type
  • License Number
  • email you would like to use for Inspection Ready communications

Getting started is easy – licensed professionals can log on with an e-filing account. Owners will need to register with the DOB and use an email address that matches up with the one submitted on a PW1.

The system will undergo testing over the next few months. Look for minor tweaks and improvements as we collectively test out the system. From what we’ve seen, it’s another step forward that will help us work faster and better.