Upper West Side Co-op Saves over $1M by Merging Facade and Parapet Inspections

For one Upper West Side co-op that was facing both a facade and parapet inspection, keeping costs down was all in the timing. By combining the two projects, the board minimized filing and engineering fees and scaffolding costs — and saved close to $1 million. 

Architectural challenges. The co-op itself presented significant challenges from the start. Located just off Central Park West and standing as one of the tallest structures in the Upper West Side, its complex design features multiple setbacks and public right-of-ways that complicate facade access. The height posed additional challenges, as strong winds frequently forced construction delays to ensure worker safety during scaffolding work.

Strategic consolidation. The first step for the facade work was creating a comprehensive scaffolding plan that allowed workers to do close-up visual examinations from top to bottom.  “We designed the scaffolding to make sure we had thorough coverage,” says Gene Ferrara, president of JMA Consultants. All this preparatory work allowed the board to tackle multiple projects at once — assessing the building’s SWARMP (Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program) conditions, filing its next cycle of  FISP reports and meeting parapet inspection requirements. 

Timing the SWARMP repairs to be completed toward the end of one cycle and overlapping with the next inspection cycle was the major money saver. “We often tell boards that spending more money upfront sometimes will actually cost less money in the long run,” Ferrara says. The cost of the overall project was $2 million, some $1,250,000 of which went toward repairing and replacing bricks, replacing mortar to the brickwork — known as pointing — and replacing railings and roof sections at the bulkheads, where roof access is provided by a covered stairwell. “The rest of it was on soft costs,” Ferrara says. This includes filing, engineering fees, legal fees, and erecting scaffolding and rigging. Adding the parapet inspection was another highly effective consolidation of work, because the Department of Buildings accepts a FISP filing as a parapet inspection. “That's saving $4,000 or $5,000 for that year, because the engineer is there already looking at things and can determine whether the parapets are safe,” explains Ferrara, who estimates the co-op’s total savings at about $900,000.

Power of partnership. Recognizing that many buildings are stretched to their financial limit making repairs and meeting city regulations, Ferrara advises boards to start budgeting for the next grouping of projects, whether FISP repairs or climate-related retrofits under Local Law 97. “When you're interviewing an engineering consultant or a contractor, focus on three things,” he says. “Ask yourself, ‘What is it that I have to do now? What is it that I should do so that I don't have to do this again anytime soon? And how can I save money on building maintenance projects over the long term? That will really pay off.”