The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) is meeting its timeliness goals for high priority demands but its responsiveness is slowing for both development and inspection activities due to staffing and budget constraints, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, part of a series examining the fiscal and performance data of city agencies.
“As it faced staffing declines, the city’s Department of Buildings struggled to respond to secondary demands and development requests promptly.” DiNapoli said. “The new administration is planning to accelerate building development in the city as part of its affordability agenda, while prioritizing the safe and lawful use of the city’s buildings. My office has made several recommendations to the department to help meet these goals.”
The department regulates more than one million buildings and over 44,400 active construction sites in the five boroughs, mainly through the review and approval of building development applications and by conducting inspections of development sites and existing buildings and structures.
The city measures whether it is facilitating compliant development, a major service goal of DOB, based on its goals of improving process efficiency, promptly reviewing construction plans, and promptly scheduling development inspections. Indicators include job filings, work permits and certifications of occupancy issued, and transaction time. The city also measures whether it is ensuring the safe and lawful use of buildings and properties through the enforcement of the building code and other applicable laws.
The average number of days DOB takes to complete the first plan review, and the length of time from filing date to approval date (inclusive of the first plan review), serve as critical development review milestones. For jobs submitted through its public portal, in 2025, the department completed its first plan review in 3.7 business days on average, while the length of time from application to approval was 20.3 days, on average. This is up from averages of one day on first plan reviews, and 8.3 days from application to approval, in 2020.
In the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report (MMR), DOB reports that the length of time from application to approval rose to 23.6 days during the first four months of the fiscal year. While the average time for each aspect of the approval process has increased, time spent with the applicant, often to make corrections to the application, rose much more sharply since the city began tracking this metric.
Responsiveness to requests for inspections necessary to approve development is another key milestone. The turnaround time from the date an inspection is requested to the first available date that an inspector can visit a job site was faster before the pandemic, and has deteriorated since FY 2020, largely due to staffing and budget issues. Compared to FY 2019, the average time for these inspections was up in FY 2025 for construction (at 5.4 days, up 3.4 days from FY 2019), plumbing (5 days, up by 2.6 days) and electrical inspections (12.8 days, up by 10.2 days).
Enforcement is another key area of focus for the agency. In general, DOB responds timely to priority complaints, it issues findings that are mostly upheld in an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings proceeding, and reports improvement to overall construction site safety. However, the department has reported a sharp increase in response times for non-emergency but serious matters. For example, the average time to respond to Priority B (non-emergency) inspections was 17.6 days in FY 2025, up from 11.8 days in FY 2020. Non-hazardous Priority C complaints and Quality of Life complaint responsiveness are not reported in the MMR. DOB also acknowledges that staffing and budget constraints have contributed to this decline in service.
Currently, many of DOB’s performance indicators lack target benchmarks to measure whether the agency is achieving its service goals. Still, DOB has implemented significant process reforms, and given those improvements, turnaround times should, on average, be less than in years past. Targets should be added for both development and enforcement activities. Details on the types of work that are experiencing deterioration in responsiveness should also allow the city to more specifically address these issues.
Given the operating trends identified in DiNapoli’s report, DOB should review its authorized headcount with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to discuss whether the existing targets remain appropriate. In addition, it should continue to partner with OMB and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to explore additional options to improve recruitment and retention of staff in technical, engineering and architectural roles.
Report
New York City Government Services: Department of Buildings
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