Staten Island's taller apartment buildings, institutional properties, and commercial structures over six stories all fall under FISP's five-year requirement.
Staten Island has fewer high-rises than the other boroughs, but the Facade Inspection Safety Program applies here just the same to any building taller than six stories. The borough’s taller apartment complexes, institutional and medical buildings, and commercial properties all carry the five-year QEWI critical examination requirement, and the obligation is easy to overlook precisely because these buildings are less common in the borough’s streetscape.
Whatever the construction - masonry apartment blocks, concrete institutional buildings, or mixed commercial structures - the inspection standard is the same: a Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector examines the facade hands-on, classifies conditions as Safe, SWARMP, or Unsafe, and files the report through DOB NOW: Safety within the building’s Cycle 10 sub-cycle window.
We make FISP simple for Staten Island owners. We confirm whether your building is covered and which sub-cycle it falls in, arrange the QEWI critical examination, handle the DOB filing through to acceptance, and provide progress inspections to keep any required repairs on code. One point of contact, from deadline to accepted report.
Most commercial inspection searches on Staten Island come from owners and managers of a fairly short list of building types, because the borough has fewer tall structures than the rest of the city. The FISP requirement attaches to any building taller than six stories, which in practice means:
Lower-rise commercial property, including most of the retail along Hylan Boulevard and Richmond Avenue and the Empire Outlets complex, falls below the six-story threshold and is not subject to FISP, though owners sometimes commission the same type of exterior examination voluntarily before a sale or a refinancing.
A FISP critical examination is a structural inspection of the exterior walls, not a general property-condition report. A Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector, who must be a New York State licensed professional engineer or registered architect, examines every street-facing facade close up, typically from a suspended scaffold or lift, and reviews the rest of the envelope for displacement, cracking, spalling, deteriorated mortar, corroded steel, failed anchors and loose appurtenances such as signs, railings and equipment supports. Each condition is classified as Safe, Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program (SWARMP), or Unsafe.
The findings go into a technical report filed through DOB NOW: Safety within the building's Cycle 10 sub-cycle window. An Unsafe finding triggers immediate public-protection measures and a repair deadline; a SWARMP finding sets a schedule for the work before the next cycle. For a buyer or lender doing due diligence on a Staten Island commercial building, the most recent accepted FISP report is a public record in DOB NOW and is often the best structural snapshot available, so we also help owners who need to understand or respond to one.
If you own or manage a commercial, institutional or residential building over six stories anywhere in Staten Island, we confirm the sub-cycle, arrange the QEWI examination, manage the filing and coordinate the progress inspections if repairs are required. See what a FISP inspection costs or read how the Safe, SWARMP and Unsafe classifications work.
Yes. We handle FISP facade inspections for commercial, institutional and residential buildings taller than six stories anywhere on Staten Island, including the QEWI critical examination, the DOB NOW: Safety filing and progress inspections on any required repairs. Commercial buildings of six stories or fewer are not covered by FISP, though some owners commission the same kind of exterior examination voluntarily before a sale or refinancing.
Send us your address and we will confirm whether FISP applies, which sub-cycle you are in, and when your report is due - at no charge.
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