Permit Estimating Services NYC
Our permit estimating services give NYC contractors and GCs exact DOB filing fees, special inspection costs, agency permit charges, and full compliance costs before a single dollar gets committed. No guesswork. No mid-project surprises.
We've been pricing permit costs in New York since 2010. Updated to the February 2026 DOB fee changes. All five boroughs. Estimates delivered in 3 to 5 business days.
Get Your Permit Estimate →Permit Estimating Built for NYC Projects,Not National Averages
Most permit budgets in NYC are wrong because they're built from generic fee tables, outdated schedules, or a single DOB line item. Our permit estimating covers the full picture: DOB filing fees, special inspections, agency-specific permits from DEP, DOT, FDNY, and LPC where required, zoning variance fees, expediting costs, and CO charges. Every line itemized, every agency accounted for.
Fee structures changed in early 2026. Updated calculations for Alt-CO filings, full demolition jobs, and After Hours Variance permits took effect February 2, 2026. If your permit budget hasn't been updated to reflect those changes, the number is already off. We work from current schedules, every estimate, every time.
Contractors who build their own permit numbers typically miss by 30 to 40%. On a $500,000 project that's a six-figure gap that shows up after contracts are signed and there's no clean way to recover it. We close that gap before it opens.
Who We Work With
We work primarily with people who need the numbers right the first time. If you're submitting to DOB or dealing with any city agency that touches your project, we can tell you what that process is going to cost before you commit to anything.
General Contractors
Preparing bid packages that include accurate, itemized permit and compliance costs.
Developers
Budgeting early-stage projects before design is finalized or financing is secured.
Architects & Expeditors
Coordinating filing packages and needing accurate fee projections for client budgets.
Subcontractors
Scoping their own permit obligations on trade-specific work across all five boroughs.
Property Owners
Planning renovations or new builds and needing a reliable permit cost baseline upfront.
Any project submitting to DOB or any city agency with jurisdiction. We estimate what that process will cost you.
NYC Permit Fees: What Goes Into the Estimate
The base DOB building permit fee formula is $100 for the first $5,000 of construction cost, then $13 for every additional $1,000 of reported cost. A $250,000 project runs about $3,285 in base DOB fees. That's before anything else gets added.
Every line below appears as a separate item in your estimate report, identified by agency, fee type, and applicable filing stage.
DOB Filing and Permit Fees
New Buildings, Alteration Type 1, Alteration Type 2, and Limited Alteration Applications all carry different fee structures. The filing type determines the calculation, and getting that categorization wrong cascades through the whole budget.
Special Inspection Costs
Third-party special inspections run $800 to $3,000 per inspection depending on type and complexity. A multi-phase project with concrete pours, structural steel, soils work, and waterproofing can stack up several inspection programs at once. Each one gets itemized separately, not rolled into a single line.
Expediting Services
Professional DOB expediters charge $2,000 to $8,000 and can shorten approval timelines by 30 to 50%. Whether that math works for your project timeline is something we flag, not something we assume either way.
Agency-Specific Permit Costs
Depending on scope, a project may need permits from NYC DEP for site drainage or connection fees, DOT for curb cuts and sidewalk closures, FDNY for sprinkler or suppression systems, or LPC if the property is in a historic district. Special zoning districts add both cost and review time. All of it gets calculated.
Zoning Variance and Special Permit Fees
Not every project triggers a Board of Standards and Appeals variance. But when one is required, the application fees and associated legal costs are real. We identify when your scope is likely to push into that territory.
After Hours Variance Permits
AHV initial and renewal fees are $130, with an $80 daily fee. Projects running extended hours accumulate these faster than most people expect. We calculate based on your projected schedule.
Certificate of Occupancy Costs
Initial CO and Temporary CO renewals both carry fees. Included.
Plan Examination and Professional Certification
Certain Alt-2 scopes qualify for professional certification rather than full DOB plan examination, cutting approval time by 50 to 75% without changing the fee. We flag those opportunities so your architect or expeditor can make an informed call on filing strategy.
Our Process
We don't pull figures from a fee table and call it an estimate. The work is more thorough than that.
Scope and Filing Type Review
Plans, property address, zoning district, building class, and proposed work type all factor into determining the correct DOB filing category. That category drives everything downstream. Getting it right at the start matters more than any other single step.
Multi-Agency Compliance Mapping
Some projects only touch DOB. Others involve DEP, DOT, and FDNY on top of the standard filing. Before any numbers go on paper, we map every agency that has jurisdiction over the scope.
Fee Calculation Against Current Schedules
Current DOB schedules are used, updated for the February 2026 changes. NYC Administrative Code §28-112.2 and 1 RCNY §101-03 fee tables are both referenced. Not last year's numbers.
Inspection and Compliance Cost Projection
Special inspections, progress inspections, and agency inspections are projected based on project type and construction phasing. When your scope triggers a mandatory special inspection program, we flag it and price it out.
Soft Cost and Expediting Assessment
This step looks at whether expediting makes financial sense for your timeline, and whether professional certification is a viable alternative to full plan examination for your specific filing type.
Detailed Cost Report
You get a line-by-line breakdown in Excel and PDF. Every cost is identified by responsible agency and fee category. No lump-sum permit number. If someone questions a figure, the source is right there.
Turnaround is typically 3 to 5 business days. Contractors working against a bid deadline, reach us at plans@nycestimatingservices.us and we'll confirm upfront whether a faster turnaround is possible for your scope.
What Makes NYC Permit Estimating Different
This is where out-of-market estimators fall short pretty consistently. NYC's permit system isn't just more paperwork. The structure itself is different from most other jurisdictions.
Seasonal Backlog Is Real
DOB submission volume shifts throughout the year. Late November through January typically sees lighter load. Summer and early fall, it backs up considerably. We build approval timelines into estimates based on when you're actually filing, not a generic best case.
Objection Costs Get Overlooked
Every round of plan examination objections costs money. Architect revision fees, extended timelines, additional carrying costs. We include a reasonable objection contingency in permit budgets because most estimates skip it entirely and then the project absorbs it anyway.
Historic and Special Districts Change the Calculation
Landmark district projects need LPC sign-off before DOB will accept the filing. That means community board notifications, extra documentation, and a longer review cycle. If your property sits in a historic or special purpose zone, the permit budget has to reflect that full process, not just the DOB side of it.
2026 Code Changes Are in Effect
Fee calculations in DOB NOW: Build were updated February 2, 2026, covering subsequent filings on Alt-CO New Buildings, full demolition jobs, and AHV permits. Projects filed before December 21, 2025 may still operate under the 2011 NYC Electrical Code. These distinctions affect both what you owe and what timeline you're working against.
Projects We Cover
Residential
Single-family homes, multifamily buildings, co-ops, condos, townhouses. Standard residential alterations in NYC typically run $1,200 to $2,000 in permit costs. New construction and major structural work are considerably more. We see a lot of residential projects and the range is genuinely wide depending on scope and borough.
Commercial
Office buildings, retail spaces, restaurants, hotels, mixed-use. Commercial work with multiple trade scopes frequently involves more than one DOB filing type running simultaneously. That's usually where permit costs get underestimated on commercial bids.
Industrial
Warehouses, manufacturing, distribution. Industrial projects almost always pull in multiple agencies beyond DOB, and the coordination adds time and cost that generic budgets don't capture.
Public and Institutional
Schools, hospitals, government facilities. Stricter inspection requirements and longer approval timelines are standard. Not unusually complicated, just slower and more layered.
Infrastructure and Utility Work
Site work, excavation, utility connections. Connection fees, street permits, street opening permits. These costs are specific and estimatable; we include all of them.
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. All project types, all filing categories.
Trades We Cover
Permit costs can be broken out by trade or estimated as a full project package.
Why Outsource This?
The fee schedules change. Agency requirements shift. Keeping current is its own job.
DOB updates calculations, agencies adjust rates, and code changes alter what specific filing types require. Contractors bidding regularly don't have time to track all of that. We do, because it's the core of what we do here.
The cost of getting permit budgets wrong usually shows up late, after the contract is signed, when there's no good way to recover it. We've seen jobs come in tens of thousands of dollars short on compliance costs alone because those numbers were guessed or skipped. That kind of miss doesn't just hurt margins, it creates problems with project financing and client relationships.
What You Get
Our permit cost estimates hit 90 to 95% accuracy on projects with complete plans and a defined scope. On early-stage work with preliminary drawings, accuracy is typically within 20 to 25%, and we state that clearly in every report so you know what you're working with.
Every estimate is broken down line by line, by responsible agency and fee category. Not a single total. If your architect or expeditor questions a figure, you can point to exactly where it came from and what schedule it's based on.
Between new construction, gut renovations, commercial build-outs, and large industrial projects across all five boroughs, we've covered a lot of ground since 2010. That breadth means we're not applying the wrong template to your project type. Most situations we run into, we've dealt with before in some form.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does permit cost estimation include?
How much does a building permit cost in NYC?
How long does it take to get a permit in NYC?
Do you cover all five boroughs?
What do you need from me to get started?
Can you work with a project still in early design?
What's the difference between your service and an expediter?
What format does the estimate come in?
Get Your Permit Cost Estimate
NYC permit costs are specific, layered, and they shift. A rough number in a bid isn't a plan. We've been providing construction estimating services in New York since 2010. Permit and compliance costs are built into every project estimate we produce. For clients who only need the permit side of it, we handle that as a standalone service too.
Send us your plans and scope. We'll get the estimate back to you within 3 to 5 business days.